Comments on: Help Danes understand Serbia

By: Nikola

Nikola — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 19:53:18 +0000

1) I haven’t voted at all since I was in town with friends. Had I voted, I would vote for Nikolic because it was apparent that Tadic’s party has won the parliamentary elections, and I believe that it is good for the political scene to be diverse.

2) There are a lot of personal differences between the two, but I don’t think there will be a lot of difference in their politics.

3) Hopefully they will keep an eye on each other and not allow each other to do anything really bad.

4) No idea.

5) The state of economy and political corruption are closely intertwined. Since economy affects what Serbia can do on Kosovo, I’d say economy is more important.

6) Yes, yes and yes. Although I wouldn’t call it embezzling, they have developed more sophisticated ways of taking the money away.

7) Serbia already has a crisis worse than Greece.

8) Hopefully, nothing.

9) Dveri and NOPO.

10) Doom and gloom.

By: AverageJoevanovich

AverageJoevanovich — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:37:48 +0000

1. Didn’t vote in second round. Not really much of a choice between Tadic & Nikolic.
2. Beside their appearance (Tadic more slick, Nikolic more crude) they are not much different, they only care about themselves
3. Nothing has really changend. Tadic and democrats will continue to pull strings. Now it’s maybe even better for them because they can blame all on Nikolic.
4. Those who will benefit when they win
5. Our current economy is worse than economy of banana exporting countries
6. They are corrupt to the bone.
7. Situation in Serbia is already much worse than in Greece, but still there will be no riots because we’re mostly apathetic nation
8. USA/EU will decide
9. No. Serbian politics scene is no place for a honest man.
10. Now is terrible, but it will get only worse. Loaning money and getting into debts just to cover salaries/pensions leads only one way.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:36:03 +0000

I never liked Nikolic and his company, actually I detested their ideas. But now after 10 years of Tadic’s rule when Serbia is bankrupt, corruption is worse than in Milosevic’s era, we have no economy, laws don’t protect people, I detest Tadic and his company the same. So practically now I don’t care, I know that it will be bad who ever comes. Choosing between two evils is not a choice. I didn’t vote, and probably will not vote in near future.

By: Milos

Milos — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:47:16 +0000

Milos June 3, 2012 at 5:13 pm <–this.

We both have the same name, and share the same opinion.

By: Nikola

Nikola — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:02:05 +0000

1) Didn’t vote. Figured Tadic would win, given Nikolic’s pre-election outbursts of idiocy (more than usual). Guess I was wrong.
2) Aside from a more pleasant and worldly appearance as well as eloquence of Tadic, not really. Both are incompetent and unwilling.
3) If Tadic does decide to become the PM, it will likely be political suicide both the for the gentleman in question as well as his party. Why? Because all the future failures will be blamed on him and the Democratic Party, thus putting the proverbial nail in the coffin for all involved.
4) Corporate executives, private interests, and perhaps the taxpayers, although I’m not sure the latter is constitutional. But then again, who gives a shit, right?
5) Everything on the list with varying degrees of importance, except the EU. Not a fan, sorry; seems to be falling apart anyway. Mostly the economy and corruption.
6) Yes.
7) Don’t know. Probably nothing. Maybe war. Hoping for war. If we’re gonna die starving, might as well go in style.
8) Nothing.
9) Nope.
10) We shall see.

By: Zvone

Zvone — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:43:04 +0000

1.Why did/didn’t you vote for President Nikolic?
– I didn’t vote at all, because there is no concrete difference between Tadic and Nikolic, at the moment. Voting for any of them would’ve been against my views, because they don’t really represent any ideas I would support.

On the other hand, I’m glad Nikolic won, because Tadic was way too long the most powerful politician in Serbia, but the fact he might end up being the Prime Minister is sad.

2.Is there any substantial difference between Tadic and Nikolic?
– While Tadic was the President, he was still also the president of his political party, which is actually against the constitution, but as always, no one cared about that stuff. He was basically in charge of everything.

One saddening fact about Nikolic is that he is a “former” nationalist, who was in Seselj’s political party, which supported ideas of “Great Serbia”, but he changed his policy, as he saw that that ideal isn’t working any more, at least not that strongly.

But at the moment, there’s not much difference between the two.

3.What do you think of the prospect of Tadic as prime minister with Nikolic president?
– As mentioned, it’s saddening. One thing that’s good about it, is the split of power, but I think that won’t make any difference, they will just collaborate.

