Socialists and Democrats Will Rule Serbia
The political situation in Serbia is both unprecedented and unexpected. No analyst had predicted, three or four months ago, that the election on May 11 would result in such impressive gains by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS)—which won over 38 percent of the vote—and in a relative defeat for the Radicals (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS), which polled 29 percent. The most surprising feature of Serbia’s post-election scene in the formation of the new governing coalition, based on an alliance between the “pro-Western, reformist” Democrats and the Socialists (Socijalisticka partija Srbije, SPS), the party of the late President Slobodan Milosevic.
For the past almost eight years since the fall of Milosevic, the Democrats and their allies have been demonizing the Socialist Party as an ugly relic of the past, the party that provided the political backbone to Milosevic and his regime, the obedient mechanism for all of his misguided and possibly criminal policies in the 1990s. One of the members of the present DS-led coalition, a separatist from Vojvodina by the name of Nenad Canak, has even advocated a formal ban on the Socialist Party.
But the Democrats have made a complete U-turn since May 11, having realized that they need the Socialists—who together with their smaller allies have 20 deputies—in order to stay in power. Over the past six weeks some extensive horse-trading followed that realization. Legitimizing the Socialists, proclaiming them to be a modern, decent, pro-European center-left party, fit for membership in the Socialist International, is merely one part of the package offered by the DS. Overall, the coalition agreement is the fruit of a massive exercise in political corruption, the like of which has never been seen in Serbia’s long and turbulent history.
TYCOONS AND DIPLOMATS—The ability of the Democratic Party to come on top is nevertheless difficult to explain unless we consider the impact of an important pressure group helping the DS. This group’s influence was not unknown, but it had never before pulled the strings so blatantly. It is the oligarchy. Now at last we know the full extent to which Belgrade’s leading tycoons—their fortunes often harking back to the days of Milosevic—control the political scene from the shadows. About a dozen men who hold all key levers of financial and economic power in the country are overwhelmingly supportive of Tadic’s Democrats. They are well aware that under the Yellow-Red Coalition (DS-SPS) their lucrative practices will continue unhindered. On the other hand, they were scared stiff of the Radicals, because the SRS had made the struggle against corruption a key element of its election campaign. In addition, the Radicals have amassed a lot of compromising information about some key oligarchs and their political associates in the DS camp, and they were determined to pursue prosecutions if they came to power. Knowing this, the tycoons had an additional motive to contribute lavishly to a clandestine slush fund that the DS used to woo Ivica Dacic, the Socialists leader, and his junior partners. Tadic’s emissaries have done their work on the Socialist Party Main Board so thoroughly, that even this bulwark of Milosevic’s reliable cadres from the 1990s overwhelmingly voted to support the coalition of their party with the DS.
While the exact magnitude of illicit transactions is unknown for the time being, Belgrade is a relatively small place in which nothing political remains unknown for long. In Serbia’s politics, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It is also noteworthy that the oligarchs enjoy the support of some Western diplomats in Belgrade—specifically the U.S. and British Ambassadors—in their self-appropriated role of king-makers, which provides a vivid example of the EU-NATO support for democracy in the Balkans.
COMMIES OLD AND NEW—That so many old Milosevic loyalists, who presumably have good reasons to despise and dislike Tadic’s people, have changed their minds so swiftly, is a sad testimony to the condition of a shattered nation. The SPS U-turn does not concern the legacy of Milosevic alone. Having profiled themselves for years as a patriotic force determined to defend Serbia’s rights in Kosovo come what may, the Socialists are about to join forces with the party obviously reconciled to giving up on Serbia’s southern province after some decent interval, while pretending all along not to be doing so.
The readiness to treat vital national interests as disposable commodities indicates that the DS-SPS tandem is less surprising than it looks. The differences between the new partners may not be so deep after all. The leading lights of both parties have their ideological roots in the old, long-defunct League of Communists of Yugoslavia. A cynic would say that we are witnessing the creation of a coalition between Serbia’s “reformist” communists—such as Dragoljub Micunovic—who have morphed into Tadic’s Europhile social-democrats, and some seriously hard-line doctrinaires—such as Milutin Mrkonjic—who still remain faithful to Milosevic’s legacy. It has been noted that we are now witnessing the coalition of two opposite factions from the Eight Session of the Communist party of Serbia in September 1987, which propelled Milosevic to power. The reformist, social-democratic wing was defeated at that time, while Milosevic’s wing was triumphant. Over the past eight years the roles have been reversed. After an estrangement lasting two decades, the two factions are coming back together again.
Some Serbian patriots console themselves with the view that this coalition cannot last for long. They are wrong: this coalition is likely to stay in power longer than its predecessors because its partners will have no motive to rock the boat. The Socialists have obtained the best deal they could hope for, and they have an incentive to maintain the new status quo as long as possible. Their leader Ivica Dacic probably realizes that the party will disappear from the political scene at the next election: SPS rank-and-file will never forgive him the deal with Tadic, and this is the one shot at power, money and influence that he will ever have.
The Democrats cannot afford to risk another election, because they have reached the zenith of their likely electoral success, with just under forty percent of the vote and over a hundred deputies. They are loath to risk their current dominant position, especially if the country’s financial and economic situation starts to unravel. Serbia is effectively bankrupt. It owes over $20 billion to foreign creditors, but in spite of heavy borrowing the neoliberals who run the showt have not succeeded in quick-starting the economy. Public spending in particular is not supported by the economy. After the final round of privatization, public spending may have to be financed either by inflationary means, or else by a new round of borrowing.
OPPOSITION IN CRISIS—On the other hand, the opposition to the DS-led government has to devise a long-term strategy which it does not have at the moment. In the short term it will be hard for the leading opposition parties, the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), to come up with a program of action that could undermine the emerging coalition. The DSS of the outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is entering a period of decline. It is having difficulty in retaining loyalty of any significant segment of the electorate. Having failed on two important occasions (after the elections of December of 2004 and January of 2007) to put together stable coalitions, it is paying the price of joining forces with the DS last year. The ensuing tensions and almost schizoid bipolarity between Tadic’s Europhiles and Kostunica’s moderate patriots have harmed the latter disproportionately. The latter is now paying the price of not entering a coalition with the Radical Party when he could do so from the position of strength.
The Radicals also are entering a period of crisis. For many years they have been building up their support and developing their base, in the confident expectation that the ruling parties’ failures over Kosovo will work to their advantage. This is not the case, however. The Democrats have succeeded in presenting Kosovo as fait accompli to the Serbian public, and they keep pointing at some elusive “European integrations” as a substitute. The Radicals, on the other hand, have failed to articulate a message that is both correct and inspiring. The Serbs are tired of economic deprivation, and many of them are willing to be duped with Euro-talk. They are still listening to the rosy stories of the open EU path, which with the defeat of the Lisbon Treaty at the Irish referendum is in fact closed. There will be no enlargement of the EU for a many years to come.
SERBIA AND THE E.U.—Serbia’s Euro-fanatics, led by President Boris Tadic, will admit no such thing, however. In an interview on June 29, Tadic stated two priorities of the new government: to ratify the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU as soon as possible, and to “complete” cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. But Tadic’s haste makes no sense. Even if the Serbian Assembly ratifies it, that gesture will be meaningless. The EU has already decided that the Agreement is suspended until General Mladic and Dr. Karadzic are arrested and delivered to the Hague Tribunal—and that will not happen. Had the Serbian government had the wherewithal to deliver them, it would have done so log time ago. Even if the Serbian Assembly ratifies the SAA, it will remain inoperative for as long as Brussels remains unconvinced that Serbia has fully complied with its imposed obligation to cooperate with The Hague Tribunal—and yet such compliance is impossible for as long as Karadzic and Mladic are at large; it’s a classic Catch 22. In addition, even if the SAA were to become operative, it would not mean that Serbia is any closer to joining the EU. With the outcome of the Irish referendum the Lisbon Treaty is effectively dead. The Treaty, had it passed, would have provided the mechanism for further enlargement. Now the EU has to fall back on the Nice Treaty, signed in December 2000, that came into force in February 2003. It specifically limits the size of the EU to 28 members, which means that Croatia may be admitted next year, and that’s the end: after that, for maybe 10 to 15 years the enlargement process will be over. It is interesting, however, that in Serbia nobody seems to be willing to spell this simple fact aloud. The enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn keeps saying that the door is still open to new members, but he is not telling the truth. He is paid to say so. In reality, in Brussels the EU bureaucrats are knowingly nodding to each other that it is over: neither Serbia, nor Macedonia, nor Bosnia-Herzegovina, let alone Turkey, will be members of the EU for at least two decades.
AS FOR KOSOVO…—Commenting on possible replacement of UNMIK by EULEX in Kosovo, Tadic repeated on June 29 that no transformation of UN’s mission would be acceptable based on the initiative of the UN Secretary General alone, and that a Security Council decision would be needed. His statement was apparently calculated to prepare the ground for Serbia’s gradual admission that Kosovo is a lost cause. Tadic pretends to resist such outcome, but in practice he is not taking any steps that would make the position of the secessionists more difficult. Belgrade’s trade with Kosovo continues unabated, Kosovo Albanians’ transit through the territory of Serbia is unhindered, Serbian electricity keeps Kosovo’s derelict grid functioning.
Tadic seems to be implying that Serbia will accept the EU’s EULEX mission, illegal as it is, provided it gets a fig leaf of legality from the UN Security Council. At the UN SC the only barrier is the opposition of Russia. Russia is not going to continue opposing Western policies, however, if Serbia herself is reconciled to the loss of the southern province. We are already witnessing gradual distancing of the Russian diplomacy from the Kosovo issue. It is only a matter of time till the new government in Belgrade signals to Moscow that Serbia is perfectly willing to see Russia removing its objections to the transformation of the UN mission into an EU mission. If and when that happens, it will mark de facto acceptance of Kosovo’s independence by Belgrade.
The chief losers, in the short term, will be the remaining Serbs of Kosovo. Their lot is fatally dependent upon the posture of the government in Belgrade, politically, financially, and morally. Their ability to resist forced integration into an independent Kosovo is dependent on what happens in the Serbian capital. With the new coalition, they can no longer count on any serious support from Belgrade and most certainly they can no longer take it for granted. The previous coalition had an important ministry, the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, which was ably handled by the Democratic Party of Serbia and one of its leading lights, Prof. Slobodan Samardzic, as Minister. They were able to devise a whole series of projects that helped the Serbian community in Kosovo feel that it is not abandoned and that its members can count on support from Belgrade. With the new government this will no longer be the case.
It is tempting to conclude that Serbia will have an unpatriotic government for the next few years. This conclusion depends on one’s definition of “patriotism,” of course, and Tadic would claim that his striving to join “Europe” at any price—Kosovo implicitly included—is somehow “patriotic.” Tadic’s and his cohorts’ understanding of Serbdom means turning Serbia into just another post-modern European nation that has given up on the legacy of its culture, tradition, and faith, just another nation that measures its successes solely in terms of dollars or euros per capita.
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Another factor that doesn't get talked about enough is Russia. I am confident that Putin and his cronies directly support a DS government and are a big, big reason we are seeing these strange events
From the weak response to Kosovo's declaration of independence, it was obvious that they were never serious about defending Serbia's interests - it was all just talk. The DS will give them an easy excuse to give up on Kosovo and say their favourite line, "we can't be bigger Serbs than the Serbs themselves."
Their support for DS was clear by their reaction to Tadic's unconstitutional signing of the SAA, practically supporting that decision. When Medvedev visited Serbia, he was with Tadic in church taking photos (they surely deserve to go there more often...) They never once indicated they supported a national government.
Let's not forget that Putin was put into place in Russia in the most corrupt manner with the aid of America, Yeltsin, and the terrible oligarchy in Russia. A snake doesn't change its colours. All the talk about Putin being a patriot was a trick and we were all fooled.
Socialists and Democrats rule the United States.
The United States does what it can to spread it's errors around the world.
The United States is guided by Protestantism; that is to say, Satan himself.
The LIBERAL nature of this page has become all to clear to me now. This web page is not for the defense of tradition - which is defined as a society of and for the Catholic Church - but set up to defend so-called "conservatism" in America - a country founded upon the Satanic Enlightenment.
THAT is what American "conservatives" wish to defend in America: their own little brand of Satanism.
I've had it. I am not going to even bother any longer.
America, sink into the hell-hole of Protestant secularism - you dug your own graves: your future is that of Europe.
As the God-man rhetorically asks: But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?
