By Lazar Radic for the Saker Blog
While there may be legitimate reasons to support any given candidate in the US elections -or none- public displays of hostility towards one such candidate are an odd thing to behold in a country that was bombed not so long ago at the stroke of his rival’s pen. In this short article, I would like to advance four theories which might help explain this otherwise seemingly irrational phenomenon.
While the present article refers specifically to my own country and its native “liberal elite” (neither truly “liberal” nor truly “elites”), the arguments espoused might resonate with others’ experiences – particularly those from other “Eastern European” countries; former or current colonies (in name or in practice); and countries which have recently undergone, or which are presently undergoing, a “transition” towards a liberal capitalist political economy. One example that comes to mind is Poland – a society where the liberal elite is totally -and proudly- detached from the reality of the average person, as expertly depicted in Jan Komasa’s recent movie Hejter.
The question to be answered is the following: what are the possible psychological and sociological reasons for the Serbian “liberal elites” vehement opposition to everything Donald Trump, and their concomitant eager support for Biden and Harris?
The answer features four separate, albeit interrelated, dimensions: (i) an outward dimension; (ii) an inward dimension; (iii) a material dimension; (iv) and an internal dimension. In the conclusion, I explain how these relate to -and compound- each other, and paint a final picture of the pathology of Serbian the Serbian “liberal elite”.
1.The Outward dimension: Memetic signaling to the cosmopolitan liberal elite that they are like them
After the war in 1999, a small minority of those Serbs who got rich by working for, or with, foreign but mostly US and EU capital. The material windfall enjoyed by these compradores however, came at the price of a very large chip on their shoulder: no matter how much financial/material capital they amassed, they could never really upgrade their cultural capital. Upwards social mobility, in other words, did not account for one’s nationality.
Indeed, despite the impressive depth of their pockets, the compradores would always be nothing more than Serbs. “Eastern Europeans”. Born and bred in Serbia – Belgrade, at most. Perhaps Novi Sad (anything else was of course unspeakable). Recurrent contacts with their colleagues and clients (more often the latter) – now compounded in the age of social media- were a constant and painful reminder of their inferiority.
Whereas their foreign counterparts spoke with a crisp RP or American accent (or with a French or German tinge – arguably even better); boasted trendy “Western” names like “Frank” (Sinatra? Miller?), “Emma” (Watson? Thompson?), “Helmut” (Kohl?), or “Paul” (Gaultier?); had read at Oxbridge, LSE, NYU, Berlin, Sciences Po; and were admitted to the NY bar or were solicitors in London; their Serbian juniors were all “Vladimirs” (Putin?) and “Tatjanas”. When the time would come to discuss school or professional experience, a moment that in a more homogenous or organic milieu would be filled with references to common acquaintances or workplaces, the Serbians would be more focused on damage control than on scoring points.
The Serbian “liberal elite” could obviously not change their past or ancestry (sadly), and their “Slavic” accent and lack of worldly anecdotes would promptly betray any attempt at deception. Nor could they move out of Serbia, because they would then be forfeiting precisely what had made them the elite in the first place (they would go from being a big fish in a small pond to being plankton in the ocean). Accordingly, a different strategy had to be devised to signal to the cosmopolitan milieu which they so desperately wished to belong to that, despite not attending the same schools, not having the same mother tongue, not having similar-sounding names; they were one of them.
Kow-towing to the same idols, assimilating the same vocabulary and cultural tropes fulfilled this function (or so they thought). Hence, since the vast majority of the cosmopolitan liberal elite despise Trump and support Biden – and sneer at the mere possibility of anybody doing anything else, a mania that has been depicted scathingly by Bret Easton Ellis in White– it follows that they must do so too.
In all of this, Biden’s politics, his capacity to be President, is entirely and utterly beside the point. It does not matter what Biden’s foreign policy will be – or, perhaps more importantly, what it has been. In fact, the worse the prospects of a Biden presidency for Serbia, the better – the more explicit- the opportunity to repudiate one’s own people and oneself. The memetic message of the desire to belong, in this sense, is powerful not despite being auto-chauvinistic, but precisely because it is auto-chauvinistic.
In conclusion, the Serbian “liberal elite” has a burning desire to send a very specific message to foreign – primarily “Western”- observers who they view as the senior members in the cosmopolitan, globalized elite “milieu” which they so desperately seek admission to. That message is “we are like you, please accept us”. Embracing Biden and “despising” Trump are just memetic tools employed towards that end, not appraisals of either candidate’s politics.
Embracing Joe Biden in Serbia, therefore, has a strong outward dimension insofar as it is projected at the exterior.
2.The Inward dimension: Memetic Signalling to the Serbian rabble that they are not like them
Hegel’s dialectical method posits that ideas emerge through a process in which the thesis and antithesis eventually form a synthesis. Extrapolating Hegel to the cultural realm (and foregoing the possibility of a synthesis ever-emerging) we can say that the antithesis to the Serbian “liberal elite” is the Serbian non-elite or the “non-liberal” elite. The quintessential embodiment of the “non-elite”, and perhaps its most extreme manifestation, is the figure of the “sendvičar” (roughly: the sandwicher).
