Posted on 03/16/2002 10:38:34 PM PST by nikola
Serb Arrest Points to Coup Against Djindjic
16 March 2002 Summary
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Profiles: MOMCILO PERISIC - Deputy Prime Minister of Republic of Serbia NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC - Yugoslav Army Chief of Staff |
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I know many Serbs and although they have pride in their heritage and religion, I do not find them "nationalistic" at all. Serbia is the ONLY truely multi-ethnic province in the former Yugoslavia....Montenegro, somewhat...but not nearly like Serbia.
Why, There are even tens of thousands of Albanians and Romas living around Belgrade! For goodness sake!! gezzzzzzzzze!
Take a load of this:
It is also likely that when Perisic was arrested, he was transferring information that might have proved either embarrassing or incriminating to officials in Yugoslavia's military security services, which is still the primary bastion of Milosevic loyalists.
I can bet my life and claim that the military never showed any respect for Miloshevich. Miloshevich always preferred the republican (Serbian) Police. Miloshevich hated the military with passion, because, unlike the police, the military never accepted to be his instrument of power. He could never count on the military. That was the reason why the police was given tens of millions of dollars, while the military was kept on peanuts; barely enough to upkeep the weaponry.
Pavkovich might have been Miloshevich's ally, but that doesn't mean that the 110,000 personell were.
There are no Miloshevich loyalists in the army. The military is loyal only to the people and the country. Serbs are a warrior nation. Military is the single most popular institution in the country, always has been.
And why the hell would those who so passionately despised Miloshevich all of a sudden be his "loyalists", now that he's on "trial" and has in fact already been convicted? God almighty can't save him, let alone "loyalists" in the military.
And then this:
That reduced Kostunica, who has made no secret of his desire to match his title with actual power, to harping at government policies and attempting to stir up the embers of Serb nationalism.
Koshtunitsa doesn't give a damn about power. His "title" is a ceremonial one - I don't see where the author sees the 'title-power' connection. "Serb nationalism" is always a good excuse to whip up the anti-Serbian sentiment [notice how Djindjich is always pro-Western (i.e. servile), while all his opponents are "nationalists" (i.e. people with at least some dignity). The author has completely twisted the situation - he portrays the Military and Koshtunitsa as those who want to stage a coup, even though it is Djindjich who has been trying to stage one. He has on more than one occasion tried to uncostitutionally wrestle the power away from the Federal government. What is the Miloshevich kidnapping if not a direct attack on the state, its Constitution and its Supreme Court? What are those 100+ decrees he has enacted in order to rule the country in direct breach of the Constitution? All those things represent a series of small coup d'etats.
STRATFOR's analyses have become shite.
I gave up on considering them a valid source of predicting the future after I read all their predictions for what what was to become of 'Yugoslavia' after the 'bombing for humanity' in 1999 not long after the last cluster bomblet landed in some school yard in Kosovo. They were so far off base that it was beyond laughable.
Banat, getoffmylawn, both of you are on the button. The real question is if STRATFOR is a disinformation source or merely relfects flawed conceptualization of available data. My experience with "analysts" is the former. IT coems from a profound ignorance of a culture in which the study is being conducted. Flawed intelligence is at the helm of our (hushed up) operational failures all over the world. A house is more than a collection of bricks.
Roger Young: brilliant observation! Serbs like to "pride" themselves on their "rich democratic tradition." No such thing. In its entire modern history from 1802 until now, Serbia has never been a true democracy and most of its rulers (King Peter I being the only exception) were either exiled (if they were lucky) or assassinated, or toppled by other means.
That being so, the idea of a coup at this time against Djindjich is ridiculous. The country is aboutt to be reorganized and new elections must be held. A coalition of forces outside the DOS -- including Koshtunitsa's DSS which has been thrown out of the DOS government in Voyvodina as recently as a week ago -- could form a majority govenrment.
While Djindjich himself could not win, his coalition commands a formidable 30% or so of popularity. One must understand that Serbia is a multiethnic country and that, not surprisingly, 1/3 of the population is not Serbian. Every non-Serb party is in coalition with Djindjich. The situation is similar to that in Montenegro,where Djukanovich actually governs with a minority government since the National Party left his coalition. With the exception of the Liberal Alliance (separatists), which garnishs about 7% of the vote, Djukanovich's mandate was carried with a razor-thin majority thanks only to non-Montenegrin-non-Serb parties (Croatians, Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, etc.).
Naturally, the political climate dictated by the West (Washington) is such that the main enemy is considered Serbian nationalism. That naitonalism, just as in the last days of SFRY, was fueled by the destructive forces of those who are not Serbs working on keeping Serbia as weak as possible, even directly undermining it. The situation is identical to that of Arabs born in Israel, who are Israeli citizens, and who now represent 20% of the Israeli population -- and growing fast. The situation in Serbia is parallel if not identical. The growing and hostile population in Kosovo refused to be part of the state in which Albanians were born or into which they illegally settled. Voyvodina's Hungarians, Rashka's Muslims, Croatians in Montenegro and Voyvodina, all belong to essentially anti-Serb coalitions, playing on the sensitivity of the multiethnic issue and a feeling by many Serbs that they need to show the world that they are a tolerant people (liberals of the Civic Alliance, and similar groups), pretty much the way Israeli leftists and peaceniks side with the Aarabs against their own country.
