Author: BOB DJURDJEVIC
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How a Policeman Assaulted My Wife Today at a Serbian Courthouse
When my wife called from the First Basic Court in Belgrade, I barely recognized her voice. She was sobbing uncontrollably, gasping for breath, unable to complete a sentence. Between cries, she shouted only one word: “Đubreta!” (“Scum!”). Minutes later I learned why. According to her account, a policeman grabbed her by both arms and dragged…
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A US BANK WHICH FORGOT ITS CUSTOMER
A bank is only as good as the people who answer the phone. After nearly half a century of loyalty, I discovered how quickly personal service can disappear behind automated systems, unanswered messages, and institutional indifference. This is the story of how one routine transaction became a lesson in the changing nature of modern banking.
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HOW BIG BLUE ROPED ME BACK INTO THE CIA SADDLE
Just when I thought I had finally retired from analyzing the computer industry, IBM had other ideas. A Wall Street Journal headline about the biggest one-day decline in Big Blue’s history unexpectedly roped me back into the CIA saddle—not the one in Langley, but the one I first envisioned at a computer industry show in…
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✍️ BLACKJACK RANCH CHRONICLES
What began as a dream of building a house on a Serbian hillside overlooking the Danube quickly became an education in perseverance. Bureaucrats, contractors, storms, power failures, runaway dog beds, elusive trash bins, curious neighbors, unexpected acts of kindness, sunsets, music, and laughter all became chapters in a story far larger than a construction project.…
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✍️ COFFEE MACHINE TRAGI-COMEDY WITH MOLIEREAN TWISTS
When my trusty German-engineered coffee machine died at our country home, I immediately bought a brand-new replacement. But plugging it in brought only deathly silence. Furious, I marched back to the store, ready for a retail showdown. The clerk plugged it in. Bingo. It hummed perfectly. Convinced I had discovered a bizarre geographical anomaly with…
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✍️ ROYAL NOTES
A British king helping America celebrate its liberation from a British king. Only in America. Pomp and ceremony over blood and guts. Glitz over gas prices. The ancient Romans had a name for it — panem et circenses — bread and games to distract a restless public. Some things don’t change. They just change costumes.…
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“THE NOTE”
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AT THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER A man in a tuxedo leaned in, holding a small piece of paper with the quiet gravity of something that didn’t belong at dinner. To the left, a face began telling the story in real time — curiosity giving way to confusion, then shock, then a hand…
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TRUMP’S BLUFF AND BLINK – AND THE SANDBOX RULES OF POWER
Power is not learned in boardrooms or war rooms. It is learned in a sandbox. As a child in Belgrade, I saw how bullies operate — intimidation, noise, and tests of will. Push back, and the dynamic changes. Years later, I saw the same patterns among corporate giants, political leaders, and now on the global…
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“IT IS ENGLISH”
In 1985, during a visit to Hitachi, I asked why Japan—despite its engineering excellence—lagged in software. The answer was disarmingly simple: “It is English.” That moment revealed a deeper truth about the future of computing. Returning home, I proposed a radical idea: digitize everything and make it searchable. It seemed obvious. It was. Yet nearly…
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FROM “EUROTOPIA” TO BERLIN
A trip from Vienna to Berlin revealed more than urban decay—it exposed a deeper systemic drift. What appears as small signs of disorder may in fact be symptoms of something larger: institutions that have grown too complex, too removed from the people they serve. Drawing on firsthand experience—from corporate America to 1980s Germany—this column traces…
Truth in Media 