Trumpov čovjek za Hrvatsku: Da, ručao sam s Hernadijem! (Igor Alborghetti, Express 24 sata,

 

Trump's man for Croatia Robert Kohorst: "Yes, I had a lunch with Hernadi!" Trump's friend and donor, Robert Kohorst was Trump's Ambassador to Croatia until Trump lost elections. Following Trump's debacle at the last year's US elections, he left Croatia. In the interview to 24 sata, Kohorst confirmed that he had a lunch in Budapest with the main boss of INA/MOL, Zsolt Hernadi, despite the fact that Hernadi was wanted by INTERPOL at that time. Interpol decided to renew an arrest warrant for Hernadi issued by Croatia in November 2018. Hernadi has been indicted in Croatia for allegedly bribing former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader to allow MOL to become the key decision-maker in Croatian energy company INA, in which MOL is the biggest but not the majority shareholder.

In 2018 Croatia began the trial of Sanader, who served as prime minister from 2003 to 2009, and Hernadi in that case. Hernadi was tried in absentia. 

 

 https://express.24sata.hr/top-news/trumpov-covjek-za-hrvatsku-da-rucao-sam-s-hernadijem-20752?page=2&fbclid=IwAR1Np6vkEZ0sT9P5YyIpAPpWQOf2DICG5q0gLbDh3f6WRbo-ZENM8sUBEpo

 

 

Ambasador SAD-a u Hrvatskoj ne vidi problem što se druži s čovjekom za kojim je naše pravosuđe raspisalo tjeralicu

Robertu Bobu Kohorstu već je prošlo 14 mjeseci mandata u Republici Hrvatskoj. Nije uvijek bilo mirno. Kupnja izraelskih zrakoplova F-16, koja je naprasno propala, dosta je, barem kroz pisanje medija i diplomatske kuloare, opteretila odnose SAD-a i Hrvatske. Oko toga, pak, ambasador je prilično opušten. Razumije hrvatske postupke, zadovoljan je kako je ministar Krstičević vodio pregovore. I ne prihvaća da je to bilo čiji poraz ili neuspjeh.

Kao iskusni i uspješni biznismen, kojeg je predsjednik Trump imenovao za veleposlanika u Republici Hrvatskoj, hvali racionalnu odluku koju je oko zrakoplova donijela Vlada. Uostalom, i Hrvatska mu je kao destinacija legla. Istina, kako je rekao, nema namjeru, nakon mandata, tu kupiti nekretninu. Ipak, u svemu su presudili veleposlanikovi unuci s kojima, nakon odlaska iz Hrvatske, želi provoditi puno vremena.

No dovoljno je pogledati njegov službeni profil na Twitteru kako bi ste shvatili da on i njegova gospođa jako vole i uživaju u Hrvatskoj.

Kako biste ocijenili razinu sveukupnih odnosa SAD-a i Republike Hrvatske? Je li propast gotovo potpisanog ugovora o kupnji američkih borbenih zrakoplova iz Izraela, iz poznatih razloga, pogoršala relacije između Washingtona i Zagreba?

Hrvatska i Sjedinjene Američke Države imaju odličnu suradnju na mnogim područjima. Pogotovo u vojnom segmentu. Doista ne vidim da je program kupnje zrakoplova F-16 završio neuspjehom. Sve što se dogodilo je dio procesa. SAD je, u tom smislu, spreman pomoći ako Hrvatska to zatraži.

Sandra Šimunović/Pixsell

Istina je da je Izrael prihvatio odgovornost zato što ugovor o prodaji zrakoplova nije potpisan. Istodobno, mediji u Hrvatskoj nisu mogli izbjeći pisanje o razočaranju zbog tvrdog stava SAD-a. Nije li vaša vlada mogla učiniti više kako bi se spasio cijeli posao?

Moje je mišljenje da su Sjedinjene Američke Države snažno stajale u podršci tog posla. Učinili smo sve ono što se od nas tražilo. Uključujući i tzv. Third Party Transfer (dopuštenje za prodaju američke tehnologije trećoj strani, op.a.). Sjedinjene Američke Države nisu razočarane. Rekao sam da na sve ovo gledamo kao na proces i da je ovo samo jedan korak u tom procesu. Nadamo se da će Hrvatska, u konačnici, sklopiti pravi posao i kupiti zrakoplove.

Što to znači kad kažete sklopiti pravi posao? Imate li neke indicije što će se dogoditi s nabavkom novih borbenih zrakoplova ili što planira hrvatska strana u sljedećim mjesecima?

Vlada je, mislim, pokazala interes za nastavkom procesa odabira borbenog zrakoplova F-16. Nemamo specifične informacije koji su točno planovi hrvatske strane. No mi smo prenijeli vašoj Vladi spremnost da se uključimo u proces kad oni to zatraže.

Stalno naglašavate kako je SAD bio vrlo jasan o uvjetima prodaje zrakoplova, uključujući i zahtjev za demontažom izraelske elektronike prije isporuke Hrvatskoj. Zašto bi onda Izrael pristupio tenederu imajući na umu stroge američke odredbe koje bi, sasvim je jasno, ubile ugovor s Hrvatskom već na samom početku?

Čujte, nemam pojma kakve su bile nakane izraelske strane od ulaska u pregovore. Od početka je postojalo očekivanje da će zrakoplovi dobiti opremu sukladnu NATO standardima što je posebno važno za Hrvatsku. Ti zrakoplovi su morali biti u stanju komunicirati s drugim zrakoplovima kako bi postali dio vrijednih kapaciteta Saveza. Dakle, znalo se da će avioni trebati opremu koja je kompatibilna NATO-u. Ali zaista ne mogu ništa reći o tome kakve su bile namjere uključenih strana.

Što biste rekli na tvrdnje da je Hrvatska ispala kolateralna žrtva konflikta Izraela i Sjedinjenih Američkih Država, a ne tek trapavi kupac, kako se to pisalo u hrvatskim medijima?

Ne bih rekao da je riječ o sukobu. Više o procesu. U svake pregovore su uključene različite strane. One trebaju postići dogovor s kojim će svi biti zadovoljni. Nije do toga došlo, a to je opet dio procesa. Ako Hrvatska želi, sad može ponovno pokrenuti nabavku borbenog zrakoplova. Vjerujem da će, na kraju, vaša zemlja učiniti ono što će za nju biti najbolje. Ništa nije propalo, to je proces kako bi se pronašlo najbolje rješenje.

Hoćete li biti razočarani ako Hrvatska, primjerice, kupi borbene zrakoplove koji nisu proizvedeni u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama, unatoč vašem angažamanu?

Svakako bismo voljeli da Hrvatska kupi američke zrakoplove F-16. A koje točno, odlučit će Hrvatska. Ali da. Htjeli bismo da ih kupite.

Kako biste odgovorili na tvrdnje iz medija da je odluka o zaustavljaju prodaje izraelskih F-16 donesena ovdje, u ambasadi u Buzinu kraj Zagreba, a ne u Washingtonu?

Ovo veleposlanstvo, naše Ministarstvo vanjskih poslova i naše Ministarstvo obrane potpuno su podupirali prodaju zrakoplova Republici Hrvatskoj. Učinili smo sve što je bilo u našoj moći da Hrvatskoj omogućimo da postigne svoj cilj. Nismo vas blokirali ili se na taj način uplitali.

Sandra Šimunović/Pixsell

Što kažete na informacije da ste umalo bili proglašeni personom non grata?

Ne znam ništa o tome. Mislim da to nema veze s istinom niti da se o tome ozbiljno razgovaralo.

