Kostunica Needs a Slap

Yes, Koštunica has a great deal to answer for, but the question is: TO WHOM?
Sadly, the nation is riding on a new wave of nationalism and I seriously doubt that many will hold him responsible.

How Kostunica, the police and those that sanctioned this can justify their actions, or believe that any positive outcome will emerge from this violence is hard to fathom.

Well,
If Kosutnica's goal , after losing popular support in the Serbian electorate, after receiving the strong support of Russia, at any cost, just to remain in power and to do what he sees as right (no matter what the democratic will of the people is), than it is very positive for Mr. Kostunica and people around him.
Russians would gave him a model how to build and to save the power and how the political opposition, and independent medias could be effectively wiped out.
Serbia has already received the message from Russia's state-run official TV that late prime minister Djindjic was rightfully murdered and that the liberal EU road proved to bring all but god for Serbia.
So, there would be no elections in Serbia this year, and Kostunica would remain in power for long time, Serbia would be isolated...
The crucial issue is whether EU and USA will help or will they stand by and watch how the things in Serbia are going from bad to worse.

Yes, it is crucial that EU AND USA HELP SERBIA to overcome the independence of Kosovo.
I mean really to help with strong political support for Serbian citizens and Serbian economy, help Serbia to swallow the loss of southern province. Strong support and real measures not just symbolical ones.
I know it is easier for many European politicians to play to be moral giants and to request from Serbia to fulfill its moral and legal obligations in order to continue with European integration. But that was tried with Germany in 1918 and proved to be all but successful. After 1945 the new approach was tried and the result was the emergence of European Community and real moral overturn in German society in 60's.
So, my question is: Will USA and EU give their hands to Serbia, after majority of citizen of Serbia chose to continue European integration despite Kosovo, or not?

Actioni contrariam semper et aequalem esse reactionem: sive corporum duorum actiones in se mutuo semper esse aequales et in partes contrarias dirigi.(Isaac Newton, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, 1686.)

My dear (American?) friend,

First off, apologies if you can't read extinct languages anymore. I know that even doctors in the States these days can't read medical records with diagnoses in Latin anymore. Some friends of mind learned that very well when they found the doctors in the US not being able to decypher the Latin diagnosis "varicella" on their kids' medical records. Poor guys had to obtain additional official papers stating that varicella are chickenpox.

Hence, to make your life easier, see a good translation of the above mystical text at:

http://hypertextbook.com/physics/mechanics/newton-third/

Or in short, as already summarized by Mr Newton at the very beginning of his brilliant third law of motion: whatever draws or presses another is as much drawn or pressed by that other.

Please, don't get me wrong. No, I'm not trying to justify violence or hooligans' actions. On the contrary, I feel really disgusted and ashamed of what happened yesterday in the city where I was born, where I grew up, the city that will always stay a part of me wherever I live. I feel the same as I felt many times before in the last 20 years, every time when I saw hooligans after soccer matches, political meetings or whatever. But every time when such a thing happened, I always tried to find the root cause of that unpleasent event. Because every single thing in this world has a cause ... and a consequence.

And therefore you might ask yourself: is the re-birth of nationalism in Serbia today a cause or a consequence? And that's precisely what I'm trying to say here - is Kostunica a cause or a consequence?

I'll tell you this: a CONSEQUENCE, of course! Otherwise, can you explain how comes that the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and their leader Seselj won only 15-20% of votes in September 2000 and, since then, their support raised abruptly to the nowadays' 40-45%?! Election fraud? Don't think so ...

Just about seven and a half years ago, the people of Serbia made an end to the regime bringing Serbia from the leading East-European state to the bottom of the social and economical scale of Europe. Just like Romanian, Czech, Bulgarian and other nations of East Europe did years before that, Serbs decided to bring a totalitarian regime down and turn their heads towards the West. However, unlike the other folks of Eastern Europe, Serbs didn't get any greetings for their deeds. On the contrary, even in the night of the fall of Milosevic, on the 5th of October 2000, while Zoran Djindjic was busy appreciating Serbian people what they did for him - the sole message that we could hear both from Washington and Brussels was: "Nice job, guys! But the sanctions, embargo, boycott ... name it - iron curtain - will remain wide shut until you do: 1. ..., 2. ..., 3. ...". I can't recall that such a list had been given to Romania, Bulgaria, Czechia ... when they brought down their communist regimes.

