Serbia: The New Cold War’s Lynchpin in the Balkans
(a cautionary tale of an autocrat running a kleptocracy)
“The US Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, said that choices must be made in life and that this is such a moment, adding that there is only one path for Serbia, which is the West and the European Union (EU) […] “Serbs should decide that, and I think they have decided that their future is in the West, and not in some undefined East. I’m saying all of this based on what I hear every day from people but also based on the statements by President of (Serbia Aleksandar) Vucic,” said Hill” [1]
[Serbia’s President Aleksandar] “Vučić stated that the latest research showed that for the first time we have a clear majority of citizens who are against joining the EU – 44 percent, while 35 percent support EU accession
“”As the President of the Republic of Serbia, it is our job to hear and understand public opinion, but it is also our job to do what is best for Serbia. My message to everyone is that Serbia is on the road to Europe [he means EU accession] and will continue down that road more strongly”, he said” [2]
A common sense interpretation of the preceding statements would be; USA Ambassador Hill’s “I’m saying all of this based on what I hear every day from people” actually means ‘the people who count’ (i.e. the American controlled personalities in Serbia’s power structure) and President Vucic’s “it is our job to hear and understand public opinion, but it is also our job to do what is best for Serbia” means ‘the will of the Serbian people is in my opinion infantile’ (i.e. ‘Serbia’s father figure’ Vucic knows what’s best for Serbia, more so than most Serbs.)
Insofar as Hill’s ‘people who count’ (excludes the will of the greater Serb population) the CIA’s USAID front [3] presents another character in this geopolitical muppet show:
[Serbia’s] “Minister for EU Integration Jadranka Joksimovic said: “I am convinced that Serbia will progress more and more towards its goal, which is EU membership. In support of this commitment of our country, the development assistance of the United States is extremely important to us. It is concrete, implies more opportunities for employment, learning and following modern trends in the economy, health, social policy, and democratization of society, and is the more important given today’s political and economic environment in Europe and the world”” [4]
Insofar as ‘Father Vucic’ knowing what’s better for his Serbian ‘children’, maybe the kids aren’t so dumb as he thinks:
“The poll showed that 82.1 percent of Serbians do not support sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine while just 6.9 percent support sanctions and 11 percent are undecided. According to NSPM, 49 percent said that Russia is in the right, 6.1 percent said Uraine [sic] is right, 24 percent said they have no opinion and 21 percent said no one is to blame. “We asked who was to blame for the conflict in Ukraine and 68.7 percent said NATO, 7.4 percent blamed Ukraine, 5.6 percent blamed Russia and 18 percent have no opinion”” [5]
Serbs know sanctions mean saying ‘adios’ to the exports of cheeses, fruits, and other commodities to Russia.
Do Serbians own and drive Ladas? The Lada Niva is the most popular four wheel drive in Serbia. Other Lada models are used by car rental agencies, the Russian made Lada is everywhere in Serbia and has been for decades. Sanctions will say say bye-bye to Lada spare parts when the junkyard supplies are exhausted. [6]
Lada Niva [Motor1.com]
Then one further wonders what 80%+ opposing sanctions on Russia, and 44% opposed versus 35% in favor of joining the European Union (with the other 25% too beaten down to care) has to do with “Serbia will progress more and more towards its goal, which is EU membership” except for the USA, NATO, & EU ‘kompromat’ (blackmail) demands made of the Serbian kleptocracy; a kleptocracy that is so low it steals the lion’s share of money intended to socially advance disadvantaged women…
“…none of the organizations that received millions from the Ministry of Family Care competition has an official website, nor can anyone find information about the projects they had implemented that relate to the competition’s objectives […] The Ministry of Family Care and Demographics has allocated more than 630,000 euros to these organizations following the competition. In contrast, much less money, about 150,000 euros, has been allocated to associations that are transparent, have an official website and have been dealing with the advancement of women’s position in society for years” [9]
…in circumstance where the USA insists these (in the case of Serbia) anti-democratic demands (pressured to join the EU) must be met, never mind the will of the Serbian people. Clearly it all comes down to ‘kompromat’ and what, how and when the Serbian players in the Russia vs the West tug-of-war (rapidly progressing towards beaten into conformity between NATO’s hammer & the EU anvil) might be exposed.
A general principle of this kleptocracy is for Vucic’s mid-level cadres to be awarded a second job that is salaried by the state but you never have to show up for work:
“Prisic discovered that more than one hundred EPS employees have been receiving salaries [for years] despite never showing up for work” [10]
Other scintillating examples of ‘kompromat’ (blackmail potential) include but are not limited to, Serbian Finance Minister Sinsa Mali, the EU intelligence agencies’ top (upcoming, August 2022) choice for Serbian Prime Minister:
“The paper [intelligence assessment] states that the future prime minister will come from the ranks of the SNS party. Sinisa Mali, the current finance minister and former mayor of Belgrade, is mentioned first as a possible candidate. He is one of Aleksandar Vučić’s closest associates and has been involved in several scandals – from the destruction of the Savamala quarter in Belgrade to allegedly owning 24 apartments in Bulgaria. The University of Belgrade stripped him of his doctorate after it was confirmed that he had plagiarized his thesis” [11]
About the EU intelligence agencies’ favorite pick Sinsa Mali’s role in the illegal destruction of a neighborhood whilst handing off ‘urban renewal’ contracts:
“…a group of about 30 masked men armed with baseball bats knocked down multiple buildings in Belgrade’s riverbank neighborhood, Savamala, using heavy equipment. The brutality of the operation, which allegedly involved residents being tied up and otherwise mistreated, shocked Serbia…” [12]
In short other words, in order to keep onto one’s ill-gotten gains and stay at the top in Serbia, while keeping this sort of story out of ‘mainstream’ news, there is an unwritten EU demand of ‘play ball our way or we will show you the door to some very unpleasant consequence.’
