Serb Leader Is Assassinated. Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was a reformer who helped overthrow and send Slobodan Milosevic to face a war crimes trial. By Daniel Simpson. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

Djindjic was a man who walked the line–pushing for reforms, but distancing himself from support from Washington. He showed there was a way for Serbia to move forward walking on its own feet instead of being dragged on its heels. Now, it looks like the way he showed was an illusion.

There's a photo on Yahoo of Djindjic with his daughter, taken in 1999, that tells the story's human side better than words can express here.

Dean-O pointed me at L.T. Smash's weblog today. The anonymous Gulf-stationed Naval Reserve officer weblogger reminds me a bit of a certain khaki-claid individual I once used to be, or at least strived to be on some levels. Take a look at his recent collision with stupidity wearing eagles on its collar…

I'm glad he came out of this grey side up, as we used to say. A similar encounter in my career started a progression of events that led me on the road out of the military, and I didn't escape it with my service jacket unscathed. But it was a good fight, and I hopefully gave some stupid people some ulcers along the way to my happy ending. Unfortunately, those stupid people managed to get 47 guys killed along the way…