Ed Alexander

The political noose is tightening on Serbia as regional neighbours begin to increasingly recognise the independence of Kosovo. Serbia’s hangmen, the United States and the European Union, prepared the rope but it now appears to be Serbia’s fellow Balkan states that are placing it over the country’s head.

Slovenia, holding the European Union’s Presidency currently, was the first Balkan country to recognise Kosovo after Albania. Whilst the decision by Albania will have surprised few, in this instance Slovenia offers another example of its attempt to transport itself into the centre of Europe, both politically and geographically with closer links to Germany, Austria and Italy than to it’s former cell mates Macedonia and Montenegro.

The joint announcement of Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary that they view Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state will not have impressed the current Belgrade regime which is already suffering internal crisis as the parliament splits at the seems and the presidency was only recently saved from nationalist destruction by a slim margin of votes. Without the backing of regional powers like Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary, the latter two already European Union members and Croatia sure to follow soon, Serbia appears to be consuming itself, drifting down a potentially dangerous path that could retard the country and negate any progress that has been made since the fall of Milosevic. Russia’s obstruction of Kosovo’s membership to the United Nations matters very little when the majority of countries nevertheless recognise the state, especially since it can count on protection from the United States and the majority of European Union members. Aside from minor gains like a steady flow of gas, what can Serbia’s population gain from ever closer ties to Moscow?

Serbia’s politicians are in a no-win situation. By recognising Kosovo they would anger and alienate a great number of the potential voters. On the other hand, by not recognising Kosovo and cutting links with the European Union the population will undoubtedly suffer, feeling justifiable resent as they look over their borders at more prosperous neighbours. If one is to look back to the mid-1980s at the comparable lifestyles of people in Serbia and Romania only a fool would ever have believed that Romania would twenty years later be the more advanced country. Admittedly, a lot has transpired in those two decades, but purely stating that monolithic word “War” is not a complete enough answer. Aside from the NATO bombing of Belgrade and several other towns during the Kosovo conflict, Serbia has not experienced warfare on its territory. There have been the added problems that are associated with such a regional meltdown as occurred across the peninsular during the 1990s, a sanctions, a ravaged economy and an influx of refugees being but a few examples. Again though, these reasons alone do not justify Serbia’s current state since Croatia suffered far more hardships than Serbia, as can be seen in the complete obliteration of the town of Vukovar and the refugee crisis that saw hotels up and down the coast overflowing with families from Slavonia and Herzegovina.

The joint declaration made by Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria was eager to point out that whilst they now saw Kosovo as an independent state this was nevertheless a unique situation which did not set a precedent for other movements from across the globe. This is certainly a responsible move and one which will be congratulated by the United States and the European Union. Russia, in its ever increasing bickering with the West has stated that it will begin to explore the cases of territories such as Transdnistria and Abkhazia, a flag which should indicate to everyone that the Russian support for Serbia is not based upon Slavonic brotherhood but a desire to asset its own power. It is only a matter of time before Serbia realises the embarrassing reality that it is nothing but a political pawn in the eyes of the destabilising Moscow regime.

Whilst Serbia can attempt to obstruct Kosovo’s development, the majority of imports having to still pass through Serbia, the greatest looser here will be the Serbs who are winning no friends with anybody at the moment. The protesters who burned the American Embassy in Belgrade inadvertently made a very telling point when it came to light that the only casualty of their protests was one of their own youth who died after being trapped in the building. Sympathy for the Kosovo Serbs is also wearing thin after the death of a Ukrainian soldier in Mitrovica, the victim of a Serbian hurled grenade. Whilst countless Serb nationalists can claim that by accepting European Union deals the country would be prostituting itself and forgetting its true values, maybe it is time that these values are called into question.

Serbian protesters regularly mention events from history, looking back at injustices from the 1995 Croatian reclaiming of Krajina, the Second World War and even the medieval Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader says that the decision of his country to recognise Kosovo’s independence will be “a difficult one for Serbia to swallow”, but it is difficult decisions rather than easy ones which change the world. It is time that Serbia made a difficult decision for itself, accepted the inevitable and began to look to the future. This future is based firmly in Europe, as Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria have all already understood, and not with Russia, a country that offered its own unique “humanitarian aid” to Eastern Europe for fifty year with catastrophic consequences.

