Another Can Of Worms

Serbia is an unhappy place!
It is like the colors on the flag: red-the reminder of the past, blue-sadness, white-depressing. A lot of countries have it. All events pre- during- post the elections: cheering, spitting at each other, skinheads, the morning after, you name it...The same groups of people and the outcomes that will lead to nowhere...Why? Just because...

We'll have many more beers together in this God-forsaken land, especially after we've won the league title.

dont be worry. Fuck radicals.

9 februara, u domu omladine je koncert elektricnog orgazma.
Nemoj da propustis.

I voted in December 2003 for DS. I voted for Mr. Tadic for president too. But that was my last vote for them. Meanwhile they screwed up and they are lost my vote. So I changed my mind about DS and that was not Mr. Lion or american embassy guilt as you claim. For all this time silence from DS for everythig was happening is the main reason and lack of any political action. I'm happy that I'm not one of 920000 people which vote could be brought to DSS. I hope that this will not happen and this time DS will have strong will to get PM place like it deserves.

Mr Blagoje, your mind is twisted by dark side of force. So you are not able to see real picture. That's why you can't understand what Cheda speaks. You are exclusive, so yankee don't go home, stay with us. As long you need or want.

You are WELCOME here.

i would really like the kosovo to stay in serbia and then that kosovo albanian parties make a coalition( with the seats in the coalition similar to their distribution in the kosovo parliament), with 1,5 million votes have the strongest fraction in parliament and ask for the mandate to build the serbian goverment. if serbia asks for kosovo to remain part of serbia it would be only fair that kosovo albanians have a say in serbian elections and politics.

Gospodin Lyon dobro govori srpski. Cak sta vise, odlicno! Slusala sam ga u jednom Utisku nedelje. Ni ja ne razumem zasto pise na engleskom. Valjda svi automatski odreagujemo pa pisemo na engleskom. Vazno je komentarisati i reagovati na nepravdu, kako u politici, tako i u zivotu u kome se delimo na crne i bele, i u kome zavirivanje u tudj donji ves postaje svakodnevna stvar. Ovo nije comment na komentar.

Both SRS and DSS are nationalist, just different versions for different social classes.

LDP is not extreme. What is extreme is the fact that SRS gets 28% of the votes. In normal societies parties with LDP views would get 20-30% of the votes while SRS like parties would get 2-10%.

The whole political picture of Serbia is extreme and not LDP, or SRS for that matter.

DSS is a necessary evil in the coalition government, while a natural alignment of ideologically like parties would be DS, G17, LDP, while DSS and SRS would go together, weather you like it or not.

Why did Kostunica never clearly state that he would not go into coalition with SRS?

SRS should be marginalized and a persona non grata in any talks, coalitions, ect. It is a ver very negative movement, similar to Hizbolah in Lebanon.

Maybe some European capitals will confirm that, but they do not live in Serbia like Mr. Lyon; and I also presume that you do not live here either.
What Mr. Lyon is saying has no reason of being orchestrated by anybody because it is perfectly self-evident to every politically-conscious and rational citizen of Serbia.
I happen to share Mr. Lyon's sentiment and I am a citizen of Serbia who works for no international organization nor has come here indoctrinated by the "western perspective". It is simply a matter of rational thinking and analytical reasoning. The same cannot be said about your post above because it is grounded in conspiracy theories and dogmatic belief.
I failed to recognize among your arguments anything that is a real challenge to anything that Mr. Lyon has said. Moreover, the crux of your argument is an endeavor to discredit Mr. Lyon as a person, not his arguments.
I assume that when you spoke about Mr. Kostunica's democratic credentials, you had in mind his most recent display of democratic predilection embodied in his forming a coalition with Milosevic-era thugs and Master of Science Velimir Ilic.

Lyon lives in serbia to establish the work of an organization with a certain geo-strategic agenda. i don't think that you can argue with that basic fact.

He is employed by that organization and earns a salary to help achieve that agenda. There is nothing conspiratorial about that statement of fact.

Neither is their anything conspiratorial in the statement that the ICG has a decidely anti-Serbian agenda.

As for discrediting this American attack dog... Lyon does it to himself without my help. He compared Kostunica with the SRS and he needs to be called on it. His mouth often gets in the way of his brains.

And actually... when I spoke of democratic credentials, I was speaking of Kostunica's fundamental role in taking down Slobodan Milosevic.

I too am a citizen of Serbia and happen to be born and raised in Belgrade but am currently employed in New York City, but am back home routinely.