The concept of multyethnicity is a noble one. But rights of passage come with resident responsabilities. Minorities in various countries should not work against the interest of the nation they decided to live with, but need to support and express patriotism of the country of their choice. Nothing is more obvious in that sphere than the US, where native-born and immigrant citizens are required to pledge aliegence to the country. Those who come to the US and are not showing the "right" amount of support for the new country may face scorn and even violence by those who feel jingoistic and overly patriotic these days, and deportation if their activities are deemed violent or destructive. Yet when it comes to Serbia, the rules change. Any patriotism or aim at safeguarding a nation in delcine is seen as dangerous "nationalism."
What people do not understand is that Serbs are fighting for their own survival and that the edge of abyss of no reutnr is closer than some are ready to admit.
Perhaps it's time Serbs face up to their reality and see who is with them. Are there any non-Serb parties that are opposed to Voyvodina's autonomy? Are there any Albanin parties in Montenegro that are in favor of Montenegro staying in the union? Are there any Israeli Arabs who support Ariel Sharon? It's ethnic politics! Yet the Serbs are supposed to be "beyond that," because that's that bad "nationalism." Serbs have to vote against themselves just to prove how "mundane" they are.
Under Tito, Serbs had to completely deny themselves just to show that they are not the bad guys. Serb communists were the most rabid anti-Serbs if they were to be recognized as "good" communists. They were all "Yugoslavs." Worse, they were expected to be Yugoslavs. Being a Serb was the same as being a "Chetnik." Asking why Cyrillic is not used was a "nationalist provocation," and so on. People had to apologetically minimize their Serbian nationality in most veiled terms lest they be branded "nationalists."
Now wer are back to square one. In order for the Serbs to be palatable to the West, they must show how Un-Serb they are, while everyone else uses ethnic voting blocks to undermine Serbia and Montenegro.
You can lay your guit trip on someone else. I have yet to be convinced that non-Serbs are really interested in anything but taking a chunck out of remaining Montenegro and Serbia, and are using each and every Serb-bashing appologist to hitch a ride.
There are no "pure" Serbs -- the purest ones have turned into "Boshnyaks." Because they served Islam, they were not repeatedly raped for centuries by non-Serbs as the Christian Serbs were. So, Christian Serbs carry a multitude of genes -- they are the certified muts of Europe that everyone is ready to kick and sneer at.
To me a Serb is anyone who calls himself/herself a Serb. There are no Serb genes to differentiate you from the Croat or "Boshnyak" or, for that matter any of Serb neighbors. Being a Serb is something you learn, not something you are born with.
Then leave this topic! Everything about Serbia and former Yugoslavia is ethnic-based, ethnic-driven, ethnic-influenced.
You make the classic error of lumping all the jews together. The jews we all heard champing at the bit to blow Yugoslavia to pieces are the most 'vocal'. There were plenty of jews who were against the bombing, but with the level of demonization of the Serbs, it meant that putting your head over the parapet meant getting it blown off. As you know with propaganda, what you don't hear and who from is as important as what you do hear. Some of the Serbs greatest assets in the last decade were jews who have had to keep an extremely low profil and keep stum whilst the minority anti-semitic Serbs loudly proclaimed that the 'Jews' were against them.
It seems to me that you either failed to notice or ignored how the Israeli press was on the subject, a lot more subdued than the rantings coming out of the NYT et al. Israel had steady relations with the FRY and had good business contacts, though these were never highlighted apart from the rare mentions of 'Israeli businessmen' travelling to the FRY.
It also suprised me that you failed to notice the relative 'quietness' of the reform movement in the US. Many jews were and still are quitely pro-Serb but have not been able to let this be known publically for obvious reasons. By highlighting that Tamodaleko is jewish and then going on about how the Jews are anti-Serb, you are behaving in the same way as those who say that all Serbs are evil. If you are going to slam him, slam him on his argument. I really thought better of you. I was quite clearly mistaken.
VRN
No, no Kosta, I'd like to discuss the ways to overcome ethnic politics in Serbia. You've said, 1/3 of Serbian constituency are non-Serbs. I say they are Serbs from different ethnic or religous backround. How do Serbian parties integrate that large Serbian constituency into their programs and thus undermine the "value" of minority ethnic voting blocks? And in the same time those Serbian parties that succed to attract voters from that large "non-Serb" constituency not be tagged as anti-Serb party?
It has been the bread and butter of Jews to profit by demonizing Serbs. Even cheerleading the NATO attacks as the bombs fell and killed sick Serb children and injured newborn babies in hospitals.
Joan, every now and then you do come up with a pearl ridicule.
Just to remind you the links (emperor's cloths) you often post to prove your arguments are from a lad that's Jewish. And are you suggesting Serbian Jews during the bombing were cheerleading NATO bombs? Shame on you.
The American Jewish Leadership was sadly extremely vocal and exhibited the most rabid racist anti-Yugoslav/Serb tendencies during the 1990's and therefore they deserve condemnation. But, Israeli Leaders were neutral and some like Sharon pro-Belgrade.
Finally, one should also note that all the usual suspects among the US Protestant Leadership were also rabid anti-Yugoslav/Serb...........
If people of different ethnic origins keep insisting on going to schools where they are taught only in their own language, then they are willingily segregating themselves. How can they become, for example, a CEO of a major Serbian firm if they can't speak Serbian? Can a guy from India become a chief science officer in an American biotech company if he can't speak English?
For some reasons some ethnic groups in Serbia, like Albanians, claimed they were discriminated upon, when in most cases the main reason was that they couldn't speak Serbian and that's why they automaticaly disqualified themselves from many jobs.
I don't know if this is in anyway related to your discussions here, but that's what I think of ethnic problems in Serbia.
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