Like everyone else in a still suffering region, they want to profit fully from the new era of peace and prosperity.The capture and rendition of war criminals such as Ratko Mladic is a sine qua non for countries wanting to join the European Union. Other nations have accepted this precondition. Last December, Croatia handed over General Ante Gotovina.Serbia, too, is gradually coming round to the EU's position. When nationalist Prime Minister, Vojislav Kostunica, finally agreed to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, over a dozen accused men gave themselves up voluntarily to the authorities in The Hague. But the cases of Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of the Serbs in Bosnia, who is also on the run, are much more sensitive.casquettes laocoste The authorities in Belgrade have not forgotten the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003, two years after Slobodan Milosevic was delivered to the International Criminal Court. They know that the fragile coalition presently in power could collapse at any moment, leaving the door open for a crushing ultranationalist victory in the next elections. And they also know that handing over Mladic is one of the very last cards they can play at a time when the fate of Montenegro and Kosovo is yet to be decided. The unresolved issue of war criminals has gone on so long that it has, inevitably, fallen prey to political calculations. This is a shame for Serbia, which finds itself, after all this time, still in thrall to the likes of Ratko Mladic.Des opposants arrêtés à Manille Philippines. Accusée de corruption et de fraude électorale, l'impopulaire présidente Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (notre photo, STR/AFP.casquettes lacoste femme), qui s'est dit menacée la semaine dernière par une tentative de putsch, poursuit sa traque aux «conspirateurs». Hier, elle a déféré à la justice seize opposants, dont quatre élus et l'ancien colonel Gringo Honasan, un spécialiste des coups d'Etat avortés. Et quatre hauts gradés de la police antiterroriste, accusés d'avoir recruté des collègues pour participer aux manifestations contre la présidente sont sous les verrous.Washington embarassed by threat of civil war in IraqWashington: As much by way of a reflex reaction as due to a lack of options, the Bush administration has been trying to play things down in Iraq since the explosion of violence that followed the destruction of the mosque in Samarra. Once again, changing nothing is seen by Washington as the best strategy. George W. Bush spent an hour on the telephone on Saturday [25 February] talking to the principal Iraqi political leaders, thanking them for their appeals for calm and encouraging them to resume political negotiations.casquettes lacoste homme On Friday [24 February] he declared that Iraq was ''facing a choice'' between unity and civil war. ''The coming period will be difficult and testing,'' warned the US president, who nevertheless declared that he was optimistic ''because the Iraqis want to be free''. The return to the negotiating table, on Sunday [26 February], by the principal Sunni group with a view to forming a government further convinced him of this. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, believes the same, seeing in the present period of ''danger'' an ''opportunity'' to consolidate the national unity. But at the same time one detects great embarrassment behind the scenes of the administration, where there is virtually no margin for manoeuvre. On tour in the Middle East, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged the ''extremely serious and delicate'' nature of the situation, but without offering any solution. ''When one tries to divide them, the Iraqis find a way of coming together,'' she remarked.
The authorities in Belgrade have not forgotten the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003, two years after Slobodan Milosevic was delivered to the International Criminal Court. They know that the fragile coalition presently in power could collapse at any moment, leaving the door open for a crushing ultranationalist victory in the next elections. And they also know that handing over Mladic is one of the very last cards they can play at a time when the fate of Montenegro and Kosovo is yet to be decided. The unresolved issue of war criminals has gone on so long that it has, inevitably, fallen prey to political calculations. This is a shame for Serbia, which finds itself, after all this time, still in thrall to the likes of Ratko Mladic.Des opposants arrêtés à Manille Philippines. Accusée de corruption et de fraude électorale, l'impopulaire présidente Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (notre photo, STR/AFP. casquettes lacoste femme ), qui s'est dit menacée la semaine dernière par une tentative de putsch, poursuit sa traque aux «conspirateurs». Hier, elle a déféré à la justice seize opposants, dont quatre élus et l'ancien colonel Gringo Honasan, un spécialiste des coups d'Etat avortés. Et quatre hauts gradés de la police antiterroriste, accusés d'avoir recruté des collègues pour participer aux manifestations contre la présidente sont sous les verrous.Washington embarassed by threat of civil war in IraqWashington: As much by way of a reflex reaction as due to a lack of options, the Bush administration has been trying to play things down in Iraq since the explosion of violence that followed the destruction of the mosque in Samarra. Once again, changing nothing is seen by Washington as the best strategy. George W. Bush spent an hour on the telephone on Saturday [25 February] talking to the principal Iraqi political leaders, thanking them for their appeals for calm and encouraging them to resume political negotiations. casquettes lacoste homme
On Friday [24 February] he declared that Iraq was ''facing a choice'' between unity and civil war. ''The coming period will be difficult and testing,'' warned the US president, who nevertheless declared that he was optimistic ''because the Iraqis want to be free''. The return to the negotiating table, on Sunday [26 February], by the principal Sunni group with a view to forming a government further convinced him of this. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, believes the same, seeing in the present period of ''danger'' an ''opportunity'' to consolidate the national unity. But at the same time one detects great embarrassment behind the scenes of the administration, where there is virtually no margin for manoeuvre. On tour in the Middle East, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged the ''extremely serious and delicate'' nature of the situation, but without offering any solution. ''When one tries to divide them, the Iraqis find a way of coming together,'' she remarked.