My comments stand (and there are many like me happy to show him the door).

Repeat: YANKEE, GO HOME.

Kostunica was a necessary evil in order to get the nationalist votes on the side of DOS to bring Milosevic down.
Same Kostunica is the one that fought Djindjic and his government, and nudged his assasination.

Meni je malo nerazumljiv ovaj tvoj nastup. Nerazumljiv jer je dvojak – zameraš čoveku što misli i govori to što misli i govori, a potom i činjenicu što misli i govori sa pozicije stranca u Srbiji. Da li treba da zaključimo kako je dobar samo onaj stranac koji ili ćuti kao zaliven ili pak priča ono što nam uhu prija? A pošto u Srbiji ima par miliona ušiju (ili monitora, kako kome drago) kako im svima ugoditi?

O lumpenproletarijatu – rekao bih da tebi zapravo treba malo političke edukacije čim u istu kategoriju svrstavaš ovo sa jedne i majmune i idiote sa druge strane. Lumpenproletarijat (iako uistinu pežorativan) je izraz jednak ”pauperizovanom sloju” ili ”tranzicionim gubitnicima”. Ne vidim ništa preterano uvredljivo u njemu, više služi za opis no za uvredu. No, 100 ljudi 100 ćudi.

O uvredi – tokom upravo završene predizborne kampanje stranke i pojedinici u Srbiji su jedni na druge sasuli takve reke blata i uvreda (nazivali su se ubicama, narkomanima, mafijašima, ratnim zločincima i čime sve ne, a pominjale su se i uže i šire familije, kriminalni dosijei i mnogo šta drugo) da ”lumpenproletarijat” deluje kao bezazlena šala. Opet, ako se neko u tome prepozna, razumem da se može osećati uvređenim, ali ne razumem onda kako ga ne pogađaju ovi neuporedivo otrovniji izlivi mržnje već pomenuti.

Da ne ostane usamljen – ja o glasačima SRS mislim mnogo gore od njega. To su, kako ja vidim, frustrirani paćenici koji odbijaju da se probude iz iluzije kako je za brisanje svih poraza, poniženja i katastrofa iz 90–tih dovoljno da jednog nedeljnog prepodneva glasaju i na vlast u Srbiji dovedu extremne političare. Ovo je razmišljanje glupavo do imbecilnosti. Da li sam upravo uvredio ”građane Srbije”?

Na kraju – ako je čovek na samom početku svog teksta predvideo da će dobiti gomilu poruka gde mu se kaže da napusti Srbiju (ovo, znajući nas, usitinu i nije bilo teško predvideti) zašto si baš morao da upadneš u kliše?

Bambi

Sta kao glasaci radikala nisu raspadnuti, neobrazovani, zadrti, nacionalisticki proleterijat? pogledajte oko sebe!

Ah... Gospodin Lion obozava da baca koske braci Srbima i gleda ih poput pasa kako se medjusobno kidaju i gloze, dele na ove i one, fine i ne-fine, demokrate i nedemokrate... Ja njega gledam kao na svojevrsni barometar polozaja i snage Srbije... Dokle god Srbija bude poslednja rupa na svirali, nju ce pohoditi shoder-lista eksperata i analiticara. Kad Srbija bude nesto znacila, iz ICC-a ce nam poslati nekog boljeg... Ovako, g. Lion i Srbija su u patoloskoj korelaciji... I nemojte se ljutiti na g. Liona i mrzeti ga... Ni njemu nije lako sto je delegiran vec godinama u ovoj vukojebini...

Next time Mr. Lion, try some rakija... You can end up being labeled as treated alcoholic, which is worse than being tagged as disturbing factor in otherwise idyllic Serbia (Denial is not just a river in Africa...).

Good morning everybody!!!!!
Dobro jutro!!!!
Today is a new day!!
Danas je novi dan!!

For me here, over the Ocean,
kao i za vas sa druge strane!!!!!

ЛОЛЗ!!!!!111!!!ЛМАО

Priznaću da meni nije jasno. Zašto je on ovde?

Za njega ne znam, ali ja mogu. Solidna većina Evropljana, posebno onih zapadnih, će se složiti da su američke intervencije u dva svetska rata donele samo dobro. Isto bi mogli da kažu i stanovnici Južne Koreje ili Kuvajta, a i oni na jugu Vijetnama, da se taj rat kojim slučajem drugačije završio. Gubitnici u tim ratovima se verovatno neće složiti i smatraće američke intervencije pogubnim, ali tako je to sa gubitnicima uvek i svugde. Zapravo, tako je i sa nama – većina Srba smatra američke intervencije na Balkanu 90-tih kao štetne i pogrešne, ali cijenim da većina Albanaca ili Hrvata ili Muslimana ne misli tako, dapače. Ne bismo mislili ni mi (nismo mi nacija visokih moralnih principa kakvima sebe volimo da zamišljamo), da su kojim slučajem Ameri bili na našoj, a ne na strani naših protivnika. Mnogo smo isti.

Ne razumem ko te tera da slušaš bilo šta – klini na sledeći blog i nema više sadržaja koji te iritira?

Kako tačno prepoznaješ mišljenja koja su ”dirigovana i tendenciozna”? Kako praviš razliku između takvih i sasvim uobičajenih ličnih mišljenja kakve svako od nas ima? Evo, ja mogu da kažem kako se slažem sa recimo 90% onogo što je napisano u njegovom tekstu. Za neke detalje izneo bih čak i oštrije procene. Da li je i moje mišljenje, skoro identično njegovom, takođe ”dirigovano i tendenciozno” i ako jeste, ko mi ga diriguje i sa kakvim tendencijama mislim to što mislim?

Bambi

I am a DS voter and anything but anti-western. However, it's just as cynical to say the DSS equates to a more intellectual version of the SRS. Rubbish. Indeed, how did Kostunica win the October 5 ballot against Milosevic? Where did all those votes come from? Disillusioned Radicals and Socialists mate. Both the SRS and the SPS were dead and buried on October 5. Where did those votes go in the meantime to reduce Kostunica to a mere 16 percent? Back to the Radicals. Why? Because Kostunica wasn't nationalist enough for them. The fact he never said he wouldn't pact with the SRS is less important than the fact he never did pact with them.
Yes, his efforts to have it both ways and be a "moderate patriot" or a "liberal conservative" (in both cases one excludes the other) are nothing short of grotesque for the public eye. Has it ever occurred to you or the ingenious Mr. Lyon that he never actually had much of a choice between a rock and a hard place, given the composition of his October 5 support? The key reason he beat Milosevic is that he was widely seen as a patriot as well as a reformist. All his predecessors failed because they were either just reformist and pro-western or intent on proving they are bigger lunatics than Milosevic himself (Seselj). Such is the composition of the Serbian electorate and even though I don't like it any more than you do, it's hardly surprising given our hard legacy and blood-drenched history, both recent and not so recent.
If it makes you feel any better and for what my opinion is worth, I think Kostunica has nonetheless reached the end of the road. Under intense western pressure, he will now have to make a choice and either unreservedly support the democratic bloc or suffer the consequences of his unenviable position if he opts for the no longer tenable course of going to bed with both halves of a hopelessly divided Serbia. I think he has already hinted which way he is likely to go.
Kind regards.

This must be what Lyon means when he says lucid and logical conversation! I especially agree with your assessment of Kostunica's trajectory.
Cheers,

a number of present DSS voters are quite certainly much closer to the Radicals than they are to the democratic bloc. They are the pseudo-intellectuals James is talking about it and the social chip on their shoulders is only thing stopping them from putting their vote where their heart is. Cheers mate.

Several people have noted that I don't respond to other bloggers entries. I don't mean to be rude, but I am really busy and often don't have the spare time, seeing as how I often working 16 and 18 hour days. I also don't have the time to spend polemicising with people who simply want to release their nationalist frustrations and spout a propaganda line. I am always willing to engage in genuine conversations with others, whether they agree with me or not, provided they are able to engage in lucid, logical conversations based on fact. And provided that I have the time. :-)

Now, as for being a Yankee...I was born in Boston, which makes me a legitimate New England Yankee, something I am extremely proud of. New england Yankees are known for being hard-working, thrifty and having lots of common sense. A Bruin? Well, I got my Ph.D. in Balkan history from UCLA, so I am a Bruin also. But don't forget that I also went to BYU, so "GO COUGARS"!

I should have said, that to me you will always be a Bruin.
Btw, great game this year at the Rose Bowl. USC just didn't show up. But this is not what your blog is about.

go ahead, just rub it in....

The Bruins will rise again. I hope.

James:

Typical response. It is a common rhetorical device to impugn the integrity of others when you cannot adequately respond to them.

The people weary of you.

Take that as a signal.

You have over extended your welcome.

You enter a period of diminishing returns.

Time to write the final report back to headquarters, collect the check, and pack your bags.

