Part of the reason why these nationalists have made a comeback goes
back to the Clinton policy of making the Serbs look like the source of
all evil in the Balkans, while in truth all ethnic groups have bad
blood on their hands. This misdirected, backfiring policy was
continued by the over emphasis of punishing Serb war criminals while
de-emphasizing the punishment of war criminals of other ethnic groups.
I see very slight parallels with post WWI Germany and the resurgence
of German nationalism here. Serbs are tired of being singled out for
everthing bad that happened in the Balkans, and the reformers have
done little to improve their living standards, and instead just kow
toed to the Western international bodies.
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Western Press Review: Milosevic And Seselj 'Not Yet History'
By Don Hill
Prague, 30 Dec 30 (RFE/RL) -- The results of Sunday's (28 December)
parliamentary elections in Serbia captures the attention of a number
of Western newspapers today.
THE TIMES:
Vanora Bennett, writing in Britain's "The Times," summarizes the issue
in five short words: "They are not history yet."
She is referring to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and
fellow war crimes indictee Vojislav Seselj. Bennett writes:
"Yesterday, Serbia's two scariest bogymen signaled their return from
the political dead. Even though [Milosevic and Seselj] are on trial at
The Hague war crimes tribunal, they will have been rejoicing to see
their extremist followers win nearly one-third of the votes in the
parliamentary election back home in Serbia. That result gives the pair
a ghostly future in domestic politics. Until Mr. Milosevic and Mr.
Seselj are found guilty, they can become [deputies] in the Belgrade
parliament, if their followers so choose, and reassert their influence
on external events, at least from a distance."
The commentary concludes: "Convicted criminals cannot hold seats in
parliament. Although tribunal officials are determined to stop Mr.
Milosevic and Mr. Seselj [from] exercising long-distance power from
their cells, it would be better still to complete the trials of all
the suspected war criminals. That means speeding up the remaining
arrests and handovers to The Hague -- something Serbia's democratic
rulers have been squeamish about, fearing they might provoke an
ultranationalist backlash.
"There is no time left for such squeamishness. If Serbia's reformers
want to move forward, they must deal with their demons and confront
this issue. If some combination of reformers manages to form another
government, the last war crimes suspects must be bundled off at once
to The Hague. The forces of darkness still threaten the Balkans; it is
time to banish them for good."
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Britain's "The Daily Telegraph" places the Serbian results in the
context of what the newspaper calls a "swing to the nationalists in
former Yugoslavia." It continues, "It began in Bosnia and Herzegovina
in October 2002 and continued last month in Croatia."
The editorial concludes: "Blame for the swing to the right also lies
with the [Serbian] pro-reform camp, which was seen as corrupt and fell
apart after the assassination of its leader, Zoran Djindjic, the prime
minister, last March. Those failings and the hopeless nostalgia of the
extreme nationalists are pushing Serbia towards sullen isolation
fueled by an apparently limitless capacity for self-pity. This is a
bleak climax to the string of sobering election results over the past
14 months."
THE GUARDIAN:
Britain's "The Guardian" says that the election results, looked at
clearly, show that Serbia's reformers have, in the words of an
editorial, "survived a scare." The newspaper urges the fragmented
election "victors" to bury their differences and work for the country.
The editorial says: "State socialism held on longer and with much
greater ruthlessness in Serbia than in any other European country. It
did so by throwing in its lot with the militant nationalism that has
never been far from the dark heart of Serbian politics. So it is
hardly surprising that this dangerous but charismatic alliance has
emerged as the big winner from an election caused by the collapse of
the riven and failed coalition of reformists that replaced Slobodan
Milosevic three years ago.
"Sunday's Serbian elections should not, however, be seen as a defiant
popular endorsement of the corrupt ex-dictator's politics in the face
of his continuing trial for war crimes in The Hague. The tribunal
process may not please the majority of Serbs, but this did not
translate into a re-embrace of the country's former strong man. Mr.
Milosevic's Socialist Party obtained just 8 percent of the seats in
the new parliament in Belgrade, coming sixth of the six main parties
in the election. That is not comeback stuff."
THE INDEPENDENT:
"The Independent" takes a contrary tack. "The reformist parties," it
editorializes, "have been warned."
The British newspaper says: "The key to the depressing turn of events
in Serbia [seems to be] the failure of the post-Milosevic reformers to
deliver economic progress. Gangsterism and assassination are emblems
of political and economic weakness. Serbs simply became fed up with
waiting for their depressed living standards to rise. Serbia has the
potential to be a prosperous nation. Its people know that, and find it
frustrating that, on top of the perceived national humiliations over
Bosnia and Kosovo, they see so little sign of the material improvement
now coming about in much of Eastern Europe.
