Eurovision 2011: Bosnia's Dino Merlin

Cheesy even by Eurovision standards. Reminds me a bit of Brotherhood Of Man, who won for the UK in 1976.

Gen. John Sheehan Apologizes To Dutch

Retired Gen. John Sheehan has apologized to former Dutch Chief of Staff Van den Breemen for his U.S. Senate testimony that openly gay Dutch soldiers caused the Bosnian genocide.

The ANP news agency reported that Sheehan apologized in an e-mail to Van den Breemen, saying his memory of discussions they had fifteen years ago about some social issues were 'inaccurate.' Sheehan also said that individual soldiers were in 'no way' responsible for the massacre, but said the problem was the 'mandate' for the soldiers. The retired general made his controversial remarks during a U.S. Senate hearing on March 18, in which he argued against plans to end a ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the U.S. military. He claimed that openly gay soldiers in the Dutch army were one of the reasons that U.N. troops were not able to prevent the genocide. Sheehan also claimed that Dutch Chief of Staff Henk van den Breemen acknowledged that claim. Van den Breemen has denied that. The remarks by Sheehan caused a wave of condemnation in the Netherlands. "The remarks were outrageous, wrong and beneath contempt," Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende said during a news conference.

Reportedly, Van den Breeman is satisfied with the apology. I don't know what Sheehan means by about the "problem being a mandate for the soldiers."

Gen. John Sheehan: The Bosnian Genocide Happened Because Of Gay Soldiers

Retired Gen. John Sheehan testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee today, claiming that openly gay soldiers in the Dutch military were partially responsible for the failure of the NATO peacekeeping action in Bosnia, a failure which resulted in the genocide of thousands of Muslims.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, pressed him to clarify his comments about Srebrenica. "Did the Dutch leaders tell you it (the fall of Srebrenica) was because there were gay soldiers there?" asked an incredulous Senator Levin. "Yes," Gen Sheehan said and added: "They included that as part of the problem." Gen Sheehan, who retired from the military in 1997, said he had been told that by the former chief of staff of the Dutch army. Senator Levin vehemently rejected Gen Sheehan's allegation, saying that drawing a connection between the massacre at Srebrenica and gays in the Dutch military was "totally off-target". The failure of the Dutch UN troops to fend off an attack by Bosnian Serb forces had "nothing to do with sexual orientation" but was related to "their training and the rules of engagement", Senator Levin said. Nearly 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after Serb forces captured the eastern town on July 11, 1995, in the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

Violence Rocks Sarajevo Pride

Shouting "Kill the gays" and "Allah Akbar", Islamic rioters attacked participants in yesterday's first-ever gay pride event in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Dozens of homophobic hooligans attacked participants of Bosnia's first-ever gay rights festival in Sarajevo on Wednesday, leaving at least two journalists and one police officer injured. The scuffle broke out at the end of the opening ceremony of the four-day festival in front of the Academy of Fine Arts in downtown Sarajevo.

"When I was getting out of the academy, I was suddenly struck in the back," Pedja Kojovic, a local journalist, told AFP. "Three other people then came running and beat me up." Emir Imamovic, a journalist who tried to help Kojovic, was severely beaten, police said.

A heavy police deployment prevented more violence from spoiling the event, with a security cordon keeping protestors shouting "kill the gays" and "Allahu Akbar" (a Muslim expression meaning God is Great) at bay. A police officer on the scene said groups of anti-gay protestors had spread to nearby streets and were attacking people. A police officer was struck in the head during the clashes.

The hooligans, some with their faces covered, and other with long beards, were yelling insults at the festival participants and shouting, “Allahu Akbar!” They also dragged people out of their cars and physically attacked others in the festival on the street. Six people were taken to the hospital with head injuries. The person suffering the most serious wounds was a Danish citizen. One police officer was also injured in the clashes with the hooligans. Police arrested eight attackers.

Last week, "Death To Gays" posted began to appear around Sarajevo, placed by Islamicists who were angry that gay pride was to occur during Ramadan.

Muslims Demand End To Bosnia Pride

Bosnian Muslims are demanding that this month's first-ever gay pride events be canceled because they occur during Ramadan.

Opposition to gay pride has been fueled by the Islamic magazine Saff. Columnist Ezher Beganovic has called for the government to cancel the festival. Calling the four day event a “festival of homosexuality” that is an affront to Islam, Beganovic warned in a column that if pride went ahead it would prompt an angry reaction from believers.

Pride organizers say they did not intend to offend Muslims, but that the date was set a year ago. “It coincided with Ramadan unintentionally,” Q Association leader Svetlana Djurkovic told the Reuters news service. “This is the festival of arts and culture and there are many believers in our population as well,” said Djurkovic. She added that conservative Muslims would have been offended no matter when the festival was held.

Throughout the countries of the former Yugoslavia LGBT people have few rights and discrimination is rampant. Slovenia is the only republic that has a registry for same-sex couples, although it provides few benefits.

Hatred of Bosnian gays has created odd bedfellows as the local Muslim majority is joined by Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics in decrying "unnatural, sick and deviant behavior." The one thing these religions can agree on is how they'd all like us dead. Remember when Sarajevo was touted as an oasis of multi-culti hipness?