Hrvatski ministar obrane Damir Krstičević bio je pod neviđenim pritiskom zbog toga jer nije potpisan ugovor. Kakvo je vaše mišljenje o pozivima hrvatske oporbe na njegovu ostavku?

Ministar Krstičević je sudjelovao u pregovorima i smatram da je učinio posao za svaku pohvalu. Ne mislim da je na meni da ocjenjujem njegove postupke. Ti su pregovori bili složeni, ali kako se to zna dogoditi u poslu, dvije strane, Hrvatska i Izrael, nisu postigle zadovoljavajući dogovor. Zato je Hrvatska odustala. Uvijek treba biti spreman reći ne ako niste zadovoljni ishodom. To je ispravna odluka Vlade RH koja je time, između ostaloga, zaštitila i sačuvala hrvatski proračun.

Održan je niz sastanaka između vas i ministra obrane. O čemu ste razgovarali, jeste li pružali neke savjete hrvatskoj strani i, ako jeste, koje?

Sadržaji sastanaka između predstavnika Vlade SAD-a i Republike Hrvatske su povjerljivi. Ne smijem ulazili u detalje. Tijekom pregovora trudili smo se pružati podršku kad je to od nas traženo. Ni u jednom trenutku nismo se neprimjereno postavili ili sprečavali pregovore.

Okej, ali jeste li kao američki diplomat s mandatom u Hrvatskoj razočarani činjenicom da ovaj posao nije uspio?

Nisam. Uopće. Mislim da je Hrvatska ispravno postupila odbacivši sporazum koji im nije osigurao ono što su željeli. Tako se i treba postaviti kad ne postižete ono što vam treba.

Sad iz vas kao da progovara biznismen...

Biznismen bi napravio istu stvar kao i političar. Treba zaštititi svoj novac, zaštititi proračun i postići ono što zapravo želite. Ako je za to potrebno više vremena ili drugi krug pregovora, neka tako bude. To je sasvim prihvatljivo. Hoću reći da je Hrvatska učinila baš ono što je trebala.

Kako će se razvijati američko-hrvatska vojna suradnja u budućnosti? Primjerice, Srbija je iz Rusije, Kine i Bjelorusije dobila značajne količine naoružanja i vojne opreme. Imajući na umu ne tako davna iskustva, Hrvatska nije baš sretna takvom situacijom. Slažete li se?

Ne znam što su to Rusija i druge države dale Srbiji, ali znam da SAD snažno podržava hrvatske oružane snage. Tijekom proteklih godina donirali smo Hrvatskoj više od pola milijarde dolara vojne opreme, uključujući borbene helikoptere Kiowa Warrior, borbena vozila i oklopna terenska vozila, pokretne kuhinje, dva Black Hawk helikoptera vrijedna više od 50 milijuna dolara... Dakle, snažno podupiremo hrvatske oružane snage kako u opremi, tako i u obuci koju organiziramo za hrvatske časnike na američkim vojnim učilištima. Nije, naravno, sve u vojnoj opremi, važan je stupanj znanje i obuke. Mi, dakle, vjerujemo da imamo posebno vojno partnerstvo s Hrvatskom.

Možete li, molim vas, objasniti koji je financijski interes Republike Hrvatske u gradnji LNG terminala koji snažno gura i podržava vaša vlada u Washingtonu?

LNG terminal se planira već godinama. Jako sam sretan što se sad cijela stvar realizira. Ovo je strateški projekt za Hrvatsku i ovu regiju. Uz to, to je zaista projekt Europske unije i Hrvatske. Oni daju više od 100 milijuna eura što pokazuje njihovu snažnu predanost energetskoj diversifikaciji i sigurnosti. Mogu također radosno dodati da će Sjedinjene Američke Države poduprijeti projekt. LNG terminal će, dakle, biti vrlo velika prednost za cijelu regiju te će isto tako potvrditi da je Hrvatska kredibilan partner unutar Europske unije.

 

Sigurno, Hrvatska će dobiti izvor plina, ali tu neće biti neke financijske dobiti za nas. Zašto je tome tako? 

 

Nisam siguran da je tako. Pričekajmo desetak godina. Cijene plina rastu i padaju. Imati na raspolaganju još jedan izvor energije omogućuje bolju poziciju u pregovorima oko niže cijene plina s drugim proizvođačima. Iako to ne možete izravno povezati s gubitkom ili dobiti na LNG terminalu, ukupna cijena plina na tržištu mogla bi biti niža i tako dovesti do visoke stope povrata na ovoj investiciji. S druge strane, LNG terminal pruža sigurnost opskrbe plinom. Imate još jedan izvor. Cijene plina su jedno, ali uopće nemati plin je problem posebne vrste. Rekao bih da gradnja LNG terminala pruža mogućnost držanja cijena plina pod kontrolom i sigurnost opskrbe.

 

 

Gospodin ambasador Azimov kaže da njegova država, Rusija, vidi interes u kupnji mađarskih dionica Ine. Što vi mislite o tim namjerama? 

 

Nemam pojma koje su njihove namjere. Ono što znam jest to da je hrvatska Vlada poduzela prve korake i krenula u pravom smjeru. Angažirali su konzultante koji će im pomoći odrediti vrijednost kompanije. Ne možeš kupiti nešto ako ne znaš koliko vrijedi. To je prvi korak. Kad to bude gotovo, trebali bi se raspitati tko bi bio dobar investitor. Ovo je bitno - nije važno da ima potreban novac, nego da Hrvatskoj bude dobar i dugoročan partner. Iz poslovnog iskustva znam da nije uvijek dobro uzeti novac od onoga koji ga ima samo zato što ga ima. Morate dijeliti zajedničke dugoročne interese. Nadam se da će, tijekom tog procesa, američke tvrtke pozorno ispitati mogućnost ulaganja i dati financijsku ponudu. Već sad su neke američke tvrtke pokazale interes. 

 

Velike tvrtke? 

 

Naravno. To je velika investicija. Prilično sam uvjeren da će, kad dođe vrijeme, američke tvrtke dati ponude i biti pouzdan hrvatski partner. 

 

Lijepo, a kolika je razina potrebnog ulaganja? Neka vaša procjena? 

 

Ne znam. Premalo je dionica na tržištu da bi se mogla postaviti neka utemeljena procjena vrijednosti. Svakako, to je skupi pothvat. Puno više od milijarde dolara. Potrebni su eksperti, poput ovih koje je angažirala vaša Vlada, da bi se utvrdila dugoročna vrijednost. 

 

U redu, ali koliko su Rusi ozbiljni u najavama kupnje mađarskih dionica Ine? Ili je to tek stanoviti test američkih namjera u regiji? 

 

Pa, nisam sasvim siguran da je to samo test. Mislim da pokazuju stanoviti interes za kupnjom. Ali ako žele kupiti Inu, neka daju ponudu baš kao i drugi ponuđači. Hrvatska mora procijeniti dvije stvari. Iznos ponude i tko bi joj bio najbolji partner. 

 

 Ipak, zbunjuje pozicija u kojoj ne bi trebalo išta iz energetskog sektora prodati Rusima, a istodobno nema američkih ulaganja. Možete li to malo objasniti? 