Serbia now enters a period of economic ascendancy to dominate this silly little region you have manufactured.

Go Home.

The fact that you and others like you are so angry at me and want me to leave so badly indicate that I am not in a period of diminishing returns. To the contrary, I am as effective, if not more so, than ever. Otherwise you would simply leave me alone and feel no need to respond to what I write.

Have I over-extended my welcome? Given the number of positive responses to this blog, I would say that there are some people who value what I do. It is for those good people who have not lost faith in liberal democracy and who want to see their country move forward and not remain mired in a medieval vision of the world that I do what I do.

Your rudeness and insistence that I leave have simply strengthened my resolve to stay even longer, just out of spite (iz inata). :-) As long as there are people like you, there will be work for people like me. :-) After all, when fascism is eradicated, then I won't have anything to fight anymore. "Smrt fašizmu, liberalna demokratija narodu!!!"

stop scaring the people and i will stop picking on you.

serbia stands before a bright economic future. tell the people the truth. stop intimidating them. stop taking away their self-respect. stop depriving them of hope. have you no decency sir? at long last have you left no sense of decency?

there is nothing fascist in my remarks. the economic cat is out of the bag. your ability to drive the agenda diminishes with each dollar invested. admit it.

cold, sober economics drives the agenda henceforth. not silly NGO's with foreign addresses accountable to no one. the only accountability from now on is to the investor.

i'll check my old newsreels... i think broz uttered those same exact words when he too ran out of options.

good luck at your next engagement. make sure to send postcards.

Give me your address and I'll send you a postcard....from Serbia.

How am I scaring the people? Your comments sound far more frightening and threatening than mine do.

And why do you worship the god of materialism and assume that money is the answer to everything? Not everything is in money.
And there have been many countries that have enjoyed an economic recovery after coming out of a war, only to later find that the ideologies that drove their body politic led them back into conflict. The philosophy you espouse sounds strikingly similar to dialectic materialism. Are you yet another of those former communists who is now a newly converted nationalist?

I think the reasons behind his relentless requests that you leave Serbia should be sought elsewhere. Obviously, DSS has finally found someone who both shares their malicious rhetoric and speaks English very well. This broadening of horizons is encouraging.

Having noted that the gentleman in question lives outside of Serbia, I can only guess that he currently resides in the USA; therefore, I suggest that you, Mr. Lyon, ask him to leave your country after his disrespectful stance towards it and its conservative politicians.

I wonder if it is desirable for me to also leave Serbia, since, although I am a Serb, I completely share Mr. Lyon's opinion. In fact, I think Mr. Lyon was too soft on DSS, probably out of courtesy.

And I don't think that his beliefs contain refuse of dialectic materialism, because, if he was aware of marxist critique, he would surely see through Kustunica's use of ideology at the expense of the Serbian people.

A friend of mine has shrewdly labeled Mr. Kostunica as a "dinner-table Mussolini".

Are we going to chack our property before that bright future or not?

who comes to Serbia from abroad should only praise it? No criticism, no honest opinion? Wow.

Why don't you find someone like this:

Now, there is a true friend!

Mesecima se "devedeset i neke...." po medijima i drugde vodao John Kennedy (paz` sad !): - KANDIDAT za engleski parlament (koji je naravno izgubio izbore za pomenuti..), ali se oko i od njega pravila apologetska priča u službi tkz. "probijanja istine ", o tome kako je dobro što imamo takav autoritet "na našoj strani". Moraću da vidim gde je ta osoba ovih dana...za Šifera znam...

to je onaj sto je bio pljunuti SPS kadar Percevic, samo na engleskom? Kandidat(?) - hm, pa i Seceroski je bio kandidat za presednika Srbije.

It's the easy way out to make this equation. You can divide Serbia into two neat halves and maintain the 'two tribes logic' until the end of time (Relax, says Frankie), and deny the possibility that even the hard line nationalist can have some common values with you, if given the slightest chance to express them.

Yes there are those hopeless cases on both ends, but as in every country they make up 5% of the electorate. I believe the rest are just people up to their necks in problems who are groping for any straw of salvation that is offered to them, and the spin doctors and interest group campaigners know this very well, so people identify with concepts such as proud Serbia, glorious history, cradle of nationhood, lustration, radical reforms, etc,etc. with a very slight idea of what they mean.

DSS might still be that chance to build a government that the majority can accept as partially representing their interests (which is the essence of a democratic election), if it enters the Cabinet structured according to a formula I laid out in an earlier comment.