Organized crime ‘playing for keeps’, whether it is the ‘transcendent corruption’ (legalized) organized crime of the European Union, or the more local mob scene, is certainly nothing new when it comes exploiting geopolitical blackmail potential in Serbia, here’s a short profile of Serbia’s Health Minister:
“According to the 2004 testimony of the cooperative witness Dejan Milenković Bagzi (who was an important member of the Zemun Clan) in the Zoran Đinđić trial, in Serbian Special Court for Organised Crime: on 5 September 2002, Belgrade-based Rakovica Clan tried to eliminate the Montenegrin criminal Veselin Božović Vesko, but he survived the assassination and was transferred to the Clinical Centre of Serbia in which at that time worked Lončar. Allegedly, he had good chances to survive and his condition was stable. According to Milenković, head of the criminal group Dušan Spasojević who also had interest of Božović’s death, asked one of his insider doctors Risović to finish him in the hospital, but he was having second thoughts. Later, allegedly, another Spasojević’s insider doctor, Lončar confessed to Spasojević that he gave him lethal injection and Božović died shortly after, on 7 September 2002. For the reward, Spasojević gave him apartment in New Belgrade. Officially, ten days after Božović’s death, Lončar bought the apartment from the wife of Zemun Clan hitman Sretko Kalinić for 30,000 euros only to re-sell it months later. Miladin Suvajdžić, another cooperative witness and former important member of the Zemun Clan, in his 2006 testimony confirmed the story of Milenković; one of the main roles of Suvajdžić was to buy properties, vehicles for various of reasons” [13]
Serbia’s Vucic is easy to expose as a two-faced hypocrite for the simple matter the Serbian people and institutions have not (yet) been entirely cowed, suborned, propagandized or otherwise rendered socially impotent ignoramuses (via social engineering, e.g., World Bank ‘child education’ programs.) Honest Serbs still speak out and know what and who they are talking about.
The other side of that coin is, in the (majority) conservative Serbian nature there is a strong subliminal desire for a wise king, a 1,000 years old yearning in the Serb DNA predating the Ottoman occupation. Today, this yearning is a social-psychological foible milked by Vucic and his minions.
If we survive World War Three, and the USA, NATO & EU ‘democratic principles’ are close to bringing this on, perhaps we’ll be so fortunate as to see this yearning morph into a positive social phenomenon devoid of snake-oil salesmen like Vucic and his associated politics of giving lip service to empire.
Meanwhile, what does Serbia’s President, the ‘father-figure’ Vucic, have to say on the subject of morality?
“Today, perhaps more than ever, the whole world longs for truth and justice. The same justice that is woven into the words of our beautiful national anthem and which still stands as an imperative without which there is no progress for a dignified man or the whole world. I will always fight for such truth and justice, because there is nothing harder, neither more honorable than that” -Aleksandar Vucic [14]
“…there is nothing harder…” for criminals, this is true. Let Vucic’s words come back to haunt him.
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Further reading on geopolitical intrigues in Serbia:
Serbia’s Leaders: Obvious ‘johns’
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[1] https://archive.li/eYFvT from https://rs.n1info.com/english/news/us-ambassador-hill-there-is-only-one-path-for-serbia-west-and-european-union/
[2] https://archive.li/jkYzb from https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2022&mm=05&dd=07&nav_id=113659
[3] https://archive.li/YtzKF from http://colorrevolutionsandgeopolitics.blogspot.be/2011/04/from-archives-philip-agee-terrorism-and.html
[4] https://archive.li/NZxB8 from https://www.usaid.gov/serbia/news-information/press-releases/us-adds-195-million-new-funds-development-partnership-serbia
[5] https://archive.li/JfMJ2 from https://rs.n1info.com/english/news/poll-shows-huge-opposition-to-sanctions-against-russia/
[6] https://archive.li/AMMhE from https://www.381info.com/en/gornji-milanovac/car-scrapyards/car-waste-lada-niva
[7] https://archive.li/bh4Fa from https://rs.n1info.com/english/news/vucic-i-agreed-with-putin-extremely-favourable-gas-price-for-serbia/
[8] https://archive.li/5HtfI from https://sputniknews.com/20220605/countries-surrounding-serbia-close-airspace-for-lavrovs-plane—zakharova-1096037750.html
[9] https://archive.li/e5TPd from https://www.serbianmonitor.com/en/ministry-gives-funds-to-obscure-organizations/
[10] https://archive.li/pPuV5 from https://www.serbianmonitor.com/en/whistle-blower-natasa-prisic-and-the-case-of-eps-ghost-workers/
[11] https://archive.li/cxrvo from https://www.serbianmonitor.com/en/european-intelligence-has-three-favourites-for-the-position-of-serbian-pm/
[12] https://archive.li/PEEuL from https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/6069-ex-wife-says-the-belgrade-s-mayor-organized-the-violent-demolition-of-a-neighborhood
[13] https://archive.li/RPeBl from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zlatibor_Lončar
[14] https://archive.li/SBOpP from https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2022&mm=06&dd=06&nav_id=113868
Other informative links at:
[a] https://archive.li/pjRJN from https://ronaldthomaswest.com/2020/11/29/serbia-srbija/