Looks like there might be some tense times in der nahne in the coming days with the elections here. I had thought that keeping to the outskirts of the city would be the safest plan, but apparently, these are contested outskirts. Will lay in some supplies, and prepare to lay low for a few days, if necessary. No imminent risk of any real danger -- simply inconveniences.
As always, governed by the Prime Directive. In matters not affecting my own health and well-being, political conflicts within other nations are best avoided completely. It is an exercise in nation-building either way, and it is not my nation. An example -- the absolutely abysmal recent production of Miller's Crucible by the Croatian theatre at the festival in Sarajevo -- all of the American tropes sort of blend together into one big cartoonish notion of the country. (Fair disclosure, although I had a balcony ticket, I was crowded out of my seat by the folks piling in and standing nearby, and left about 15 minutes later, once they wheeled the crucified figure on.) Knowing that country rather well, I know that many of these things are completely opposed to each other, but to the eye of the foreigner, there can be no complete negation or absolute dichotomy within a system that itself has a certain character. Rather than two completely opposing things working together to describe the world, the foreigner, or the person looking from abroad, sees only two factions within a subjective entity. And as Hegel teaches, terms are really only meaningful if they have an absolute opposite. Leave the conflicts that describe the world to the people who understand them to describe the world.
So, long story short (too late), shifting into RHP (random hoopy frood) mode. One side is chanting oslobodimo slobodu, the other side is chanting oslobodimo Slobodan, and I'm off on the side reading Henry James.
Ah, what wise fools these mortals be.