President Trump’s deal normalises economic relations between Serbia and Kosovo.
It will also see Kosovo recognise the State of Israel and Serbia move its embassy to Jerusalem.
So much winning.#TheArtOfTheDeal
🇺🇸 🇮🇱 🇷🇸 🇽🇰 https://t.co/NXwt1EuIzx
— Bruges Group 🇬🇧 (@BrugesGroup) September 4, 2020
I am not quite sure whether this classifies as a zrada (defeat/betrayal), but it is surely not a peremoga (victory) – to borrow the terms often used by Ukrainian nationalists, but really applicable to anything.
As with Russian nationalists, the Serb nationalists fall into two camps regarding the mettle of their leader, some passionately hate him and believe he will sell them out any day now (sort of like Serbian version of Putinsliv), some think he’s their guy making the best of a bad situation.
While I attach the more complete text of the deal below, here are some of the main points:
There are a number of enhanced transport links between Serbia and Kosovo, including joining a “mini-Schengen” together with Albania and North Macedonia.
Both parties are to prohibit usage of 5G equipment by “untrusted vendors”. Uncle Sam says hi to Huawei.
Both parties are to diversify energy sources. Uncle Sam says hi to Gazprom.
“Restitution of Holocaust-era heirless and unclaimed Jewish property.” In the immortal words of Ann Coulter: “How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are?” (Answer: Aout 1,500 Jews in Serbia and 100 in Kosovo).
Both parties are to “work with the 69 countries that criminalize homosexuality to push for decriminalization.” OK.
This seems to be the main US foreign policy priority these days after Making Israel Great Again. Speaking of which, Kosovo is to recognize its Israel and vice versa, while Serbia commits to moving its Embassy to Jerusalem by July 1, 2021.
Also both parties are to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Now in fairness, Serbs don’t have any particular reason to be very fond of Hezbollah – or Iran. They took an active role in provisioning arms, funds, training, and fighters to Muslim Bosnians during the Yugoslav Wars of 1992-95.
Even so, recognition/non-recognition of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization does seem to be a solid marker of belonging to the American Empire and the Resistance Axis, respectively.
Kosovo agrees on a one year moratorium on applications to join international organizations, while Serbia agrees to a one year moratorium on international campaigns to revoke existing recognitions of Kosovo independence as well as to refrain from formal or informal requests to countries and international organizations to abstain from recognizing Kosovo.
But ultimately, Serb leaders are obligated to look out for the interests of Serbs, not Arabs. What do they get out of it?
All of the concrete obligations outside the region concern Israel, which agrees to recognize Kosovo for the privilege of Serbia establishing a Chamber of Commerce and moving its Embassy to Jerusalem. That doesn’t exactly sound like a favorable deal. On the other hand, it is probably too early to speak of an outright Serbian defection to the Western camp. For instance, the implicitly anti-Russian and anti-Chinese commitments are too vaguely worded to be enforceable (at least on the assumption that there aren’t any secret protocols).
Speculatively, there may have been a tit for tat in relation to Montenegro, where long-ruling pro-Western mafioso dictator Milo Đukanović unexpectedly narrowly lost an election to pro-Serb forces a week ago – a true peremoga that, in classical fashion, has quickly transitioned into a zrada (as per tradition). Perhaps there was a US promise not to involve itself in any shenanigans to keep Milo and the ruling DPS in power, who had accelerated the fake Montenegro nation-building project up to the point of laying the groundwork to expropriate the Serbian Orthodox Church. Ultimately, losing Montenegro – the historical core of Serbia, an outlet to the sea, and the crucible of Serbian nationalism a century ago – would probably be a harder blow than even Kosovo, which realistically speaking is about as demographically Albanian as Transylvania is Romanian.
I suppose we’ll see, but it is worth stopping to note how, laugh as we might at how American foreign policy priorities are seemingly hijacked by a certain ethnic lobby and sexual minority who constitute just 2% of its population each, the fact of the matter is that this event underlines the abiding strength of American power. Russian pundit Egor Kholmogorov comments that this would be as if Putin were to preside over a meeting of the leaders of the Ukraine and the DNR in the Kremlin, which culminated in the signing of a document committing to not buying American weapons and a joint investigation against Joe Biden, as well as an agreement to have Belarus recognize the DNR on the side. So it’s unclear who should really have the last laugh.
Please keep off topic posts to the current Open Thread.
If you are new to my work, start here.
The zrada happened a long time ago, on the brussels agreement already.
Vucic is your classic neoliberal with a nationalist disguise.
I think he did this deliberately exactly because of Milo. The DPS is literally falling apart as we speak (normal for parties that lose power). He doesn’t want us to get too cocky
Weird how despite being an anti-Semite, the comically homosexual and Zionist foreign policy of the US still exceeds my expectations.
Everybody and his brother knows that Vucic is a weasel, so that’s not news. I’d like to hear what do Serbs think about this agreement.
It promotes homosex or else it gets the bombs again
Vučić is fine, this agreement was likely the tit for tat for Montenegro like Karlin described
Serbia is an occupied and defeated nation, the only thing we can hope for is to kick the can down the road and wait for China and Russia to push the Great Satan back
I personally think that this agreement demonstrates, first and foremost, that Vucic is an idiot. I doubt that there was any higher purpose to it other than scoring brownie points with the American government by signing an agreement that boosts Israel. Certainly, I don’t believe that this has anything to do with Montenegro.
In regards to the number of Jews in Serbia and Kosovo, you have a typo. It’s “About”, not “Aout”. “Aout” is the French word for “August.”
As for Montenegro, technically speaking, Serbia already lost it back in 2006. However, the two of them can nevertheless be reunited together in the European Union in due time. A similar fate could have occurred to Russia and Ukraine–but then again letting Russia into the European Union might have been perceived as being more problematic due to its sheer population.
You get those Russian breeders up and running, and when Russia will have 500+ million people, maybe it finally will be able to do this! 🙂
I think Vucic should be renamed Jagnjic. Those who speak Serbian will know what I’m talking about.
Serbia is defeated, but only Kosovo is occupied, Serbia proper isn’t.
There are different ways of kicking the can down the road. Say, doing it like Ukraine virtually guarantees that the kicker suffers a lot worse fate than the Great Satan.
Well, the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem clearly expecting imperial vassals to follow suit. They didn’t. No country of note did. Then again, Serbia is hardly a country of note.
Prohibit Chinese 5G. Not allowed to buy Russian gas. Forced to implement and operate US screening and information systems. Has any country made any similar contract but with the difference that it’s instead pro-Russian or pro-Chinese? I would imagine that would create some outrage.
