----- Original Message -----
From: Snezana Lazovic
NIN, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Issue 2636, 5 July 2001
Word of the week
by Jovan Cirilov
Extradition/Donation
I wasn't the one who forged a connection between the two concepts in the
title. That connection was forged by global political reality, American
arrogance and a purposeful lack of tact.
During the past several years we have gotten used to the world's hurry
and the foreboding hesitation of the rulers of our lives and deaths; the
realistic and timely move of the Serbian premier, in the middle of some
new calculatory practice, is the happy gesture of an advocate of a
global Serbia.
Legalism could also be considered obedience toward the laws and
decisions of the United Nations. I have lived too long not to have
observed the elasticity of legal norms and the powerlessness of life
before that elasticity.
It is sad that we must play the game of legalism before the force which
bombed this country without those same United Nations and bombed not
only the "controversial" Serbs but also the uncontroversial Albanians in
Kosovo, all as part of its lecture on humanism.
Again, my experience tells me it is better to have a flawed democracy
than a perfect dictatorship.
If the new resident of Scheveningen (and that is the correct
pronunciation of the seat of the famous prison) chooses to speak, I look
forward to the revelation of behind the scenes tales of a man called
Holbrooke who, acting like the best buddy of "the strongman from the
Balkans", largely contributed to the creation of the man who belongs
more to them than he does to us. So it's a good thing that they finally
have him. From Holbrooke's memoirs we learn how pleased he was when,
once upon a time in Dayton, he found him at the piano playing Sinatra's
"Stranger in the Night".
Extradition or handing over and donation are nouns derived from Latin
verbs. The former from the verb "extradere", to turn over, and the
second from "donare", to give as a gift.
Translated by S. Lazovic (July 8, 2001)
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