4.Who paid for the massive election campaigns of the main parties?
– I think it was Miroslav Miskovic who sponsored the campaigns. At least he was one of the sponsors. He is a former “socialist” from Milosevic’s reign, now he’s one of the most powerful men in Serbia (might actually be the most powerful). I don’t know of other sponsors, but there probably were.

5.What is the most important political issue for you? The state of the economy, political corruption, joining the EU or the welfare of Serbs in Kosovo
-Fixing everything – corruption overall (not just in the political sector), state of the economy, education, media, average Serb mentality (less conformism), none of which is really being planned on.

6. Is it true the main parties are corrupt (embezzling money, controlled by foreign interests and oligarchs, collaborating with each other under the covers)
– Most likely.

7.What will happen if Serbia has a crisis like its near neighbour Greece?
– I don’t know, but I’m worried about that a lot, mainly because, unlike Greece we don’t react to our crisis, we adapt to them, and that’s awful.

8.What will happen with Kosovo?
– What has happened to Kosovo, happened more than 10 years ago. The history of it is so long, I see no reason for discussion about it’s state. And to be honest, I don’t really care about it, I just hope the people stay safe, whether we split Kosovo, or give it to them. Kosovo is used as an awful propaganda tool, to drive away thoughts about other much bigger problems.

9.Is there any fresh blood in the political system? Who are the rising stars? Who should we be watching?
– I see the Serbian Pirate Party as a potential vote-worthy candidate in the future. They’re not an official candidate yet, because they don’t have enough signatures for it, but their ideas are decent, I might even join them. But, I’m still not informed enough about them and their work, so I might change my thoughts about them in the future.

10.What does the future hold for Serbia?
– I don’t even want to think about it… My dad is an economist, and he said he thinks there’s no solution for improving Serbia’s economy state, and our mentality as mentioned is awful. It’s nothing like the West. There has been no major protest/riot against the government since 2000. when we overthrew Milosevic. There were riots against the independence of Kosovo, something like 5 years after they got control over it, the Ratko Mladic/Radovan Karadzic riots, who amongst some people are considered war heroes, and the anti-Gay pride riot – all of which are obviously nationalist riots, and brought nothing constructive with them. Everyone will whine how bad it is, no one will do anything about it.

By: Milan

Milan — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:07:02 +0000

1. I didn’t vote. There is no point. It’s like picking who would you rather be robbed by – absolutely the same for you; it can only benefit the robber.
2. Tadic is not a party-hopper. Nikolic formed a new party which holds very different values than his previous one. He diametrically changed his opinions in a single day. At the very least, this kind of behaviour is suspicious. I would never vote for such a person. I cannot understand the people who voted for him.
3. Same as any other combination, really. It is hypocritical of Tadic to accept the role of prime minster, since he said he would do so under no circumstances. Staying in power is literally the only thing that matters to these people. It’s kind of disappointing that the EU encourages this kind of political behaviour. It seems to me like the EU doesn’t really care about how people live in Serbia, the only thing that matters to them is to gain benefits for trading here, gaining benefits for European companies doing business in Serbia and having influence on our politicians. As long as a politician is willing to bend to their demands, he’s good enough for them. Nikolic seems to be good enough for the EU.
4. The state budget, tycoons and there’s probably lots of foreign influence and funding.
5. Political corruption. It’s the cause of all the other problems, and sometimes I think it’s woven into Serbian mentality. If you’re not a member of some political party, you will have difficulties in almost every area of life in Serbia, especially when trying to find a job.
6. Yes, and there’s no doubt about that.
7. Another decade or two of living miserably. But who cares, that seems to be the default state of living here, right?
8. It will eventually gain full independance and recognition from Serbia. It is a process that is already happening. But there’s no point in keeping Kosovo, anyways.
9. There’s always fresh blood, but never fresh ideas. Everyone who does politics in Serbia is in it only for the money and personal gain.
10. No one knows. Probably nothing good. More smart people will leave the country, politicians will keep stealing state money, tycoons will enlarge their monopolies, people will still live miserably.

By: Milica

Milica — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:38:52 +0000

1.I didn’t vote for Nikolic because because i do not think that he is, in any way, a good representative of my country. Actually, he represents everything that is wrong with it – nationalism
2. To me – yes. I’m not saying Tadic is the best, but at least he is a better diplomat and in the time he was the president he managed to do some things (no more vizas for an example) that a lot of people seem to forget.
3.I think it’s may give balance.
4. It came out of our tax money.
5. The state of economy, for sure. Kosovo isn’t a part of Serbia, and that’s the harsh reality politicians need to accept, and there is no need to wast any more money then it’s needed there. We, the serbs are, and out economy should be the most important.
6. It’s highly possible.
7. We already had that in the 90′s, only much worse.
8. Absolutely nothing. It’ll stay independent the way it is.
9. The newest party are “Dveri” who are ultra nationalistic, and none new ones i personally would support.
10. This is very uncertain, especially with our new president.