The sendvičar is generally poor, uneducated, and often hungry. He (or she) tends to be from a smaller, peripheral town or village, and will allegedly exchange his vote or “sell” his presence at a pro-government rally for a ham and cheese sandwich. And while not all Serbs who do not belong to the elite, or who are not liberal, are sendvičari in the literal sense, the idea of the sendvičar is a convenient stand-in for “the uneducated masses” and an easy target for the accumulated derision and snobbery of the “liberal elite”. Hence, the next logical step is to see anyone who supports the current government as a sendvičar.
Beyond national politics, most sendvičari and other “illiberal” Serb types overwhelmingly support Donald Trump. As do many people in Serbia for that matter – or who are of Serbian descent. And since the liberal elite must fervently rush to embrace everything and anything that is the antithesis of what the “rabble” wants, regardless of the ulterior substance of what it actually is that the rabble wants, so too they must ridicule Donald Trump and extol Joe Biden. They must differentiate themselves from the primitive masses. Like in the case of outward signaling, substance is a minor detail of no real importance. The position of the majority is thus a purely aesthetic one.
It is utterly irrelevant, for e.g., whether the average Serb – regardless of whether he is actually a sendvičar, or even “illiberal”- has legitimate personal or ideological reasons to think as he thinks. Once again, this is entirely beside the point. It does not matter, for instance, that the average Serb might see Donald Trump as leading a crusade against the same corrupt political establishment that spearheaded the 1999 bombings and orchestrated the so-called independence and subsequent plunder of Kosovo. Or that he has promised to roll back NATO. Or that he has adopted a less belligerent attitude in his relations with Russia (who many Serbs regard as allies). Or that his rival co-sponsored the Biden-McCain resolution which called then President Clinton to use all necessary force to oust Slobodan Milosevic. Including bombing a civilian population, foreign embassies, and journalists.
People who subscribe to the above views are systematically portrayed in the “liberal elite” media as politically illiterate and backward. But the process behind the adoption of such positions is no more unsophisticated than the “liberal elite’s” crude determination to define itself in opposition thereto.
Trumpeting Joe Biden in Serbia, therefore, has a second, internal dimension: it is projected inwards. It is a non-verbal cue to other Serbs to be interpreted as meaning that despite having the same mother tongue, being born in the same country or city, sharing a similar name: “we are definitely not like you”.
3.The Material dimension: the final demarcation between “us” and “them”
The 1999 bombings destroyed Serbian industry and targeted civilians, including journalists. Thousands of people were killed. In addition to the vast material damages, the air raids left the population psychologically scarred and spiritually disoriented.
But from the perspective of the “liberal elite”, the bombings created the window of opportunity that allowed them to become what they are today. The bombings are thus the material manifestation of the demarcation between them, the elite, and their antithesis – everyone else. While the other differences between the two groups are more psychological than material – this one is absolute in its physicality. It constitutes concrete, irrefutable evidence of their repudiation of the other group. “I prospered; while you did not”. This is the ultimate material proof that you and I are, indeed, different.
Embracing Joe Biden is a shorthand for embracing the bombings. It is yet another chance for the “liberal elite” to remind themselves, and everyone else, that while they are culturally and morally superior to the Serbble (the Serbian rabble) – the moat that separates “us” from “them” is as palpable as a Tomahawk cruise missile.
4.The Internal dimension: palliating a deep-seated sense of inferiority and spiritual malaise
Despite its socio-cultural significance, the political virtue-signaling of the Serbian “liberal elite” ultimately has less to do with the outside world and more to do with the deep-seated insecurities of the individuals engaging in it.
The desperate, almost hysterical, need to incessantly signal that they are better – more sophisticated, richer, more cultured, more polyglot- than the Serbble -a bunch of illiterate peasants– eats away at their soul and guides their every decision. It shapes their persona and determines the course of their life: What they will eat, what they will wear, how they will talk, which sports team they will support, where they will go on holiday, and of course what they will share on Twitter.
If the “non-elite” eats pljeskavica, then they will eat burgers: an overpriced pljeskavica where you pay for every additional ingredient, get less bread, and less meat (those of them who are not enlightened enough to be vegans – yet). If meat is a staple of the Serbian diet, then they will be vegans. If the average person drinks Jelen or Lav beer (beer with the taste of beer), then they will drink Milk Stout beer or SuperNova. If the Serbble cheers For France in the final of the football world cup – they will cheer for Croatia. If everyone in Serbia strongly disapproves of the illegal NATO bombings of their country in 1999 – then they celebrate them.