"In such circumstances it was sadly inevitable that the rabble-rousers
would make gains. There is no reason to dispute, for example, the
explanation for his party's success proffered by the Radical Party's
deputy leader, Tomislav Nikolic, that the citizens of Serbia wanted
'jobs, peace and security.' It is nonetheless unfortunate, and
disquieting, that they turned to ultranationalists in order to make
their protest. The reformist parties, a coalition of which will
continue to try to govern Serbia, have been warned."
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE:
"The Wall Street Journal Europe" refers to the Serbian election
results as "Slobo's moral victory." In an editorial, the paper says:
"Serbia's violent nationalists owe the UN's war crimes tribunal at The
Hague a debt of gratitude for their resurgence in Sunday's
parliamentary elections. For the rest of the world, the election
outcome illustrates that among the other shortcomings of the United
Nations, it is not very effective at meting out justice. We say that
with sadness, because we had hoped that The Hague tribunal would
quickly punish the Serbs most responsible for the 'ethnic cleansing'
in Bosnia and Kosovo.
"Instead, the leisurely pace of Hague tribunal procedures has given
its prisoners, including former [Serbian] leader Slobodan Milosevic, a
platform for preaching to followers back home that they are victims of
an international hate-Serbia cabal. They are, after all, being tried
in a Dutch courtroom before a Jamaican judge by a Swiss prosecutor, in
full sight of [Serbian] TV viewers. In the eyes of ardent Serbian
nationalists, these once-disgraced hoodlums have become martyrs."
The editorial says: "Serbian nationalism wasn't born at The Hague, of
course. The popularity of extremist parties reflects the failure of
the current crop of leaders to address the legacies of the Milosevic
era, poverty and corruption. But all the people now demanding that
Saddam Hussein face an international or UN court ought to visit
Belgrade to see why domestic trials are, whenever possible,
preferable."
FINANCIAL TIMES:
The "Financial Times" lines up with those commentators who urge
Serbia's moderate parties to minimize their differences and maximize
unity. The newspaper editorializes: "The democratic parties' immediate
challenge is to overcome their deep divides. Vojislav Kostunica, the
conservative head of the Democratic Party of Serbia, is emerging as a
possible prime minister. But to form a government he must cut deals
with the Democratic Party, the grouping of Zoran Djindjic, the
assassinated former prime minister. With support from smaller parties,
a Kostunica-led coalition could secure a parliamentary majority."
The editorial continues: "Having wasted three years on useless
squabbling, Serbia's democrats must now pull together. The West must
give them strong support. Three years ago, the United States and the
[European Union] contributed to Serbia's problems by backing the
pragmatic Mr. Djindjic and cold-shouldering Mr. Kostunica, who
prevaricated over cooperating with the war crimes tribunal. In
retrospect, the West should have put a higher priority on stabilizing
Serbia."
The "Financial Times" concludes: "Now the EU and the United States
must accept that, while Mr. Kostunica may not be an ideal partner, he
has the best chance of creating a workable government. He deserves aid
plus a chance to negotiate an EU stabilization agreement, a first step
towards membership."
THE INDEPENDENT:
Marcus Tanner is the author of "Croatia -- A Nation Forged in War."
"The Independent" publishes his commentary under the headline, "Serbia
Might Once Again Cause Balkan Strife."
Tanner comments pessimistically on calls for reformers to take control
of Serbia. Tanner writes: "The electoral triumph of Serbia's
ultranationalists led by Vojislav Seselj leaves Western strategy in
the Balkans in ruins. Bang go any hopes of integrating the former
Yugoslav republics into the European Union. Ditto The Hague tribunal's
hopes of getting hold of the two most-wanted war criminals of the
1990s, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic."
The writer says: "We can now expect the chancelleries of Europe to
press the smaller parties into forming a coalition to keep Seselj out.
Even if they succeed, this will be a government composed of many whose
instincts are closer to Seselj than to his opponents. From his Hague
cell, Seselj will use his control over votes in parliament to block
every useful reform, ensuring that Serbia staggers into a fresh
election within months in a worse state.
"By then the reformists will be even more discredited, Seselj's
Radicals may win outright and the Balkans could be in for turbulence.
A Seselj-run Serbia could find plenty to occupy itself in Kosovo,
Macedonia and Bosnia. The Hague tribunal could forget about
extraditing Messrs Mladic and Karadzic in such an eventuality."
Tanner concludes: "Western leaders may wonder if time and the prospect
of power have not moderated Seselj's hatred, but there is no evidence
that Serbia's military debacle in 1995 fazed him; on the contrary it
gave him a new cause -- revenge. 'France waited 47 years to recover
Alsace-Lorraine,' he boasted to the Belgrade weekly magazine 'Vreme'
in 1996, 'but history is getting faster and faster. We won't wait as
long as the French did.'"
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