Games Serbia P[l]ays

By Ivan Delibasic
“Sadly, Serbia is not a Russian province, but it surely will never be an EU colony.” These words, spoken out by newly elected Speaker of Serbian Parliament [and the Speaker himself] are the outcome of a constant and consistent policy of certain politicians in Serbia throughout the last four years. The very policy ignored, neglected, even justified and thus legitimized by the international community, from the prosecutor of ICTY to EU Commissioners, a policy of permanent radicalization of Serbian political main-stream.
The process that began defending the plotters to assassinate PM Zoran Djindjic, continued with the formation of Government with support of Milosevic’s Socialist Party of Serbia [SPS] and not supporting presidential candidate of Democrat Party [DS] against newly elected Speaker of Serbian Parliament, followed by the building coalition with Serbian Radical Party [SRS] in Novi Sad [capital of Vojvodina province] and bringing representatives of SRS into the Parliament of Montenegro, had its glorious finale in electing Tomislav Nikolic [SRS] for Speaker.
Tomislav Nikolic has been a deputy to Vojislav Seselj who is indicted in ICTY for crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war, deputy to Mirko Marjanovic in Serbian Government and 1999. deputy to Momir Bulatovic in Federal Government of FRY [during that period federal army and Serbian police forces committed major atrocities in Kosovo], representative of the most violent, chauvinistic, xenophobic political organization in Balkans. This is an impressive CV even by local standards.
That morning, in that Assembly, the political image of Serbia was clearer than ever – side by side, shoulder by shoulder in a half-empty chamber Kostunica’s Democrat Party of Serbia [DSS], Seselj’s SRS and Milosevic’s SPS voted for Speaker, just like in “the good old days”. Deputies of G17 PLUS, DS and Liberal Democrat Party [LDP] had left the building.
This act by Kostunica’s DSS finally exposed the illusion about them as a pro-European, honestly democratic political organization, a mirage that fooled so many politicians outside Serbia and, unfortunately, many citizens of Serbia. More than a year after the suspension of the SAA negotiations with the EU over the lack of cooperation with the ICTY, representatives of the very same government responsible for the SAA showed how insignificant Europe really is to them.
On Thursday Serbia took over the presidency of the Council of Europe. Without raising a flagŠnot much of a statement from European human rights organization to a genocide-friendly country [extensive interpretation of the ruling of ICJ] with a genocidal Speaker. But if Russia can, so can a Russian province wannabe, right? If nothing else, the Speaker reminded us all that Serbia is still a part of alliance of Russia and Belarus and expressed hope and belief that Russia and China will form a counter-alliance to “imperialistic EU and America”.
Eventually, following the enormous pressures from abroad, a coalition government of democratic block [DS and G17 PLUS] and DSS [no one serious or sober can any longer consider them to be a democratic party] is about to be formed, but the bitter taste of the Radical Speaker cannot be washed off. If the past is any guidance, the coalition behavior of DSS will continue to hamper Serbia’s attempts to break with the past. Paradoxically, its behavior gave a boost to EU integration efforts when the EU offered an immediate resumption of negotiation on SAA and visa liberalization reminding one of the old Serbian folk saying that a glass of gall necessitates a glass of honey. All this in spite of Serbia’s absolute lack of cooperation with the ICTY and the fact that ministries in charge of capturing Ratko Mladic [or should I say protecting?] will remain in hands of DSS. The vicious circle of hypocrisy, in which a substantial role is played by officials of the international community and the master of two-facedness PM Kostunica, is currently revolving around the dismissal from his position a newly elected Speaker, since PM Kostunica and his DSS would hate to create a bad blood with the potential coalition partners after the next elections.
On Europe’s day and day of defeat of fascism, “new Serbian majority”, lead by acting PM Vojislav Kostunica and his DSS, defeated European Serbia and celebrated fascism, bringing Serbia back to the most horrifying part of its past, a past we all hoped was a part of history. Only a few days later, a “newer new majority” in Serbia is celebrated by the entire world, even though those two majorities have a common denominator.