Posted on 03/25/2008 1:34:32 PM PDT by Bokababe
BELGRADE -- PM Vojislav Koštunica says Serbia needs a stable government that will have a unanimous policy on Kosovo.
The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader told the public broadcaster RTS last night that parliamentary elections had been called for this reason, following the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence.
Koštunica did not directly answer the question whether he would cooperate with the Radicals after the vote, or whether he would participate in a government with the same partners.
He said he would cooperate with the parties that support his party's key principles - "Kosovo Is Serbia," membership in the EU with Kosovo as the country's integral part, economic development, and the fight against corruption and organized crime.
Commenting on the statement by Democratic Party (DS) officials, that the new prime minister would be from their party, Koštunica said "it means that to certain parties, power is more important than political beliefs."
“The question why Serbia needed presidential elections when negotiations were being concluded is justified,” he said, and reiterated his criticism of former coalition partners, the Democratic Party (DS) and G17 Plus, saying their stories of self isolation were the dirtiest form of propaganda.
According to Koštunica, statements that Serbia would isolate itself if it did not succumb to EU pressure were “nonsense”, because, using the same logic, one could interpret Norway’s vote against EU entrance as a vote for self-isolation.
“There is neither isolation nor the possibility of Serbia being exposed to sanctions. Self-isolation doesn’t exist because no state ever has done that,” he added.
“Things are being dramatized and presented as an either-or choice, as if we have to choose between Russia and the West. That is nonsense, that either-or is the most vulgar and worst form of propaganda,” Koštunica said.
The prime minister added that he backed the "dispute" with the EU and the countries that had recognized Kosovo's independence, which could lead to those countries withdrawing or reconsidering their decision, and later agreeing to new talks on the province.
Koštunica once again said Serbia should not sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) until Brussels stated whether it recognized Serbia within its existing borders.
According to Koštunica, Brussels and Belgrade had many issues to resolve, including "the illegal deployment of the EULEX mission to Kosovo."
"All that can be discussed, rather than only saying: Here, I'll sign right away, I have sharpened my pen...," Koštunica stressed and added that it was in Serbia's interest to cooperate not only with the EU, but also with Russia.
In his words, membership in the EU should be "left aside," because Serbia would join the EU only "in many, many years."
Koštunica once again stressed that he saw no reason for Serbia to join NATO. He recalled that parliament had adopted a resolution on the protection of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stressed that the document, among other things, envisaged Serbia's military neutrality.
Given their treatment by the West, they ought to choose Russia...
In this game the children of communists like Tadic, who are themselves Socialists, are pushing to join the socialist EU. But we call them "pro-Western moderates".
Guys like Kostunica, who if they lived here in the US would be called "Conservatives", but they get called "hardline nationalists" by our media. Go figure.
Actually, I think that their smartest move is not to "choose" at all.
If they choose Russia, the West will see that as continual justification to "kick Russia in the Serbia", as it has been doing. If they chose the EU, they volunteer to be dismantled & lose all control of their sovereignty.
By choosing, they lose. By not choosing, they buy time to maybe wooed.
Maybe, but at this point “The West,” seems to rate Serbia/Serbians as the lowest of the low. I don’t see them “helping” Serbia ever, for any reason.
Whatever it takes for the Serbs to survive. They are in a dangerous neighborhood and the cops are NOT their friends...
I’m just sorry the US had piece in this travesty.
Koštunica once again stressed that he saw no reason for Serbia to join NATO.
In other words: Koštunica is a NATO agent playing the “nationalist” role in this poorly staged theater.
So am I.
We should be on Serbia’s side, not fighting for those Muslims.
Once again, the idiocy of two Bushes and a Clinton have come home to roost.
America deserves a President who stands up for the west against Islamic aggression, and the three stool pigeons running now certainly don’t.
Our best hope is McCain chooses a real conservative as a VEEP and then has to step down for some reason.
Won’t happen. The most “conservative” VP I can imagine him picking is Romney. More likely, McCain pick somebody just like him... Joe Leiberman for example.
Where does that line of reasoning come from? Because I doubt it.
Kostunica just chooses NOT to forget that NATO bombed Serbia for 78 straight days. And of all the criticism Kostunica has gotten over the years, and there has been a lot of criticism of him, no one really questions his sincerity.
"Never" is a very long time. And I really don't think that Western politicians believe all the propaganda that they feed us.
They treat Serbia the way that they do because Serbia is "in their way", because they can get away with treating Serbia with disrespect because they have been so successful at doing a snow-job on us about her, and because they are using Serbia as a surrogate whipping boy for Russia. If any of those conditions should change, our politicians would change in a heartbeat.
For example, who in the world would have ever imagined that the US would have been kissing up to Albania ten years ago? I mean friggin Albania? And yet now, they are supposedly "our best friends". Gimme a break! But we needed something from her -- a seaport to export oil.
I am sorry, but I don't believe that most our politicians and our State Department have any loyalty to anyone or anything -- not to us, not to our country, nor to anyone but their own careers and campaign contributors. If they did, our borders would have been secured, our immigration policies would have changed in short order after 9/11 -- if not before-- and we wouldn't be having many of the problems we have today.
He promised the relatives of the missing and kidnapped Kosovo Serbs that he would not release the Albanian/KLA prisoners in Serbia's jails until Serbia was able to receive the bodies of their dead relatives or recover any alive. Then the next week with no progress on that front he released thousands of captured KLA/Albanian criminals.
The guy's a liar. Serbs who believe in him at this point are fools.
We have driven Serbia into the arms of Mother Russia. I would not be surprised in the least if the Serbians invite Russia to establish bases in the country.
The day that Lieberman announces his putative switch to the Republican Party, you will know it’s coming for sure.
A John-Joe ticket was my prediction almost a month ago once it became clear that McCain had wrapped up the nomination.
It’s really the only way he could win the Presidency because he knows he’s not going to be able to convince the conservative base to turn out in sufficient numbers. That means he is going to have to grab all of the center-left as well as all of the center-right.
He is fortunate in his enemies in that both Clinton and Obama are hardcore Marxist types that make the center-left nervous. Especially the religious working class. He is also fortunate in that both of them have pledged to withdraw from Iraq because, as I have said before, while most Americans dislike the war, they dislike losing even more — and national security (an area where John-Joe definitely see eye to eye) remains very important.
The Serbs are heroes; nobody else ever really stood up to the beast and tried to face it down during the KKKlinton regime.
What a wuss!
At what point will the serbs get it????
How are they going to establish bases in the country? Take a look at a map! No surrounding country is going to permit the use of their airspace. All military flights would have to be permitted. No neighbouring nations is going to permit arms and troops to be flown into Serbia to establish a base or replenish said base.
Serbia is still under treaty in relation to its arms and equipment with surrounding nations. No surrounding country is going to permit or aid any inbalance in forces or equipment in the region. No access from the sea and no access from the air. Russia is hamstrung. They withdrew their peacekeeping forces from both Bosnia and Kosovo.
I am not sure how the doctrine of Innocent Passage applies in this case, but I know for a fact that the USN uses that doctrine to enter the territorial waters of other nations in transit from one location to another.
Be that as it may, I wouldn’t put it past Putin to organize a massive airlift and dare NATO to stop it. By the time the NATO folks finished dithering and consulting, he could have several regiments and their equipment on the ground.
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