New York Times Features Story on Serbia

The New York Times Magazine today features a story about the fugitive  life of ex-Bosnian Serb President, Radovan Karadzic. Besides a long article, there is also a slide show on the NY Times web site. Above is one of the photos of an ultranationalist-themed bar that Karadzic used to frequent. I wonder what part of New Belgrade the “Mad House” (Luda Kuca) is located? The American author almost got beat up in the bar. The article does not put the Serbs in a good light because it focuses on a small segment of Serbian society. From reading the article, the foreign reader would get the impression that the Serbs are backwards due to their years of communism and believe in the charlatan pseudo medicine of Karadzic and his friends. It also gives the sense that Americans are not welcome in Serbia. The author was almost beat up in the bar above. The same would happen here if an Islamic reporter went to a bar in Caspian and started interviewing the local rednecks.

It is interesting to read about Karadzic’s life as a fugitive. We’ll be reading more about him as his trial begins in September.