You cannot find common ground if you keep deepening the divide within it. But as I said, its always easier to identify with a group (we are liberals, they are stinking, hairy, murderous nationalists), than to try finding what you have in common individually with people around you and start building on that.

except that they reflect an almost ideal society rather than a ravaged, post-conflict one where even the slightest differences among people descend into acrimonious conflicts, so far-reaching that they leave like-minded individuals within the democratic bloc and even brothers on non-speaking terms. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

of course DSS is the best chance. the problem for lyon is that DSS operates outside his influence. it is disobedient. hence the attack. hence the ongoing scare tactics upon the average citizen (instead of reassurance for the average citizen). search the record for any written reassurance by the oracle of lyon. you will not find it. it does not exist. he is quite simply a diplomatic assassin who's intention is to divide... or weaken to obedience. do not kid yourself.

he needs to be called on it.

it is a truly an american concept that believes it can change the course of rivers. and in fact it temporarily can... but the rivers always revert back to their natural course. homeostasis requires sustained effort to overcome... but washington sinks and will soon depart.

the cat is out of the bag. serbia now enters a period of economic ascendancy. there will be no more sanctions. no more threats. no more imposition of will.

ironically, what national interest was unable to attain will be achieved thru cold, calculated, impartial economics that will thoroughly exploit this the region of weak, economically dependent entities with no prospect of sustained viability that they have made.

their next orchestrated step will be to decry the economic direction of the country. expect to encounter media describing the poverty of the country and how the have's have more... and the have not's have less. unfortunately this is necesssary for development. but fortunately the hardest part has taken place.

when he leaves (soon), all the little gains he prides himself on will sink in the sand in which they are built... and it will be as if he and they were never here.

it's voters like you who give DSS a bad name and their opponents a very good excuse to put them in the same bracket with the radicals. And they don't belong there, I honestly believe that the DSS is much closer to the party I voted for, the DS.

As much as I disagree with some points made by James and agree with a few of yours, you have no right to tell James he's overstayed his welcome here. Serbia is not your private property.

and,
thank God for that!

I must say I keep getting whiplashed by exactly the same kind of intolerance by many bloggers who identify themselves as LDP supporters. And so the vicious circle just keeps getting bigger. I really would appreciate a bit more tolerance although I know how hard it is to generate among angry people in a post-conflict society. Cheers.

inside the international language talking about national stuff...
I consider myself angry for numerous reasons, I dare not start to note, and I, quite often find myself unable to understand others.
As you noticed, these people who are attacking James, are doing so in such a way that our CNN footage overwhelms me with originality, if you know what I mean.
Telling someone, or better to say, feeling that you are the one to tell someone to bug off from your Godforsaken country serves as a constant remainder that something has gone terribly wrong here, that we are incapable of making valid judgments, because our mind is clouded with sheer hate...and some of us have felt that hate, and some of us are so sick that we forget that hate breeds hate, and that's the example of how a vicious circle is a never-ending story.
pozdrav

the same grief and bitter memories of a youth ripped away from us by cold-blooded maniacs, the same pain and anguish of knowing it could have been a different life filled with joy and happiness that we see whenever we travel away from our godforsaken country. Our decency is what makes us better than those who still lament over "lost national pride".
Pozdrav.

do people groping for and end to Serbia's international isolation and the opportunity to travel freely have in common with those intent on advocating xenophobia to their last breath?
Except that both lots are Serbian?

If they were one and the same, having just one of the parties would've been plenty enough.

If they were one and the same (or even similar), Koshtunitsa would've made a pact with them 3, 7, 10 or 15 years ago.

DSS = SRS is the most asinine reasoning ever. No basis in fact, whatsoever. Who cares about the facts - (skewed) perception is everything, right?

If you hire him, then its only fair that you give me a percentage of his salary for introducing him to you. After all, if I am to survive in the world after Blagoje throws me out of Serbia, I will need something to live on.
:-)))

As far as I know you're well paid - Euro 4000 per Month. For your exile, I suggest Republika Srpska :) hehehe

look as much as i'd like to spar... i can't commit to a long distance relationship. i just walked in; have a big presentation tommorrow morning; you're probably sleeping anyway; and if we get into an "inat" contest it's not really fair b/c i'm a serb :)

my sincere apologies for the lack of civility in my earlier commentaries. they were over the top. i promise not to do it again.

so let's just agree to disagree. i promise to take an 'anger management class' and to chill out if you take a 'sensitivity class.' you might find wider receptivity if you 'accentuate the positive' from time to time instead of beating up on these people (who happen to be doing the best they can). the corrupt spirit which drove the former body politic has already been purged. it need not now an exorcist.

to the lunov guys.... poise yourselves. opportunity arrives at your doorstep very soon! perhaps james would consider an equity position -- he knows the territory!