Ed Alexander is an award winning blogger of Balkan politics, culture and soccer. He is based in London and Zagreb, Croatia.

Comments (10)

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Luani1 said:

	... What makes me laugh the most is a serb pretending to be a foreigner.
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March 25, 2008
Votes: +0

j said:

... Dave Blood , you make me laugh" Another point is a wounded animal is a dangerous thing" yes it lashes out before it takes its last breath and then dies. p.s remember the war cry ,where there are serbs should be part of serbia, now that the shoes on the other foot,you dont like it much, do you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,also look at the serb parliment"we have to think,why through out our history does everybody hate us and want to leave us,maybe its time we stop blaming everyone else and have a look at ourselves"

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March 23, 2008
Votes: +3

arianiti said:

... and one more thing, cant a guy express him/herself ? arent you people for freedom of speech ? or not at all ? even if you think what he wrote is BS, he should be aloud to express whatever BS he comes up with as far as my opinion about this article, not that it matters but ill say it anyways is that, his view is logical enough to be made public, its to bad some of you have your heads stuck so far up your ....... that you refuse to even read it with a open mind. thats to bad for you people anyways.

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March 23, 2008
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arianiti said:

... max shinrock, what makes an easy target? a target that has all the facts up in your face, why make things harder when you can do it in so much ease? and pluse this guy who wrote it is most likely Albanian, if not, very pro Albanian, so why not write pro Albanian?? there are a whole bunch of articles and links and vids Serbs and others make against Albanians, so this guy, you can say, is just evening the battlefield

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March 23, 2008
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American Eagle said:

	... You all really lack any journalistic skills. This is nothing but a I-Hate-Serbia site filled with propoganda. There is no news, just Albanian opinions here. Why not put real news on this site?
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March 22, 2008
Votes: -1

dave bood said:

... the land of Kosovo is part of Serbia, let me tell you there are plenty of people in the UK who do not support our goverment on this issue. Kosovo is not unique at all the KLA attacked the Serbs first, Kosovo is an American pawn nothing more, dont forget they backed Saddam once and others. Another point is a wounded animal is a dangerous thing, think on. Finally the EU wants Serbia to join the EU its the key to stability and should not hold a gun to its head. I back Serbia on this issue

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March 22, 2008
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ergaomnes said:

	... OMG what a language....Obviously mama didn't do her job teaching her kids a good manners.....Hey admin do you filter this comments?
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March 22, 2008
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Matte said:

... Serbia Win-Loss Record 1389 Battle of Kosovo BIG LOSS 1593 Austrian?Turkish War LOSS--->Ottomans retaliated by burning the relics of St. Sava- the most sacred thing for all Serbs 1690 &1737-1739 Great Serb Migrations Kosovo became underpopulated as Serbs were leaving what was once the core of their Serbian Empire for Vojvodina and other parts West. LOSS--->If serbs love Kosovo so much, why did they leave and never come back? Are they willing to exchange Vojvodina for Kosovo? 1804 Slaughter of the knezes LOSS 1805 First Serbian Uprising WIN 1806-1812 Russo-Turkish War LOSS 1813 Ottomans reconquer Serbia LOSS 1815 Second Serbian Uprising WIN 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War LOSS 1912 First Balkan War PUSH 1913 Second Balkan War PUSH 1914 World War I LOSS-->nice job starting the conflict 1941 World War II PUSH-->TITO might have chosen Belgrade as capital, but he was a Croatian/Slovenian. 1991 Slovenian Independence War LOSS 1991-95 Croatian Independence War LOSS-->Caused the third and fastest Great Serb Migration. 1992 Bosnian War PUSH----> Ended up with 51% of the land, and Karadzic and Mladic as their heros. 1999 Kosovo War LOSS-->78 days of US Bombs? Ouch! 2006 Montenegro declares Independence LOSS 2008 Kosovo declares independence LOSS Losses:15 Wins:2 Push:3

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March 22, 2008
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Dusan said:

	... you really seem to hate Serbs, don't you ? I just wonder what's your reason for that ? Among all these murky arguments that you cited against us, you didn't (want to) find one single argument in our support, and there are many of them out there !
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March 22, 2008
Votes: -1

Max Shinrock said:

	... You are an idiot. Nothing in this report of merit...just another article bashing an easy target - Serbs. Can't your brain come up with something more original? Moron.
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March 21, 2008
Votes: -1