Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: mark502inf
Unfortunately, the main political embodiment of Milosevic-style policies, the Serb Radical Party, is still the largest party in Serbia's parliament.

Without some percentages, that statement is completely meaningless. The CIA World Factbook lists these parties for Yugoslavia:

Democratic Party or DS [Boris TADIC]; Democratic Party of Serbia or DSS [Vojislav KOSTUNICA]; Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro or DPS [Milo DJUKANOVIC]; Democratic Serbian Party of Montenegro or DSS [Bozidar BOJOVIC]; G17 Plus [Miroljub LABUS]; New Serbia or NS [Velimir ILIC]; Liberal Party of Montenegro or LSCG [Miodrag ZIVKOVIC]; People's Party of Montenegro or NS [Dragan SOC]; Power of Serbia Movement or PSS [Bogoljub KARIC]; Serbian Radical Party or SRS [Tomislav NIKOLIC]; Serbian Renewal Movement or SPO [Vuk DRASKOVIC]; Serbian Socialist Party or SPS (former Communist Party and party of Slobodan MILOSEVIC) [Ivica DACIC, president of Main Board]; Social Democratic Party of Montenegro or SDP [Ranko KRIVOKAPIC]; Socialist People's Party of Montenegro or SNP [Predrag BULATOVIC]

I count fourteen in all. That means it's entirely possible for the "largest" of them to have less than 10% of the seats in Parliament. The real issue is whether or not Serbian policies have actually changed significanly for the better since Milosevic's departure. Is there any doubt in your mind that they have?

Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, Condi's second man down [and Clinton administration holdover], laid out the U.S. position on Kosovo in his testimony to Congress a few months ago:

The Bush administration has been talking out of both sides of its mouth on this. Its heavily trumpeted position is that democracies are the antidote to extremism and terror, and yet it shows no confidence at all in the Serbian democracy to maintain charge of its own country. Milosevic was an easy target because he was a "dictator", which implies that he was not acting with the consent of his governed, which would further imply that his subjects were not the ones to blame for his actions (whatever they were). But now that he's gone, there's still this sort of "collective guilt" that's hanging over the Serbs. Isn't that the same attitude that we were supposedly fighting against during the Balkan wars of the '90s?

16 posted on 12/13/2005 7:38:40 AM PST by inquest (If you favor any legal status for illegal aliens, then do not claim to be in favor of secure borders)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies ]


To: inquest
Inquest, the Serb Radical Party is the largest single party in the Serb parliament; it holds 81 of 240 seats and is part of the ruling coalition. Its leader, Vojislav Seselj, is awaiting trial for war crimes. Here's what Seselj had to say about 9-11:

“... I can’t say that I regret terrorist attacks against the USA” the leader of the Serbian Radical Party told the Beta news agency.

And here's the leader of Serbia's largest party on other topics:

"We're not fascists, we're just chauvinists who hate Croats"

"I am going to spite them, to tell them that the Serbian people will never give up the liberation of Serb Dubrovnik, Serb Dalmatia, Serb Lika, Serb Banija, Serb Kordun, Serb Slavonija, Serb Baranja, Serb Bosnia, Serb Hercegovina, Serb Kosovo and Serb Metohija."

"We must recognise with honour and respect the steadfastness of Iraq - the nation and the government - under the guidance of their president, the great fighter Saddam Hussein, in the face of a merciless embargo and frequent and continued aggression on that country."

"We shall realize the boundaries of Greater Serbia when we assume power at the federal level. As Serbia is now, as a federal unit, it does not have the competence to initiate this. But as a political party, we shall never give up this goal."

And my personal favorite:

"I do not speak English." (Shouting at a US journalist who addressed him in English at a news conference, May 1999)

18 posted on 12/13/2005 9:06:51 AM PST by mark502inf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies ]

To: inquest
it shows no confidence at all in the Serbian democracy to maintain charge of its own country.

There are reasons to be concerned about the state of democracy in Serbia.

Less than two months after the March 12, 2003 murder of Serbia’s reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian police, declaring the case solved, have charged some 45 people with various levels of involvement in the assassination plot. Those charged include ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj, now on trial at The Hague, underworld crime figures, and security officials responsible for protecting the late prime minister. The police investigation points to a joint plot of the so-called Zemun crime gang and political groups once allied with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

19 posted on 12/13/2005 9:16:08 AM PST by mark502inf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson