2006 Political Retrospective
Now as 2006 is nearing to an end, the political life of Serbia was turbulent, thus it earns to take a look back on what marked our political life thoughts throughout the last year:
Many things happened, many interesting, exciting and depressing, optimist, unusual, nostalgic and confusing.
One of the most significant things that marked the last year can be considered to be the death of the former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Then, suspicions arose: was killed or died of natural causes? Who killed him? The ICTY, Hague, America, Vatican…? The TV was full of the statements of his lawyer Zdenko Tomanovic and his inspiring haircut. Finally, Milosevic came back to Serbia, dead. But before that, the Serbian nation had the opportunity to see for the first time after 2000 his son Marko and his freshly operated ears. At the Nikola Tesla Airport, crowds of geriatric cases crying and screaming “Slobo, Slobo”. His hypocritical party members accompanied his coffin making crosses, thus trying to embrace some Orthodox followers, but also giving the reason to van-intellectuals to continue their bitching on Orthodoxy, for the bitching they simply live. A spectacular funeral with thousands of pensioners, however not 500.000 as Vucelic announced and a more spectacular laying of the coffin in his backyard where his dog was probably hiding bones, accompanied by Russian lullabies. Hehehe, Sloba, a “Nationalist”, but always a faithful communist.
Then, the EU froze the negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro, because Mladic was rotting somewhere instead in the Hague with his comrades. The Government was ready to risk the EU rather than the love of the nation, the EU ready to risk the democratization of Serbia just because of one “general” and Mladic was ready to risk the nation he fought for just because he didn’t want his ears to be pulled by some Haguers. That’s what I call a “love triangle”.
Montenegro separated, “surprisingly”. After years of dilemmas “will they or will they not”, Milo Djukanovic, afraid to take a step alone, needed the mediation of Miroslav Lajcak in order to get his beloved independence. But very tightly. Now, he has to show his gratitude to the Albanian minority, cause “these damn Serbs had us almost in their hands”. Now, Milo has a new state, the anthem of Sekula Drljevic and a nice red flag, a good Communist cannot simply renounce the red. All I have to say is good luck and see you in the EU, thanks for giving us independence as well.
In Republika Srpska, Dodik after the Montenegrin independence announced the possibility of RS separating. Hordes of Sarajevan politicians scream as wolves on the Serbian atrocities and accusing Dodik of being a fascist. Tihic talks of genocide, Silajdzic of abolishing RS, but Dodik also of keeping irritating them.
The negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade in Vienna have failed. Well, duh… did anyone expect them to succeed. The negotiations as a charade or better,a joke had their ups and downs. Serbs were talking about municipalities, Albanians about the independence and their ethnic rights on Kosovo-Metohija and Ahtissari saying that “Serbs are guilty as nation”. Most probably he was angry that Finland was not on the WC in Germany. But it would be better that we weren’t there as well. We wouldn’t lose from Argentina and this extremely handsome gentleman wouldn’t be angry and probably he would give us Kosovo-Metohija back. Ahhh, who knows.
We have a new Constitution, brought legally, but illegally, or was it legally... damn confusion. It is nice, minor changes, nothing new, but the bitchfight occurring because of it… unbelievable. Some supported it, some minor parties boycotted it, because they were against heavenly Serbia. Well, heavenly Serbia, hmmm, I don’t get it, we live on the grounds, not on the clouds. Also, they were angry for the lack of public discourse, well then what were they doing when they were bitching Then, the referendum, a fairy tale with an end, I will not tell you whether good or bad it’s your democratic right to judge for yourselves. two days of “povuci-potegni” before a news leak came out that Ceku was organizing a celebration in Pristina for the failure of the referendum and whom thousands of Serbs come out to vote. Then the minor parties said it was a setup, but let me remind you my dears: Ceku didn’t deny it!!!
Finally, the Constitution came through, the major parties were celebrating, the minor were bitching. Well, nothing new.
