Back to the cold war? – Serb reactions to violence show two countries moving in different directions

Reactions by Serb leaders to violence in Belgrade stadium show how the two countries are moving in different directions — Albania forward toward the EU, and Serbia backward toward Russia.
TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
By now everyone has seen, read or heard about the violence in Belgrade’s stadium during the Serbia-Albania match on Tuesday. The incident in the football pitch had political roots. And its largest implications will also be political, with major repercussions for relations between the two countries.
It was truly sad to see the reaction of the Serb authorities to what happened. They appeared to have washed their hands of any responsibility, instead blaming the “Albanian provocation” of a single banner flying in the stadium filled with Serb hate chants and nationalist banners.
The drone was provocative, but it was a small part of the story, on which Serb officials propaganda is focusing like a hawk.
The rest of the story is far more important. Violence and racist chants were going on before the drone showed up. Fireworks and hard objects pelted Albanians in the stadium throughout the match. With their atavistic behavior, the Serb fans shamed themselves and they shamed Serbia as a country. This is part of a wider trend. Serb leaders know this, albeit they cannot come out and say so publicly.
What made events more shocking was the fact that they laid bare how little the mentality of the Serb masses has changed since the Milosevic era. The events in the stadium brought us back more than a decade. They showed how little Serb society has modernized. They also showed how deeply ingrained the enmity for Albanians is among the Serbs. Under the changes of “Kill, Kill, Kill the Shiptars,” the entire stadium appeared to look for blood. It is not an exaggeration to say the Serb crowd wanted to lynch the Albanian team.
However, this is more than a hooligan crowd issue. Because of the official declarations coming out of Belgrade, which essentially imply that this was an officially-sanctioned Albanian provocation, the setback in relations between the two countries is huge. And this comes at a time when it was believed the countries had reached a moment when they appeared ready to move forward with better relations.
The countries don’t agree on several things, chief among which is Kosovo’s independence. However, Albania was ready to agree to disagree on that point and move forward ready to intensify relations.
Albania and Serbia share a common EU goal, but Albania’s commitment appears to be deeper, supporting EU sanctions against Russia for example, while Belgrade refused and organized a military parade to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin instead. There were also joint Serbia-Russia military exercises on Croatia’s NATO border earlier this week. We are clearly looking at Albania moving westward while Serbia looks to the east with a new orientation.
Serbia is an important country in the region. Albania should have good relations with it. But while they see winning a football match through killing the opponent if necessary, we can choose not to play that type of a game at all.
The reality is that the two countries are currently in a cold-war-like state, in which the Albanian and Serb ambassadors have been called in twice by the host governments to be handed harsh protest notes. It is hardly the warm climate one would expect Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to be under for his scheduled visit to Belgrade next week. Under the current climate in Belgrade — in which the aggressor is seeking an apology from the victim — there are major questions about whether Rama’s visit should or should not take place. Let’s hope there is some time for reflection in the next few days.