Not in the United States, apparently. The people are imbued with Satanic Protestantism, and will not be awakened. They continue to rail against the very things they hold dear, summed up: "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity". The very foundations of the French Revolution are what American conservatives hope to "conserve".
Who is the destroyer of Serbia? America.
"Love it or leave it", correct?
@1Marko K.
You talk crap. Are you George Soros crony?
Medvedev is the only prominent leader to denounce western recognition of Kosovo independence and immediately supported the Serbs position.
Putin had to court the support of the western installed mafia oligarghs as they had total control of the country. Through there vast control of media and wealth they constructed regional laws to protect there cronies, appointed members of the duma and never paid any taxes. Virtually all the oligarghs are Israeli citizens.
Putin cleverly falsly guaranted the status quo and to protect there interest but when he came to power started to prosecute them for the crimes they commited during the 90's. Since then western powers media and government have launched a full scale assault on Putin because he seeks to put Russias interest first instead of a western backed oligarghy.
He is a Patriot helping promote Russias cultural and religious heritage, providing financial to tacle Russias demographic decline, etc.
The US did not help Putin come to power. Major scumbag politicians like John McCain and Zbignew Brezinski were dead aginst it
Srdja Trifkovic
Why doesn't the Serb parliment launch its own independent investigation on Kosovo detailing a case against independence which it could submit to the EU, UN and the US.
Gathering detailed information from trail transcripts, media reports, eye witness accounts, intelligence documents, financial records, statements from foreign diplomats and crimes commited against Serbs by government affiliated groups it would help dispell the many lies and myths portrayed in western media and bolster Serbias position.
Patrick Hall,
Your posts always intrique me - thank you.
What do you think about the Greek Orthodox Church?
The Orthodox Church(s) (Greek or otherwise) are all part of the Holy Apostolic Church, although, unfortunately, currently in schism with the head of said Church, the Bishop of Rome. By no means are the Orthodox Faithful in any way Protestant. They do not Protest the Authority of the Church, nor, essentially, the Authority of the Bishop of Rome. The schism is something to be worked out among the bishops and patriarch themselves. The Faithful in their respective communities should in no way consider the other "heretics" - the Protestants, yes, indeed, heretics - fellow Catholics and Orthodox, no.
So long as a society is built on, around, and for the Catholic Faith (which, as I note above, includes the Orthodox Tradition), then that society is something to "conserve". Otherwise, it is something that brings about ruin.
Patrick Hall,
Thank you. Though a native Minnesotan and Roman Catholic ... I'm very drawn to the South Carolina Low Country and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Your thoughts?
"No analyst had predicted, three or four months ago, that the election on May 11 would result in such impressive gains by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS)—which won over 38 percent of the vote..."
Thats because DS didn`t win 38%. ZES won 38%.
DS stil only hold 65 seats in the Assembly. Just one up from the 64 they held before this election.
@ 3 james
Don't jump to attack people you don't know or you'll sound quite a bit like those Soros-ites.
It's time to lift the head out of the sand and come to terms with who Putin is. Russia (and Serbia by default) will never prosper with people like him in power.
Do you really think if Russia was serious about Kosovo, that the US would have given Albanians the green light? Of course not. Tell me a single thing Russia has done since then to defend Serb interests? Did they respond at all to the vicious attack on Serbs in the courthouse in Kosovska Mitrovica? As a matter of fact, Churkin even briefly mentioned that the Serbs shouldn't have been in the courthouse! Did the Russian government give the SRS or DSS any support in the elections? Actually, it was the DS who received the favours when Lavrov supported the signing of the SAA, which was a dirty election ploy by Tadic, very detrimental to Serbia's interests.
They haven't even helped their fellow Russians in South Ossetia who were begging for support! What hope do Serbs have when they ignore their own people.
The list can go on and on (Putin and Bush dancing together in one of their many meetings together, Lavrov mentioning that the Serbs treated Albanians poorly in Kosovo in the past, nothing done against Hague tribunal etc. etc.)
But just one more thing. Where did Ivica Dacic go immediately after the elections? It was Moscow. Maybe that can explain why so many Socialists supported this deal with the DS...
Putin knows what he needs to do to stay in power. He's not going to repeat the same mistakes as his mentor Yeltsin who ended up with a below 5% approval rating. He won't pursue the same suicidal policies openly but he will try to pull the wool over the Russian people's eyes.
And yet with all of this I would still support Serbia to turn to Russia because of our shared heritage and culture and because the alternatives are so much worse.
If the game is going to be played this way, then I would humbly suggest to the patriotic coaltion parties (DSS, NS, SRS, etc.) the following:
1. Create a shadow government immediately so that it is publicly clear what your government would look like and so that each shadow minister can directly and immediately challenge (through daily press briefings) the actions or inactions of his/her counterparts in government. Establish policy positions and publicize them immediately.
2. Create a "Diasporic Council" to (a) advise and (b) help collect funds. Advertise, for the western public's consumption, the fact that diasporic council is comprised of "democratic" and "capitalist" minded westerners whose parents fled communism (create impression that DS and, of course SPS, are continuation of communism and that "western" Serbs don't support them).
3. In coordination with a diasporic council's advice, issue policy positions that would be made law if/when the shadow government comes to power.
Include in those explicit and immediately implementable policy ideas to make government members' financial records transparent and available publicly. Also include policy on how to make privitization of state-owned assets and future tender-driven state-financed business more transparent. Have American business executives (of Serbian and non-Serbian descent) present at the press conference where these are unveiled.
4. In coordination with the diasporic council's help, raise funds to finance homegrown NGOs and media to help counter the foreign-owned media's influence in Serbia. If the government makes that illegal or its oligarchs block the initiatives in the marketplace, then simply print and give away "pamphlets" that look amazingly like newspapers, but happen to be free and available everywhere, including private mailboxes.
Homegrown oligarchs don't necessarily mesh well with wealthy patriotic elements abroad, so the fund-raising is not as difficult as some would imagine.
5. Organize and fund "cultural enrichment" programs in Kosovo. At first these should draw pilgrams (one hopes in the thousands at a time) to travel to monasteries and other places under siege in Kosovo. These pilgrams at first, for security reasons, will have to be comprised of men aged 20 to 40, with an interest in Serbia and/or with genuine affections for the Church. I can foresee pilgrams recruited from Serbs abroad, Russia, and even US and Canadian military veterans (say, like ones intimately familiar with who Albanian General Ceku is). Ensure that Kosovo has an ever-increasing presence of Christians, whether permanent settlers or just pilgrams. Ignore Pristina's border crossings and enter at Serbian points.
6. In coordination with the diasporic council, organize public pronouncements from prominent organizations that demonstrate support for your ideas and actions. These organizations should include all prominent Serbian organizations abroad (Serbian Unity Congress, SNF locals, etc), Christian organizations (both Orthodox and Catholic), and civic organizations (Rotary International, etc.).
A real coup would be a pronouncement from the small Albanian Orthodox community denouncing violence against Serbian Christians committed by Albanians.
7. Create an immediate and loud dialogue (within the capacity of private citizens, of course....) with members of two important governments: Russia and Vatican. Ensure that the message of European Christian civilization's survival being fought on the front line's of Kosovo (again) is made loud and clear.
8. Define and publish the conditions under which it would be appropriate for Serbia to join the EU. Include in any such pronouncements a clear, complete, tangible (not mired in legalese) description of all resevrations associated with Brussels' efforts to usurp sovereignty of current members and efforts at de-Christianization of the current members.
The patriotic element by no means has to retreat from public view. In fact, the increasingly transparent corruption and befuddled policy pronouncements of the DS-SPS regime challenged by a shadow government should result in one of two things. Either the EU will rush to the rescue of the "demo-socialist" regime by offering a big infusion of economic aid grants (accension won't happen, as I believe Srdja is correct) to help bribe the populace with jobs, improved living conditions, increased industrial investment, etc. Or, the more likely scenario, the demo-socialists will flail around, not accomplish anything, a new election will be called, and the SPS will cease to exist and the DS will be cut to 10 seats, and patriotic block will walk in with a firm majority and well-established government and policy positions ready for the implementation. Both are a victory for the Serbian people.
It is contingent upon the DSS and SRS playing nice. My impression is that both Kostunica and Nikolic are uncorrupted to date and care deeply for Serbia. Such men can make this happen and make the DS sweat. Without the DSS to kick around, who will Tadic blame?
Re: #10
Eagle, whoever you are, I agree with you. DSS as well as Radicals could each have their speakers for Foreign affairs, Internal affaires, Justice, Finance etc. just like the opposition parties in Canada for instance. That way, like you said, they would be able to counteract and fight Tadic’s communist, corrupt coalition.
That would also be an appropriate way for both parties to “reinvent” themselves and to attract voters... One is certain; opposition must not lose any time. It must develop a sustainable patriotic policy and act openly in Serbia’s national interests.
Patrick Hall, Protestant-bashing does not reveal you to be intellectually stimulating but rather hysterical and nonsensical. And just so that you know, I am Baptist, a Protestant denomination, and I know that I certainly reject the principles of the French Revolution. The most important thing you must learn is that the men who fought the Revolution for America's freedom from Britain rejected them too, or at the very least weren't even familiar with them. However, the vast majority of them were Protestant, with only a tiny sliver of Catholics. My point is a simple request that I make of you: Take Protestant-bashing somewhere else. To be fair to all who make comments on these posts, I believe Catholic- and Orthodox-bashing are equally unacceptable as well.
@9Marko K.
Russia under Putin has prospered quite nicely from having a 7% middle class when he first took office to 20% today and growing also investing in future nanotechnology reseearch and developement.
The head of the Duma said that the Hague tribuneral shouldd be closed down.
When Medvedev went to Serbia he agreed on an aid shipment to Serbia which has started to be delivered.
Russia publicaly opposed Kosovo independence even stating that they might recognise independence movements in the US.
What do you want to Russia to do about Kosovo? What can it do?It doesn't have any options exempt to protest its independence which it did.
US sponsers terrorism Russia, exspands NATO to its borders, discards the IBM treaty pointing missles at Russia and try to forment revolution inside Russia and its George Soros coloured revolutions in neighbouring regions.
John McCain said he would go to war against Russia if South Ossetia joined it although it has every right since its became part of Georgia because Stalin gave it to them.
If you think the US is or has ever been pro Putin you just need to look at the press, news stations, political pundits, think tanks, etc. No leader in recent times except Milosevic has been more vilified than Vladimir Putin.
Once again it's everyone's fault but one's own. Kostunica's - Seselj failure was predictable, because of the limited appeal of their ideology.
1. You cannot have a winning nationalist front without the inclusion of the Monarchists who are the real genuine bearers of the nationalist tradition as opposed to johnny-come-latelies from DSS and radicals.
2. Likewise you cannot win without the full rehabilitation of the past especially general Nedic and prince Paul.
3. You cannot win without an honest rejection of the concept of party state. Milosevic's reinvention of serbian nationalism was a device with which he tried to preserve it and nothing more.
4. You cannot win if you basically believe in socialism and are against the freedoms that capitalism brings to small enterprises, individuals and where an array of goods, laws and services are in place to satisfy everyone's basic everyday needs without resorting to corruption.
5. You cannot win if you are not willing to reestablish and return property to the millions that the state expropriated or sent to jail since 1945.
6. You cannot win if you are not willing to expose the criminality of Milosevic's government.
7. Lastly, you cannot win if you surrender the goodness of the concept of Yugoslavia for the sour grapes exceptionalist ideology of seselj's radicals that produced such horrendous blunders as bombing of Dubrovnik, sarajevo and Osijek, a strategy that was bound to produce the exact opposite effect from the one that it intended.
Having said all that, the reason that DS won and will continue to win is that at least they vaguely promise to move in a positive direction on all of these 7 points although unlikely to get there. Likewise, tt should be apparent to anyone that radicals will never be permitted to partake in the future governments. This is their own fault. After all how can any party whose nominal and immature leader says that he's happy that some poor jornalist got killed (or the prime minister for that matter), how can such person ever be permmited to rule.
But the greatest paradox, as Dr. Trifkovic points out, is that the former communists now in DS and SPS, have finally came to where they were before Milosevic. They have preserved the party state their only true long term goal! So it's definitely confusing, as DSS and Radicals also want to preserve the party state albeit under a phony nationalist banner. So in a way, everyone has won or everyone has lost depending on your point of view. This is the disgraceful legacy of the Serbia's political class. It is sad about Dr. Kostunica, as he got lost in this quagmire and aligned himself with a losing concept. a decent man, who could have done a great deal,of good. Unfortunately this is most likely the end of his career as he will be under great pressure to retire.
