Brain Drain

It’s just as well that Serbia isn’t a nuclear power. If it were, all Serbs would immediately have to brush up on atomic structure, or better yet, become experts in nuclear physics.

Even lesser issue have been known to become national expertise. Take, for example, a latest initiative by our Minister for Infrastructure, Milutin Mrkonjić. The man proposed that Serbian business pull their resources together and buy the Montenegrin sea port of Bar.

I don’t know much about ports, and my closest experience with cargo transportation business has been riding a bus in Belgrade. I did, however, witness this knowledgable exchange of my two friends yesterday:

— Hey man, did you hear about that Bar business?
— Yeah, it’s ridiculous! The railway connecting Bar with Belgrade has deteriorated so badly that sixty percent of route is limited to 30km/h.
— But that’s not the biggest problem. Bar port wouldn’t be sufficient for draft of freightliner ships. Plus, Bar is by no means infrastructurally capable of handling container cargo.
— True. Also, a highway to Durrës is nearly complete, and their port is much better equiped for our needs — I quickly interrupted, feeling a bit left out of this conversation.

Those two friends of mine are an accomplished biologist and a student of classical literature, and they, just like the rest of Serbia, are experts on transportation, telecommunications, sports (especially sports), international law, constitutional law, military strategy, bridge construction, history, diplomacy, mining, forestry, tourism… or any other current affair, for that matter.

Not that our Minister for Infrastructure is in any way more knowledgable of the subject, of course…

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