Belgrade: Joie de vivre or a pig in lipstick?

SUSAN SPANO’S article “So ... This Is Serbia?” [June 11] was very interesting and informative.

The Serbs are indeed a very resilient people and have not lost their joie de vivre despite the international community’s burdensome sanctions and being bombed by U.S.-led NATO forces in 1999.

Spano mentions “Western visitors who gleaned most of what they know about this country from news reports during the 1992-95 Balkan wars ... “ However, to this day too many do not know that the “news reports” in the 1990s were skewed for the West’s self-serving propaganda purposes. Thus, it is no wonder that Spano was pleasantly surprised to see that the Serbs are just regular people, and many even speak English and walk their dogs.

LIZ MILANOVICH

Edmonton, Canada

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SPANO sure knows how to put lipstick on a pig, in reference to Belgrade, Serbia. I was there on business for almost 20 weeks in 1991 and just before the war in early 1992. The people are as cold and dreary as the city. The city is a dump. Walking into the building where we worked each morning was like being inside a giant cigarette.

I’ll never forget my first thoughts as I deplaned in Frankfurt, Germany, after the flight from Belgrade, “Ah, civilization.”

ROBERT BUBNOVICH

Irvine