- There appear to be no winners in Serbia's recent elections,
bemoans Eric Walberg...
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- Sunday's elections in Serbia are being hailed as a victory
for Europe , a defeat for the "ultra-nationalist" Tomislav Nikolic
and his Radical Party. But the "For a European Serbia" alliance
of President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party, the G17-Plus and three smaller
liberal parties, over the Radical Party, the New Serbia Party and outgoing
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) does
not bode well for anyone, including Europe. This will be another hung parliament.
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- The election itself, while attracting only 60 per cent
of the electorate, was rigorously executed, including polling in Kosovo
for its 115,000 registered Serbian voters, which the UN and Pristina insisted
was illegal. "Holding Serbian local elections in Kosovo would contribute
to the creation of parallel structures at the administrative level and
as such they are unacceptable," Joachim Ruecker, the chief of the
United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, said.
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- Kostunica campaigned in Serbian Kosovo where he told
Serbs, "To preserve Serbia in Kosovo means telling the truth - that
it belongs to Serbia and the Serbian people. There is no nation in the
world which would accept giving up its territory. After 11 May, we will
need a new national, statehood government whose first task would be to
respect the Serb message: Kosovo is Serbia ."
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- "These elections are the first on all levels including
local elections since 1999. We expect a huge turnout and that way will
confirm our clear stand to the independent state of Kosovo and so-called
NATO state," said Milan Ivanovic, the leader of the Serb National
Council in Kosovo.
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- Serbia 's elections were triggered by the collapse of
a coalition of Kostunica's DSS with Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) over
Kosovo. Kostunica branded his former coalition partners "traitors"
for signing an accord on closer ties with the EU that he says is tantamount
to recognising Kosovo. Velimir Ilic of the New Serbia Party called the
Serbian president "the biggest traitor in the history of the Serbian
people."
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- Europhiles say the voting showed they won a decisive
victory, with the DS winning 37 per cent, vs 29 per cent for the Radical
Party, 11 per cent for the DSS, and a surprising eight per cent for the
late Milosevic's Socialist Party, which is now being courted by both camps.
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- If we take a broader view of the demise of Yugoslavia
and its bloody aftermath, the picture is very different than the one painted
by the Western media, which depicts a ruthless, sadistic tyrant, Slobodan
Milosevic, and his henchmen slaughtering innocents who only wanted the
shining Western ideals of freedom and democracy.
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- Since 1917, the West has done all in its power to destroy
anything that vaguely looks like socialism - with the sole exception of
1941-45. The Soviet Union was no tea party, but constant subversion and
blockades certainly did not make creating a social welfare state out of
the ashes of WWI any easier. By the time Yugoslavia came along, conditions
were much better, despite the horrors of WWII, where the Serbs suffered
terribly, to a great degree at the hands of their Croat neighbours.
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- This hotbed of family and clan warfare was miraculously
turned into a peaceful, workable society by Yosip Broz Tito, a Croat. It
would have served the world, in particular, Europe , well to do everything
in its power to maintain the union, including Kosovo. But this was not
in the interests of US empire or European "unity". The disintegration
of Yugoslavia was planned with gusto in Bonn and Washington .
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- Of course, once the SU began to crack open, the demise
of Yugoslavia was inevitable. Milosevic was merely the last gasp of the
only alternative to Europe 's New World Order, with NATO membership thrown
in for good measure. Meanwhile, Serbian Europhiles such as Dejan Anastasijevic
are lining up to join this Brave New World. On the eve of the election,
he warned, "If Nikolic wins, he will be democratically elected, and
the West will think Serbs have a bad soul, so they deserve to fester and
self-destruct." No wonder he had two grenades thrown into his bedroom
window last year.
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- And Nikolic himself? A closer look at the supposed pariah
shows that he is perfectly responsible: "We'll cooperate with everyone,
openly with friends but cautiously with those who show they are not our
friends." His platform offered greater social protection, including
subsidies for basic foods for his hard-pressed people."They say if
we win there will be no more capital coming into Serbia , but why wouldn't
there be? Germany recognised Kosovo, but that does not stop us from cooperating
with Germany ." A Radical Party-led administration would not talk
to the EU. "But we are open to all of its members, even those that
recognise Kosovo." He emphasised that he would not resort to war.
"Why should someone make us gain through war what is already ours?"
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- He campaigned on promises of fixed prices for bread and
pensions for all, appealing to an electorate that feel they have gained
little since the revolt in 2000 that overthrew Milosevic. He has fostered
closer ties with Russia recently. In February, he visited Moscow , accompanied
by Milosevic's brother and met now President Dmitri Medvedev. He praised
the January deal in which Gazrpom, the Russian state energy company, gained
control of Serbia 's national oil monopoly.
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- He argues that Serbia should expand a free trade area
with the Russian Federation that would encourage European countries and
companies to use Sebia as a hub for trade between the EU and Russia . "
Europe will make a mistake if it excludes us. It will push us to the other
side. I would like both sides. I would like both Russia and Europe to have
links here." Hmm. Could it be that Europe just might need Serbia every
bit as much as Serbia needs Europe?
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- He is nobody's fool. This platform is creative, intent
on turning Serbia into a centre of East-West trade, building a bridge where
leaders like Sarkozy and Bush try to stoke Cold War fires. But then this
is not at all what the EU and US had in mind when they bombed and isolated
Serbia and tore apart the precious, peaceful, prosperous Yugoslav federation.
Their's was a plan of divide and conquer, to swallow up Serbia into the
suffocating embrace of the EU and NATO, putting the finishing touches on
the plan to turn a Europe of diversity into America's advanced fortress.
It's as if one stubborn old widow in her bungalow is holding out against
Walmart's plan to create a vast box store in a pristine mountain village
and just won't be bribed into submission.
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- As for the Radical Party's slogan "No to Hague Tyranny",
Nikolic, tongue in cheek, points out, "What is the difference between
the current government saying it wants to cooperate and not cooperating,
and us saying that we won't?"
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- Tadic vows that as president, he will never allow the
nationalists to regain power. Nikolic retorted that this is in breach of
the constitution and that there is a "very clear possibilities of
a coalition which does not include the DS." The nationalists' coaltion
has a few more seats than the Europhiles, with Ivica Dacic, the Socialists'
leader now touted as the kingmaker. How ironic if he opts for the Europhiles
- the EU would then be beholden to Milosevic's heir for their permission
to gobble up the last little Baltic confection.
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- ***
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- Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly. You can reach
him at www.geocities.com/walberg2002/
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