Summary of the Week 66

Schoolchildren on a test for the future, the elderly on a test of endurance in high temperatures. Few managed to avoid evaluation and testing last week. Weekly Compilation records whose patience passed the test.

Amid the expected summer heat and other heated issues, this week brought an extra dose of testing—of both patience and endurance. One bridge, it seems, did not cause enough commotion, so two more are being added to the equation.

"It’s a kind of compensation for the unfulfilled promise to open the main bridge on the Ibar," interprets Milica Andric Rakic from the New Social Initiative.

Before the new promises, the old tests resurface. The fate of the bridge remains uncertain, but citizens cannot bear new burdens. There is no reason for fear or stress, advises university professor from South Mitrovica, Nexhmedin Spahiu.

"This current situation cannot get any worse by opening two bridges. It can only improve," Spahiu told Kosovo Online.

Many agree that the current state of affairs can hardly deteriorate further. But the testing of nerves continues unabated. Historian Petar Ristanovic sees a familiar pattern:

"This is part of the pre-election heat that's beginning," Ristanovic explains.

The patience of many has already been boiled away in previous political heatwaves, leaving little strength for new ones.

"When it comes to Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, things have long ceased to be about law and are instead about politics—about force, to be completely frank," explains Dusko Celic, professor at the Faculty of Law.

The rule of law in Kosovo has long been under pressure—and only in rare cases manages to pass the test.

"I don’t recall," reacts defense attorney Ljubomir Pantovic to a recent court ruling against Ivan Mrkic, "anyone being sentenced to 17 months in prison for a minor soft-tissue injury. What we’d commonly call a bruise."

Testing power and force is nothing new—this week, it happened on multiple levels across the world. But testing truth and history remains a local specialty.

"We have information that the Special Prosecutor’s Office is now investigating and may indict someone for the Racak massacre," says Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Center in Pristina.

Reopening resolved cases is puzzling, replies attorney Goran Petronijevic.

"It’s obvious that Pristina currently lacks political motives for Kurtis’s regime to act, so they’re now grasping at straws," Petronijevic believes.

For more than 26 years, Kosovo has been the ground for measuring dedication, identity, and spirit—especially that of Vidovdan.

"Every Serb who comes to Kosovo for Vidovdan expresses their national sentiment in different ways. Some wear national symbols, which then becomes a problem for Kosovo institutions," historian Aleksandar Gudzic told the Kontekst podcast.

No assessment is ever easy. Still, some of this week’s tests were more beautiful than others. And the results are always the most beautiful—just as the Kosovka devojka (Maiden of Kosovo) should be.