The parts on recognizing Hezbollah as terrorist organization, the Jewish heirless property restitution and moving the embassy to Jerusalem are comically bizarre. It’s so out of place it feels like a parody.
Calling a weasel a lamb is not quite right. Lamb implies someone innocent. Vucic hardly qualifies.
BTW, you don’t necessarily need to speak Serbian: many Slavic languages, including Russian, use the same root for lamb.
The fag-diplomacy should come as no surprise. The president is in the same political party as the lesbo PM, and proposed her as his successor, when he was leaving the office of PM.
Though, I am shocked by the claims for restitution. No, “shocked” is not the right word. Poland was shocking. Going after the Balkans is like something out of The Merchant of Venice.
I’ve posted a few comments on their forums & read some comments in their newspaper “Politika”. In my opinion: 50% are desperate, 30% confused & stunned and 20% are clowning about it all.
I wrote a few sentences, but nobody was for a chit-chat. They mostly joked, the Nušić style.
I don’t know what kind of international response the Trump administration was expecting when they did that. Certainly, if they expected that other countries would simply accept it, they must have been rather disconnected from reality. But it’s no secret that Israel’s influence on American policy-making and political culture has long been outsized, so I wasn’t that surprised that they did it.
I am surprised, however, that American phariseephilia and commitment to homosexuality go far enough that they inject them even in circumstances where they are completely irrelevant. Vucic should be ashamed of himself for indulging this absurd internal American theatre, and if his foreign policy is so dependant on appealing to internal American political cliques that he went along with this, then he shouldn’t be in charge in Serbia, regardless of his patriotism or lack thereof.
Post 2000 coup you had the dismantling of our army, integration with NATO, military drills with NATO, visits by renowned acquaintances of Mr. Epstein to hold lectures on how we deserved to get bombed, signing of unequal treaties with the EU, promotion of disgusting compradors to high media and academic positions
If that is not occupied then I don’t know what is
I wasn’t aware Serbia has 6000 armed nuclear warheads and one of the largest economies in the world and is thus capable of annexing parts of their neighbors and withstanding massive sanctions which come as a result
This was primarily designed to give Trump a small foreign policy PR victory…it’s questionable whether this “agreement” (more a letter of intent) will be executed in the first place.
And no Serbia hasn’t agreed not to buy Russian gas. The original document specifically mentioned Gazprom (and Huawei) but was amended. Vucic has even previously said that Serbia will buy the cheapest gas available, which is Russian. There is no other viable supplier anyway.
What critics fail to mention is that it’s in Serbia’s interest to integrate Kosovo and surrounding states economically as much as possible, as Serbia has the largest economy in the region which has been growing noticeably in recent times.
Another small but important concession is that for the first time since 1999, Serbia will have access to the Gazivoda dam & powerplant complex in Northern Kosovo which supplies a significant portion of Kosovo’s electricity….the Albanians are threatening to lynch their reps for agreeing with this
At the same time as the Washington negotiations, the Defence Minister Vulin was at the CSTO meeting in Moscow as Shoigu’s guest.
https://twitter.com/mo_i_vs/status/1302304618878246914
At the Tank Biathlon
https://twitter.com/mo_i_vs/status/1302271996781363201
Well, this ‘ageement’ ilustrates that USA is ‘not agreement capable’ and how USA become old fashioned empire. Everything in this agreement is first and foremost USA interest, to be precise interest of its current administration:
– Israel first policies
– homo (Grenel) policies
– use bilions of USD created from thin air to bay anything valuable and to build necessary infrastructure for Bondstil, and push Serbia and Kosovo in deeper debt slavery.
– keep Kosovo albanians on short leash: USA is perfectly happy with current Kosovo status, if Serbia and others recognise Kosovo independence USA and Bondstil will become burden for albanians and their dream to unite with Albania.
– suppress China, Russia and Turkey influence
– show EU(Germany) middle finger with ‘mini shengen’ which is projected to be exYU – (HR+SLO)+ALB and stone in american hand
For USA Serbia and Kosovo are there to obey and accept anything without complains. Both sides will try to avoid implementation of anything which is against their interest. It will be forgoten in november if Biden wins.
MSM silence about this agreement is deafening.
Most of the US foreign policy lately feels like a parody. Say, proclaiming Guaido, supported by his wife and his dog (if he has them), a president of Venezuela clearly feels like a parody. But this was not an innocent comedy. Proclaiming that hapless nonentity the president of Venezuela was a fig leaf covering the theft of ~$10 billion of Venezuela money plus ~$1 billion worth of Venezuela gold. I have no doubt this agreement is also a fig leaf to cover something equally criminal.
Not quite shocking. Serbia has negotiated with some of their Jews to give them back 2-4 houses, previously synagogues or something similar. Not some big money, nothing spectacular. They didn’t do that, and Trump, who behaves like King of the Jews, incorporated that in the “agreement”.
There is a strong comedic element at play there: Serbs have been building, virtually all their intelligentsia, a strong pro-Jewish & Israeli sentiment in the vein: Jews are our natural allies, Croats had committed a genocide of both Jews & Serbs during WW2, so- hurrah for Serbian-Jewish historical friendship.
Now, most of ordinary folks are back to ordinary Rothschild conspiracy theories….
Vučić is mocked ruthlessly for this picture of a naughty boy humbly repenting before a dominant teacher:
https://faktor.ba/cms/uploads/2020/09/3d6a8b3c520a781016ef3336a2d1ae05.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3ket7ah.jpg
I have to confess: I cannot imagine how it feels to be a citizen of a minor country that every bully kicks just for the heck of it. I moved from huge USSR to huge USA. When I drive through microscopic European countries (say, once I drove with many stops from Germany through Austria, then Hungary, then Croatia, then Slovenia, Austria again, and then back to Germany) it feels like Disneyland, rather than the real thing. Yet I know that people do live there and consider those inconsequential patches their countries. Just can’t imagine how it feels.
I know, they constantly publish it. But- what Vučić could have done? He is the tallest living politician & Trump has- unlike Putin- inferiority complexes galore, so it was expected he would try to humiliate Vučić somehow.
Vučić should have sat like a macho & tell Trump, with his body language- to sod off.
https://st4.depositphotos.com/3584053/21352/i/1600/depositphotos_213523462-stock-photo-man-or-sexy-macho-sitting.jpg
Is it necessary to mention Huawei by name to keep them out of the Serbian G5 network?