A realistically sober commentary.
Is it not true that Tadic's group and possibly the Socialists have $$$ related to Russia?
Montenegro is portrayed as heavily involved with Russian businesses, while also being perceived as having a "Western" outlook.
All this has the appearance of a murky situation having the potential to change.
If Serbia doesn't get EU access in the next few years one would think that an alternative to the current situation can develop.
Tacked on to that is the ongoing mess in Serbia's southern province.
****
Marko K.
You raise some interesting points.
For appearance sake, Russia might be trying to play an honest broker's role. How this is done at times can be debated.
Putin recently lashed out at a Western journalist for treating Kosovo as an indepedent state unlike other disputed former Communist bloc territories. Rogozin (Russia' NATO ambassador and someone who if I'm not mistaken is of Montenegrin background) just issued some very pointed comments against Kosovo's independence.
Russian foreign policy elites no doubt have varying views on Kosovo. Overall, they're supportive of the Serb stance. As has been noted, it's asking too much of Russia to go against Kosovo's independence if Serbia shows reluctance for such advocacy.
@15Michael Averko
You have made some good points on comments posted on Russiablog.org (I take its the same Michael Averko) but i noticed no one who comments about Russia truly describes how bad it was during the 90's. Western powers turned Russia into Carthage through there shock doctorian financial strategy they conspired to structure it economy were western elites and there cronies dominate the major economic industries oil,gas, etc.
If this wasn't enougth the non-Russian mafia harasted small businesses they also lured ten's of thousands of young Russian women into the international sex trade into Europe and the Middle East.
Of course theres also Russias soviet legacy which is a compltete farce since it was installed by some of the wealthiest bankers in the world led by non-Russians. In the post revolutionary government out of 330 deputies there was only 13 ethnic Russians there was more Latvians at 20.
Of course communsm was just a covert form of control for a centralise economy that they control and destruction of Russians religious and cultural heritage.
Patrick Hall, I believe the words of James Henley Thornwell could very well be used for the ongoing culture war: “The parties in this conflict are …atheists, socialists, communists, red republicans, Jacobins on one side, and the friends of order and regulated freedom on the other. In one word, the world is the battleground -Christianity and atheism the combatants; and the progress of humanity at stake."
In light of this I have several problems with your posts on this site:
First, I fail to see the advantage of restoring the religious wars of the past and so divide our forces in this conflict.
Second, to state that conservatism does not exist in this country is to imply you have not read any of the great writers of conservatism, many of whom are associated with Chronicles.
Third, I do not believe there was anything radical or revolutionary in the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, or the Constitution. They followed the conventions and traditions of primarily England at the time. The radical and revolutionary was a result of Lincoln.
Fourth, I feel you should follow Dr. Fleming’s advice and study more upon what you speak.
A very interesting article. Truly tragic what is happening to our Serbian brethren. I thought Greek history is tragic, but Serbian is Greek on steroids.
There is another saying we use in Greece, "when the woodsmen came into the forest, the trees said, 'The Axe Handle, he is one of us!'" There seem to be plenty of internal facilitators of Serbia's destruction, either willing or unwilling, knowing or unknowing.
Dr. Trifkovic, what is the right direction for Serbia? I dont see any solution or direction particularly inviting.
Mr. Bailey,
I must say that once more you appear on the scene professing remedies that betray your distance from the local history and current events. Did Dr. Trifkovic's essay not also cast blame on decisions made by Dr. Kostunica? Yet different decisions than the one's you are re-heating for us again...
1. Who are the monarchists you propose including? You mean the ones within the Radical Party itself? What major monarchist movement exists that is excluded? Anywhere in Europe for that matter...?
2. What do you mean when you suggest "rehabilitation of Nedic and Paul"?? Prince Paul is a sympathetic figure to many. The Karadjordjevics, in general, are relatively well received and the crown prince now resides in Belgrade. One of his son's is in the military academy. The popularity of the crown itself may be the fault of the successors, and their own distance from Serbian language and culture.
3. The party state is hardly a threat. In fact, quite the oppposite is the problem with the current system - proprotional representation that allows for the entry into parliament and government small factions that splinter the bodies and disrupt the formation of unified policies and coherent responses to threats.
4. Your statement on capitalism is fantastical. Which capitalist system have you witnessed that is not corrupt? Spare us the neoconservative-inspired, arrogant, delusional grand statements on preferred systems.
5. You may well have a point on communist expropriated property, but I hardly see that as THE main stumbling block in forming a patriotic government that will protect the state from the unprecedented expropriation of 17% of Serbia's territory by a neighboring barbaric, Islamic state.
6. Milsoevic's family is in hiding abroad, Milsoevic's men at home are discredited, and, as Dr. Trifkovic mentioned, the Socialist Party is one election cycle away from non-existence now that even its philosophical base has disowned it. Further attacking Milosevic would only serve to discredit Serbia as a whole. Milosevic, for all his many faults, recognized that in his trial at the Hague he was defending more than himself - he was defending Serbia's honor. Thereby, what could be done to Milosevic posthumously that would not hurt Serbia herself at this critical juncture?
7. You make some sweeping statements about the Radicals that even their opponents would not entirely subscribe to. Perhaps you (and the Hague) can present us with the facts and evidence that supports your claim that the Radicals themselves were directly involved in developing tactical decisions for the bombings of the individual sites you mention (setting aside the question of legitimate targets...). The Hague prosecution two weeks ago embarrassed itself cliaming that Dr. Sesejl was in a planning session in Bosnia with Dr. Karadzic on a day when public records demonstrated that Karadzic was in Belgrade being interviewed by British journalists. The prosecutorial clowns, after 4+ years of preparations, cannot even lay out basic facts at the opening of Sesejl's trial?! Laughable. And yet, Naser Oric's conviction was just over-turned. A criminal for whom documents confirmed war crimes. History will speak for the process and the people, and it will not speak well of the "west's" marxists who are conspiring with civilizational enemies to snuff out their "own" people and culture.
As for your grand statements, keep them to yourself until you have some grasp of the basics. Like a more profound observer has said on these pages, it astounds me that every idiot thinks they have the right to a publicly aired opinion.
Dr. Trifkovic, what can be done if Serbia is to regain its lost "soul"?
