Kosovo Albanian leaders are "terrorists," the US is an "ignorant aggressor" and Serbia is a victim that must turn to Russia for help.
The rhetoric emerging from Serbia these days harkens back to the era of late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.
Nearly 20 years ago, Milosevic used the Serb passions over Kosovo to stir up the masses and intimidate non-Serbs in the former Yugoslav federation.
Four lost wars later, Serbia is resorting to similar tactics in its denunciations of the West over its recognition of an independent Kosovo, a region Serbs see as their sacred heartland.
"The West ... is determined to humiliate us," Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica shouted at rally in Belgrade last week.
He said Serbia would never accept a Western-backed "fake state of Kosovo because in a fake state everything is a lie."
Even Ivica Dacic, leader of Milosevic's old Socialist party, praised the Kostunica camp for "returning to Milosevic's policies" over Kosovo.
This time, however, Serbia lacks the might of the old Yugoslav Army that Milosevic used to compel Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership to bend to his will. Even ultranationalists say they won't challenge NATO's peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
Still, Milosevic's anti-Western defiance -- which pushed Serbia into international isolation in the 1990s -- again resonates among the nationalists.
"Serbia barely survived the bloody outcome of Milosevic's disastrous rule," said Nenad Canak, a Serbian opposition politician. "No lesson was learned, and we are back to the same old policies all over again."
Kosovo has not been under Serbia's control since 1999, when a 78-day bombing campaign by NATO contributed to Milosevic's calling an end to his bloody crackdown against the separatist guerrillas.
And it is not only all that anti-Albanian rhetoric that is the same as in the 1990s.
Members of the same right-wing militias that Milosevic recruited to fight the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s have returned to the streets of Belgrade, attacking US and other Western embassies and issuing threats against liberal politicians that oppose government policies.
Some say Kostunica, who led the popular uprising that toppled Milosevic in 2000, is beginning to sound increasingly similar to the former strongman.
"The United States has ... trampled on international law that is the basis of the peace and stability in the world," Kostunica said last week, branding ethnic Albanian leaders who proclaimed independence on Feb. 17 as "terrorists" and "drug traffickers."
"It is possible that America thought [Serbia] is an unimportant nation. But Serbia will prevail ... and it will win in the end."
Kostunica has said that Serbia would not restore relations with the US and other Western states until they annul their recognition of Kosovo -- something US officials said will never happen.
He also said Serbia must now drop its proclaimed goal of joining the EU and should instead turn to its Slavic ally Russia, which also staunchly opposes Kosovo's independence.
Pro-Western President Boris Tadic, who last month defeated an ultranationalist politician in presidential elections, has had little to say about the nationalist onslaught except to reaffirm his commitment to Kosovo.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
RSS