Washington certainly does not think that they need to mention them by name in order to ban them.
https://newatlas.com/huawei-ban-us-what-spy-evidence-exists/59772/
Here’s how “mini Schengen” looks in practice
Newly built fence by Serbia on the border with N. Macedonia
https://gdb.rferl.org/a7b14a74-b842-46ba-884c-32f12352d379_w1200_r1.jpg
Everything about Guaido is definitely just as comical. He didn’t even have a Wikipedia page in 2018. A few months later it’s several pages long. One thing that is good about Wikipedia is that you can look at the history of revisions. Looking at old versions of certain pages can tell you a lot about how certain narratives have flipped around.
Serbia is not going to move its embassy to Jerusalem if Israel is to recognize Kosovo.
https://www.rtv.rs/sr_lat/politika/vucic-izrael-vodite-racuna-o-interesima-srbije-mi-smo-prijatelji_1158594.html
Yes, even lying Wiki has its redeeming qualities. I am sure the liars will do something about this oversight ASAP.
Now is clear who controling Vucic it was obvious all the time . Serbian elite was always under western control but majority of people is pro Russian .
The original draft of the agreement also included mutual recognition between Belgrade and Prishtina which was the main thing that had to be removed as far as Serbia is concerned. They had to agree to several points that they did not like as a price for that.
It’s one thing to mention specifically Huawei/Gazprom by name and another to have a vague reference that can be interpreted differently by each side.
IMO, Vucic wants to re-establish links with the Northern Kosovo enclave where the majority of Serbs are concentrated and provide international protection for Serbian cultural sites in the interior of Kosovo. This agreement does make concessions in that regard….whether it’s implemented in practice is another matter
I disagree that this shows US power. Getting a third rate nation and their shard to sign an agreement is kinda of a nothing burger. It is not like the DNR example. It’s more like Russia getting South osetia to fire some figure head there. It’s not a perfect parallel but it demonstrates OOM we are talking about here.
That’s why sometimes I get in trouble. Because of similarities between Slavic languages, sometimes I assume that I know the meaning of some word in Russian for example, but I don’t.
I’ll give you an example – in my language Pravda means justice, in Russian it means truth, close enough, but no cigar.
By the way, Pravda is also justice in Serbian, and that land has seen a lot of injustice or nepravda in the last quarter of century. Serbs are patient people, eventually things will work out in their favor, I am pretty sure of that.
peremoga, zrada, sovok, zmagar…what’s with this quirk of yours of using slavic terms when talking about slavic countries? If you want to talk slavic, then go back to Slavia!
Yes, sometimes the roots are used differently, and it sounds funny for those who know only one Slavic language. I know 2.5 (Russian, Ukrainian, and some Polish), so I am rarely confused. Although sometimes you cannot help it.
Say, in Croatian “kazalishte” means theater (in Russian there is a word “pokazyvat”, which means to show), whereas in Serbian “pozorishte” means theater (in Russian the word “pozor” means “shame”, but there is a verb in old Russian “zret”, which means to look at). Also, in Russian “pochivat” means to rest in a highfalutin way, whereas in Croatia rest area on the highway is called “pochivalishche”. In Czech “potravina” means dish of food, whereas in Russian “travit” (same root) means to poison, but what saves my day is Ukrainian “strava”, which also means a dish or food.
I’d say if you know more than one Slavic language, you can get the drift. I know that when Czech, Serbian, or Slovenian shop assistants speak slowly, I understand them.
As a matter of fact, he did: he went back to Russia. It is simple: “peremoga” means “victory” in Ukrainian, “zrada” means “betrayal”, also in Ukrainian, “sovok” is the word mentally retarded people use for Soviets, “zmagar” is mad Belarus nationalist (their white-red-white banner is what Belarus collaborators with the Nazis used, so it’s the equivalent of Banderite red-black banner that Ukrainian Hitler lackeys used).
Milo Dzukanovic is the same height as Vucic. They are both 198 cm. Once I watched a documentary where they said that if Montenegro was to be considered a separate nation (which they’re not, they are part of the Serbian nation), but if they were to be considered a separate nation, they would be the tallest nation on earth.
Vučić looks like a homosexual to me. Check out these lips…Disgusting fish-face overall.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/%28Aleksandar_Vu%C4%8Di%C4%87%29_Secretary_Pompeo_Hosts_a_Working_Lunch_With_Serbian_President_Vucic_%2848586279546%29_%28cropped%29.jpg
Vucic is another utterly mediocre clown just look at his face
Otherwise there is that old definition where an election is defined by 2 political parties running and jews winning it
It fits well that in the supreme year of the clown, 2020 that is, we witnessed the most ludicrous negotiations that ever took place in the living memory
We saw 2 enemies negotiating and jews winning everything
How these locusts interjected themselves int the negotiations is well know
Form the clown year 2020 on all international agreements must include the following
– negotiating parties moving embassy to Jerusalem
– declaring Hezbollah a terrorist organization
– plundering all involved counties by holohoax “survivors”
– declaring a war on any country that does not glorify shit exit hole visitors
lol
https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1302340391124062212
Btw. not really sure if “peremoga” or “zrada” are that convenient for English texts and readers, but I like a lot russian term “Jevrosajuz” for the EU – it should make its way to English dictionaries (obvious resemblance to Soviet Sajuz – Union, not speaking about the Jevro preposition…).
And as for original comment sending Anatoliy back to Slavia (which he did as AnonFromTn commented) – considering the current state of West I believe a lot of others may really follow this advice, I am rather surprised this trend did not show massively, yet.
I see from the map that the Ukraine does not recognise that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation.
Mr Hack, EXPLAIN !
Vujic’s explanation to RT’s Oksana Boyko is that Serbia is small and not as powerful as Russia, leading to such meetings/agreements like the one under discussion here.
To best understand the situation, it’s important to underscore the level of Western aid to Serbia versus what Russia and China provide, as well as the Western NGO presence in Serbia, compared to what Russia has there.
The press conference on the matter was pathetic:
https://www.rt.com/news/499924-grenell-serbia-kosovo-whole-bunch/
Over the course of time, the Russian government has to some degree propped Vujic. Netanyahu and Vujic were high profile honored heads of state at a not too distant Victory Day commemoration in Moscow.
I agree that Israel is a main benefactor of the Trump admin brokered deal. Related:
https://twitter.com/NebojsaMalic
The Republicans are for gay marriage in Russia, and against gay marriage in the USA.
The abiding power of american corruption…
The predominance of “(vo)istina” over “pravda” with the South Slavs is relatively recent (last 200 years?) development. Dig deeper and you’d find “pravda” being used (folk stories and legends) for “truth” quite often.
Also, they are interchangeable everywhere e.g. “Hristos voskrese, (vo)istina voskrese”.