Reply to Marko K.,
Poor Serbia will never recover its good name or its soul because the recovery of these presupposes that the germanic oriented western powers aligned with the Vatican hate mongers would allow Serbia to even consider recouping its soul and its name. Since the Berlin Congress (over 150 years ago) Germany has worked steadfastly to destroiy Serbia. Serbia has been the bone stuck in its throat - like it or not, Germany will never allow Serbia to rejoin what the western powers consider "the civilized world". Serbia's fate was sealed a long time ago - few years before Yugoslavia began to fracture, there were subtle but unmistakable magazine and newspaper articles which all of a sudden and out of nowhere began to discuss how Serbs wer "the others" "the different ones" "the eastern oriented people whose culture could not be considered as such for it was not western culture". Well, as I read these articles I felt a dread fall across Serbs and Serbia for I knew what was being planned. Add to alla this the fact that a very active and corrupt fifth column exists in Serbia and it is ready and open for business of selling its heritage - well, who can save Serbia? Nobody.
Re: # 14 jack bailey
Eagle has told you nicely (# 19) what you are. Yet I would lke to stress that the expropriation of the land from1945 - 1980s. was done by Tito's (Croatian) communists.
Since 1990s however, the expropriation of Serbian land and estates in Slovenia and Montenegro (Karadjordjevic's estate) was done by Slovenes and their EU cronies; in Bosnia by US led NATO/ Islamic countries and local Muslims; in Kosovo and Metohija by the US /EU countries and Albanians.
Looking forward to the day when 250.000 Serbs from Krajina will return to their homes in Croatia. Equally joyful will be the day when American military base Bondsteel in Kosmet close.
Some 200.000 Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, so brutally expelled from their homes and their lad expropriated by Amero/Albanains deserve their property back. Don't you think so?
It's hard to maintain solidarity with anyone who is intent on suicide.
Just as it's hard to support Israel when it legitimizes Hezzbollah and Hamas, speculates about releasing Barghouti in order to boost "moderates" (!?), and gives the impression that it is just dying to abandon the Golan; and it's difficult to support Taiwan when the government there refuses to properly arm itself against invasion; it's also hard to go out of one's way to oppose "The Republic of Kosovo" when Serbs are so venal and corrupt.
* * * * *
Regarding your comments on Lisbon being abandoned and a reversion to Nice and its maximal 28-state EU, you make sense, on paper.
However, I am sure that pro-EU Serbs have faith in the Great and the Good of Brussels to over-ride any minor democratic setbacks. EUropeans compensate for their impotence and cowardice when faced with Muslims, by crushing all native European dissent.
" it’s asking too much of Russia to go against Kosovo’s independence if Serbia shows reluctance for such advocacy."
I strongly disagree. Russia was cospicuously reluctant to give support to national government in Serbia, while the West demonstrated its support for the "pro-Western, reformist" government in any imaginable way, so do not blame small, impoverished, bombed, for decades humiliated and consequently reluctant Serbia for lack of Russian support. Russian support does not depend on how many people in Serbia will go to the street and protest against Kosovo recognition. Neither are Russian policy makers such fine gentleman who cannot imagine breaking bon ton rules and be "better Serbs than Serbs themselves".
Russia is abusing Serbia, and it is doing it in a purposly and deeply ruthless manner. At the end of the day, Russia too, holds Serbs for dispensable and use them for benefit of Russia only, even if it means death to Serbia and Serbs.
Ne lipsi magarce to zelene trave, - this is what Serbs feel when they think of Russian "support".
@20Marko Kovacevic
Kick out that turd George Soros and his Open Society Fund thats helps promote "gay rights" and all the other NGO's erect a 100 foot tall christian cross up in Belgrade, everyone start wearing "Kosovo is Serbia" t-shirts and promote Serbs christian culture like Putins Russia.
@24R. V. M.
Well you can support US and Europe on Serbia over Russia if you want and its future projects to wetsternise Serbian society like gay rights , multiculturalism and national guilt over the Balkans wars.
Dr. Trifkovic,
I am surprised by your statement in this article:
"No analyst had predicted, three or four months ago, that the election on May 11 would result in such impressive gains by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS)—which won over 38 percent of the vote—and in a relative defeat for the Radicals (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS), which polled 29 percent. "
I am no political analyst but here is my comment to your previous article (The E.U.’s Double Game in the Balkans http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=574#comments):
---------------------------------------
79 JJ
on 01 May 2008 at 1:32 am
Is it of any importance that 66% of Serbian citizens support signing of SAA with EU?
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=04&dd=30&nav_id=49871
-----------------------------------------
After which, the regulars on this site were quick to dismiss the quoted poll as the "pro-western" ploy.
Well, it seems that the figure was not significantly off-mark and that it was a reliable indicator that pro-European parties were likely to fare well, which the did.
Therefore, no surprise there for those who can read the data and put it in the realistic context.
James, you have lot of illusions about Russia. Do you know this country, do you speak the language? Russia is immersed in multiculturalist ideology, no matter what the Western media says. The problem is, there aren´t enough Russians in Russia. An enormous portion of inhabitants of Russia are from the former Soviet republics and they are loyal to other nations or states. And they are everywhere, - in the media, in the politics (from the bottom to the top), in the capital and in the countryside. Russia will never be able to get rid of this Fifth Column, they are simply too numerous and Russians are not having enough selfesteem to even recognize the problem.
Even Russian nationalists, such as Dugin, do not ask for a decisive military action on behalf of Serbs, but hope that Serbian suffering and further humiliation of Serbs may trigger some sort of national revival in Russia. And than, in this distant and bright future built on Serbian blood, they might engage in some vague way to help Serbia. They completely oversee that Serbs are not numerous.
The fact is, Serbia is entirely on its own, without any prospect of receiving any help and with all prospects to be further abused by both the West and Russia.
"erect a 100 foot tall christian cross up in Belgrade, everyone start wearing “Kosovo is Serbia” t-shirts and promote Serbs christian culture like Putins Russia."
It is like asking a woman who has been gang raped to put on her prettiest dress and march proudly through the village, while the gang rapists run free and the rest is rather symphatetic with the rapists, because they are cowards or simply evil. You completely oversee the reality of a small nation being deadly wounded, - it is cruel.
