Comments for Tiffany Ommundsen

Comment on Welcome to my blog! by Bob

Bob — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:39:42 +0000

Exsciting and unknown journey…hmmm. Honey,be carefull not to end-up in some room without windows where no body cant hear you SCREAMING !!DO NOT GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT PEOPLE YOU KNOW AND TRUST!I was a member of international police task force ,and we liberated about 40 woman, in very short period of time, in very small area.Four of them were Western-European ladies.
Good bless you , and have a good time…
Sorry for my English.

Comment on Wanna Hear a Joke? by XY

XY — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:44:57 +0000

Dear Tiffany,
Yes, we all have much respect of USA and Americans, God bless them! It is from president Wilson who helped us to the nowdays! As for Tina Kaidanow, it may sound strange to all of you, but she has shown openly she didn’t like Albanians. While it is fine for everyone to treat Serbs well, it is not fair to treat them as high class against others, as she did. No need for details, but everyone was happy she left! Except Serbs, of course!

Comment on “Never Again” Happened Again by Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:41:05 +0000

You are so right in calling it a genocide. I cannot even to begin to imagine how terrified every single person must have been and I am sure I am not even beginning to comprehend all that they went through. Thank you for your blogs. Regardless of the topic, it is good for the world to learn more….of experiences and the ways of lives of people from all over the world and the hardships they have endured. Knowledge brings power, which hopefully will bring changes. The world is becoming smaller and smaller. Count your blessings every day, and remember and value each freedom we have. None of them were “free”.

Comment on Which flag is yours? by Linda

Linda — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:35:08 +0000

Forced Into Immigration
There was something missing from the morning routine I said to myself after a couple of weeks working at an urban charter school in Providence, Rhode Island. One day I was listening to the radio on my commute to work, and a teacher called in to the radio station in order to have their class participate in the daily pledge of allegiance recitation. That was my “ahhh haahhh” moment. The flag and pledge of allegiance were missing from the daily routine Wow, it only took me two weeks to figure that out, despite saying it every day while I was in school.

When I started to think about why the pledge was missing, I began to realize that if the pledge went on every day then it may cause some upheaval. Surely, there would be students who would not stand; many sixth graders were first generation immigrants, and they still spoke their native language and identified Puerto Rico or the DR as their nationality. In most cases what brought them to the United States was economic needs, (less family members accompanying them and less choice than other waves of immigrants).

Comment on Ethics. Accountability. Transparency. by Juliana

Juliana — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:46:56 +0000

Excellent explanation of NGO and what it means to the beneficiaries, the community, and the public. Being employed by a bureaucracy for 25 years, the ‘nothing is simple’ concept is completely understood. Keep up the good work.

Comment on Ethics. Accountability. Transparency. by Jessica Tirado

Jessica Tirado — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:14:50 +0000

Great blog, Tiffany. It’s all too true that the ease of shouting out NGO “buzzwords” far outweighs the herculean task of defining and making sense out of them.

Hope you’re enjoying your time in Kosovo!

Comment on Wanna Hear a Joke? by Juliana

Juliana — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:07:10 +0000

Excellently written. How refreshing it is to learn the Kosovorian’s love for the United States. I’m interested in learning more of the story … How could Kosovo’s relationship with the US hinder the development of the nation’s democratic institutions? I’m sure Tiffany will find out and keep us posted.

Comment on “They are Afraid!” by Hana Marku

Hana Marku — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:05:16 +0000

I’ve been reading about this since yesterday. I’m disturbed by how much of a spin Sami Lushtaku’s interview and Rizah Hajdari’s opinion piece have been given.

Sami Lushtaku made the first mistake by stating she was a spy in an interview, no matter how facetiously. If you read the entire interview, he says that the way in which she produced the episode in question was similar to the way in which Serbian television stations used to make documentaries about Kosova. He didn’t literally mean that she was an employee of UDB.

The “death threat” article written by Rizah Hajdari does not read AT ALL like a threat against Jeta Xharra the person, it is a critique on her professionalism (and has some very valid points).

The very last sentence is the sentence that has been pounced on by Xharra. It reads in Albanian : “Jeta ia bëri vetes që të mos ketë jetë të gjatë.”

Jeta means both “life” and the name “Jeta” in Albanian. It has been translated for Western media as “Jeta has brought it upon herself to have a short life”, when the true meaning of the sentence is “Jeta ne Kosove (Life in Kosova) has brought it upon itself to have a short life”.

Jeta Xharra’s response to these negative articles has been very immature and unproportional.Rizah Hajdari wrote an opinion piece, he’s not a staff writer representing Infopress’s views. Sami Lushtaku can say whatever he wants in an interview. It’s an illogical jump to say that her freedom of expression has been impinged, or that her person has been threatened. It’s also illogical to contact human rights bodies and NGOs to deal with something that should be left up to the IMC and/or the Kosova Journalists Association.

BIRN’s website has a pdf file of the alleged articles, translated in English. Riza Hajdari’s article has not been included (which is strange, since that is the article on which she based her “death threat” accusation). I would read them.