Here’s the clip I wrote about the other day of a journalist on Russian TV ruminating about how former Serbian PM Zoran Đinđić deserved the bullets that killed him:

For whatever reason, I assumed that the comment came out of some sort of round-table discussion program. Delivered as it is, authoritatively, from an anchorman-like figure makes it more outrageous.

Marko Atilla Hoare, one of the finest Balkanists writing today, has an excellent essay up this morning on his blog:

This rioting and looting was not just the action of a few troublemakers; it is an expression of the new climate of violence and intimidation that the Kostunica regime and its allies in the Serbian Radical Party and other extreme right-wing and nationalist groups are deliberately encouraging.

It really can’t be overstated just how rotten and dangerous Koštunica’s government is. Read the whole thing for an excellent run-down on the thuggery being employed by these goons. It’s a must-read for anyone following the Balkans and questioning whether the Kosovo decision was the right one.

It won’t make you outright vomit like the more famous clip, but it’s still worth watching. During the riots which shook Belgrade this past Thursday, two girls went shopping at the late night sales where everything was 100% discounted. The wag taunts them: “For me, you’re the heroes of these demonstrations… Kosovo is Serbia!”

As the author of the clip notes on the YouTube site, these two shameless tramps aren’t representative of Serbs in general. After all, this kind of anarchic looting happens all over the world when there’s a failure of government to enforce security.

Still, great clip, and kudos to the cameraman for sticking with his targets and thoroughly shaming them.

Take a second to digest the words of Russian journalist Konstantin Syomin ruminating on the recent events in Serbia on Russian state-run television (as reported by Belgrade’s B92 and translated by me):

It was these very cheering masses, drunk on liberal promises, who mourned the Western marionette (former Serbian PM) Zoran Đinđić’s passing to the next world—a man who destroyed the legendary Serbian army and security services, a man who handed over to the Hague the heroes of Serbian resistance in exchange for abstract economic help, and who for his efforts received a well-deserved bullet.

That’s right: state-run Russian TV celebrates the assassination of a former Serbian Prime Minister, the only real reformer Serbia has had since the tyrranical Milošević. Remember, this is hardly the aberrant opinion of a lone journalist—it’s not like Russian state TV allows things to air that haven’t been carefully vetted.

B92 reports that the Serbian embassy in Moscow has asked for an official apology from Putin over this statement. Hopefully President Tadić will take this opportunity to distance his country from the toxic influence of Moscow, thereby provoking some serious soul-searching among his compatriots as to where they’d like to see themselves in the next ten years.

Serbian PM Vojislav Koštunica called for a massive, peaceful protest this week to show the world Serbian dignified indignation at Kosovo being allowed to declare independence. Today, those protests occurred:

Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to the facade after a massive protest against Kosovo’s independence.

Masked attackers were seen climbing over a first-floor railing on the building and trying to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out along the mission’s front facade.

Glad to see the government took all the necessary precautions to safeguard against such behavior. Again, charming.

Here’s what you get when you nurture national grievances as a means of reaching political consensus: a bunch of semi-fascist youth busting up your city when geopolitics doesn’t go your way.

The Serbian youth attacked the American and Slovenian embassies, harassed the car bearing the Brazilian ambassador as he was leaving Serbian government buildings, and heaved stones and firecrackers at police and anyone with a camera.

Charming.

Matt thinks the main price of Kosovo’s independence will be paid by the Georgians as Russia retaliates by establishing mini-states in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Well, maybe and maybe not.¹ I don’t think that Russia would waste such a winning hand in a fit of pique over Kosovo. It’s far more likely that they’ll agitate over Georgia when it suits the West least. As I’ve written before, Russia doesn’t much care for consistency in the international system, nor does it actually care about their Serbian “brothers”. It’s all about power politics and establishing spheres of influence in its near-abroad.

It does make Georgia’s bid for NATO membership far more problematic, and brings John McCain’s severe hawkishness into relief. Is he willing to say that the U.S. would commit troops to Georgia to ensure its territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression?

They done gone ahead and did it—Kosovo has declared independence. They’ve elected to use a flag with motifs reminiscent of the EU’s own standard: blue background, gold color, and stars. They’ve also chosen to use a map of the territory of Kosovo as an element in the flag, much like another long-suffering, partitioned country: Cyprus. If the Serbs do manage to establish de facto independence for the northern parts of Kosovo, however, it’s not likely that they would declare autonomy like the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, but would rather be annexed outright by Serbia.

One has to think that this obvious parallel was not lost on the Kosovars, and that they opted for this flag design as an explicit reminder to the West to not let the same thing happen to them as has befallen the wretched Cypriots. Whether symbolism is an effective means of communicating with the wretched Eurocrats remains to be seen.

Boris Tadić wins, and the (small part of the) world (that cares about the Balkans) lets out a sigh of relief. Nikolić would have been darkness for Serbia and the broader region had he squeaked into office. Though the presidency does not wield much power in Serbia, keeping the Radicals in the wilderness was an important victory any way you look at it.

This young interviewee puts it best:

“I am Tadić’s opponent, but I voted for him because this election is not about him but about progress,” said Branislav Jovanović, a 22-year-old student, at a Belgrade polling station. “People are sick of isolation and wars and misery.”

Tadić’s widely-reported EU enthusiasm only stands up to scrutiny when held up against Nikolić’s retrograde nationalism and rabid Russophilia. Tadić played up his nationalist bona fides during the campaign, perhaps to sap some support from Nikolić, and it remains to be seen whether his supposed EU-love will continue in the wake of the Kosovo declaration of independence which should happen some time this week. Here’s to hoping that he opts for trying to be a transformational figure in Serbian politics.

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.