"No analyst had predicted, three or four months ago, that the election on May 11 would result in such impressive gains by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS)—which won over 38 percent of the vote—and in a relative defeat for the Radicals (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS), which polled 29 percent. "
Here is my post as a comment to your previous article (The E.U.’s Double Game in the Balkans
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=574#comments)
---------------------------------------
79 JJ
on 01 May 2008 at 1:32 am
Is it of any importance that 66% of Serbian citizens support signing of SAA with EU?
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=04&dd=30&nav_id=49871
---------------------------------------
It is Serbia’s bad government and its reliance on the worst of Serbia’s enemies (the US and the EU) that drives Serbia to a path of further destruction.
Dr. Trifkovic has put it very clearly : “…The Serbs are tired of economic deprivation, and many of them are willing to be duped with Euro-talk. They are still listening to the rosy stories of the open EU path…There will be no enlargement of the EU for a many years to come.
Serbia has to overthrow its current government in making as soon as possible and work on its national revival and self-reliance with help of larger nations such as Russia, China, India etc. Kostunica has spoken about Serbia’s neutrality (militarily and otherwise) couple of times. Some has mentioned that Serbia can be an off-shore destination… Euro-talk, Serbia’s NATO membership and similar nonsense must be abandoned immediately.
It is time for Serbian government and Serbian people to work for and not against themselves.
@26R. V. M.
Unfortunetly the western media give us a bias anti-russian perspective bordering on pathological hatred. Not only is Putin evil but russians are described as having a underline evil biological mentality who supposedly hate the west and are covertly drawing there plans to destroy it. Pravda did a good opinion piece of what Jonathan Dimbalby wrote in the Daily Mail.
One commentator I read described Moscow as one of the whitist cities on earth, especially in Europe if you consider Moscow a european capital.
If Russia sends military units to defend Serbia that would be the long awaited pretext for NATO to attack Russia that most europeans have been waiting for. They virtually applauded the terrorist slaughter at Beslan when bombs and Napalm start falling on Moscow they will be hitting the record button on the dvd recorder.
@27R. V. M.
They cant organise and maintain there own group solidarity in there own country?
KLA gangs dont roam the streets of Belgrade and one act of defiance would rally support behind a national movement 500,000 Serbs attended Milosevics funeral.
Historically even occupied nations have been able to group together and overthrough there inhabitants Russia against polish and muslim occupation, Spain against muslim occupation, etc.
Serbs wouldn't even have to form armed units they could just gather on mass and demand proof that Serbs were killing Albanians in Kosovo.
A self defeatist attitude is counter productive. If the Spartans just excepted that the Persian empire was to big and powerful then no one would remember there name.
Dr. Trifkovic,
It is very disappointing that you would not post my previous two comments.
rgs,
jj
Thank you for another first class article on Serbia and it's tragic present history.
I just can't understand why Serbia still is being punished even though it has reformed itself into a democratic country. When Serbia was run by a communist dictator Kosovo was an undisputed and integral part of Serbia. Now when Serbia is democratic it is punished even more and it's heart is being ripped out. I can not remember reading about any other country ever having being treated so badly. It is really a Serbian Golgotha. Hopefully the suffering of the Serbs of today in the end will be rewarded one way or another. This goes specially to the Kosovo Serbs who are the ones suffering most.
@31Swede
Thats one of the big myths of Milosevic that he was a dictator. Serbia had a multi party system and a free press from what I understand.
Yet another ruse!
Socialists and Democrats Will Rule Serbia - possibly completely off target. On one hand I have been noticing that the various sprouts of communism (socialism) have been germinating throughout Serbia - I was opposed, but I had solid evidence. Today's Politika (major Belgrade daily - had a challenging article titled "The left strikes back hard" - in spite of a well defined topic and a well balanced article there has been only one comment. It just so happens that I have friends in California, Germany, Florida, Chicago, U.K. who feel that this a vitally important catharctic view on Serbian ways to claw its way out of communism - yet the article has only one comment - while I hold about 15 unpublished comments from the above named friends, none of which was published. Does that not illustrate the totalitarian grip on the "freedom of press".
Yet, again this could have been a typical communist trick, a RUSE (deception) - a sort of a release valve just to vent the anger and see how many idiots will put their foot in their mouth, and openly write against communism (now veiled under socialism or multiparty system) - outcome remains unchanged - any dissenting view does not get to see the light of day. Is that what they call "democracy", multiparty system, pluralism? Or is it a communist trap to identify those who oppose the obvious communist trap which will get them sent to Lubyanka or the Gulags - since the Goli Otok is out of operation.
If you speak and read Serbian, don't get to cry after you read:
http://www.politika.co.yu/rubrike/Tema-nedelje/levica-udara-jace/Levica-udara-jache.sr.html
Excellent and realistic article by Dr. Trifkovic. Understanably, rezigantion rules on this thread.
In is interesting to note that the socialists, when in opposition, proposed the formation of the national government in the light of the Kosovo illegal secession. Now that they became "the kingmakers" they joined the democrats straight. It is interesting that they did not propose something similar after the May 11 election. It would have been better to have all 4 major political groupings in the new government. Thus we would have had Tadic's rhetoric about preserving Kosovo within Serbia, but we would also have DSS with Kostunica and Samardzic (and other parties) fighting for it in earnest.
As far as the collaboration with the ICTY is concerned - as the crown condition for the Serbian EU candidacy - not many people realise that Karadzic and Mladic are not Serbian citizens. They are Serbs, of course, but they are citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I doubt that they are now in Serbia. There is no proof for that. Therefore, Serbia is under no more obligation to arrest and extradite Karadzic and Mladic than, say, France. Why is EU strangling Serbia because of the two Serbs who, in fact, are foreign citizens is not completely clear. In fact, it is. It is just because they are the Serbs.
Why not "strangle" the Bosnian foreign administrator Lajcak and all the foreign forces in Bosnia instead?
On the other hand, if Serbia is to be strangled just because Karadzic and Mladic are the Serbs, then Republika Srpska by that logic must be able to join Serbia because it is populated by the Serbs.
Serbia must use wierd EU logic to her own advantage.
Swede@31: thank you for your realistic comment!
To my previous comment, I would add that Serbia is forced to collaborate with the ICTY which has acquited Naser Oric, Ramus Haradinaj and Fatmir Ljimaj, in spite of the henious crimes committed by those so called "freedom fighters". That can be likened to the collaboration of the prisoner on the death row in the repair of an electric chair in which he is to be executed the next day.