 

Nije nam u interesu zaustaviti Ruse. Želimo nešto drugo: diversificirati opskrbu i omogućiti postizanje povoljnijih cijena plina. To je uloga LNG terminala. To je kao kad kupujete osiguranje za vašu kuću. Ako ne izgori, jeste li taj novac uludo potrošili? Naravno da niste. Imali ste osiguranu imovinu. I LNG će u budućnosti osigurati redovitu opskrbu plinom po povoljnim cijenama. I ako bude stajao nešto novca, svejedno će biti dragocjeno imati takvu vrstu osiguranja. Mi stojimo uz projekt, ali nemamo nikakav financijski interes. Možda hoćemo, a možda i nećemo prodavati plin. Koncentriramo se na to da ova regija bude sigurna i stabilna. Energija je važna komponenta u tome. 

 

Čuo sam da ste se, prije nekoliko tjedana, trebali susresti s glavnim šefom MOL-a Zsoltom Hernadijem u Budimpešti? Jeste li?

 

 Da. Bili smo na ručku.

Jeste li s njim razgovarali o ruskoj ponudi za MOL-ove dionice Ine? 

 

Ne bih ulazio u detalje našega razgovora. Naravno da smo se dotakli svih energetskih tema u ovoj regiji. On o tome zna puno. Vidite, nadam se da će Mađari i Hrvati biti u stanju zajedno sjesti te dogovoriti kupnju plina preko LNG terminala. Mislim da Hrvatska sad, baš zbog LNG terminala, može sasvim ravnopravno pregovarati i postići sporazum u kojemu će sudjelovati obje strane. 

 

Ok, razumijem. Znate li, gospodine Kohorst, da Zsolta Hernadija godinama traže pravosudna tijela Republike Hrvatske? 

 

Čitao sam o tome. 

 

I kako onda mislite da će na susret američkog veleposlanika u Hrvatskoj s Hernadijem reagirati Vlada RH? 

 

Samo smo bili na ručku. Nema tu ništa dubinskog ili ozbiljnog. Mislim da je bilo korisno čuti što on ima reći oko energetike. Nemam nikakav komentar oko njegove optužnice. On, očito, nije osuđen zbog kriminala (kršenja zakona)... ...dok nije osuđen smatra se nevinim... Barem tako funkcionira pravni sustav u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama. Vjerujem da je tako i u Hrvatskoj. 

 

Nedavno ste podržali izjavu predsjednice Kolinde Grabar Kitarović koja se potpuno ogradila od ustaškog pozdrava 'Za dom spremni'. U međuvremenu je malo promijenila stajalište rekavši da je u nekim situacijama ipak prihvatljiv. Imate li neki komentar? 

 

Trebali biste pitati gospođu predsjednicu koja je njezina pozicija. Moje je mišljenje da bi svi trebali uživati fundamentalne slobode: govora i medija. S druge strane, to ne znači da bi svi trebali govoriti što im pada na pamet. Pojedinci bi trebali voditi računa kad daju neprikladne izjave i kloniti se toga. 

 

Novinari se bune da hrvatska Vlada kontrolira medije?  

 

Općenito sam mišljenja da Vlada RH poštuje slobodu medija i slobodu govora. Nadam se da će tako ostati. Zabrinut sam zbog broja sudskih tužbi protiv novinara. Time bi se trebalo baviti i ne dopustiti da stvar ode predaleko. Novinari također imaju obvezu istinito izvještavati. Dakle, mora postojati ravnoteža između slobode medija i odgovornosti novinara koji trebaju izvještavati istinito. Stranica 2/2

Pročitajte više na: https://express.24sata.hr/top-news/trumpov-covjek-za-hrvatsku-da-rucao-sam-s-hernadijem-20752?page=2 - express.24sata.hr

Brunch with Sifted: psychedelic investor Christian Angermayer (By Michael Stothard 16 November 2020)

 https://sifted.eu/articles/christian-angermayer-compass-atai/?fbclid=IwAR01wM8wnNdzymcdMgFejl4sYM42j5jYwlfd95JfwCDU-e7xY3nLE_bZnHI

 

Brunch with Sifted: psychedelic investor Christian Angermayer

Instrumental in the founding of Compass Pathways and chairman of Atai Life Sciences, Christian Angermayer has been leading a global psychedelic renaissance. 

 The art on the 29th floor London penthouse apartment of German tech investor and entrepreneur Christian Angermayer has two themes: psychedelics and gay emperors.

One corner has a 2,300-year-old marble bust of Alexander the Great’s lover Hephaestion. To his right sits a 2,000-year-old bust of the Roman emperor Hadrian next to a picture of his lover Antinous.

But the 42-year-old is most proud of his 2,400-year-old bust of Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess revered in an ancient ritual which, according to Angermayer and a growing body of research, involved dosing figures such as Plato and Socrates with powerful psychedelics.

  “There is more and more evidence that psychedelics were a foundation of western civilisation,” he says.

This excitement makes sense for a man who, over the past five years, has been perhaps the single biggest financial driving force behind shifting psychedelic drugs from a dusty relic of 1960s’ counterculture into the medical mainstream as a legal medicine to treat mental illnesses.

While today there is a growing body of clinical trials and early approvals from regulators, before Angermayer this field was seen as largely the preserve of hippies and dreamers.

In September, the company he helped found in 2017, Compass Pathways, which has developed a synthetic version of psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) and is conducting the world’s first large-scale therapy clinical trial using the drug, listed in New York. His 28% stake, which cost him around $55m over multiple rounds, became worth more than $400m.

Next spring the biotech company he founded Atai Life Sciences — which is pursuing a large range of treatments for mental-health disorders using other more obscure drugs such as DMT, ar-ketamine and ibogaine — is set to go public as well at an expected $1bn-$2bn valuation, according to bankers familiar with the process.

With these high-profile exits and an increasingly large fortune — his investment company, Apeiron Investment Group, manages around $750m of his own money and $600m of others’ and invests in longevity research, biotech, fintech, spacetech, crypto and entertainment  — Angermayer is becoming one of Europe’s most powerful and influential tech investors.

He has also won the ear of political leaders — his sideboard has pictures of him with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde — and now regularly co-invests with renowned US investors such as Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, Steve Jurvetson, an early investor and board member of Tesla and SpaceX and Michael Novogratz from Galaxy Investment Partners.

 “Christian is successful because he is curious,“ Thiel told Sifted in an email exchange. “He finds because he seeks — both ideas and people. That sounds simple, but it’s rare.”

 

The first trip

The rule of Brunch with Sifted is that the interviewee picks the restaurant and Sifted picks up the bill. But as London is in the midst of a pandemic, restaurants feel a bit risky, so I turn up at his apartment cum office near Old Street in east London where he has prepared a business brunch of smoked salmon, ham, croissant, coffee, cheese, melon and strawberries. 

His cousin, Stephan — not the only handsome young family member hanging around his apartment on a Saturday — is making some scrambled eggs with just the right hint of pepper. 

Angermayer is wearing a grey jumper with the chemical symbol for psilocybin on the chest (he has the same symbol tattooed on his arm). He starts with a tour of the art, pointing out the psychedelic pieces, the gay emperors and their lovers as well as a golden triptych made by his friend Landon Ross which — he says with a flourish —  “contains only elements created in the last three seconds of a dying star… that’s basically where we all come from and end up.”

When we sit down it becomes apparent that this luxurious spread isn’t his usual Saturday morning fare: he chooses delicately to avoid any carbs — which is part of a regime to help extend his life — while I pile bread and ham onto my plate.

I start by asking him about Compass Pathways and how he got involved with psychedelics. Or more importantly: when was his first trip?

 

It started, he says, with friends on the Caribbean island of Canouan (where, he notes, it’s legal) back in 2014. He had resisted pressure for years: he had never drunk, smoked or done any drugs before so he was reluctant to try psilocybin. But when he finally tried he found it such a profound experience he became a “die-hard convert” to its positive benefits to mental health. 