Now we enter to the phase of the elections. The majors brag for their successes, the minors surprisingly are not boycotting again. Everybody full of demagogy, rhetorics…as one Czech said in a movie “we talked comrade of the usual shit”.
Seselj went on a hunger strike!!! For 27 days!!! Well done, it is good for his line. His supporters were bitching in front of the American embassy, requesting…well something. And finally, he started eating again. Most probably a nice Dutch girl with legs formed nicely from the bike riding and breasts full with milked flashed him with a real goo Serbian pljeskavica. I wouldn’t resist it. What however, as much as I hate, I have to admit: laster longer than most of the politicians (and I mean everyone) would last. Ceda for example would last a couple of days. If somebody doesn’t agree, I take bets.
And finally, we are accepted in the Partnership for Peace, without Mladic. What a turnover. And in Serbia, the leaders brag of this success while the opposition, who before were bitching of not integrating enough now bitch that we should have done that long ago. Everything positive in Serbia has to end up with brags and bitching. Alas, NATO will get new meat for Iraq and Afghanistan. At least they will not kill each others in the Balkans.
Well, probably I forgot something, but who cares. Everything ends up at the same, as Frank Sinatra would say “it was a very usual year” in Serbia. Let’s see what’s 2007.
Tweet
Dick Marty’s Kosovo report – Uniting Serbs and Albanians In Shame
Mufti Zukorlic’s photo-montage blunder
We Are Sailing
Cvijus,
very nicely summarized
Dont forget that there are still two more weeks to go till the end of the year. Knowing Serbia a lot can happen.
You know I never cared for Milosevic while he was in power; in fact, I intensely disliked the man. But this kind of ridicule of him is distasteful after he came into his own at the Hague. It was at the Hague that he showed true character — he defended not so much himself, but all of Serbdom. And none of the charges against him were proven after 4 years (I followed the trial closely, maybe you should have as well). Maybe I have missed it but I have yet to see much condemnation on this site of the people adminstering the “justice” at the Hague (capitulate or die style!), i.e. those who are truly hypocritical in their accusations against and determination to condemn all Serbs and Serbia in order to justify their false actions in the Balkans. Seselj is also ridiculed here (and, by the way, if you were an American you wouldn’t have dared to include your sexist comments about an imaginary Dutch girl, but I suppose you aren’t quite that PC in Serbia yet — not that I ever promote PC). What have you got against him? Maybe that he voluntarily handed himself over to the Hague, or that he has been rotting away there waiting for his trial for all these years since? How about that he wanted to defend himself — which is the right of anybody in an American court of law. In any case, Seselj won a small but significant victory there by sticking to his hunger strike as long as he did; what other weapons did he have to use? Certainly not their interpretations and twistings of the law. The Hague consists of puffed up weaklings representing the American and British governments, who use threats instead of the law to conduct the trials there, and sometimes their threats, veiled or not, are carried out. Milosevic, yes, was either deliberately killed or, more likely, encouraged and allowed to die, which all amounts to the same thing in my eyes. They couldn’t afford to have Seselj die in custody, too, after Milosevic — eventually even the press might notice how many Serbs have died in their custody; so many that if there were any kind of fair use of the law at the Hague, the court would have been investigated by now for potential murder. If you want to make fun of Milosevic and Seselj, whatever their past faults, how about you do the same with the Hague court? The only reasons I could see that you wouldn’t are that (1) you’re scared to, (2) you like to kiss up to the imperialist West, 3) you actually supported NATO and its offshoots, or (4) you have such contempt for the former leadership of Serbia/Yugoslavia that you think the current leadership is actually doing a good job. None of these is palatable so maybe you’ll offer yet a different reason.
Blackbird, thanks for your sincere comment. Let me start from the last of your comment. I’m none of those, maybe suprisingly for you. I promise you, Hague will not be spared from my criticism whatsoever. For me, that court is a charade of covering up double standards, but this post was a retrospective, so when big news come in on the Hague you’ll see. As for Milosevic: couldn’t resist it. He destroyed our nation, twisted its character, ruined our economy and lost our holy lands. This is my only way of giving him “tributes”.
