Tuesday 29 July 2008

Bosnian president Silajdzic avoiding questions

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If you are looking for Silajdzic's speech at the Council of Europe on 30 September 2008, read this newer article.
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"I have to believe in a democratic Bosnia within the European Union and NATO."
Bosnian president Dr Haris Silajdzic (photo) yesterday was the guest in the excellent BBC show "Hardtalk" with the always impressive Stephen Sackur.

I was too late to watch the whole interview (see RealPlayer video) on BBC, but from the last 10 minutes I saw it became quite clear that both, the divisions in Bosnia and within the Balkans will remain high, and the willingness of regional leaders to offer direct and positive answers to the tough questions asked for the future of their countries and the region remains low.

Still, the interview is worth seeing since President Silajdzic is giving it in fluent English (something not all presidents of European countries would be able or willing to do) and as far as I know only "Hardtalk" is able to present such high level personalities facing the tough questions other would avoid to ask (which, however, does not mean that this is leading to new answers).

Read also:

David Hannan (the half-time MEP): "Don't hold Bosnia together artificially"

3 comments:

Antal Dániel said...

I've watched the entire video because it is very rare to see a head of state answering such direct questions and I really recommend it to everybody, too.

I had a very opposite understanding, for me it looked as if the interviewer was avoiding the answers because they did not fit in with the concept he had in mind.

There are two very important things that Siljdzic is making. Firstly is that though Karadzic is captured, his project is still alive and kicking. The other is that hatred is just and excuse.

Antal Dániel said...

Here's thecounterargument from Ashdown.

Julien Frisch said...

A counter-argument to which argument?