“All my trips together now make some of the most meaningful experiences of my entire life,” he says.

He began searching for a way to turn this into a business, when his friend Michael Novogratz in 2017 introduced him to George Goldsmith and Ekaterina Malievskaia (who now lead Compass Pathways) and who had similar ideas about the benefits of psilocybin for mental health. 

A few weeks later Angermayer had promised the couple the £3m of investment they needed to start a real business. “They had spent years in meetings getting nowhere, but I stopped them after 10 minutes and said, ‘I am in’.” (The £3m was split between Novogratz, Thiel and him.)

Just a few years later Compass Pathways is doing psilocybin therapy clinical trials in 20 sites across nine countries in Europe and North America and is now getting so big in this field that it’s faced criticism for trying to create a magic mushroom monopoly by patenting an artificial form of psilocybin, a critique Angermayer rejects. 

“We are not coming after the hippies growing this organically at home,” he says. “We are patenting this so we can bring the synthetic version of this natural drug to the hundreds of millions of people who need it for medical conditions and can only get it if it’s prescribed by doctors and paid by their health insurance.”

 

A Chaga mushroom coffee and the first few startups

Angermayer at this point wants a coffee so walks over to the kitchen. “I am having a mushroom coffee, would you like one?” I looked startled, but only for a moment as he assured me it’s just coffee with Chaga mushroom (a popular “wellness” supplement) with some extra Lion’s Mane mushroom extract pipetted in. All non-psychedelic. 

Now sipping our pleasant and slightly earthy coffee, he tells me that he didn’t grow up in a world of drug research and billionaires. He was born in a small town in northern Bavaria to a mother who is a secretary and father who was an engineer. “If you had asked my parents what I should be, they would have said teacher or doctor.” 

But by the age of 20 he was dropping out of university to found his first biotech company, Ribopharma, with two of his professors which eventually merged with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and listed on the stock exchange (now worth $15bn). Ever since then he has been starting tech companies and investing, initially with four friends and now alone through Alpiron.

One of his big breaks came during the European sovereign debt crisis where, thanks to some political connections, he became known among elite investor circles worldwide as someone who understood the problem and — more importantly — how Germany saw it. This made him friends and eventually coinvestors.

Living forever

Today, on top of psychedelic research, Angermayer is one of the most prominent investors in the field of longevity, where he is heavily involved in two companies, Rejuveron Life Sciences in Switzerland and Cambrian Biopharma in the US.

The science behind longevity — pioneered by figures such as Aubrey de Grey and Ray Kurzweil — is today centred around finding specific treatments around the nine “hallmarks of ageing” to help to halt or even reverse the ageing process. 

Angermayer is also part of a movement pushing for ageing to be classified as a disease so it would be easier to do clinical trials on anti-ageing drugs. 

“People say that dying is natural, but it’s really things going wrong in your body,” he says. “For thousands of years, we have merely devoted ourselves to the conviction that ageing and death are inevitable and ‘natural’, and have integrated this narrative into our culture and all religions. Science is just beginning to better understand the reasons for ageing and dying, and a disease that we understand will eventually be cured.”

But do we want to live forever? “I don’t think people will want to live forever, but I think they would like it to be their choice to die after say 150 or 200 years rather than getting killed by the ageing disease.” He adds: “Some people will find it hard to cope with an ever quicker changing world, but psychedelics could help with that as well. They could help us keep the lust for life alive.”

 

The future

Angermayer has a lot on beyond psychedelics and living forever. One of his investments at the moment, AbCellera, an antibody therapy company he is closely involved with which has been part of the fight to develop a treatment for coronavirus, has hired bankers and is set to IPO within the next months for several billion dollars, according to people close to the company.

He is an investor in Deposit Solutions, the German fintech unicorn, and two European space leaders Mynaric and Isar Aerospace, to name a few others. He says he has raised $500m for his portfolio companies in the past six months and is hands-on operationally with most of them. He connects people: it was him who last year put Japan’s SoftBank in touch with now-collapsed German fintech Wirecard about an investment. He has made films such as Filth, Aspern Papers and Hector and the Search for Happiness.

Oh, and he is on the advisory council of Rwandan president Paul Kagame. This came after, in 2009, he bought a bank in Rwanda after being impressed by meeting the leader at dinner in Germany. It was “the only thing that was being privatised at that moment”, he says. He expanded the lender and later sold it to Bob Diamond, the former Barclays CEO.

But what does the future hold, I ask? By this point we’ve been talking for three hours, the afternoon is marching on, and Angermayer is even breaking his no-carbs rule nibbling on the corner of a croissant.

Pausing for a moment, leaning back in his chair, he says that beyond tech investments and dealmaking he has a long-term vision that somewhen down the road, psychedelics could shape global politics for the better. 

He is, for instance, funding a study by Robin Carhart-Harris, head of psychedelic research at Imperial College in London, to study the effect of Palestinians and Israelis drinking the psychedelic drug Ayahuasca together.

 He is also spreading the message more widely in his powerful circles. “I am a partner of the Munich Security Conference, [a high profile event in international relations], and at one dinner, I joked with them that I was going to spike their drink with psilocybin…”

He adds quickly: “I mean, I was completely joking, of course. But I also told them that there had been times in history when world leaders used the power of psychedelics to become better leaders, especially for conflict resolution purposes. Looking at a world which, despite best intentions, becomes increasingly divided, maybe we have to think radically differently.”

He also has a European agenda, believing that his investment focus on biotech and deeptech are areas where Europe, after losing out to the US over the past decade in creating the big ecommerce and social platforms, has a chance of catching up. “We have some of the best engineers and researchers in the world,” he says.

Governments he is less enamoured of, criticising the German government’s latest change in the law to make it easier for startups to offer stock options as not going far enough, saying that after years of efforts from business it was only a tiny change to the rules. “It’s like having sex once after 10 years, and not even good sex, and then expecting your partner to be satisfied… No, it is still far too little, and far from perfect. We have to do better.”

And on that note, it’s time to leave, saying a socially-distanced goodbye, walking into his private lobby (where there is an 18th-century bronze statue of the Roman gladiator called Retiarius), taking the lift down and getting on my bike back home.

 

 

 

 

 

Christopher Bennett Appointed as New Head of OHR Office in Banja Luka (20/07/2009)

 07/20/2009 OHR Sarajevo

 

Christopher Bennett Appointed as New Head of OHR Office in Banja Luka

The High Representative, Valentin Inzko, has appointed Christopher Michael Bennett as the new Head of the OHR office in Banja Luka. Mr. Bennett will take up his duties on July 27, 2009. He replaces Ivan Bušniak, who has been Head of OHR Banja Luka since September 1, 2007.

Mr. Bennett is an expert on Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has been engaged professionally in this region for more than a decade in total, including the period between June 2006 and September 2007, when he served as OHR Director of Communications. From May 2000 to June 2006, Mr. Bennett edited NATO Review; from 1996 to 1999 he was a political analyst and deputy director of the International Crisis Group, specializing in the Balkans.

Christopher Bennett speaks Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, Slovenian, English and French fluently, and has a working knowledge of Spanish, German and Russian. He is married with two children.