About Seselj, read more carfully. Even though he’s a clown (my sadest day was when he left to the Hague because our Parliament became boring), I give him my admiration for lasting 27 days without food. I compared him with little Ceda who wouldn’t last two days, so my opinion should be clear for you. Hehehe, not even to mention how much would Kostunica last
About the imaginary Dutch girl: That’s just artistic freedom for others to laugh.
Cheers
I personally do not support the Hague tribunal, due to its double standards. It seems to me that the West can not think in grey color, but just in black and white. In every conflict there has to be a good guy and a bad guy. Well Balkans is everything than good vs bad, its all good and bad. Every single nation in the balkan region contains its good sides and bad sides.
But the West can not understand it like that, so they need to put the blame on somebody, they need to put the label of the bad guy , and due to Milosevic’s bad political strategy, we are the ones.
Sending Milosevic and Seselj to the Hague is the least that I care for, but continuously proving that the Serbs are the bad guys, is what i care for the most. Let me remind you that the Hague tribunal waited for Tudjman and Izetbegovic to die. they Let Naser Orilic to walk away free despite that his troops killed more than three thousand Serbian civlians in the villages around Srebrenica. Nobody is even paying attention to those victims. Is there like a rule, if 8 thousand die, we pay tribute, but everything less we dont care? Or is it more political?
Seselj and Milosevic played their games in 90s, they ruined Serbia and that is their biggest guilt. And as they say, the captain goes down with the ship, thats how Seselj and Milosevic should have ended.
I would prefer if the west made the rules clear, you lose the war, you pay the price. But dont sell the “justice” story, and the human rights fairy tales. If the Hague Tribunal really wants to promote blind justice, then I totally agree with Blackbird. But we have to understand that the Hague tribunal is not there for justice, but rather as a punishment to the Serbian people for losing the wars.
Why we lost the wars? well I guess we all know who to blame.
Cvijus, fair enough. Let me just add that I think the place for Milosevic’s trial was Serbia, for what he did to Yugoslavia and Serbia, and for nothing else. However, he found his real strength and integrity at the Hague. I can’t help but believe that he became a changed man and that he really fought to clear the name of all Serbia, much more than himself. He should have been more applauded for this. For one thing, he actually would have won that trial, and that is why, I believe, he was coaxed toward his death when he could so easily have been healed. Those paying to support the Hague could not lose face in that way.
Ivan, a very interesting thing about Srebrenica is that I read in several places, and I am searching for a precise source, that since the supposed massacre took place, 5,000 of those “8,000” have since voted in Bosnian elections. I am not denying that many people must have died there, but just how many and what the actually circumstances were has not been allowed to be revealed. Furthermore, in my opinion it was not Milosevic’s policies that made the Serbs the bad guys for the West. No, it was the West that decided in advance to make Serbs the bad guys. The main reason is that they had already decided it was time to tear Yugoslavia apart, limb by limb just as they did it (and they’re not finished yet), and it was Serbs who were the strongest supporters of Yugoslavia; therefore, it was the Serbs that had to be demonized. That was what ensured a successful mission. Germany, you see, is still looking to expand (Slovenia and Croatia) and the U.S. had other reasons for wanting to control the Balkans.
The death of the former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic – this may sound like the good news, but it isn’t because he died just before he was going to be sentenced, probably for life. I also followed the trial closely and there were lot of evidence which he failed to deny, but used the time to hold “political” speeches, which seemed to have a little impact on the judges. By dying unsentenced the question of his guilt formally still hangs in the air while it was more than certain that he de facto was guilty of not leading this country the proper way and for failing to cooperate with international comunity and prevent the war from happening.
The EU froze the negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro – well this was expected really since there was not enough effort from our side to, once again, cooperate.
