At the same time of the turn of the nineteenth century that Franz Ferdinand and Sophie Chotek of Austria-Hungary were attempting to convince Emperor Franz Josef that their marriage would not lead to the end of the Empire, another culturally inappropriate marriage was taking place between Alexander I of Serbia and Draga Lunjevica Mašin.  Draga, …

  • June 14, 2021
  • History
  • Comments Off on The First Murder of the Black Hand

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Anka Obrenović, who was also called Ana, was self-confident and fearless.  She loved her last name and luxury.  Because of her love of Viennese fashion, she was nicknamed “Anka Pomodarka”.  She was killed in 1868 in the Topčider forest during the assassination of Mihailo Obrenović, and it is little known that she tried to protect …

  • June 11, 2021
  • Comments Off on Mrs Anka Konstantinović Was Also Killed

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Stop sending people to kill me.  We’ve already captured five of them, one with a bomb and another with a rifle… If you don’t stop sending killers, I’ll send one to Moscow; and I won’t have to send a second. — message from Tito to Stalin found on Stalin’s desk after his death. In the …

  • June 2, 2021
  • Comments Off on The Assassinations That Weren’t

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I was arrested in 1974 because the state security service found my university diaries and their contents were judged to contain agitation and propaganda against the regime.  But those diaries had never been published and no one other than myself had even read them.  Nevertheless, I purposefully hid them because I knew that I might …

  • May 26, 2021
  • Comments Off on Don’t Even Think It

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Groups like  uMkhonto we Sizwe and others struggling against colonialism and post-colonialism needed weapons for their struggles and, more importantly, training.  While a lot of this came from the Soviet bloc, many liberation movements were less-than-eager to jettison one colonial overlord in the west for one in the east.   It was into this gap …

  • May 21, 2021
  • Comments Off on Training the Revolutions

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My Dear Heart: Do not be too sorrowful and upset on account of this letter.  God’s will be done.  Tomorrow at ten they will cut off my head and your brother’s, too.  Today we pardoned each other with all our heart.  Therefor I ponder this letter and ask you for everlasting forgiveness.  If I have …

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First Jelena Branković lost her father.  Then before four months could pass, in 1459 at the age of 11, she was married to the son of the King of Bosnia.  Stjepan Tomasević had not even met Jelena, but they were married on 1 April 1459.  Given that Tomasević had been casting around the Balkans for …

  • April 28, 2021
  • Comments Off on The First to Accept the Storm

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I think submission to authority and absolving oneself from blame by saying that one has to obey orders are widespread… I think all medical students should be taught about the research on submissiveness being a key etiological factor in the perpetuation of atrocities. They should be fully familiar with Milgram’s work and reflect on Hannah …

  • April 21, 2021
  • Culture
  • Comments Off on Misdirections and Grossly Unreasonable

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Aminatta Forna tackles trauma, although not in the way that most western readers are used to dealing with trauma’s effects.   Her previous book, Happiness, brings a different explanation to how different cultures deal with trauma.  The problem, rather than the trauma itself, is societal expectations of trauma.  Those who expect a trauma-free life as …

  • April 19, 2021
  • Reading , Review
  • Comments Off on Different Worlds of Trauma

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