Appointing Christopher Bennett to the position of Head of the OHR in Banja Luka, the High Representative expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Ivan Bušniak for the work he has done for the OHR and for the contribution he has made to the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

 

Report of the World Health Organization: Depleted Uranium Mission to Kosovo (WHO, 2001)

NATO/FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA: “COLLATERAL DAMAGE” OR UNLAWFUL KILLINGS?(Violations of the Laws of War by NATO during Operation Allied Force) (Amnesty International, 2000)

Depleted Uranium in Kosovo: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment (United Nations Environment Programme, 2001)

Are We All Getting "Nuked" in Kosovo? 13-Mar-2007

https://www.nato.int/Kfor/chronicle/2001/nr_010124.htm Are We All Getting "Nuked" in Kosovo?

Text: Lt-Cdr. Rune Berge -- Photo: S J Lewis RM

PRISTINA: For the last couple of weeks, speculations about Depleted Uranium have spread faster in the world press than a storm in the Bermuda Triangle. But still we do not have a proper answer to the main question in this topic: Are we all getting nuked in Kosovo? "No", says Bernard Kouchner, former United Nations Administrator in Kosovo and one of the founders of Medecins sans Frontieres, winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. "According to my experience as Health Minister of France, there is no threat here. That is not to say I'm not taking this seriously. On the contrary, I'm suggesting that an independent body, such as Friends of Earth, should come and freely make their own exploration and investigation", he says in an UNMIK press release. Just a few days before he resigned as the UN Administrator in Kosovo, he visited a site that had clearly been under heavy attack during the 1999 air strikes. At the site, in the town of Klina in western Kosovo, the Italian Brigade's Nuclear Biological-Chemical unit demonstrated their techniques of seeking radiation left by depleted uranium. "The brigades check continuously all over Kosovo, and continuously they return to see if the level is higher than normal", Dr. Kouchner told media at the scene. He also mentioned that the results from the tests done on soldiers by the United Nations Environmental Program would be known in February. "We have also requested Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the head of the World Health Organization, to send specialists to Kosovo to do an investigation on the health of the population." Questioned whether he is concerned about the risk of depleted uranium, he responded: "I am concerned, but not worried. We are taking it seriously. But worried about the consequences of an eventual relationship between depleted uranium and cancer? No!" Same level of radioactivity in Sweden and Italy Previously in November a scientific team of the United Nations Environmental Program confirmed that there is not a high risk from depleted uranium in Kosovo. According to NATO, depleted uranium was used in 112 sites in Kosovo. In those sites, scientists measured slightly higher beta and gamma radioactivity during an examination last year. "We don't consider that risky, because the same level of radioactivity is found in natural background in some areas in Sweden and Italy", Pekka Haavisto, Chief of UNEP Assessment Team, said in Pristina in November last year. The team of 14 scientists, which he led, was also in Kosovo last October. On their second trip to Kosovo, the scientist examined eleven sites in southern and western Kosovo, taking soil and water samples, plus taking vegetation samples including milk samples from cows at the sites visited. He called for precautions to be taken especially when dealing directly with penetrates and sabots at the sites, as the final conclusions of the scientific assessment team can only be made after obtaining the results from laboratory analyses. "In Kosovo you have many other more serious environmental risks connected to the air pollution, waste treatment and management", Haavisto also added. Use of DU weapons could be war crime ITALY, Rome -- NATO's use of depleted uranium could be investigated as a possible war crime, the chief prosecutor for the international war crimes tribunal has said. Carla del Pronte told Italian state TV on Sunday: "If we have sufficient elements we will be obliged to investigate" as to whether the use of the heavy metal in the Balkans conflicts constituted a war crime. Numerous NATO member states, including Italy, are currently carrying out their own health and scientific investigations into a possible link between the use of the radioactive weapons used during the Balkan wars and cancer-related deaths among servicemen serving in the region. The latest country to embark on an investigation is Switzerland. Its defense ministry said on Sunday that it's planned to check the health implications of DU weapons test-fired in central Switzerland 30 years ago. U.N. plays GENEVA, Switzerland -- The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is "unlikely" that depleted uranium ammunition used by NATO troops could have caused cancer. The Geneva-based United Nations health agency on Friday issued its first recommendation on the ammunition since the beginning of the current controversy over potential health risks. The body concluded it was "unlikely" that exposure to NATO weapons containing depleted uranium could have led to a higher risk of cancer among military personnel who served in the Balkan conflicts. But it said that it was planning a study to "assess whether there has been an increased rate of cancer amongst military personnel who served in the Gulf War or Balkans, as well as amongst exposed populations," CNN reports.

Comandante de CHILFOR 32 recibe medalla de excelencia de la misión (ejercito de chile 17/08/2020)

https://www.ejercito.cl/prensa/visor/comandante-de-chilfor-32-recibe-medalla-de-excelencia-de-la-mision?fbclid=IwAR3VOU44pZ-VU17FXZrglM6UVJsshPlxFT6zpIAaIhay9gWTtykuToEhok8

Noticias

Comandante de CHILFOR 32 recibe medalla de excelencia de la misión

En mérito al destacado trabajo desempeñado en la misión de operaciones de paz en Bosnia y Herzegovina, el Comandante de las fuerzas chilenas CHILFOR 32, Teniente Coronel Alejandro Pliscoff C., fue distinguido por el Comandante de las Fuerzas de la Unión Europea EUFOR Althea.

En la mañana del 14 de agosto, el Comandante de la EUFOR Althea, Mayor General Reinhard Trischack, otorgó la medalla de excelencia de la misión al Oficial chileno, destacando de esta manera su labor al interior del Estado Mayor.

La distinción fue entregada al Teniente Coronel Pliscoff en reconocimiento por implementar una reingeniería en el ámbito de la inteligencia como Jefe de Departamento del Cuartel General Multinacional, siendo de esta manera el primer oficial chileno en obtener la más alta distinción de EUFOR.

En este sentido, el oficial destaca el valor de este reconocimiento y manifiesta que “en el año 2008 ya había obtenido la Commendation y Evaluation Outstanding por mi desempeño como Oficial de Inteligencia y Operaciones y segundo comandante del Regional Coordination 1, en la ciudad de Banja Luka, y poder regresar 12 años después al Cuartel General de EUFOR como Asesor de Estado Mayor es un salto profesional considerable, en donde he podido demostrar todos los conocimientos y competencias obtenidas, tanto en Chile como en el extranjero y poder medirme con profesionales y colegas de otros ejércitos, principalmente europeos, en excelente forma”.

Sobre la labor efectuada desde que comenzó la misión de la Fuerza chilena CHILFOR 32, el 1 de diciembre de 2019 y que culmina el 20 de agosto, siendo reemplazados por el despliegue de CHILFOR 33 en la zona, el Teniente Coronel Pliscoff manifiesta que durante este tiempo se realizó con éxito una reingeniería a los procesos de inteligencia tendientes a un modelo productivo, ante lo cual enfatiza que “CHILFOR 33 tendrá la tarea, no menor, de consolidar este proceso denominado “J2 review” en cuanto a procesos y correcciones de detalle, siendo esta consolidación, una de las fases más complejas a liderar, de todo un cambio organizacional”.

Este nuevo desafió será asumido por el Teniente Coronel Cristian Villarroel R., al mando de CHILFOR 33 y quien participó de esta actividad de reconocimiento, donde se entrevistó con el Comandante de EUFOR Althea.

El Teniente Coronel Villarroel, ante el inició de esta misión de paz recalca que uno de los objetivos es mantener el estándar alcanzado por sus antecesores y que “mientras que CHILFOR 32 tuvo que abordar un proceso de optimización que permitiese lograr inteligencia predictiva, nosotros tendremos que implementar el rediseño y ponerlo en práctica”.

Ejército de Chile

LIGA ZA PRANJE NOVCA (br 158, 9. juni / lipanj 2000.)