By: Strahinja G

Strahinja G — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:07:49 +0000

1. Let me say right off the bat that Tadic is far from the perfect president, but Nikolic, in my opinion, is even worse. Nikolic has a horrid history full of hate and far-right attitudes and actions. He’s a flip-flopper as well. He (probably) didn’t even finish college. I’m not saying that people who don’t are bad or something, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t lie about it. Nikolic doesn’t speak a foreign language
2. Tadic is much more presentable to the international community. For us, Serbs, I don’t think there is much of a difference.
3. I really don’t know. I hope that Tadic will “wake up” and actually start doing something, because I do beleive he is a capable politician. As for Nikolic I’m just hoping that he doesn’t worsen the image Serbia has in the world now. I know it’s far from a good image, but it is better than what it was 20 years ago.
4. The citizens of Serbia, of course.
5. The economy, the corruption and human rights.
6. Yes, it is. They are all the same, 80% of people who live well ( or are even employed) are politically active. Being politically active in Serbia just shows you’re a good “servant” and not really a person of integrity- of course there are exceptions to that. Also, not only the main ones are intertwined, the vast majority of the small ones are in the same boat.
7. We would be fucked, excuse my language. Simple as that. The majority of the people are brainwashed and they would do nothing? Protest? Fuck that I’m gonna watch a turking soap opera. On an unrelated note, if the gays decide to make a Pride Parade all hell breaks loose on the streets of Belgrade.
8. Nothing, people in Serbia will never acknowledge its obvious independence, we’re gonna waste time and money on it, and it is gonna divert us from the real problems in the country. You’re being labeled a “traitor” if you’re pragmatic and rational nowadays.
9. A lot of people seem to be mentioning Dveri. I hope they would just disappear, though. Nothing but a backwards clero fascist movement. Although their appearance divided the people who vote for right wing clero-fascists betweem them and the Serbian Radical Party ( SRS- Nikolic’s former party, their leader is in the Hague at the moment- Vojislav Seselj). There’s talk that Dveri were in fact created just for the purpose of purging the far-right wing from the parliament. I’m happy that there are no more of them in the parliament but I don’t like the way it has been done- it was nothing short of manipulation.
10. I’m not very optimistic about the future of Serbia. I’m only 18 years old, a “liberal” in a very conservative society, and I’m fed up with all the bullshit, I’ll try my best to get the hell out of here, as should all capable young people. I know it’s a horrible thing to say, but no fucking chance I’m staying here and kissing someone’s ass for 300 euros a month.

All the best.

By: Milan

Milan — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:06:40 +0000

1. I nullified my vote in the first round, since there wasn’t anyone really worth voting for, and I didn’t vote in the second round, because I didn’t want to choose between the two evils.
2. Basically, there is no difference. They both want to be in power so that they could steal from the citizens while making it look as if they are doing everything they can to revitalize Serbia. On the other hand, Nikolic is very shifty (he was in the Serbian Radical Party, which is anti-european, and then he basically changed his mind, started his own party, and became pro-european) while Tadic remained on the same course over the years (at least in public).
3. I think it’s a very bad thing for Serbia, since Tadic basically assumed the role of the prime minister while he was the president and he didn’t do anything to earn my trust, or the trust of the voters, he was punished for being a bad president, he should not be allowed to be on such a high position in government.
4. Some of the money came from the budget, rest of it is unknown, but I presume that tycoons gave them the money, so that they can ask for favors later.
5. Political corruption and the state of the economy.
6. Yes, it is true, although the political parties do their best to hide their tracks, so no one can bring them to court.
7. Most likely nothing special. Most of the people here are used to that, they keep saying “I don’t care about that, we can’t change anything, so I won’t even try.”, the election results are the proof of that theory. Maybe young people will try to organise protests, but they will lack the support of the majority, so nothing will happen.
8. Kosovo is no longer a part of Serbia. It is independent, but most of the people in Serbia, as well as the politicians refuse to admit that. Kosovo was lost a long time ago, now it just became official.
9. There is the Dveri movement (which is basically a right-wing clero-fascist organization made legal – most of their members are the same people that caused the violence and destruction in Belgrade on more than one occasion). Other than that – the Pirate Party of Serbia is on the rise, they are working on registering as the official party, although democracy in Serbia is quite expensive.
10. No one knows really.