Tadić, Koštunica sending out conflicting SAA signals

“We have nothing against the composition of such a mission or with the fact that it’s a European mission… What we oppose is a European mission failing to carry out European policies in Kosovo, which is sadly the case as it is carrying out American policies there,” Samardžić claimed.

- absolutely spot on and all the more reason for Tadic to implicitly endorse this reality that Serbia faces and to ensure the EU understand that for Serbia this is not "polictical games" because of elections it is Serbia's right to ensure and continue to ensure its sovereignity! Of course Serbia wants to be part of the EU but one thing is certain - Serbia's Sovereignity and territorial integrity must be continued and respected as such! Its upto the EU do you want Serbia as a whole or supporting the anti-international law stance which wishes to enforce the partition of the UN recognised, Sovereign, European and Democratic Republic of Serbia and create an illegal entity with ill-defined parameters on Serbian territory that has no historical, ethnic nor economic reasoning for being ? It's a straight choice either, or ?

Absolutely right Mr Samardzic! Unfortanately the EU is following the USA's steps and as such it is highly doubtful if the EU is capable of bringing important decision for itself. The EU is under the huge influence of the USA and it seems that the EU has no enough strength to distance itslef from the USA's baleful and failing policy. The USA's policy does not differ that much of the policy that nazi Germany used to run. The only difference is that the USA is hiding behind the "democracy" and implement its agenda in a bit more sofisticated manner. The EU as blind USA's follower is in its own way to fail. I dare to say that one of the USA's master plans is unstable and weak EU and generally weak Europe with its crisis regions. It makes easier for the USA to manipulate Europe and impose its filthy policy in order to retake domination. The EU is unfortanately not that unified just becuase some countries are more under the USA's influence while the others are less or not at all. The sad thing is that those countries who dare to say NO to the USA'a policy are named as dissidents as we had opportunity to witness yesterday. So after all this I wonder what is the purpose of the EU while divided in the groups of "right and wrong" countries? What kind of unity is that while the voice of one "right" country has more values than the voice of another so called "dissident" country? It is sad to witness what is the Europe turning in!

"Speaking of the possible arrival of an EU mission without a Security Council resolution, he warned that Serbia could not accept such a decision and that it would, in such a scenario, intensify its presence in the province by organizing the lives of loyal citizens."

- I would go even further and start legal processes for the illegal sale of all and every state business that has been persued thus far in Serbia's sovereign territory. For instance the mobile phone tenders were issued under the UN but this respects Serbia's sovereignity if any country acts against this then they need to clarify the legal stance of their companies doing business in what remains Serbian sovereignity - profits will need to be taxed to Serbia while 1244 remains and thus will and can be sued in those states who try to act against it - the whole of the UNMIK privatisation process over the last 8 years will be in tatters.

What a polititian!!!
EU will be really starving because Serbia will not sign the agreement)))Please don't do that....))
How can a polititian be in that state of mind? How can the Serbian people live up with these kind of polititians?

I have a feeling that in Serbia no politician can be elected without being a nationalist. I wonder why the Serb electorate is making the same mistake over and over again by electing nationalist and populists (quasi-nationalists) when their nationalist policy of the past years 15-20 years brought Serbia nothing but destruction, poverty and suffering. It is politicians such as Milosevic and Seselj who brought this destruction, poverty and suffering over Serbia, and it is also politicians such as Nikolic, Kostunica, Samardzic who are dragging on the suffering of Serbs by their isolationist policy. As far as the neighbours of Serbia are concerned they would like to see a democratic regime in Belgrade, since a nationalist regime in Belgrade would bring only instability which could eventually spill over to its neighbours. I assume that Serbia’s population and I certainly know that Serbia’s neighbours are fed up of political instability and war once and for all. They had experienced wars and suffering in the last 15 years to last them for a lifetime! So my advice to Serbia’s electorate is: make a smart decision during your next presidential election and deselect nationalist and self-isolationist politicians of the calibre Nikolic, Kostunica and Samardzic.

Thank God for Tadic.

Here is a man who wants to retain and protect Serbian integrity, but is wise enough it seems to know that this could be better accomplished as an EU aprtner then in time, member. Tadic seems to appeal to the level headed Serbs, who i think are in the majority. He's not all about nationalism and cuuting ones nose off to spite their own face but about negociation, and progress for his country and people. Mr Kostunica on the other hand seems hell bent on dragging Serbia away from Europe, and into some sort of puppet pact with Russia. I mean have you ever seen Russia treat another country as an equal once they have their paws on them? Look at Russia's pals around the world....oh i'm sorry, i can't think of any right now! Russia tries to oppress her neighbours, holds them at ransome when it's cold (Ukraine's gas supply) and is generally not very nice. This brings me nicely round to the sale of NIS to Gazprom....silly silly Kostunica to think this will do Srbija good, its all about Russia gaining control, and Srbija will be a pawn in the game.
Im sorry for the rant folks, but it seems that Tadic is the only presidential candidate who has the welfare and progress of his people at heart, and isn't harping on about Slavic brotherhood, and so on. Those days are gone, if they ever existed.