Kako je plemenita misija Internacionalne lige humanista iskoristena za prebijanje dugova sarajevskog trgovackog preduzeca "Bazar" prema bosansko-turskoj firmi "Kalem"? Kakva je veza izmedju Elizabeth Rehn i jednog od prvoboraca bosanskog dzihada i komandosa turske armije - Jilmaza Juksektepea Komanda? Saradnik Dana iz Zenice raspetljava nesvakidasnji novcani cvor u kojem donacije za pomoc zastiti djece postaju pokrice za vracanje nenaplacenih potrazivanja

Pise: Esad Hecimovic

---

Da li je jedna medjunarodna konferencija za zastitu djece, organizirana prosle jeseni u Dubrovniku pod pokroviteljstvom Elizabeth Rehn, posluzila i za "pranje dugova" jedne bosansko-turske firme u suvlasnistvu Komanda, jednog od prvoboraca bosanskog dzihada? "To bi bilo pranje novca kada bih ja na to pristao", objasnjava Zdravko Surlan, generalni sekretar Internacionalne lige humanista (IHL), odbijajuci optuzbe za prevaru koje na njegov racun izrice Abidin Tokaj, direktor "Kalema", mjesovitog tursko-bosanskog preduzeca iz Zenice. Spor izmedju "Kalema" i IHL-a poceo je sredinom januara ove godine. Ispred Nadzornog odbora Internacionalne lige humanista upucen je dopis sarajevskom trgovackom preduzecu "Bazar", potpisan imenom tuzlanskog docenta dr. Imsira Imsirovica. "Na temelju uvida u dokumentaciju, Nadzorni organ Internacionalne lige humanista utvrdio je da je Vasa organizacija uplatila 5.000 KM na ime donacije za odrzavanje Medjunarodne konferencije o zastiti djece od zloupotrebe i nasilja, za sto Vam se osobno zahvalio generalni sekretar Internacionalne lige humanista. Medjutim, kako se radi o donaciji za najhumaniji projekat o kojoj moramo imati Vasu odluku o donaciji, kako bi sluzbeno izvijestili nadlezne organe Lige, Federacije i Kantona Sarajevo (u vezi Vase plemenitosti), to Vas molimo da samo pismeno potvrdite tu Vasu donaciju, kako bismo mogli poslati izvjestaj", pisalo je u dopisu IHL-a trgovcima u "Bazaru". Kako donacija postaje pozajmica Ali, zbunjeni sarajevski trgovci su na dopis samo dopisali oznaku "Veza - Kalem" i proslijedili pismo u Zenicu, direktoru ovog preduzeca Abidinu Tokaju. Ovaj tehnolog, koji je vecinu radnog vijeka proveo u banjaluckom kombinatu "Krajisnik" kao tehnicki direktor i direktor fabrike "Jadranka", tvrdi danas da je bio sokiran. "Sa Surlanom sam dogovorio pozajmicu od 2.000 maraka, a ne donaciju od 5.000 KM. Poznavao sam njega i njegovu bracu jos iz Banje Luke. Kada sam ga posjetio u sjedistu Lige humanista, u prisustvu Josipa Pejakovica, Surlan mi je pokazivao rukom da mu trebaju dvije hiljade kao pozajmica za konferenciju u Dubrovniku. Cak mi je obecao da ce mi taj novac vratiti u kesu. Potrazio sam potpisanog dr. Imsira Imsirovica u Tuzli i on mi je rekao da je njegovo ime upotrijebljeno mimo njegovog znanja", tvrdi Tokaj, trazeci da mu pozajmljeni novac bude vracen. Trgovacko preduzece "Bazar", ocito, nije ni vjerovalo da treba donijeti odluku o donaciji Internacionalnoj ligi humanista, jer nije ni bilo rijeci o "Bazarovom", nego o "Kalemovom" novcu. Tokaj objasnjava da je, po nagovoru i obmani Zdravka Surlana, usmeno zatrazio od direktora "Bazara" da uplati novac na racun IHL-a. "Kalem" i "Bazar" su, prema Tokajevom objasnjenju, dobri poslovni partneri. "Kalem" uvozi djeciju konfekciju i konfekcijski pribor iz Turske, a sarajevski "Bazar", sa svojim prodavnicama u Curciluku, Hrasnom i drugim dijelovima Sarajeva, najveci je od 150 prodavaca te robe. Godisnji promet "Kalema" iznosi oko 350.000 maraka, ali, prema Tokajevom objasnjenju, nenaplacena potrazivanja su dostigla cak oko 200.000 maraka. Tokaj nastoji na razlicite nacine naplatiti ova potrazivanja od drzavnih i privatnih firmi sirom BiH - roba se dobro prodaje, ali trgovci ne placaju dobavljacu. Trenutni dug "Bazara" prema "Kalemu" iznosi oko 28.000 maraka. Tokaj tvrdi da mu je Zdravko Surlan, generalni sekretar Internacionalne lige humanista, ponudio pomoc u naplati dugova. "Surlan mi je rekao da ce, ako dam pozajmicu, pisati svim mojim duznicima i iz cisto humanih razloga urgirati kod njih da isplate dugove prema zKalemu'", tvrdi Tokaj. "Ta sredstva su uplacena. Medjutim, oni su kasnije dosli u veoma tesku situaciju i traze da im se ta sredstva vrate, ali mi ih ne mozemo vratiti posto je to donacija. Mi smo njih molili da donesu odluku. Donirana sredstva su cisto namjenska, to je bilo za konferenciju u Dubrovniku i ta konferencija je zavrsena. Sredstva je, na njihov prijedlog, uplatila njihova partnerska organizacija, sarajevski zBazar'. I sad smo mi od zBazara' trazili da donese odluku, jer ne mozemo drzati sredstva bez odluke. Ali, sada zKalem' trazi da mu se ta sredstva vrate, a mi to ne mozemo jer je rijec o namjenskoj donaciji", objasnjava Zdravko Surlan, tvrdeci da uopce nije on dogovarao donaciju sa "Kalemom", nego jedan od koordinatora IHL-a, koji je trenutno nedostupan. Surlan se poziva na odluku "Kalema", na osnovu koje je i upucen pisani nalog "Bazaru" da uplati sredstva na racun IHL-a. U tom pismenom nalogu stoji da "Kalemova" odluka od 20. jula 1999, kojom je donirao 30.000 KM za ucesce djece bez roditelja na Medjunarodnoj konferenciji koju organizira IHL od 26. do 27. septembra, "nije mogla biti realizovana zbog potrazivanja koja nismo naplatili od nasih komitenata, medju kojima je i Vase preduzece". Da li je Surlan obmanuo Tokaja? "Kako smo preuzeli obaveze prema ovoj svjetskoj organizaciji, koje moramo uplatiti do 15. septembra ove godine, to smo odlucili da nasi duznici direktno uplate odredjeni iznos kako ne bismo dosli u situaciju da budemo prozvani bez nase krivice. Stoga Vas ovlascujemo da od dijela duga nasem preduzecu uplatite na donatorski racun Lige humanista Sarajevo iznos od 10 hiljada KM, kako bi mogli da ga upotrijebe za Konferenciju. Kako se radi o donatorskim sredstvima, na iste ne placate doprinose. Trebate navesti naznaku zDonacija za djecu bez roditelja'. Za ovaj iznos umanjite dugovanja ovoj organizaciji", stoji u pismu koje je, bez datuma, sa potpisom i pecatom "Kalema", na "Kalemovom" memorandumu, adresirano na direktora sarajevskog "Bazara". Upoznat sa postojanjem pismenog ovlastenja direktoru "Bazara" da dio dugova uplati na racun IHL-a, direktor "Kalema" kaze da "ne moze ni da potvrdi niti da negira postojanje takvog pisma". Abidin Tokaj tvrdi da, ako i postoji takvo pismo, onda je Surlan njega obmanuo i naveo da tako nesto potpise i ovjeri. Tokaj tvrdi da nema nikakav dokument o dogovoru sa IHL-om, a Surlan tvrdi da su "Kalemova" odluka i pismo "Bazaru", koje on posjeduje, autentican dokument. U jednom pismu Tokaju, datiranom dan nakon novinarskog upita, Surlan upucuje direktora "Kalema" da jedino Bazar moze zatraziti povrat donacije, ako je ona imala neku drugu svrhu (politicku, finansijsku transakciju, vjersku ili bilo koju drugu). U ovom pismu Surlan potvrdjuje da je pismo IHL-a "Bazaru" napisala strucna sluzba, a ne dr. Imsirovic, koji je potpisan: "Bili ste kod dr. Imsira Imsirovica, koga ste pitali u vezi pisma koje je u njegovo ime nasa sluzba poslala zBazaru'. Sto je tu lose? Sluzba ima pravo da u ime organa pise. Vi ste prijetili tuzbom", pisao je Surlan Tokaju, pozivajuci ga da to rijesi "u duhu dobre poslovne saradnje, a ne ogovaranjem i prijetnjom". Internacionalna liga humanista utemeljena je 1974. jednim sastankom u Dubrovniku na kome su se okupila "sestorica mirotvoraca: Philip Noel Baker, prvi predsjednik Komiteta za razoruzanje UN-a, nosilac Nobelove nagrade za mir, Ava i Linus Pauling, nosioci Nobelove nagrade za mir i kemiju, Aurelio Peccei, predsjednik Rimskog kluba, Sophia Wadia, indijska knjizevnica, i Ivan Supek, rektor Univerziteta u Zagrebu". Odlukom iz 1998. godine, sjediste ove Lige izmjesteno je iz Philadelphije u Sarajevo. Konferencija Internacionalne lige humanista u Dubrovniku od 26. do 29. septembra 1999. godine, odrzana je na temu "Zastita djece od zloupotrebe i nasilja". Pokrovitelj i glavni uvodnicar ove konferencije je Elizabeth Rehn, tadasnji specijalni izaslanik generalnog sekretara UN-a za ljudska prava u BiH. Cinjenica da je konferencija odrzana pod tako visokim medjunarodnim pokroviteljstvom, za regionalne prilike, daje za pravo onima koji tvrde "da uopce nije bio problem novac za odrzavanje ove konferencije". Zasto je IHL zvao policiju? Bosansko-tursko preduzece "Kalem" iz Zenice ima tri suvlasnika. Jedan od njih je Abidin Tokaj, direktor preduzeca. U bosanskoj javnosti je daleko poznatiji mudzahid sa ratnim imenom Komando, jedan od prvih i najpoznatijih stranih mudzahida u srednjoj Bosni koji je ucestvovao u nizu vaznih ratnih akcija kao sto je proboj obruca oko Sarajeva, kod Ilijasa, u decembru 1992. godine. Njegovo ime je Jilmaz Juksektepe, a nadimak je dobio po svom profesionalnom zvanju komandosa turske vojske, u cijem sastavu je bio prije dolaska u Bosnu. Komando je novcem i znanjem pomogao ratne napore, ali nije dobio drzavljanstvo BiH. Postovaoci njegovog ratnog doprinosa tvrde da je i u ratu Komando vise puta prevaren od bosnjackih zvanicnika. Treci suvlasnik je trgovac i konfekcionar iz Burse Osman Bahadir. Nije poznato u kakvim su sve poslovnim odnosima bili Internacionalna liga humanista i "Kalem". Tokaj Abidin tvrdi da su, prije ove prevare, imali i zajednicki plan otvaranja jedne fabrike za izradu gornjih dijelova obuce, koja bi imala mjesecni prihod od 200.000 maraka. Tokaj tvrdi da ce sada pokusati samostalno da ostvari ovaj projekat, objasnjavajuci da mu toliko vise i nije stalo do povrata novca koliko do toga da javnost sazna kakvim se sve sredstvima sluzi sekretar IHL-a, pozivajuci se na pomoc djeci u "humanitarnom biznisu". U cijeloj prici nije moguce do kraja istraziti odnose i dogovore Zdravka Surlana i Abidina Tokaja. Surlan je o svemu izvijestio Finansijsku policiju, MUP Zenica i "druge nadlezne instuticije" trazeci da se provjeri Tokaj. Direktor "Kalema" objasnjava da je on policajcima dobro poznat, jer je vec bio zrtva jednog nocnog prepada u kome su mu trojica napadaca prijetila pistoljem i nozem, trazeci da u jednom kontejneru ostavi 30.000 maraka. Tokaj tvrdi da se prema njemu policija odnosi kao prema zrtvi, te da ga nisu maltretirali nakon Surlanove prijave. Ko je prevaren, a ko je prevarant? Jedini pisani trag jeste uplata 5.000 maraka sa racuna "Bazara" na racun IHL-a. S obzirom da "Bazar" nije svojom odlukom potvrdio da je uplaceni novac njegova donacija, ocito je tacna tvrdnja da je "Bazar" IHL-u platio dio svojih dugovanja prema "Kalemu". Tako je pod izgovorom donacije, IHL naplatio dio "Kalemovih" dugovanja u svoju korist. Niti "Komando", niti Elizabeth Rehn o tome nisu, izgleda, nista znali.