All of this cultural self-flagellation comes not from rational conviction, but from a desperate need for differentiation. This is because, despite their best efforts, “liberal elites” still see the Serbble as a part of themselves which needs to be washed away, like those Indians who bleach their skin to look more like their colonizers. Embracing Joe Biden is not the result of some complex or sophisticated analysis of his policies. It is a brand of ethnic laundering the purpose of which is to offer psychological reassurance to the active subject that he is, internally, as superior to everyone else as he pretends to be external. In other words, whereas the dimensions discussed so far are meant to send some sort of message to others; this one sends a message to its bearer.
Conclusion
The purpose of this short essay was not to assess whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden offer a more favourable prospect for Serbia on the basis of their respective foreign policies. Or, more abstractly, to determine which prospective government would present a better “model” for emulation for Serbia. Such questions have been discussed at length elsewhere by other, more qualified commentators.
Rather, it was to speculate on the potential reasons for the passionate, almost fanatical, rejection of one candidate in favour of the other – despite there being no clear rational reason to do so. And, in fact, it is interesting to observe that rarely if ever are such rational reasons given (beyond the usual triter references and epithets used in the “West”).
But that may be precisely the point. The purpose of these public declarations of loyalty is not to invite rational debate with anyone, for why would anyone in the “West” engage some lawyer from a petty, second-world country like Serbia in debate over the US Presidentials? And, by the same token, why would the Serbian “liberal elite” engage anyone from their own country in debate over such matters, when everyone who does not already agree with them is, by definition, unworthy of being talked to?
The point of such public displays is, rather, to signal belonging (thesis) and repudiation (antithesis). It is a cultural meme containing relevant information aimed at a domestic and an international audience.
But most importantly, it reaffirms the holder in his or her sense of superiority – a drug they need to consume daily to mitigate their crippling feeling of inferiority.
Well,
the significance of what Serbian fifth columnists think of, or who they favor in US politics is minuscule.
They have unmasked themselves to a large degree and are aptly called “drugosrbijanci”. They are easy to spot, blue check-marks with their bloated sense of self importance which is only surpassed by their ongoing insignificance. Their impact is diminishing and are the more pathetic versions of the Russian “Liberta”.
Everything the author stated is factual, I only don’t think that this bottom feeding parasite deserves to be talked about in a serious web magazine as this one. No one cares about them.
George, Serbia has no fifth column. The fifth column in Serbia is in power. The Trump administration is now investigating Dominion outlet in Serbia as its programmers created the loophole that generously donates a set number of votes to Biden per every set number of votes cast for Trump. That was only possible in a country that has since the year 2000 became a Soros septic tank run by septic tank content. Floating ones.
Recently a doyen of the type perfectly described in the above article was arrested during her visit to her cocaine dealer. The “progressive” Serbian press (all of them) quickly came to her defence bloviating how she has the right to a “personal respite deserved due to her selfless fight against the backward”. True to the article above, their heroine has tried her luck in the West but because of her less than gifted literary talent didn’t succeed professionally in there. She came back to Serbia even more poisonous. Her latest feat includes pouring bile over the recently deceased bishop Artemije who lead an amazing life lifting the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenigeria (Crna Gora) from the ashes of communism.
The Serb programmers did not create any loopholes, it is just that the system admins (the local IT staffs at the voting precincts) have full control over the voting machines like for example adjust the votes LOL. System admins (IT staff) always have full control over their computers anywhere everywhere. Even google (AI) reads your mail to create a profile of you. That is why you should never use computers for voting.
Marko
Serbian computer programmers creating a loophole that generously gave Biden extra votes ? Indeed. I read about this a few days ago and laughed when I read it. Nothing but wicked disinformation. I have been following the US elections on a daily basis. Yes, Biden did cheat at the elections, and he did so massively. However, the computer program that his Democratic pals used was a US military computer program, which switches votes from one candidate to another. Serbs had nothing to do with it’s creation. However, the moment this US military program was exposed, we have accusations against Serbs, who have been given the famous American tradition of the ‘fall guy’. Why on earth would the US come to Serbia for a computer program when not a single East European country has the financial and technical capabilities of the US ? The mere notion is absurd.
There was no need for any loopholes. Anybody with enough permissions could go in and with simply Find/Replace change whatever they want. I saw some screenshots of those magic super duper systems. Simple MS Access tables. Of course they needed USB thumb drives to transport data. For the money they must have gotten for this “system” they could have at least put some effort in hiding how amateurish the whole thing was. But that is America today – simplest, crudest solution, sold for big bucks. This is the state of US minds It is good that they can function on technical level, basic utilities and such. It all hangs on few still employed old school electricians and plumbers. Biden or Trump, that will not change. Ignorance is ignorance is ignorance, when coupled with stupidity, we get powerful mix of nothingness,
Serbian liberal elites, what a joke, seriously. Yet they exist as our evil spirits. Phew!