It feels like it’s deliberately put there to confirm and corroborate the most bizarre anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
This mentality is not very helpful if you need friends. The Americans certainly don’t openly express such sentiments.
https://www.facebook.com/maria.zakharova.167/posts/10224148174881794
I find Zakharova’s mocking of Vucic to be extremely tone deaf. Him being forced to kiss the ring is much more humiliating to Russia than it is to Serbia itself. 20 years after Primakov turned his plane around and pretty much nothing has changed.
Go on, move to India.
I don’t get it. What’s the upside for Serbia?
I don’t know how much of a friend Vučić is, but this certainly didn’t make him friendlier. Does Russia really have such an abundance of friends that it can afford to needlessly alienate relatively friendly leaders? Vučić, for example, bought some Russian weapons, despite threats of sanctions, helping the Russian MIC.
True, but the problem is many false friends. There is a joke that, during Yugoslavia, one official, who didn’t speak Russian, visited USSR & tried to thank his hosts by telling them how nice their life was. I won’t translate it, he only said: U vas krasnij život.
Well, this is interesting. Of course, attitudes differ, but in those countries where life’s quality is good, most people simply don’t think about it. They are concerned with their everyday lives. Also, mobility is low.
Unlike, say, Denmark, which is a small country, but with much higher mobility than the US (or UK, I think). So, it is not about the space of a country; it is about mobility of her population. Also, US & Russia are completely different examples (way of life, standard of living etc.). Russia is perceived as something big, cold & alien due to many nationalities (Caucasus, Siberia, …); US is always present on TV and reactions are polarized. Generally, it is viewed as wealthy & powerful “center of the world”, but with too many alien aspects which render this country strange (local sports, weights & measures, food, ..).
Generally, I would say peoples in these countries prefer their own because they live among their own kin, tribe, nation… without annoying “others”. Life is good without multiculturalism.
There’s a wide range of opinion on Vucic amongst pro-Russian Serb nationalists, from pro-Vucic (e.g. Epigon, Korenchkin) to strongly anti-.
For instance, what another Serb nationalist had to say in a chat group:
Meh, whatever. Shitposting even at diplomatic level doesn’t mean anything.
The original agreement supposedly required we recognize Kosovo too, since this didn’t happen it means the issue is not resolved, realistically the only thing we can do is stall
Potential for integration with Montenegro and the Serb enclave in Bosnia (aka Republika Srpska) via the mini-Schengen agreement, which is why many theorize that this humiliation came in exchange for letting Milo Đukanović lose the recent Montenegro elections
Time will tell if this was the case, or if we’re just getting raked over the coals
Russia don’t need friends
An addendum.
It reminds me of a conversation I’ve had a few years ago with an acquaintance older than me some 15 years. Long ago, he moved to the US (he has masters degree in electrical engineering, his wife is an ophthalmologist. They don’t have children.) He is a very energetic personality, worked hard, lived in various big cities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, … while working in numerous successful companies, earned a lot of money, owns a big house with I don’t know how many rooms, traveled not only across Europe, but also Asia & American Asia (Hawaii) etc. A dynamic life.
Once, when we were chatting- he was slightly drunk- I said (and I must admit I’m not glad I did it, even though nothing bad came out of it): Nice, but- when did you live? What was it all about? You moved along a lot of places, visited this and that, worked hard- but what was it all for? You don’t have some fulfilling driving force. In short- you don’t live your destiny, life just happens to you, however dynamic it may seem.
He didn’t take offense, but thought for a while & responded: Look- I like it. I like dynamism & I enjoy owning things more than some hedonistic life-style. I am secure when I own material wealth. I am a natural materialist, and this type of life satisfies me. I never regretted moving to the US. I only hate nighurs &, to a lesser degree, Jews. But US is a great country for those like me.
So, it depends from what one expects from life…
https://twitter.com/RRocic/status/1302550785469939713
LOL, another rant how Wikipedia sucks.
What is Wikipedia? Who makes it? Who controls it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administration#/media/File:Wikimedia_organizational_and_user_rights_hierarchy.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_article_count
As of the last update on 2020-09-01 there are 6,151,275 mainspace pages created by 782,116 unique users. The top 10,000 users created 4,186,947 pages or 68.0% of Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators
The English Wikipedia has 1,131 administrators (see full list of accounts with administrator privileges or lists of administrators by activity level).
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards
There are currently 39 stewards in the Wikimedia movement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bureaucrats
On the English Wikipedia, there are currently 19 bureaucrats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve.
Wikimedia Board of Trustees
https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/board/
See these people. This small, elite, chosen group controls all the world’s knowledge.
All over the world, if people want to learn about something, first thing they do is google it, and first hit that Google shows is Wikipedia article.
And who decides what is in the article?
This elite club decides. It is small club, and you (both you personally, and any right wing person in general) are not in it.
Vučić:
“The subconcious is strange thing, it’s speaks more about itself then others
Maria Zakharova… the primitivism and poor etiquette she shown speaks about her and the people who gave her that position
Let them deal with that, I will not give a reply to her”
Even those who speak Russian will get the point. Although calling him Šakalic would be more appropriate. Especially after all the help China has provided to Serbia…
I bet a lot of trannies are though
Threats of sanctions were rejected because it was the right thing to do for Serbian interests, not because it helped the Russian MIC.
The most important part of the purchase were a half dozen MiGs which the Serbian Air Force badly needed in order to maintain their capabilities. Others were not offering a better alternative for that deal.
Does Serbia have such an abundance of useful, non-dominating partners that it can afford to needlessly alienate them?
Word on the street here in Serbia (I’m in Belgrade at the moment) is that no one really cares about the agreement. Serbs are extremely nihilistic and distrustful of politicians (who can blame them) and Vučić didn’t win or lose any points.
Vučić is a prostitute who aligns himself with whoever is stuffing his pockets at the moment. One day he’s pro-Russia, one day he’s singing the praises of China (he was really playing up the “Brother Xi” stuff during the height of the pandemic), one day he’s cozying up to the E.U., the other he’s making overtures to the U.S. He’ll be whoever or whatever you want for an hour. A fine example of this: Serbia was one of the first countries in the world to totally lift lockdown restrictions (they allowed sporting events etc.), a cynical ploy so that Vučić could hold elections; after his party won a majority due to low turnout and the opposition boycotting the vote, he tried to reimpose lockdown only for Serbs to riot (they went as far as breaking into the parliament building), at which point he immediately backed down. I doubt this agreement will provoke more than a slight increase in ultras waving the Serbian flag outside parliament every Thursday.