Transcript - Press Conference 4 June 2002, 11.00 Hours Coalition Press Information Center Tito Barracks

https://www.nato.int/sfor/trans/2002/t020604a.htm?fbclid=IwAR3KjicH0_OyBM1mi9T-aKC2Qb8Af3Mx_xM8JEySE_OXho1pvlgusH4yud4

Transcript - Press Conference

4 June 2002, 11.00 Hours
Coalition Press Information Center
Tito Barracks

Julian Braithwaite - OHR

To those of you who do not know me, my name is Julian Braithwaite and I am the new Chief Spokesman at the Office of the High Representative. I would like to begin with a readout of an interview that Paddy Ashdown has just given to Radio BiH1, part of which will be going out at 1800 hours this evening and the rest of it will be going out on Saturday. His main message was as follows and I can basically quote you what he said.

He said that last week was the easy part. He said it was easy to go around saying what Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to do to deliver better jobs for the people of this country and a better future for their children.

He said that the hard part will be making this happen. He said that for him that means very clear prioritisation.

He said that what the people in this country need is an effective and impartial judicial system, free from political control. He said that Bosnia and Herzegovina currently had a judicial system that delivers justice for the politicians but not for the people.

He said he was determined to accelerate the process of judicial reform. Yesterday, he said he had given an interview to RTRS and to Nezavisne Novine to underline his complete support for the judicial reform legislation imposed by his predecessor.

On Thursday, he will be attending the inaugural session of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and be giving it his full support as the Court that will hear the most high-profile cases of criminality and corruption.

In the interview he stressed one thing in particular. He said that we must have - all of us - zero tolerance for corruption. He said that there are allegations of corruption at all levels of government in this country, which in any other European country would already have led to resignations and full investigations.

He said nobody should be allowed to get away with robbing the people of this country of millions and millions of KM (Convertible Marks) of public funds. Money, he said, that should be going to education, healthcare, and pensions, is going into the private bank accounts of the powerful and politically well connected.