Gorgeous George
Yes, what Serbian fifth columnists think of, or who they favor in US politics is minuscule. Their influence in Serbia is now hitting rock bottom. The liberals in the 1990’s were also known as “evropejci” or “Europeans”, ie. supporters of the EU. Their political power base lay in the Democratic Party. In the year 2000 they were used by George Soros and the West to overthrow President Milošević. However, in what must have been record time, these liberals or “Europeans” became highly unpopular, exposing themselves as a bunch of parasites, with the result that today the Democratic Party exists solely on paper, with minimal influence.
In July of 2020 the Western centers of power came to the “bright” conclusion that the time was “ripe” for a summer of discontent in Eastern Europe, where wide scale color revolutions were on the table. This, no doubt, was a severe case of wishful thinking. They began with Serbia, where they used their intelligence services and NGO’s to start a color revolution in Belgrade. The whole venture was covertly planned, with the result that when the “revolution” began, the population of Belgrade was taken by surprise, astonished at what was going on. This must have been one of the most incredibly stupid attempts at a color revolution ever, as the whole venture was entrusted to football hooligans who were initially joined by teenagers, but who backed off once they realized what was going on. The venture ended up as a black comedy. Today it’s virtually forgotten.
Failing in Serbia, the Western centers of power moved to Belarus, where they achieved limited success. However, the bulk of the population is behind Lukashenko, who is still in power, and who enjoys the loyalty of his Government institutions. While the demonstrations were going on in Minsk, the “analysts” in Western intelligence agencies are overcome with additional wishful thinking, coming to another “bright” conclusion that these demonstrations could spill over into Russia. They pull a false flag with blogger Navalny, who miraculously survives an “attack” where military nerve gas was ostensibly “used”. The reaction in Russia was the opposite to what was expected. Nobody demonstrated against Putin, as people understood what was going on.
Now, back to Serbia. The author introduces the term “sendvičar” (roughly: the sandwicher), to designate a person who is “generally poor, uneducated, and often hungry”, and who is prepared to sell his sole to the liberals. I am afraid this cannot be accepted. Never before have I heard of the term “sendvičar”, and I can assure readers that these people who, ostensibly, come “from a smaller, peripheral town or village”, do not dream of becoming political pawns, as they are only interested in business and making money.
Finally, when it comes to Trump and Biden, their political importance in Serbia cannot be placed above the importance of Russia and Putin. Yes, the liberal rump backs Biden, just like it would back the devil if it suited them (such political mercenaries exist in every country). As for the general population, it has sympathies for Trump. And that’s about it. The point is that the general population, whom we can call the silent majority, has affiliations towards Russia, and especially towards President Putin. This was proved last July. That attempt at a color revolution was a laughable failure. The general population did not join those football hooligans who were impersonating “revolutionaries”. And yes, some teenagers did indeed join the “demonstrations”. However, once they grasped what was going on, they backed off, which must have been a shock for the NGO’s.
This article has given more respect to liberals, who should be known as a political rump, than they deserve. Their political leaders have been discredited a long time ago, while their power has been reduced to directing football hooligans to stage laughable “demonstrations” and color “revolutions”.
Perfect article!
I might be a bit biased since i have believed this for a number of years🤷♂️
The same goes for the “Norwegian” elite.
I think this applies to all its vassals with a specific adaption to the cultural context. In Germany, this will reveal itself by the elites’ pure believe in American superiority and inherent kindness of the empire. Any mischief is explained away by a temporary honest mistake ™ that American overlords made in the undoubtedly angelic pursuit of democratic “values”. If they are spied on it’s for the greater good, if they are lied to it was because they asked unnecessary questions and if they loose economically this is because they haven’t consulted their allies. Media, politics and culture are based on American recipies. If you have questions you are a nazi, who hates democratic values, is anti-American and wants authoritarian rule. If something bad happens connected to US actions it’s called an incident, if something connected to the Russians happens, it’s because they have a cunning stratagemto destroy democracy.
It maybe of interest to describe the German media landscape:
1. You have a big publically financed media operation (TV, radio and internet) , which weighs on people’s hearts and minds like a 6 ton metallic backside of a bureaucrat on a chair. Nothing remotely adversarial comes out of it, it’s like supermarket music, which supports the act of shopping. The operation is devided by state, region and towns. They all repeat the same mantras, which all Germans know through education: crazy medieval past followed by first democratic seeds in 1840, industry development in Europe specifically GB, than nazi nazi till university and thEn paradise of the American century. Late night shows devided by party lines, which ridicule any national sentiment as nazis, nazis. Their names ARD, ZDF, BR, BBR, HR…their bosses titled “intendant” with many prominent “journalists” having backgrounds of US NGOs like the transatlantic council.
2. Private companies which cater to the lowest of human instincts like “BILD”, “EXPRESS”…dealing mainly with celebrity and if politics, its we the good guys against demons like Putin and Xi Jinping. Schroeder ones said he just needs the Bild, Bams and idiot box to rule.
3. Private media thatt caters to specific segments of the population like FAZ, SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, DER SPIEGEL and Tagesspiegel, in the order from conservative to lefty cultural communism.
I was thinking the exact same thing when a read the article.
