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Bob, I have done extensive research on the Balkans in the 90s. I write for a living, and teach, and this is a subject of professional interest, though my job doesn't require that I become an expert in these matters. I write fiction. During the 90s, I was on an excellent listserv run by an Orthodox monk in Kosovo. He and friends reported news from firsthand sources on the ground, from Muslims, Albanians and Serbs. Some of the Western news outlets as well, and even state news outlets in Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo. The state run news centers were especially interesting. Through the translations, you could just hear the sound of propaganda. Propaganda tends to have its own peculiar syntax and grammar. I wish a linguist would study it, because the truth is implied by every bit of propaganda. Propaganda is the use of embarrassed language. One Serbian news daily began every report with this botched translation: "New Crimes of the Terrorist." It's as though you have to have no conscience at all to be truly brilliant at propaganda, and too often, such artists are merely good liars, not geniuses on the level of Goebbels. This is my main interest in the events beyond the humanitarian aspect.
by Upstate NY on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 12:47:09 PM EST
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