Serbs are still bitter about Kosovo, but the war is an increasingly distant memory and most people have accepted that it’s not coming back in their lifetimes. Kosovo’s separation was a fait accompli by the 1980’s due to Albanians having much higher birthrates; by the time Yugoslavia dissolved, Kosovo was 90+ percent Albanian. The domination of post-Tito Yugoslavia by Serb chauvinists didn’t help matters. That said, Kosovo’s birthrate has finally declined below replacement, so gaying up the place will lower it even further, creating an opportunity for Serbs in the future. Kosovo’s near-constant political instability (the president and prime minister were actively countermanding each other during the pandemic) and horrendous brain drain in both it and Albania proper (Albania has the highest migrant outflow of any country in Europe) also helps.
I don’t get the constant blackpilled whining about how Trump is making Muslim and African countries legalize homosexuality. Homosexuality and feminism provably lower birthrates, and everyone loves to complain about how third-worlders have too many babies, who subsequently wash up on Europe’s shores on NGO vessels. Lower birthrates equals fewer refugees, meaning less of a chance of Europe being turned non-white. I joked a decade ago that the West needs to stem the third-world tide by turning them into degenerates; happy to see that someone finally listened.
The proposed “mini-Schengen” is more of a project for Albanians, given the large number of Albanians in neighboring states. With regards to Serbia integrating into it, the main Serbia-North Macedonia border crossing already has a joint facility, where you cross immediately into Serbia, get stamped out by North Macedonian border control, and then walk a couple steps to get stamped into Serbia.
A common misconception among Russians and western Russophiles.
Perhaps Serbia couldn’t afford it, but there’s a chance that it will afford it anyway if it helps to heal the ego of its president. In which case the biggest losers of the idiotic tweet will be the Serb taxpayers and the Russian MIC. What I fail to see is how it helped Russia.
The majority if Americans are against homosexual marriage. In liberal California, voters rejected fake marriage, only to be overruled by the real rulers of America. I’d guess that 99% of dems and 75% of repub politicians are all in on the globo-homo.
Although I mostly agree with the comment, here I disagree: low birth-rates are the necessary by-product of post-modern industrialized societies where women work. I don’t think that homos & feminism have much to do with that. As I’ve said elsewhere in this comment section:
a) forget about average 2+ children per woman in any modern society, east & west (Israel is the only anomaly, but this won’t last long). Simply, women can’t have 3 or something children and go to work. This is statistically impossible, the religious crowd aside.
And most women won’t go back to kitchen, forget it, these are reactionaries’ wet dreams. What is possible is that women who work get, if they have children, more money for less work- with a stipulation they live in a family, thus preventing parasitism of Gypsies, Negroes & dysgenic white hoes. Let them give twice as money as to men for equal work- if they have children & live in a normal nuclear family.
b) there should be an eugenic policy (not officially, of course) that should prevent undesirable segments of society (religious breeders on the permanent dole, various trash like hoes, junkies,… as well as unassimilable foreigners like Gypsies; in the case of the US, stricter policy toward black ghetto mentality & way of life) to breed & live constantly on the dole.
Circus continues
https://youtu.be/e0kgDMZWQAY
The stuff about Jewish property is old news, Serbia already has a law about this that was passed years ago:
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4786398,00.html
https://forward.com/news/452277/why-is-serbia-the-only-terezin-treaty-signer-thats-doing-right-by/
Thousands of heirless people died during the Second World War. The property of those who happened to be Jewish goes to the Association of Jewish Communities. Heirless people who weren’t Jewish get no legally-recognised group status- all their property remains with the state of course, not to the Serbian Orthodox Church, not to some Hungarian association or whatever. Pretty mind-boggling, but perhaps justifiable (at a stretch) as part of some quid pro quo. Instead we get Israel recognising Kosovo. Hmm.
Funny, Tito was called a “man of the world” and “great statesman and negotiator” for doing the exact same thing
Yes, Serb chauvinists who placed sanctions on Bosnian Serbs in Republika Srpska and ensured Montenegro remained a separate entity from Serbia proper right up until it’s independence referendum in 2006
Post-Tito Yugoslavia was dominated by retarded aparatchiks
I pretty much agree.
This “agreement” is basically Serbia being forced to pay a price for not recognizing Kosovo so far (it could’ve been way worse imo, although it still sucks).
Kosovo and Metohija truly is the thin red line of the Serb nation.
I estimate that the downward spiral of the Empire and consequent scattering of its sidekicks will take another 10-15 years (could have been 30-40 years, if it weren’t for the arrogance and utter stupidity of imperial elites). So, massive outflow is likely to start ~10 years from now.
Russia to get friends need to give resources, land, money, etc. Russian friends? Nah, we will not can Russian sub human loudly. It should be enough. Russian really need to focus on Russia.
Don’t you think that China would be a better place? More territory overall, more space per person, and they don’t shit everywhere. Not to mention that development-wise China is way ahead: Chinese authorities even realized the importance of science in the last few years.
You don’t get friends by throwing resources at peoples.
Interestingly, both these words mean exactly the same things in the old Russian. In fact, English translation “Red Square” is wrong, “Krasnaya Ploshchad” means “Beautiful Square”.
Vucic hails from the village of Cipuljic in the county of Bugojno (West Central Bosnia). Cipuljic was a Cincar colony, Cincars being how locals referred to Aromanians i.e. Vlachs from the Southern Balkans who specialized in market peddling and craftsmanship unlike their shepherding cousins known simply as Vlachs.
If the president had such an ego, he wouldn’t travel to Washington and let his hosts make him look weak, would he?
His reaction suggests that he is trying to dismiss Zakharova’s comment and move on.
Primakov turning the aeroplane accomplished – what exactly?
There are 400K less Serbs and 100K less Yugoslavs in Croatia compared to 1991, and 300K less Serbs in FBiH, 300K less in KiM.
All courtesy of Western-sponsored “peace” efforts, EEC – Badinter – UN recognition – intervention.
Russia was among the first nations to recognize the separatists.
UN did absolutely nothing when Croats assisted by US “advisors” attacked UN-protected UNPA zones in 1995, in Bljesak and Oluja. Croats repeatedly attacked UN peacekeepers with no repercussions, engaging Canadians, Danes.
Did Russia veto the bombing of Yugoslavia?
Did Russia veto the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia?
The fuck do y’all want from Serbia?
It has a non-existent economy, courtesy of wars, bombing and sanctions.
It is entirely surrounded by NATO – impossible to reach without going through territory, territorial waters and/or airspace of NATO members.
As a consequence of its geographic position, it is entirely reliant on EU as trading partner.
It has a damaging EUAA signed since 2008.