EA

Serbia is one of the largest Balkan countries, the EU obviously will not suffer by not accepting them, by why do all the Albanians here think that Serbia is so insignificant with regards to the EU? Why would the EU be pushing Serbia for EU membership if it is so insignificant? Why would they be bothering with Macedonia and Albania, are they more significant than Serbia? Serbia is in Europe and is welcome in the EU if it wants to join, nobody has the right to deny them EU membership, same as Albania and Macedonia, who are both poorer.

Economic agreements and politics are always inter-linked; that's how the US plays its games. Think of all of the US-inspired economic sanctions against the Serbs in the past. Signing the SAA is a green light for the albanians to steal Kosovo; everybody knows that. The big myth is that Serbia has to join the EU to revive its economy. The EU will trade with Serbia whether or not it's a member; business is business. The EU is just angry that Serbia can make special deals with Russia without EU interference and graft.

Simple Mind,

Please tell us what you understand by the term "nationalist". Since when was this supposed to be an insult? I would consider myself an Irish nationalist in that I identify with my country and its culture, I would defend it against foreign aggression, and I suppose I am proud when the country or its people achieve something of value. To me that's a nationalist, and I would imagine that most people in all countries feel the same way. So what's the problem?
I find it very strange that only Serbs are not allowed to be nationalists. Personally, I would have less respect for the Serbs if they were not nationalists.
If you do not feel the same way about your country, wherever it is, I think you are blowing in the wind.

Times have changed. That's why. It's not 1992. It's not 1999. If you still do not understand why. Russia is back stronger than ever. Oh my. The Western powers have made colossal mistakes. Colossal. You know what I am talking about. All this posturing and bluffing by the West is useless. Serbia has all the rights to defend her interests and people.

Simple Mind,
Thank you for your response but I still have a problem with your definition of nationalism. I do not accept that nationalism implies aggression against one's neighbours. Let me go back to Ireland for a moment.

During the conflict in Northern Ireland, those who opposed the British presence were described in two different ways. Those who supported armed struggle (IRA, Sinn Fein) were usually described as "republicans". On the other hand, those who pursued peaceful or constitutional methods were known as "nationalists".

Essentially, I believe that using the term "nationalist" in a derogatory sense is a misuse of language. Serbs, as much as the Irish or anyone else, have every right to be nationalists.

I think that in this Kostunica is more realistic than Boris Tadic. Tadic is only delusional when he thinks that the EU is on the brink of signing, while it's obvious to everyone that without Mladic in Sheveningen the EU will never sign the SAA treaty, thanks to the veto by Holland and Belgium. I'm saying that Kostunica is more realistic because he has realised this, he has no intention whatsoever of delivering Mladic, and is trying to make it look like it's Serbia that doesn't want to sign the agreement, and not the other way round. I think that Kostunica is a disgusting nationalist, but at least he is a fine politician, while Boris Tadic still has to wake up and smell the coffee.

# 10

Tom, obviously you are mixing up the terms nationalist and patriot! A nationalist is a person who defends his nation’s interest even at the costs of somebodyelses (his neighbour nation) destruction, whereas a patriot is a person who defends his nation’s interest but not at the costs of somebodyelses destruction! This is a huge difference! According to my definition you might say that the wars that Serbia waged in the 1990s in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosova were patriotic but I beg to disagree!

Anyway what’s done is done and I think it is about high time to move to a better and prosperous future! If Serbia embraces politics of respect for and co-operation and friendship with its neighbours that would be great, but if Serbia chooses to pursue nationalistic policy then that is its decision but it is sure that it will become a pariah state with a grim future! Let me assure you one thing, if Serbia further pursues this self-isolationist and nationalistic policy only the common citizen will suffer. The politicians have already taken care of themselves!

You might say, what do you (as a non-Serb) care about Serbia. Oh I do care, because I would like my neighbour become stable, democratic and prosperous, otherwise if my he is poor and nationalistic oriented it will be a source of instability that will eventually drag me into his vicious circle.

Kostunica's game is pathetic.

He knows that he cannot get SAA signed because of the war criminals. But then again,
he might and that he can kill two birds with one stone.
In other words he is saying that supposedly now there are two issues with signing the agreement. One is the support of Kosova's independence by EU and the other is the request to deliver Mladic.

Kostunica is essentially asking to drop one of the requests as his way of making "compromise", knowing full well that Kosova's independence is coming very soon no matter what. He hopes he can sign the agreement without delivering the criminals and he already has kept the door open for this through Tadic and Jeremic. I believe all this ambiguous stand is about to test the waters. At the end Kostunica thinks that he can sign SAA whenever he wants.