Montenegro separated – illegaly, or was it legally, like Cvijus said for the constitution referendum
But since this does not concern me so much, i was pretty indifferent to whether they stay or they separate. They separaetd – ok, cool, good luck to them, case closed, nothing changes really, except that we have the whole ex-federal parliament building to ourselves now – woo hoo.
Dodik after the Montenegrin independence announced the possibility of RS separating – I don’t know, i am pretty indifferent to this one too – i would care just as much about the news of Flandria separating from Belgium, or any other foreign country separating from any other foreign country.
The negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade in Vienna have failed – i agree with Cvijus here – when you aint got no compromises it’s tough to negotiate.
We have a new Constitution, brought legally, but illegally, or was it legally – unlike Montenegreen referendum, i was very much concerned about this one, because, well, i live here in Serbia and not in Montenegro, so this one affects me on a very personal level. I stated my opinion earlier, so there is no need to repeat myself – i still think we should have waited until we make a better constitution and still think this one was not brought in legal way. It’s a pity that all parliamentary political parties managed to agree on this of all matters – to cheat.
The elections and Seselj – this is just heating up, so i will say something about it when it gets a bit more specific, for now all the parties started with very broad /fairytale-like campaings, when it gets more concrete than that, i will see who to support.
We are accepted in the Partnership for Peace – good news, although the fact is that it could have been done sooner, and i do mean much much sooner than this if only we, what? Cooperated.
Milosevic might not have answered every one of those hundreds of things the court drummed up against him, but neither did they prove any one thing. The fact is the Hague was scared sh_ _less that they wouldn’t be able to convict Milosevic because they didn’t have the evidence for their trumped up charges. Why do you think that the western press ALMOST NEVER reported on the trial — because it was going well for the imperialists or because it wasn’t? The “trial of the century” they called it when Milosevic was encarcerated. Yeah, right up until it didn’t go their way at all…
Why do you so badly want Serbia in the Partnership for Peace? Why do you want Serbia in NATO? I’d really like to understand this.
I refer to this typically excellent article about the subject by Nebojsa Malic.
http://antiwar.com/malic/
One more thing about Milosevic’s trial. I have always found it very interesting that he died just as the trial was about to enter the Srebrenica phase. That was a phase I would really have liked to see, just to find out what evidence there is that we have not yet been told. I don’t think I am too far off in thinking that the Hague didn’t want it told.
Since Radoslav Krstic was already charged for genocide in Srebrenica couple of years earlier, i doubt that we would have found out anything new. That case is closed, only not when it comes to total number of people killed, because it is impossible to determine that number exactly, but the final conclusion is that there has been near eight thousand executed men and boys – and there is no argue with that. I don’t think there is anything more to found out on this case really.
Well, Victor, I think you are completely wrong about there not being any more to find about THAT and numerous other things. I find it very odd how you and some other Serbs I have run into are so content to accept how black your people have been painted. I almost get the impression that, instead of giving evidence you might come across that would clear such accusations against Serbs, you would be happier to give more negative evidence against your own. Srebrenica is NOT how it has been painted and anybody who cares to can find that out by spending a minimum of time looking into it. As I said above, I have no doubt that thousands of people died there, but not 8,000, nor 7,000, nor 6,000, nor…you get the picture. And how and why they died has not been determined. The Bosnian Serbs who have admitted culpability have had their arms twisted until they almost broke by the likes of King Paddy Ashdown. How does Oric fit into the picture? What about his support from Bosnians and the Hague? What about all those people who had supposedly been killed at Srebrenica that then ended up voting in Bosnian elections? Did they vote, and therefore not die, or are the Bosnian elections rigged with votes from dead people? I suppose you also would still be going along with the claim that 100,000 were killed in Kosovo had not even NATO had to admit it was actually more like 3,000 (both Serbs and Albanians in that total).
Well, Slobodan Milosevic will also be able to vote on the following elections, but I’m pretty sure he is dead and pushing up that tree he is buried under.