The New Contrarian » Netherlands http://newcontrarian.com Just another Newcontrarian.com weblog Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:45:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Good for the Dutch http://newcontrarian.com/2008/01/28/good-for-the-dutch/ http://newcontrarian.com/2008/01/28/good-for-the-dutch/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:57:32 +0000 Damir Marusic http://www.newcontrarian.com/?p=264 Smarting from their memories of Srebrenica, the Dutch bravely blocked the EU from going forward on the Stability and Association Agreement with Serbia unless Serbia first serves up Ratko Mladic to the Hague. Smart move by the Dutch. As long as Serbia remains unreconciled with the horrors perpetrated on her behalf during the last few decades, any long-term healing in the region is impossible.1

Those unconvinced that the political situation in Serbia is as toxic as I make it out to be need only to look at the results of the first round elections. The only politician running on an unabashedly pro-Western pro-modern platform, the only candidate to publicly concede that Kosovo was a lost cause for Serbia was Čedomir Jovanovic.2 He got only 5.34% of the vote.

  1. I remain skeptical that the Hague is the optimal venue for this kind of stuff, but it’s a venue at least. ↩

  2. Čeda has had a murky past, as have many Serbian politicians. Regardless, his current stance makes him the only Serbian leader who inspires hope for the future. ↩

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