Per/Norway
Watching the situation in Scandinavia I think we can deduce that the situation in Norway is much better than the situation in Sweden, which is committing ethnic suicide with mass immigration of false “refugees”.
Sweden is an example of how a country can be controlled and subsequently destroyed. What the globalists did was basically simple. The grabbed the Swedish elite, the politicians and media barons, and turned them to work against Swedish interests. The elites in Sweden have been transformed into political mercenaries, nothing but traitors, little Guaidos. Poor Sweden.
@B.F. yes, exactly, friend. For any normal person, it’s incomprehensible what is happening to Sweden. Didn’t a police master somewhere over there tell females not to get out In public cause they can expect some raping if they do? Like rape capital of Europe? Tell us Germans what you like, but after the mass migration of 2015, large swaths of the population simply refused to accept to be treated like cattle and started to vote for AFD. Still the country is lost, liberal elites have achieved what no war or aggression could. I think, even if this is a banality, media propaganda and backhanded mind- psychological techniques are incredibly effective. With almost 0 effort you can raise a comprador elite which will reeducate and reform an entire populace to think and act against its own interest with a total cultural suicide at the end of the process. If I look at modern Europeans I see a carcass of a zombie automaton with pre-loaded beliefs, an instinct to consume and live in a construct, which is a prefabricated model of a plan of a particular job architecture. Sicky, sicky times and world if you ask me.
Thanks for your comments. I see a lot of comments from the Scandinavian countries which I honestly didn’t expect at the time of writing the above piece. Could you please point to any cultural references (literature, theatre, cinema) that depict the Scandinavian iteration of the so-called “liberal elite”? I would be very interested in comparing and contrasting with my own observations and experiences in Serbia.
I will provide some examples from the political sphere in Sweden.
– As the Color Revolutionaries in the USA had a statue toppling spree this summer, their Swedish counterparts didn’t want to be outdone by their role models. In an urge to ape the efforts, they decided to label the great botanist and zoologist Carl von Linné (a.k.a. Linnaeus) as the father of racism and target his statues. Fortunately this hysteria died out and to my knowledge no monument to Linnaeus has been toppled. Story covered by Sputnik: https://sputniknews.com/europe/202006101079572895-swedish-blm-activists-call-to-tear-down-monuments/
– The former prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt once stated that “The early Swedish history is that of pure barbarism, while the rest of development originated from the outside”. To make things worse, I think he made this statement while in the office.
– An extremely corrupt politician with a long history of tax evasion and fraud, and a former prime ministerial candidate, Mona Sahlin, stated that “It is not a problem if the Swedish people go extinct”.
– The modern Brown Shirts calling themselves “Antifa”, while a relatively new phenomenon in the USA, have been operating in Sweden for decades and harassing people with near impunity.
For my part, the similarities with your examples from Serbia are rather striking.
Thank you very much for this, Raggmunk. It sounds very much like the same auto-chauvinistic blueprint that has been applied in Serbia.
Irony of the day for these “elites” is that biden’s transition team is heavily staffed by members of the Madeleine Albright “consulting group.” (sic)
If ever a neo con should go down in flaming shame, it should be her for her role in the utter destruction of Yugoslavia as clinton’s secstate. Yes, I know, accountability for the neo cons is not an American concept.
(See articles listed under non MSM column for biden’s proposed cabinet and composition of his transition team).
Good analysis of a typical rat. A another, more simple view, would be that the those Serb elites that author so accurately describes were just calculating that the US Deep State would deliver Biden and so they had to establish their “bona fides” in order to get on the new gravy train. If they thought Trump would win, they would have been the most passionate Trumpanistas. The very definition of a rat.
That could well be. However note that the “liberal elite” had a good four years to kow-tow to Trump and yet they did not. This could point to two things in my view. First, that their allegiance is to powers that dwarf even the President of the US. Second, that they have fully internalized their role as subalterns. The first possibility is more in line with what you suggest, whereas the second ties into what I have argued in the article. They needn’t be mutually exclusive however.
First i never heard of Serbs eating sandwich LOL. Have you ever been to the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia? They will laugh at you if you come with a sandwich LOL.
Serbs are the biggest meat eaters in the world, not a place for western liberals there.
Serbs eat only spit roasted pigs whenever they have the opportunity. When you go to a carnaval instead of toys they have hundreds of roasted pigs, chicken, in every corner live folk music and a small rollercoaster type of attraction for the kids. There are many such carnavals in many towns many times a year.
Then they have roasted pigs and live music at weddings, funerals, when kids join the army, when they finished the building of their house, nightlife in town.
Second the liberals you talk about like that twitter link to a Belgrade lawyer, well she works as a lawyer for google, you would think she gets paid to spread propaganda?
No Serb dares to be anti-Trump or anti-Putin. I don’t in what world you live but it is not among Serbs.
No Serb dares to be anti-Trump or anti-Putin.
You are joking. What about this person and she is pro/NATO lobbyist and now she is Vucic’s advisor
https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%88%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%9B
Where do you think all them EU funds go to? To invest in a 5th column elite.