Who is talking about Slobodan Milosevic's monumental defense before the ICTY in which he exposed far too many lies to remain alive? Who is talking about Julia Gorin's now famous statement that had the ICTY been brave enough to sentence Milosevic on the basis of the evidence before it, that such a verdict would "cause riots in all major European cities"?
Who is talking about 5-6,000 Serbs killed in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war? Who is talking about thousands of Serbs killed around Srebrenica by Naser Oric's forces? Who is talking about seventeen Serb villages completely wiped out by Oric's lot which abused the Srebrenica's UN protected area status, thus precipitating the tragic events that followed? What was doing the UN (Dutch) contigent there? Sitting and watching?
Thousands and thousands of Serb victims across the former Yugoslavia that nobody in EU, US, ICTY and elsewhere could not care less is nothing but the crime of the century committed on one small nation.
The new DS-SPS government must not loose these facts from its sight. The decision of Milorad Dodik of Republika Srpska to sue the Dutch Government for the Oric's crimes before the Dutch courts is the most welcome move. Serbia must also sue all the states that have recognized the illegal recognition of Kosovo before the ICJ. Whoever obstruts such a move is not to be trusted one iota.
Poor destiny,what else to say.Justice in this world,hm,not realy.
Moral is not the argument of politics.Serbia and the actual desigion makers such as domestic mr.Tadic and his "Anglo-American friends"just keep wining ,and poor Serbian people are in realy trobule.
This is not just the poor speach of the "poor"word,everyone needs to look in his own backyard or u can become a poor little man ,like we have now a poor little Serbia ,struguling to keep their nation ,and the only state.
Just poor!
@JJ.
JJ, you are mistaken. There are so called regulars on this thread who did predict that DS and their lot composed of three other parties would or could take 38% of the vote. But, that is not the main point. Without the socialists, those 38% would not be enough to form the government - meaning that no one could have predicted that the socialists would join forces with DS.
Just before the thread of the comments started getting too broad and outside of the scope of the lead article, both Eagle and Boba made remarks substantially in favor of the opposition. Not unlike the best (and often too infrequent) qualities of the United States system - it is exactly the opposition that will have to carry the burden of change. Whoever it was that coined "Dissent is the noblest form of patriotism". The present tilt towards the neo-communist schooled and possibly inclined leaders need a firm stand before they stray again.
Admittedly off topic, yet closely related to the work and dedication Dr. Trifkovic has followed so closely.
Endemic nature of Islam shows its face again (today in Istanbul - the most secular of the Islamic countries). So much for Fatwas, terrorists, peaceful and peaceloving Islam. Let's see how predominantly Serbian Bosnia and Serbian ancestral lands (Kosmet) surivive overt spreading of the mosques. I fear Dr. Trifkovic will be proven right again.
@ 40 Goran, at al
Of course you could not forsee things when you do not look at facts, but stick stubornly to your wishfull thinking.
You have discredited the poll which, even if a bit exagerated, correctly gauged the majority opinion. SPS displayed sufficient common sense to accept this.
The other important, and for some posters - inconvenient, fact is that Serbia is geographically closer to "Europe" than to Russia. It always has, and will always be part of Europe, with all the goods and the bads that come with it, rather than of the distant and backward Asiatic culture(s).
You and I, just like the rest of the mankind, obviously differ on the main premise: reasoning based on facts, or fiction.
@JJ.
JJ, my reasoning is based on pure facts. You should really get yours right. Everybody knows that the SAA was suspended immediately upon the signature until the crown condition is fullfiled, meaning the full collaboration of Serbia with the ICTY. Serbia can ratify the SAA tomorrow, but it will not enter into force until ratified by the 27 member states of the EU. And most probably that will happen when Karadzic and Mladic, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who are not in Serbia, are arrested. I see that you believe that this will happen shortly. Good for you, but not for Serbian people who do not see that the most effective thing Serbia can do at this moment is to slap the states that have recognized the illegal secession of Kosovo with the legal action before the ICJ.
It is exactly those who have signed the SAA that do not wish to do that, because exactly like you, they wish to create a false picture of 'HAVING DONE SOMETHING', WHILE EFFECTIVELY DOING NOTHING. In the meantime, to the outrage of the American Serbs Obama wishes well to Serbia with her 'neighbour Kosovo', while the Germans say that recognition of Kosovo by Serbia is not the condition for the EU candidacy, but Serbia 'must not block Kosovo's accession to the international organizations'. Here we are, new conditions are mushrooming, and you are stubbornly citing some suicidal polls. Instead of looking for polls I subscribe to Iliya Pavlovich's citation: ' Dissent is the noblest form of patriotism' and add: ' You can fool some people sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the time'. For the SAA was nothing but a nicely packed box of European air, a pre-election gift to Tadic and his lot.
I call upon the American Serbs to write a letter to Messrs. Tadic and Jeremic and urge them to take action before the ICJ NOW.
Most recently, the EU "lifted" sanctions on Cuba. I have no idea why the EU had sanctions on Cuba imposed. What did Cuba did to the EU to have imposed sanctions on her? What sort of authority the EU has over Cuba?
Madness rules. Isn't it?
The situation calls for a madman to understand it.
Once upon the time, back in 1389, the Serb hero Milos Obilic killed the Turkish sultan Murat at the Kosovo battle (the Battle of the Blackbirds). Now, in 2008 Boris Tadic, Vuk Jeremic (the Serb Foreign Minister) and Ivica Dacic, their newest collaborator, want to sell Milos Obilic's deed for money. Heavy duty (i)moral responsiblity that, you know what I mean?
To me both sides of the argument of who had more chances to win the elections are correct, except to the fact that in my opinion this will be the beginning of the end of the DS+ parties as I do not see that EU will activate the SAA+ (+ other agreements) until the new government accepts the EU "fact" that Kosovo is not part of Serbia, among other conditions...the closer this is to happen (the closer Serbia is on the "way" to EU), more and more voters in Serbia will take the hard decision and take the votes to likes of DSS and SRS at least...not to mention that the parties such as DSS and SRS will probably start with cosmetic changes in their leadership.....not to include the EU own trouble with the Lisabon/ Irish question....
In my mind, SPS is the first such party to "cosmetically" change...
It is also not by chance that Jeremic stated today that Russia is Serbia's no1 friend in the international arena...is there part of DS that feels slightly differnet than mainsteam DS?
Lets see...