Hello, Internationalis Slovenia calling.
July sun burns its hot stamps on our faces and destroys our nature. Fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwest Türkiye spread rapidly overnight on Sunday, causing a red glow over the city, and according to Al Jazeera, wildfires engulfed Türkiye for weeks, surrounding the country’s fourth-largest city, causing more than 1,700 people to flee their homes and leaving one firefighter dead.
Deutsche Welle reports that Greece has endured heatwave conditions for almost a week, with temperatures passing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many areas. On Saturday, July 26th, the temperature reached 45.2 °C in Amfilohia.
When these lines were written, fires were raging on the Peloponnese as well as on the islands of Evia and Kythera. European Union countries sent aircrafts and firefighters to help. Dozens of firefighters, including units from Italy and the Czech Republic, were supported by three helicopters and two aircrafts.
In this Internationalis newsletter, we look thankfully to the sky that brought lower temperatures and made the sun rays a bit less cruel.
We suggest reading this week’s interview and meeting one interesting Czech man, namely Jiří Kuděla, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Slovenia, who knows the Balkans like the back of his hand and speaks almost every one of our ex-Yugoslav languages fluently.
We also bring you the key takeaways from a recent Slovenian-Serbian business forum, and write about the acknowledgment of the famous Slovenian Olympian, Miro Cerar, by the Embassy of Japan in Slovenia.
As the Summer moves towards its last month, we suggest packing your small, short trip suitcase and heading for Sarajevo on August 15th to be part of The regional film event – the famous Sarajevo Film Festival.
More stories are on the way in the new special digital issue – a reader-friendly and interactive format coming to your inbox soon, crafted with care by #internationalis #theinternational.
We hope you enjoy the read.
Thought of the week – word of the day – Water
Belgrade on water vs People on “no water regime”
The one who was walking along the river bank of Sava, in the expensive “Belgrade on Water district”, the other night in Belgrade, had a feeling of “La vita è bella” looking at “rivers” of people shopping, sipping their cocktails and enjoying summer, while at the same time in some parts in the vicinity of the same city during summer months people do not have running water from 8 pm to 8 am to save water.
Conclusion: Hm, the water chooses the ones it prefers, or “La vita è bella” is reserved only for the rich ones?
History reality check
On this day in 1914, on July 28th, when the note was written, World War I began, one of the largest and most destructive wars in human history. On that day, Austria-Hungary, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, officially declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia. In the following days, other countries gradually joined the conflict: Germany supported Austria-Hungary, Russia supported Serbia, and then France and Great Britain joined the war. The war, which initially seemed like a limited conflict between two countries, quickly grew into a global conflict involving more than 30 countries. It lasted until November 11, 1918.
Warm regards,
Vanja Kavčić
Editor in Chief, Internationalis Slovenia