PS: for the armchair psycho-analysts. i'm not a communist, but rather a capitalist (having left long before the present chaos). my parents were peasants and i did not vote for dss... but rather ds. and i have a classically liberal education from an esteemed university.

cheers to all!

I wonder how many of the sycophants parading here have read the following take on Serbia:

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/printable/2776/

This is what I call objective. A few quotes:

Many Western diplomats and politicians have tried to depict the election as a decisive confrontation between the dark forces of Balkan primitivism and ‘pro-European’ enlightenment. The reality in Serbia itself was more prosaic, with much of the election being fought around economic questions and technocratic promises of fighting corruption.

[...] the real threat of instability emanates not from Serbia, but from the petty rivalries and intrigues of the major powers as they bicker over the fate of the region’s peoples.

Sve je, bre, predvidjeno za sledecih 30-40 godina, kao sto je bilo predvidjeno posle WW2. Imadosmo Tita, pa posle Tita jos jednog Tita, pa kada je i taj "Tito"otisao imamo jos jednog koji ide Titovim stopama, ne bas sasvim kao prvi Tito, ali...

It all had been predictet for the next 30-40 years, just as it was after the WW2. We had Tito No1, And after him we had another Tito, and when that one was gone,we'll got another one, maybe not quite like the first Tito but...

I am little sick to my stomach when the republics of former Yugoslavia are compared. You cannot convince me that in Croatia everything is hunky-dory, while Serbia sinks in its own pool of sh..t. These analogies are making the separation grater than intended. I agree with the fact that the residue of the former regimes are still up and going, but not only in Serbia. The international community looked at this problem differently. So, they should give Serbia a brake and try to be objective. And one more thing, Tito made sure that only one republic of former Yugoslavia had two autonomous provinces. Once a problem, always a problem. Sorry.

I hope you understand comparison of the former Republics is all that anyone can do. Having been here as an outsider during the height of the conflict and having been in Slovenia that as we all know is an EU member state and Croatia which is a candidate member and lets face it is guaranteed a place already (wether the Croats like it or not). The political process here is forward looking by no means perfect but i can say that about my parent nation. Serbia seems to me very much in the same frame of mind as the United Kingdom post 2nd world war. Mourning and beating its chest over an empire lost. Slovenia and Croatia have marched ahead and dramatically improved there standard of living and this has been acheived by a more forward looking and dare we say it more acceptable policies to the wider world. As long as Serbia continues to give an outward impression of an aggressive territorially ambitious state then it will find itself short of friends in the world. I cant disagree with you Serbia should be given a break. But politics is a game and as long as there are those who see there are gains to be made by appealing to the part of the electorate of Serbia who cannot see past the end of there nose and offer them hope of an age that is passed forever then things can never change.
There is a feeling of desperation from most of the answers in this blog. That people are trapped within an ever shrinking state and that the world is working hard to keep the Serbs down. The reality is Serbia and its people need to do the running the world does not owe Serbia anything and is not going to come asking for favours anytime soon.

A new Tsar or a Dictator in Serbia? What a gift for the west. There is nothing western leaders love more than an isolated dictator.I can almost hear the F16s and Eurofighters warming there engines. The sound bites they would invent for a new Serbian war lord. CNN journalists would be salavating like hungry dogs for the latest war pornography, young women in target tshirts on bridges interesting news footage of Jonny foreigner having his city blasted to hell with sexy expensive missiles and not have to worry about ground troops as there is no oil there. Family fun veiwing on the evening news for couch generals who never left there own country and passes the time before who wants to be a millionaire comes on TV.

A personality would be good for Serbia. But he would have to be a bloody good one. Nobody knows what Serbia needs better than the Serbs. They were brave enough to stand up to the world. Its themselves they seem to have trouble confronting. The world is still out there waiting. A little humility and repentance and the door will open. A little honesty from politicians(i cant believe i wrote that either).But I would not hold my breath. Balkan blood will not allow that. Right or wrong you will stand your ground and anyway its way to much fun being a martyr with the rest of the world picking on poor Serbia. Then wonder why the visa queue is so long for entry to Anglo Saxon lands. Maybe Germany if your kinky that way