From 2000 to 2014, there were practically 0 agreements, cooperation and military drills between Serbia and Russian Federation. Russians got the NIS, national oil company in 2008 – and that’s it.
As another bonus, vast majority of Serbian diaspora and guest workers reside in Anglo, NATO and EU countries.
Honestly, pile as much as you want on Serbian president, humiliated Serbia etc – it still beats getting ganged upon by the combined might of Globohomo, Atlanticism and Germanic imperialism activating their historical proxies in the Balkans.
The people in Serbia, the silent majority obviously can recognize the merits of such politics compared to disasters of 90s and transitional rape in 2000s when “experts” bled the country dry and introduced Western and Croat capital ownership into economy, media – not to mention the utter domination of academia and culture by the usual suspects.
It is only natural that Russia has exactly 2 allies – its army and its navy.
However, does any single one of you writing on this thread know the total sum of Russian donations and expenditures on Serbia since 1991 or 2000?
Don’t count NIS purchase – it is a very lucrative Gazprom acquisition as it turned out.
There is nothing to be gained by Russia in Serbia. It is hopelessly isolated, weak and occupied.
Does not provide any advantage to Russians.
Would only be a liability, and, has history has demonstrated, it is populated by short-sighted aspiring “Europeans/Westerners” to a large degree.
Serbs have only themselves to blame to a large degree, and only Serbs can better the situation for themselves.
The reliance on external factors embroiled Serbs in 2 World Wars, trapped them in 2 Yugoslavias (thank you very much, British) and resulted in them being ruled by hostile, anti-Serb elite post-WW2, which pursued fake neutral policids and left them alone and isolated with a ridiculously misguided perception of reality and balance of power. Not to mention thoroughly de-nationalized.
Thanks for all your concern, K thx bye.
What is etymology of Cincar? Did they repair ceramic pots with wires like tinkers? Slovakia was the powerhouse of tinker ‘industry’ in 19th and early 20th century. They migrated all over Eastern Europe and Balkans. Possibly they were related to Vlachs who moved North along the Carpathian mountains with their sheep.
The Tinkers of Slovakia
https://cnewa.org/magazine/the-tinkers-of-slovakia-30860/
Stop hanging out with Belgrade subhuman Titoist offspring and basing your outlook and opinion on their delusions.
LOL.
What is the deal with Trump’s signature by the way?Has any psychological analysis been done on it?
I’ve never been in Denmark (except ~2 h in Copenhagen airport, on my way from invited talk in Germany back to the States), so have no opinion about it.
Russia and the US are different in many ways, but not as different as is often believed. The common thing is the prevalence of horse sense (that’s what is responsible for the best the US has to offer and for Russian immunity to suicidal Maidans) and the view of the people accustomed to living in a large and influential country. In terms of diversity both are at the same level, except that in Russia those diverse peoples are compatible, whereas in the US at least one group is not compatible with any civilized way of life). Yes, medieval measures don’t help, but you can get used to them. Like, I never had a car in the USSR, so I estimate distances in miles better than in kilometers, and always overestimate driving distances in Europe. This makes Europe feel even smaller than it is, although it is really small. Europeans call it a continent, which it isn’t, it’s just a big peninsula of Asia, like India or Indochina.
Interestingly, America away from big cities feels pretty homogeneous. I like those people: they are friendly, honest, hard-working, and always try to do the right thing. Unfortunately, libtard rot is destroying even those parts of the country.
Who makes it and who controls it are two totally different questions. A lot of honest people make it (I personally contributed to a few pages when I believed that Wiki is an honest project), but it is controlled by utterly dishonest politically biased people. You can make a simple experiment: try editing the pages about Donetsk or Lugansk People’s Republics. Within minutes your edits would disappear, replaced by globohomo-approved narrative. You can do that with any other politically sensitive entries, with exact same result. Politically neutral pages about proteins and similar stuff are not censored, so you can trust those.
BTW, Google is controlled by the same gang, that’s why if you google anything, Wiki comes first. When I need to find something out, I use search engines not affiliated with Google in any way. You’d be surprised by the difference it makes.
Relation between countries is not like friendship between people. The important thing in international relations are economic interests, power, military dominance. (International relations, doesn’t resemble relation to your friends, unless if you something like a mafia boss).
Karlin’s blog enjoys a lot to post public opinion surveys, but even in international relations, such surveys are mainly useful from the perspective of tourism – if public opinion survey means anything, then America would be one of the least allied countries in the world, while we see the opposite. America is dominant ally of many countries where America is rated badly in public opinion surveys.
Americans know that extending influence over countries, does not require countries’s populations rate them high in public opinion surveys.
Serbia netizens are one of the main nationalities (along with Indians) which love bomb all Russian national content on YouTube. Serbia is one of the most countries with a positive relation to Russia in terms of public opinion. But geopolitics is not following much to public opinion, and America/Europe dominate the Balkans. (In terms of the alignment of interests with Russia-Serbia vector, this exists with the TurkStream gas pipe, and is ironically controlled partly by good Russia-Turkey relations.)
Positive public opinion of Russian culture and even government, in Serbia, could be translated into mass tourism to Russia from Serbia, as choice of holiday destination is one which decided by private citizens’ preference. But such preferences doesn’t mean that Serbia can be converted to become a vassal state in South Central Europe. For that, you need some real power and economic integration.
Armenia is in almost the opposite orientation – as a country with a lot of antirussian sentiments in the public spaces, partly funded by American NGOs, but an inescapable geopolitical alliance to Russia, and without any possibility to conflict against Russia, and Azerbaijan will crush them if Armenia if it becomes isolated from Russia.
Slovakia saw large influx of Vlach population in 15-17th century as part of Hungarian Kingdom, as they were fleeing Ottoman lands.
They were given special privileges detailing their rights and obligations due to their pastoral lifestyle.
From Basil II, these Vlach laws found their way to Hungarian/Transylvanian (Universitas Valachorum) and Serbian Medieval Laws (Milutin, Dušan Code of Laws), and later on, in Habsburg Empire – as Vlach Laws and Vlach Statutes.
Slovakia has Gorals, there are also Moravian Vlachs.
Excellent analysis. This agreement essentially exposes that 1) Russia is weak, its influence over its closest friends is fragile and 2) Serbia is a broken and defeated country.
The rise of China will complicate calculations in the Asia-Pacific, but Beijing will be up to their necks in the coming decades trying to fend off US-Japanese-Australian-Indian combined pressure.
In Europe, I doubt the rise of China will change any calculus in the forseeable future for these reasons. Ceteris paribus, I expect Russia’s weak standing to persist for decades as a result.
Supposedly the etymology comes from “Cinci” (Chin-chi) which is how they pronounce ‘five’ in their Romance language. The highest mountain in my county, two counties west of Vucic’s Cipuljic, is named Cincar. I most likely descend from this group on my father’s side based on Y-DNA testing.
Although, aside from gas exports and tourism, the strategic importance of Serbia cannot be too high.
Ironically, in the future if Serbia become an EU member, the positive public opinion of Russia in Serbia, might be more actually harnessed. Within EU, Serbia could potentially block antirussian legislation or sanctions. So perhaps Serbia would become very important (from a Russian government perspective) if it was within the EU, as a country blocking policies like EU sanctions against Russia.
If I understand in the EU, it’s possible for a single member state to block a proposal for the complete bloc.
Russian power projection is still West up to Moldova, South into Central Asia, Caucasus, and it exists into some of the Middle East as well.
But outside of gas pipelines, I guess there has not been much real power projection in the Balkans since the 1980s, and what happens there is not a test case for Russian power.
Land connection to Serbia, has to traverse Ukraine, and then traversal of hostile (because NATO members) Romania or Hungary. Power projection from Russia to the Balkans can be across sea or air. But Serbia is landlocked as well, so sea connection is contingent on Serbia’s neighbours that have access to sea.
Landlocked countries are especially dependent on good relations with at least one of the adjoining neighbours’ – and 4 of directly adjoining Serbia’s neighbours are EU states. It will be geographically inescapable that Serbia will be dependent mainly on its relation to EU states which it adjoins.
One very famous Serbian politician was named Dimitrije Cincar Markovic. I have no idea why I remember that and how he got his name, because according to this article – he wasn’t a Cincar, he was a pure-bred Serb, maybe it was considered a compliment in those days to be called Ciincar – I don’t know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitrije_Cincar-Markovi%C4%87
https://twitter.com/Veslozoltard/status/1301725764476235778?s=20
Cincars had a prominent place in the development of the economy of Serbia proper in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century thanks to their networks and their peoples’ history of being merchants (think Jews and Armenians). Already assimilated into the Serbian national corpus by the turn of the 20th century, they played an outsized role in the economy of the First Yugoslavia, leading many to denounce ‘Cincars in the Charshiya’ (Market).
I have this 1937 book from Serbian author Dusan J. Popovic entitled “About Cincars” – https://www.knjiga.ba/o-cincarima-k4838.html
One of the most famous Partizan Generals was Koca Popovic, who himself was of Cincar stock. There are quite a few key 19th century Serbian historical figures in various fields who were of Cincar stock as well. Every people in the Balkans has has Vlach, and to a lesser extent, Cincar roots alongside other elements.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhPONzcXsAE1HdE.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhPOOCOWoAI57y5.jpg
Conversely, it might be argued that in Moldova and Romania many people of Vlach stock also have a sizable Slav admixture.
I’m irritated that Novak was cheated out of the US Open because this dumb, fat, lazy American idiot went to the ground as if she had been shot and gangraped.
He obviously didn’t do it deliberately and it wasn’t reckless because it wasn’t a downward smash shot or forehand/backhand with complete backswing. Ridiculous that he was defaulted.
He hit it upwards in the type of shot a teacher hits to 5 year old kids to give them the time to get in position and comfortably hit the ball back.
On the good side, Medvedev now has a very strong chance of winning the tournament. He should beat Rublev, Thiem is very hard opponent and the black canadian, I hear though have not seen, is good.
It kept getting better. Who the fuck does not know how gasoline works?
He obviously didn’t do it deliberately
Irrelevant. The rules are crystal clear. You can’t enforce one rule for #1 and a different one for everyone else who has done the same thing. It was only a matter of time before a Djokovic temper tantrum resulted in something like this happening.
That is true – intent is irrelevant. But as I see it, it wasn’t a temper tantrum and it wasn’t reckless because he did not smash the ball. The rules are there to eliminate ill-discipline, to me he was tired and trying to give the extra ball back to the kids collecting. The line judge should always be alert when he is giving balls back to the kids….. and the ridiculously OTT reaction from this clown greatly contributed more to him being disqualified than the rule itself as they then may have accepted his explanation. If I’m hitting the ball in a tantrum I will do it in the direction of the court, or directly at the net or swing it wildly to the side…..I would not hit it away from court in the area behind where I am serving.
Could be true – although I think separate to this incident. Plus I think many of his tantrums are just psychology with the opponent.
I agree that if the impression is given that they are favouring him because he is the best player in the world – then it’s bad for the sport, but if the woman acts normally then he doesn’t have a problem
and the ridiculously OTT reaction from this clown greatly contributed more to him being disqualified than the rule itself as they then may have accepted his explanation
I don’t think so – though that she got hit in the throat certainly made it look worse. The only debate is why it took so long for the officials to disqualify him. Every other occasion I’ve seen like this had an automatic default. The only times when it is left to interpretation is when the person who is hit is in the seating area rather than the court itself.
Plus I think many of his tantrums are just psychology with the opponent
I suppose that’s true. But on this occasion he’d just fallen and then lost his serve and did seem annoyed at himself for playing a couple of boneheaded shots in a row.
Anyway, these jet-setting multi-millionaire athletes and celebrities don’t care about us so there is no reason for us to care about them.
You don’t understand. US open, line officials are trained to stand like bastions of democracy. They are not allowed to move, especially for some Serb who has come to their land to play dictatorial type tennis. That line woman looked brain dead, any normal person could have stepped away and avoided the ball. I guess they are too exceptional to act like a normal human beings.
I think, Serbia should go full Poland now. Look, Russia is too weak to give future. China thinks about China future. Vucic is trying to be Balkan Luka. Luka might have good run for 25 years, but it will not end well. Forget about Kosovo, forget about Montenegro. West will never allow these parts be Serbian again. They simply hate you on primal level. Poland is pumping EU left and right. They are building roads, ports etc. Serbia should make same gamble. Get at least some money from EU.
Yep, go full Poland.
Forget about Kosovo
They had a great chance to fight for it in 1999. They chickened out. Kosovo is Albanian.
This is a strange rant that seems to have little relevance to my comment. My point is that the onus is on Russia, as an ostensible great power, to protect historical and potential allies, something which we both agree it has failed to do since the breakup of the USSR. I am lamenting Russia’s weakness and its failure to recognize this by trolling Serbia’s president.
Nothing at all. Considering Serbia’s predicament, I expect it to use realpolitik to maximize its advantages. If this means cozying up, at various time and in various ways, to the EU, US or China, so be it. Serbia doesn’t owe anyone anything, as far as I’m concerned.
