A big THANK YOU to all my fans!

Man, am I ever starting to get a kick out of this blog, along with my friends back home especially.

Everyone back home is so amazed at the passion of some of the commentators.  Could you imagine someone writing a [country, city] sucks site about anywhere else in the world and anyone giving a rat's ass??!!  No one would.  LOL.  Imagine, "New York sucks!", "London sucks!".  No one would give a shit!  No one would get mad. No one would bother to comment.  They might agree or disagree or think "this guy is an idiot", but no one would bother to comment or get mad if they disagreed.

So, please, keep the furious comments coming.  I love them and will cherish them as a souvenir for years after I finally leave this dump.

NATO bombing - Serbia an innocent bystander, minding her own business.

Lots of posts on various blogs crying about the NATO bombing because of the 15-year anniversary.

Serbia is kind of like this guy who can't get over the fact that his girlfriend dumped him, moved out and called the cops.  Now, 15 years later, he sits around, underemployed in his squalid apartment crying about what an ingrate lying bitch his ex was, how she was better off when she was with him and how they'll be together again one day - maybe when the cops in charge of protecting her 24/7 decide that their job is over.

It's petty extortion season again.

Seems like around springtime every year the petty extortionists come out of the woodwork.

Every year I get about 2-3 extortion attempts, some serious, mostly just ridiculous.

Usually, it's someone I know who's decided that they can make a quick 20euros from me by either contriving some sort of nonsense reason why I owe them money or by stealing something of mine and asking for money, usually an amount ranging from 20-100 euros and, occasionally, in the 1000s

The annoying thing is, these little scumbag maneuvers always end up costing me more than the other person benefits.

What I mean is, if someone puts a gun to your head and robs you 20 euros, you lose 20 euros and they gain 20.

The Serbian variety of petty scumbaggery always results in me losing that the other person gains, especially if it involves stealing something and holding it hostage.  Ratio is from 1:100 to 1:5000 in terms of what the scumbag wants to how much I'm damaged.

It's always someone I know.  It's usually someone I considered a friend.

I literally can't know who I can trust here ever.


Call the police?  Oh ya... do that and the police will immediately open an investigation - on you!

What happened to Ambassador-Serbia??

His site hasn't been updated for almost 2 months.

His facebook for over 1 month.

Last activity on his facebook is a virus post 2 weeks ago.

Is he dead?

Did he have a mental breakdown?

Cummon, Karl, people have paid you good money to post insipid platitudes about Serbia and you're letting them down!

'Anonymous' commentators

Hello fans/friends/frennemies.

I truly love all the comments I get on this bog.  I enjoy them all.

I wish I could disable 'anonymous' posting.  I could force people to log into google and post from a verified account, but I definitely don't want to do that.  I want people to be able to post anonymously, but I would rather that people select "name/url" and type a name, any name.

It doesn't reveal your identity in any way, but it would be a little more interesting if one could differentiate between posters and it wasn't all just "anonymous".

Would you do me the favor?  :)

Comments are more frequent.

Looks like I get linked from b92.net every few weeks by some angry, I'm thinking teenager (hopefully) with Serbian roots posting from the USA.  It's really boosting site traffic and I appreciate the all the comments - especially the furious ones.  Keep em coming!

Don't have much to say, but the last "last post" has been up for far too long.  Gotta post something :)

Croatia and Montenegro suck too.

So, I decided to have a little trip to the Adriatic coast.  wrong decision.  General impression of Croatia:  a country of people reluctantly forced into the tourism industry - desperate for your tourist dollars, but wishing you would just fuck right off after you've given it to them.  Like Serbs, expecting that you'll loooooooooooooooove their little country because it's self-evidently the best place on earth.  You're swarmed by toothless grandmas at the bus station who want you to stay at their "hotel" who then get furious if you don't take the room because it includes their chain-smoking deadbeat son hanging out in the livingroom ("don't worry, he sleeps on the balcony").

They are fundamentally arrogant, like Serbs.  They don't accept credit cards at major transport hubs.  Why would they?  They've already deigned to allow you into their wonderful country to take your money.  Their bus station, their rules.  now give me your cash and fuck off.  The way-inflated prices for visiting another balkans dump is another symptom of this arrogance.  No, you're not Italy or France or Monaco.  I predict the free market will eventually crush Croatia (after a brief up-tick after EU ascension).  People will visit once but not bother returning for a second visit.

Also, they are hypersensitive about the nomenclature of the language they speak.  Croatian and Serbian are different languages like New Hampshire English and Louisiana English are different languages.  Maybe you could make such a case, but it would be stupid to stamp your foot and insist that they ARE different languages.  Anyway.  If someone tells you "you speak Croatian wonderfully", don't tell them, "thanks, I learned it in Belgrade".  Just a heads-up  :)

Montenegro is Croatia on food-stamps.  Same shit, but with a little less corn in it.

If you're in the region, skip Croatia, nevermind Montenegro.  You get a better bang for your buck in Turkey, especially after this current political situation there dies down.