In the years that followed, despite of the efforts that Djindjic and his successors made to bring Serbia closer to the Western world, all that we could hear were threatens, blackmails, terms, conditions. Always the do-your-homework message with modest gratitude. Rather very symbolic.

Want an example? Sure ... remember that the whole world talked about delivering Milosevic to The Hague as the "task of all tasks" that have to be done by the new government. Once Milosevic was behind the bars, a new task came: "Now, the others". Even no thank-you, even no good-job-done. Even horses get a sugar cube, you know. But all that Serbia got from the EU in the last 7.5 years without Milosevic in power - was always the whip. Never any sugar.

Let me remind you that until today Serbia delivered to The Hague: 2 ex-presidents, 2 ex-army-commanders-in-chief, several ministers and generals - total of 15-16 people to the very same Tribunal. More than any other country in the region! And that was never enough, even now, when the wanted-by-the-tribunal list reduced to only 4 persons, Serbia is still being seen as a country that does not cooperate with the Tribunal in the Hague.

Last elections ... people chosing between the pro-Western candidate Tadic and the nationalist Nikolic. EU tries to offer Serbia to sign the SAA. But did it happen? Not. Officially refused because the Netherlands objected. Unofficially the Dutch were just the messengers of bad news. EU didn't want Serbia. Nevertheless, Serbian people chose to go West. They voted for Tadic. Right. And what happened after that? Not only that Serbia didn't sign any agreement with the EU, but that very same EU "rewarded" Serbia by backing the Albanian separatists, taking away a piece of land from it and recognizing it as a state. Now, thank you Europe, thank you America, thanks a lot guys!

At the same time, both the brave new Western world funded a party winning at most 5-6% of the votes in the elections. Noone ever asked why they always perform so bad at the elections? I'll tell you why: you can't win the elections if you split and divide people into "first" and "second" Serbia and decide to address only the latter one (counting those 5-6% votes) in your speaches, while you don't even try to convert the majority to get on your side. No, the majority gets only terrifying words, like "we shall lustrate you", "we shall clean you up", "we shall revenge". People don't like revenge. People like nice and sweet lies. And Kostunica knows how to sell them. Simple, isn't it?

And - what's even worse - this whole story with Serbia today is a deja vu. Weimar Germany, in the 20's. Isolated. Deprived. Humiiliated. Blackmailed. Brought to ground zero. Everyone knows what happened next. Churchill, Truman and Marshall learned that lesson very well, that's why they helped Germany after WW2 to become the leader of Europe again. Regrettably enough, American and West-European politicians repeated the mistake of that time and continue treating Serbia like Weimar Germany after WW1.

And the hooligans in front of the embassies are just a top of the iceberg.

Sorry, you failed. Again.

a big slap in groin, but i suspect that he has something to be hurt there

"The government has a lot to answer for and Kostunica may well have to fight to preserve its integrity. His uneasy alliance with his DS coalition partners will likely be stretched to the limits and early elections may well cost the DSS. This is DS’s chance to punish their coalition partners"

this is one of the worst attempts to look in the crystal bowl and see what happens in the next elections that i have come across recently - no hard feelings

the dss has probably gained a little, and ds are losers in this. their way and approach has failed serbia to my great regret. not two weeks ago i was tadic's voter, and not only that but made half my family who never vote turn out. but that today seems like it took place in a different life.

but what this piece conveniently leaves out are the prospects of the largest party, the radicals. what do you think this did for their rating?

other than elections, another option is either a srs dss coalition or dss minority government with srs support. kostunica now has his hands untied to do these things. it's a pity he does. it isn't he through any action of his that managed to untie them, though.

we will unfortunately see in days and weeks and months to come that the only "criminally reckless"enterprise in this story was when the powers, same ones who decided to hunt for wmds in iraq, decided to break the law and violate serbia's sovereign borders.

and by the way that is the real issue, in the real world.