The common people in Serbia in majority are pro-Trump, and all Serbs are anti-Biden.
Have you ever heard of the Integrity Initiative Balkan campaign which sponsors nato-lobbyists in the Balkans?! 5 billion pounds went to nato lobbyists in the Balkans:
https://www.rt.com/uk/451312-integrity-initiative-balkans-campaign/
The sad thing is that Serbia’s Liberal ”Elites” have, in stark contrast to their Russian counterparts, with tremendous success passed the test as Sorosyata, irrefutably proven by the CANVAS pigsty. In Russia, the ”Novichok bloke” Navalny isn’t able to stir up any noticeable trouble at all; same with the Svetlana harridans in Belarus. The West brutally cowed Serbia — that’s the difference as the author rightly points out.
These elites here in Serbia don’t plan on seizing power one day in their own right. They’re fully aware of how unpopular they are, so they aren’t even trying.
Culture is their domain, which makes them doubly dangerous. We’ve all heard of how ‘Politics is downstream from culture’ and it’s perfectly true. They know that their domination of the cultural scene enables them to control the narrative. Under Tito already, they dreamed of ‘reeducating’ Serbs to renounce their non-European, Asiatic, Slavic past and ties with Russia, and their Orthodox religion and fully integrate with the West. Although they publicly champion democracy and human rights (but not for Serbs unless they’re LGBTQ+ naturally) they are entirely unprincipled, their idea is that it takes an autocrat to drag the primitive Serbs out of their dark oriental, non-European holes and make them European, to which goal they are willing to use every method on their disposal.
Today they support Vucic because they hope he’d their messiah who will finally finish what Tito could not.
“renounce their non-European, Asiatic…”
That’s Revisionist History created to make the Eastern Lands claimable, because apparently Slavs weren’t always there. Slavs are autochthons and always have been. They didn’t magically appear and settle everything East of the Oder. Even Berlin was a Slavic City. Polska/Poland basically means “Polje”. Field in English.
There is a reason why all wars are going over the back of the Serbs.
But it doesn’t matter. This comment is probably going to get axed by the “Moderator” anyway, because it doesn’t conform to his programming.
One observation that I find worth pointing out: we could witness a very peculiar, though by no means new phenomenon here in Serbia that the US elections caused significantly more interest than the Serbian parliamentary election in the summer of this year. Everyone was discussing whether Trump or Biden would be better, or to put it more properly, less bad, for Serbia. Even people who are patriotic and who despise this little club of professional Western agitators, autochauvinists known as ‘drugosrbijanci’ locally were emotionally invested in the election. Analysts wrote articles about it, Vucic himself and other govt. officials talked about it. Little did it matter that our foreign masters use the comprador elite here in Serbia to do their bidding, we were too busy being obsessed with Trump and Biden, to even pay attention to Vucic destroying institutions, humiliating the people on a daily basis, as well as abroad, destroying our ties with Russia and behaving like a raving lunatic.
Do we need more reliable proof or the degree to which the neocolonial mindset has taken root in Serbia? Now, it could be reasonably argued that the US election received the same amount of attention in other countries which are far richer, and far more powerful and sovereign, yet, in Serbia’s case, it comes as an icing on the cake, so to speak. One could hear endless debates about the US, China, global politics, the EU, as if we had given up on deciding our own fate and the only thing we can do now is to decide who is to become our overlord.
There’s little that can be said at this point about Serbia’s parasitic elite that’s not already known. These are the progeny of Tito’s generals and party officials who had changed their allegiance, but not their essence, that of the inheritors of Titoistic ideology in its anti-Serbian attire.
Far more worrying trend is that they all but dominate Serbian culture by constructing anti-Serbian narratives and carefully building the image of Serbian guilt for the wars of the 90s. They also gained a foothold at the universities and government itself. Vucic had adopted key elements of their ideology and given them important positions evident in the fact that Serbia is slowly but steadily drifting away from Russia and into the Western fold.
To disenfranchise them, we need to fight this neocolonial mindset that they and Vucic, their ally, have done so much to foster among Serbs. In order to do that, it’s necessary to realize the solution for Serbia’s problems is not in Washington or Moscow, but in Belgrade.
The 5th column is prevailant in Serbia, particularly in government, media and NGOs. This is not so much the case in Bosnia’s Republic of Srpska. Serbia’s Serbs overall are not real traditional Serbs (especially the ones from Belgrade), they are more liberal and westernized than the Bosnian Serbs.
Those described are not unique to Serbia. They are found just everywhere that has suffered under Anglo colonisation.
I even had one in my own family – Cymraeg {Welsh}. Even her children were given “Upper Class English” names – which they didn’t appreciate one little bit.
It happens to a certain kind of mind, I’m afraid, a person with no sense of “self”. Who has never asked the question “Who am I”, let alone found an answer.
Best to just ignore them. They do go away, eventually.
