Joe Biden does Sarajevo

"Your vice president is here today," Miranda informed the three American editors in the office today. Joe Biden is on a Balkan tour, supposedly as a signal that the US is reinvolving itself in the region. He was meeting with the presidents -- Bosnia has three, one for each of the major ethnic grouping, Croat, Serb and Muslim -- then gave a speech to Parliament.

 Mostly for Sarajevans the visit meant shut-down roads and inconvenience on a stormy day. The presidency and Parliament building are close to the center city on busy Marsala Tito Blvd. away from the Miljacko River.

Bob suggested drily this was a good route. "He'll want to stay off the Latin Bridge," he said.

There was a pause before we got it.

Austro=Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated along with his wife while riding over the river on that bridge in another famous state visit to Sarajevo in 1914. The killings sparked World War I.