He then issued a challenge to the authorities of this country. He said if you want to be accepted into Europe, if you want to do the right thing for your people, you must pursue these cases without compromise and ensure that justice is done. He said that whether the cause is incompetence or corruption pure and simple, those responsible should pay the price.

Also in the interview, the new High Representative appealed to all the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina who need to register for the elections in October to do so by the deadline of 18 June. He said that this was particularly important because unless people voted and voted for change there would be no change.

On the Human Rights Chamber decision about the Palic case - you may have read that there was an article in Oslobodjenje at the weekend reporting that Mrs. Palic had written to Paddy Ashdown. The High Representative responding today to that letter and he believes that it is a disgrace that despite the 11 January 2001 decision of the Human Rights Chamber, a proper investigation has yet been carried out and those who abducted Colonel Palic have not yet been brought to justice. In his letter, he says that justice and the rule of law are the starting point, the essential requirement for a descent life for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for progress in everything we do. He said that he would be taking this matter up with the authorities of the Republika Srpska and asking them why it is that a full investigation has not been completed and why it is that Mrs. Palic has not been told about what really happened to her husband. He says that he sees this as an important test case for the authorities of the Republika Srpska in terms of their implementation of the Human Rights Chamber decisions.

Urdur Gunnarsdottir - OSCE

I have a short media advisory. It is about a press conference we are holding here in CPIC tomorrow at 1200 hours.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Council of Europe, European Commission and UNICEF, we are holding a press conference to launch a report on the Roma situation in Tuzla Canton. The present situation of Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina is among the worst in Europe and the report identifies a number of problems as well as suggesting future steps. Tuzla was chosen since most Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina live in the Canton and the report is a strong indicator of the situation in the country as a whole.

Ambassador Beecroft, Head of OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sonja Moser-Starrach, Special Representative of the Secretary General of Council of Europe in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Renzo Daviddi, Chargé d'affaires of the European Commission and Helena Eversole, Head of the UNICEF Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will make opening remarks at the press conference.

You are all invited to attend. We will have a press conference in Tuzla at the same time at 1200 hours at the OSCE Regional Centre in Tuzla where we will focus more specifically on the situation there.

Julian Braithwaite - OHR

I would just like to come in there and say that Paddy Ashdown thinks it is extremely important. He saw members of the Roma community in Bijeljina when he was there on Wednesday and he was shocked by the conditions in which they are living. Many of them are unable to get their homes back and are finding that they are just the bottom of the pile and the back of the queue on property returns.

Stefo Lehmann - UNMIBH

The UN Mission would like to clarify any misleading information regarding last week's decision by Federation Interior Minister Maslesa to remove the Federation Police Director, Dragan Lukac. As you may be aware, various stories were printed in today's newspapers. There was no misunderstandings or misinterpretations of the Federation Law on Internal Affairs, as some have claimed.

UNMIBH and the Office of the High Representative have repeatedly called on the Federation Government to adopt the necessary amendments and finally pass the Law on Internal Affairs. Among other things, the adoption of the law would create an Independent Selection and Review Board (ISRB) which would act as an independent and transparent mechanism to select Police Commissioner candidates and/or to recommend their removal.

Unfortunately, this law has not yet been adopted. As a result, this Board has not yet been established. Therefore, pending the adoption of the law, any decision on the appointment or removal of the Federation (or Republika Srpska) Police Commissioner will have to be taken in consultation with the UN and the Office of the High Representative. This is not a case of misunderstanding. I want to emphasise this is clearly a case of Minister Maslesa attempting to exert political pressure on the police forces. This will not be tolerated, not by the UN, not by the Office of the High Representative and, in fact, as you understand the entire concept behind the Police Commissioner project is to separate the police from politics and political influence.

After conducting a comprehensive review of the acts and omissions of various police officers serving with the police forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former IPTF Commissioner, Vincent Coeurderoy, decided to withdraw…(indecipherable). We announce these about ten days after the decision has actually been taken to prevent the officers being de-authorised from hearing about it through the media and not directly through the letter. So the decision was made 20 May to remove the provisional authorisation to exercise police powers from four additional officers.

I have the names here. I will not go into the details, however, if you need the details please call me and I will provide them to you. The provisional authorisation was removed - three from Tuzla and one from Foca/Srbinje - after determining that the officers engaged in various types of misconduct, including excessive use of force, neglect of duty, and giving false statements during investigations.

Removal of provisional authorisation in no way precludes the obligation of the respective Ministries of Interior from taking their own appropriate internal disciplinary action, in addition to necessary criminal investigations as required by the law.

The Commissioner's decision is effective immediately and prevents these officers, as you know, from participating in any aspect of police work anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina, either now or in the future and by the way this brings the total number of de-authorised officers to 161 since 1999. 37 of these have been de-authorised for their wartime background.

I would finally like to emphasise that these de-authorisations are part of an ongoing process to get rid of bad police officers and, more importantly, to increase the confidence that the citizens have in their police forces.

Julian Braithwaite - OHR

Could I just say that the Office of the High Representative obviously fully supports UNMIBH position regarding the statements made yesterday by the Federation Ministry of Interior?

Major Scott Lundy - SFOR

Lieutenant General John B. Sylvester, the Commander of SFOR, fully endorses the recent remarks of High Representative Paddy Ashdown regarding the need for all eligible voters of Bosnia and Herzegovina to register their vote.

As Mr. Ashdown pointed out, two weeks from today - 18 June - is the deadline for voter registration.

SFOR is taking up no role in this election and the current election campaign, and of course, it is not about to take sides or urge a vote for any particular party or candidate. But SFOR does think it is essential that eligible citizens exercise their right to vote.

And the first step is to register.

Questions and answers

Q Zlejko Tica / RTV FBiH - Have you finished your investigation with regard to the Republika Srpska Army?
A SFOR - Okay, you are asking about the case from several weeks ago concerning the electronic monitoring by the VRS? The investigation is continuing; at last Thursday's news conference we suggested that it would be approximately two weeks before we had a final report on what we had found. So, the investigation continues. There have been some good developments and we are following those but we will have to wait another week or so before we can announce anything.

Q Zlejko Tica / RTV FBiH - Are you familiar with the investigation in Travnik?
A UNMIBH - Yes, that was an investigation as you know conducted and co-ordinated by the Federation Minister of Interior based on information that they obtained. I would have to refer you to them. They know the information that they want to give out and if there is any additional information then you should contact them directly.
A OHR - I think that the Office of the High Representative would just like to say that we obviously welcome this action and we very much looking forward to a swift and thorough investigation.

Q Viola Gienger / Cox Newspapers - I am curious, what happens to de-authorised police officers? There are 161 of them wandering around out there, what are they doing? Does anybody know?
A UNMIBH - There are going to be many more in the coming weeks.

Q Viola Gienger / Cox Newspapers - Is the community safe?
A UNMIBH - Wel,l these are police officers, they are not necessarily criminals. Yes, the community is safe. But one of the concerns we have had in the past is that these de-authorised police officers are then re-hired or the Ministry attempts to re-hire them in a civilian capacity which would take them outside the purview of the Police Commissioner. This has been the case in various instances around the country. We have uncovered various of these incidents and we have corrected them, however, we believe that it tends to be a trend for many of these de-authorised police officers to be offered employment in a civilian capacity within that Ministry or within any other Ministry. Working in any other Ministry would be in compliance within the law, however, employment with the Ministry of Interior would not be. So, we have to ensure that they are not, in fact, offered positions in the civilian capacity with the Ministry of Interior.