Difficult to ignore in the UK at the moment, as precisely such an individual occupies the office of the prime minister. A Turkish family name of Kemal was changed to Johnson, and attached to the “Upper Class English” name of Alexander. So little sense of identity has he that he can be easily bullied and manipulated by the self-assured around him. The UK is now ruled by his floosie, “Princess Nut Nuts”. They will go away, eventually, I am sure, but not for the foreseeable future.
Thank you for this valuable analysis. Intentionally or not it actually covers much more than just Serbia, or even the Balkans, because it accurately describes even the “elite” of my Scandinavian country, for example. In my country, unlike Serbia, the process of occupation and enslavement is sadly largely complete, and the job of the “elites” is now primarily maintenance of status quo.
The Empire operates according to largely simple but effective playbooks. Once you know them it is difficult to oversee them – take the example of professional demonstrators kneeling in front of police officers or giving them flowers. It is not different with “intellectual elites”.
I would like to close my comment with an observation that Serbia is still the only former Yugoslav republic which can be called a sovereign nation-state, despite a treasonous government and occupation of a historically important province. Keep your heads up, dear Serbs, all empires that oppressed you collapsed – the days of the current one are numbered too.
The so called ‘elite” are exactly the same in every country. Looking after their own interests ONLY, with total disregard to anyone’s else. So, what would anyone hope to expect? In former Yugoslavia it was more expierenced than anywhere else. These “elites” that have totally sold out their country to the West, at the same time, strangely, are still trying to endear themselves with Russia! In fact, lots of them are fully expecting Russia to continue to be their protector and saviour.. Very much as the totally sold out clique in Armenia! What exactly do they NOT comprehend?! Once you sell yourself out, do NOT EVER hope to fall back on same relations that you had in the past with your former allies! It’s gone!!
Your former allies are not stupid, they clearly see you for what you have become. And what you have become is an absolute garbage..
“Once you sell yourself out, do NOT EVER hope to fall back on same relations that you had in the past with your former allies!”
But Russia actually worked against Serbs during the breakup of Yugoslavia. It sold weapons to the Bosnian Muslims & Croats (much of this through middleman Slovenia). It went along with the sanctions on the Serbs/Yugoslavia, the ICTY court, and it didn’t veto the bombings of Bosnian Serbs by the U.S. & Britain.
Also, Russia didn’t help rebuild Serbia before the Milosevic government was overthrown in the coup. From the end of NATO bombing in June 1999 until October 2000, it could have helped Serbia get on its feet & given it some hope, but it just stood back and let Serbia twist in the wind (bad breath of NATO/west).
Perhaps the coup wouldn’t have been successful then because remember the vote between Milosevic and the DOS coalition was so close they needed a run-off (& that’s probably with extra cheating with western help).
And no one knows what the true result of the run-off was since CIA-backed Otpor burned the ballots and the parliament building, museums, shops, etc.
In fact you can find similarities between Otpor, BLM & Antifa – including the fist symbol.
Yeah, your assertions are debatable but even so: whose bombs and missiles fell on the Serbs in the 1990s? Were they Russian or American/NATO? Whom would you rather trust: a guy that pitied you when he saw you getting bashed up by a cruel bully or the bully himself?
Why should Russia rebuild something that others (nato) have bombed?! Anyway Russia helping Serbia was not possible in such a small time frame between the bombings in 1999 and the color revolution in 2000, post 2000 Serbia has chosen the EU path and rejected any economic cooperation with Russia. Serbia refused to sell their industries to Russia, not because the Russians offered less but because Serbia chose the EU path and were getting funds for a 5th column elite.
Russia did sell its gas industry NIS to Russia at a cheap price. Meanwhile, Russia still hasn’t built the gas pipeline it supposedly promised in the deal.
And what about Russia forgiving Afghanistan billions in debt after the U.S. bombed & occupied that country, yet Russia threatened to turn off the gas to Serbia for debts in the run-up to Milosevic’s election.
So while the Serbian government was under pressure for the western-backed Otpor, while U.S. was paying mine directors to have the miners strike, Russia then ADDED on and threatened to stop the gas to Serbia just prior to the winter.
Furthermore, it was Serbia enduring 78 days & nights of NATO bombing which showed the world that NATO does bomb and terrorize civilians.
This freed up Russia’s hand against the Chechens as it was bombing them at the end of 1999 into 2000 and helped them win that war. The west wasn’t able to pressure or guilt Russia for “bombing civilians” because Russia would just mention what the west/NATO did and even the sheeple in the west were away that NATO did have a lot of “collateral damage”.
And Serbia withstanding the bombing drew China closer to Russia and also helped Russia’s anti-aircraft sales. So Russia should have helped the Serbs.