No
It actually addresses your point perfectly.
Namely – the one about Russian interests and positions
Since 1948 Yugoslavia was explicitly anti-Soviet and undermined Soviet efforts and interests through the Unaligned movement, always going against Cubans and others (as instructed by Kennan Doctrine)
There is absolutely no way in which Russian Federation can help Serbia without triggering a nuclear war with USA and/or EU/Germany, since both the Atlanticists and Germans have extremely high stakes in keeping the Serbs down and propping up their historical anti-Serb proxies in the region. Serb fate is entirely in the hands of USA, who maintain Bondsteel, dictate the terms in Montenegro (NATO) and B&H (Dayton, Bosniak leash) and control Kosovo UCK bashibazuks.
Serbia in its current position and situation is absolutely worthless for Russian Federation, it brings nothing to the table and provides no meaningful return on any investment.
The best line of Russian action for Serbian interests would be for Russia to consolidate, grow stronger and present itself as a credible threat to West not just in terms of nuclear armaments. Why cultivate a relationship with an encircled and isolated country a 1000 km inside NATO territory when the issue of Ukraine is right at the doorstep? Recently, Belarus?
I’m just going to state this one more time and then drop it. I’m discussing here Russian interests, not Serbian interests (about which I don’t deign to speak). Zakharova’s comments reflected poorly on Russia, which is why, I assume, she later apologized for them. If Serbia is indeed worthless to Russia, as you say, then that’s all the more reason for her to keep her mouth shut.
Why are the stakes so high for Atlanticists and Germans that they’d be willing to nuke Russia?
What could Serbia provide to Russia as a return on any type of investment?
You have it in reverse.
For Russia to reverse, alter the status quo in Balkans, a war with USA/NATO would be needed. Any such conflict would quickly become nuclear.
Borders and spheres of influence change as a result of wars.
There can be examples across the world of Russia’s weakness and failure (e.g. with events of last 15 years in Ukraine/Belarus), but political events of Western Balkans are not a good example of decline of Russian power, as outside of gas it is not a region in which Russia has projected much of real power for 70 years.
Outside of gas, power projection to Western Balkans ends in the 1980s, but even before Yugoslavia and Albania has been non-aligned since late 1940s-1960s. For some time, Tito had been even openly hostile to Stalin.
And today possibilities to project power to the area are a lot more geographically limited than in Soviet times, with hostile Ukraine and NATO Hungary/Romania blocking access to Western Balkans by land. Serbia is one of the most difficult candidates to project power to, as it is landlocked by directly adjoining 4 EU states and 7 NATO states (North Macedonia joined NATO this year).
Probably Serbia should aim for economic concessions from Russia, in exchange for support for Russia within any future EU membership – they could become a kind of tax and investment haven, like Montenegro or Cyprus. (Although being landlocked could be a problem even there, as investors like to buy property in areas with access to the sea).
Russia is a great power, like UK and France, in which a large part of project of leaders’ external policy, is to maintain prestige, symbols and mannerisms of its former superpower status, when much of the real power has disappeared decades before.
–
Relation of Russia (as great power) and Serbia, reminds of relation of France (as great power) and Lebanon, where love is easier the most distant and unrelated you are from each other in reality, and when you are not he real power. It’s like how people often prefer their uncle and aunt, than their real parent. As uncle/aunt does not have power, and have to order you to go to bed.
Every month Macron is visiting Beirut, and Lebanon’s population are holding French flags. But actual power relations are fractured, and France’s relation to Lebanon is like some kind of “phantom limb” syndrome.
From perspective of Macron, this is probably a good thing – as I am sure that France enjoys the benefits of francophilia, warm welcoming of its leader, and old prestige Empire francaise, while not paying the cost of actually being responsible for Lebanon.
This is similar with Russia and Serbia. Russian leaders can enjoy visiting Belgrade for its rusophilism, and it gives them symbolism of great power. But they don’t have the responsibility, and have to pay for the cost, and public unpopularity, for maintaining the country that real power would imply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl8ePUqKq5U
Mr. Karlin,
Are you trolling the Hungarians here? “Kosovo, which realistically speaking is about as demographically Albanian as Transylvania is Romanian.”
Or is this code word for Romanian Intelligence services that there was never a threat from Russia concerning the fate of Transylvania, and even the Soviet Union proved that after WWII, while very likely the US has used this card in order to force Romania to allow the installation of US missiles in Romania?
A face you can trust!
Truly, applying basic physiognomy to politics gives all the answers you need.
This doesn’t correlate with my own experience, sensible people know where the country’s bread is buttered. Just unsuccessful young people whining about being poor because of Rashka, rather than admitting their own failure, as anyone with a brain emigrates. That and the massive Western diaspora, much of it American, which is larger than the country itself. I doubt the Armenian government would be any less spectacularly incompetent under theoretical American tutelage. Again, brain drain, people go into local politics literally just to steal.
Either way in Armenia it’s irrelevant whether the quantity of antirussian sentiment or prorussian sentiment in the public spaces, as they can’t escape from alliance and even integration to Russia. And threats from Azerbaijan are the best insurance of that.
This is the strongest kind of alliance, when the other country has no choice to be allied to you, and public opinion (whatever it can be) becomes more irrelevant.
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/PG_2017.06.26.US_Image-01-0.png
LOL Canada…dislikes the USA even more than Russia does. This is largely because Canada is sort of like a deep Blue state and the USA is led by Trump.
What is going on with Armenia? It’s wages have now slipped below those of Ukraine:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage
Adjusted for PPP, Armenia is now even poorer than Moldova.
Serbians and Belarussians alike ought to join the Russian Federation (or the forthcoming union state, technically).
No surprise:
Serbia Drops Out of War Games With Russia in Belarus
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/09/10/-11-a71398
To be exact, for that Serbian defense minister cited severe pressure from the EU. He stated that Serbia freezes its participation in any war games for six months.
Russian leadership might accept that, but Russian populace won’t.
De facto two closest and most integrated allies of the USA (Canada and Mexico), have almost equal and lower public opinion of the USA, respectively, than Russia.
It’s an example how public opinion ratings by country X of country Y (insofar as this is measured in such surveys), can be irrelevant and uncoupled from whatever is determining nature of relations between those countries.
Pravda means justice in Russian as well. This meaning is somewhat archaic now but still recognizable. The name of the Communist newspaper Pravda should be translated as Justice, not Truth.
Not trolling, just pointing out that “powerful” as the idea of “revising Trianon” is, it is not of course realistic and Kosovo falls almost into the same category feasibility-wise, IMO.
Spring 2017. Short-lived Trump honeymoon.