Just spoke to people who live in the house in Belgrade that is "adorned" with a mural of the war criminal Ratko Mladić. What they say sounds like a mixture of Kafka and a horror story. Because it is. A thread:
Ever since the Mladić-mural appeared on July 23rd, residents have been trying to get rid of it. But all painters or facade cleaning companies they contacted declined to accept the job. They were afraid.
The Mladić-mural has been protected with a special layer of lacquer, which is why whenever it was attacked with paint bags everything could easily be washed off. In other words (and nor surprise here): There are professionals behind it.
Still, the mural was often attacked with paint bags by people disgusted with the sight. But whenever this happened, young men quickly appeared to wash it clean again. Local residents say they often called the police to arrest the "Mladić-cleaners". But the police never came.
People in Vračar (the neighbourhood where this take place) say the mural is guarded by men in civilian clothes at night. No one knows who they are. But people do know that you better be careful with those guys.
Today, a brave man attacked the mural with white paint. And again, hooligans appeared to clean it. Once they arrived, police left. So the image of the war criminal Ratko Mladić, one of the worst criminals in Europe after 1945, shines again in its old splendor. Belgrade, 2021.
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Angela Merkel and the Balkans. A (rather long) thread:
In July 2005, after she had been nominated as candidate for chancellor by her party, Angela Merkel made her very first trip abroad in this capacity – to Kosovo. 16 years later one of her very last official trips today and tomorrow leads her to Serbia and Albania.
After 2005, Mrs. Merkel visited various states in the Balkans again in 2011, 2015 and 2018. By looking at the fate of some of her interlocutors at the time, one understands how much – and at the same time how little – has happened in the region since.