Russia did not sell weapons to Croats and Muslims. Ever watched the Lord of War? The Soviet Union was in chaos, criminals plundered the military depots and got weapons cheap, there was a black market created. Most illegal weapons came from the Ukraine and lots of them got into hands of Croats through Slovenia even before the start of the war. But who funded it? The funds came from Germany and the Vatican, it was an international operation with a dozen countries involved with logistics, funding and the sale of weapons. Not even mentioning organ harvesting where Serb organs departed from Sarajevo by UN planes to the west European (german) markets. Bosnia in the 90s was in chaos, was worse than what you ever have thought. Bosnia was full with criminals and butchers (litteraly), why do you think Serbs referred to them as terrorists? Sarajevo had a huge criminal underground litteraly and figuratively, an underground in tunnels where women, young girls, drugs, organs, illegal weapons and arab terrorists were smuggled. Neonazis and criminals from the west participated on a large scale.
Nice work dave.
”But Russia actually worked against Serbs during the breakup of Yugoslavia.”
Making it sound like Russia’s ”government” at the time was independent, strong, and far-sighted. Some allegations look funnier than others.
“But Russia actually worked against Serbs during the breakup of Yugoslavia. It sold weapons to the Bosnian Muslims & Croats (much of this through middleman Slovenia).”
Yes, Croats pretending to be Serbs on internet news forums sometimes say that.
As does the “Serbian” publication, Blic, owned by the Axel Springer group.
A very astute article. With the appropriate cultural and sociopolitical reference substitutions, I can see this fitting just as well in developing countries across the board where the liberal elite has a deep sense of inferiority and lack of self confidence when blindly aping Western mores.
Thank you for the article, it depicts the usual and humiliating aftermath of any colony…The darkness and stupidity and evil descends…
Yours is the colony, as is the Croatia where I live at the moment. Connect to the understanding that the country destroyed ( Yugoslavia) will display all this humiliating behavior in all of its corners, little provinces.
They want to do it to Sirya, but it seems they are much more clever and brave then we were.
Honestly, I do not care about the world so much, as it is indifferent to our destiny and we were a part of it.
Not interested in silly USA convolution, it is deserved.
Let them suffer I say, totally indifferent to what is coming to them
Here are some truths about us ( yes, I mean Yugoslavia), about our destroyed country, please view it in a bigger context:
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-Century-of-War%3A-%3A-Anglo-American-Oil-Politics-and-Engdahl/34a6e234dde004c4af7f7e491df0d2a3448014aa?p2df
Today another war criminal has expired, responsible for shooting the Serb grand mothers in their heads during the cleansing of Croatia.
He was cuddled in Croatia, allowed to spas to treat him from his bloody prison.
In the nineties, he had the squads( responsible to destroy Yugoslavia) of the criminals here.
It was nothing to kill a 9 year old Alexandra and bury her with her mom in the shallow grave because she was a Serb.
His name was Mercep, and he was celebrated by the ex idiot president the ustashe Kolinda, and t.he church here.
So you see, the stinkers, the 5th colon are in power since Yugoslavia was destroyed.In Serbia only?
Why are you surprised?
Do not be naive, these vermin have come to power in our little colonies exactly for the same reason, they are awarded for the role they played to destroy our country.
Russia did through its arms dealers, some of whom are still connected to Russian state-owned companies today:
“Weapons also came from Russia – including modern SAM and AT missiles with Russian/Soviet official military documentation – and their main supplier was Vienna-based Konstantin Dafermos, whose company Scorpion International Services is an exclusive representative of Russian state-owned company Rosoboronexport today.”
Rosoboronexport was involved in sending weapons to Croats & Muslims against Serbs.
Rosoboronoexpert was not involved in sending weapons to Croats, it was a Vienna based illegal arms dealer,a Greek citizen, who imported illegal weapons from all over eastern europe to sell them to Croats and Slovenes with financing from the British, German and the Vatican governments. The Soviet Union was collapsing, eastern Europe was collapsing, the 90s was a famous decade for crime and chaos especially in eastern europe. Watch the movie “Lord of War”.
“However, major assistance came from Germany. Defense and finance ministers publicly announced that Slovenia received more than 60 million Deutschmarks in loans from a Western country and that 46.6 million marks were spent for arms purchasing during the UN arms embargo. With this money, they paid for two full ships of modern anti-aircraft and anti-armor missiles.”
Summary (english) : https://www.journalismfund.eu/sites/default/files/2018-11/Summary%20BOOK%20II.pdf
Book (slovenian) : https://www.sanje.si/v-imenu-drzave-odprodaja.html
Slovenian investigative journalists investigate the illegal arms smuggling to the Former Yugoslavia before and during the Balkans wars of the 1990s.
“In The Name Of The State” (book trilogy):
https://www.journalismfund.eu/supported-projects/name-state
Summary book 1: https://www.journalismfund.eu/sites/default/files/2018-11/Summary%20BOOK%20I.pdf
Summary book 2: https://www.journalismfund.eu/sites/default/files/2018-11/Summary%20BOOK%20II.pdf
Summary book 3: https://www.journalismfund.eu/sites/default/files/2018-11/Summary%20BOOK%20III.pdf