One advice for him. He better rush it before EU puts another condition for him "to recognize officially Kosova's independence if Serbia wants to get to EU.
(Please don't respond to this comment with the likes of "Mighty Serbia doesn't need EU", because that's not my point).

Peter, thanks to Serbia's policy of aggression towards their neighbors, their country is still under de-construction. The EU is offering potential membership as an insentive or symbolic carrot, if they refuse to accept the reality of Kosova's independance, then it's time to pull out the stick, because eventually that's the only language they understand. As for Macedonian and Albanians progress towards the EU that's totaly unrelated to Serbia.Slovenia is much smaller and "poorer" than big bad Serbia and yet they're in the EU and NATO. Did I forget to mention Slovenia is the current chair of the EU,although they aren't as rich or big as your favorite Serbia.

azir

Slovenia is the richest country of all the former CEE communist states, more so than even Estonia and the Czech Republic. They are classified as a high income state, they have overtaken some of the EU states (Portugal and Greece) and their army (though small), is very modern in terms of equipment. They are miles ahead of Serbia in terms of development, I don't know where you get what you said. Have a look at their GDP, GDP per head (GNI, HDI and PPP), GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, economic makeup (in terms of industry, agriculture and services), trade deficit and percentage of people living below the poverty line, then compare it to the same statistics of Serbia and you will see.

Serbia's economy compares to that of Bulgaria or Romania, meaning technically they are ready to be in the EU (I think it's too early for all those states, but I am not the enlargement minister). Albania and Macedonia are behind, the only thing keeping Serbia from membership is the issue with the war criminals (I have no idea why the Serbian government doesn't bring these psychopaths to justice, surely even the Serbian politicians realize that these were mass murders not seen in Europe since the Nazis and Commies).

BTW Serbia is not my favorite country. I respect and admire them and their culture, but not more than any other European states.

Peter,I think you completely missed my point.I wasn't trying to show or claim to be an expert on Slovenian's economy or progress. As I understand your #8 comments, according to you Serbia is a larger and more significant country than Macedonia or Albania and therefor deserves to be accepted into the EU sooner.Is that not what you meant? Then you claim in comment #15, you state that Serbia is not you favorite and yet in many of your comments one can read your obvious pro-Serb tilt.My point is if you truly cared for Serbia then you would help by making them aware of there mistakes.Their refusal to comply with EU membership requirements simply disqualfies them.Harboring mass murderers , rapist, arsonist, and baby killers shouldn't cause any senseable people to be proud.I am under the impression that Serbia will never turn in their fugitives from justice because the country is still in denial of their prominent role in committing Genocide in Serbenica. What I suggest for the EU in their attempts to stabilize Serbia is to first convince Serbia that the inevitable independance of Kosova is fast approaching.

azir

"As I understand your #8 comments, according to you Serbia is a larger and more significant country than Macedonia or Albania and therefor deserves to be accepted into the EU sooner.Is that not what you meant?"

No, that is not what I meant. EA was saying that Serbia is of no importance to EU, I was telling him that it is, since they are still negotiating with them over Kosovo, the SAA etc. My use of Albania and Macedonia was just to show that smaller, poorer countries than Serbia also mean something to the EU, since they have both been given potential candidate status.

"Then you claim in comment #15, you state that Serbia is not you favorite and yet in many of your comments one can read your obvious pro-Serb tilt.My point is if you truly cared for Serbia then you would help by making them aware of there mistakes."

That is your opinion, I am not tilting towards Serbia over Kosovo, I just favor their stance more in this whole status issue, but this does not mean I have bias. With regards to Serbia's mistakes, since you have analyzed my posts so much, then how did you happen to miss all the times I criticized Serbia's actions during the Yugoslav Wars and the harboring of Mladic and Karadzic?

"Their refusal to comply with EU membership requirements simply disqualfies them."

I agree, exactly the same situation was with Croatia.

Kostunica is leader of the nation, Tadic as head of state does not have THAT much power as he seems to think. Kostunica should make his position more assertive in shutting up lose cannon minsters and other officials, they may disagree but they cannot make national decisions based on what they see as interest. There is a lack of respect for the rank system in the government. A Sergent cannot dictate to a General what the army must do.

What a polititian!!!
EU will be really starving because Serbia will not sign the agreement)))Please don't do that....))
How can a polititian be in that state of mind? How can the Serbian people live up with these kind of polititians?

Thank God for Tadic.

Here is a man who wants to retain and protect Serbian integrity, but is wise enough it seems to know that this could be better accomplished as an EU aprtner then in time, member. Tadic seems to appeal to the level headed Serbs, who i think are in the majority. He's not all about nationalism and cuuting ones nose off to spite their own face but about negociation, and progress for his country and people. Mr Kostunica on the other hand seems hell bent on dragging Serbia away from Europe, and into some sort of puppet pact with Russia. I mean have you ever seen Russia treat another country as an equal once they have their paws on them? Look at Russia's pals around the world....oh i'm sorry, i can't think of any right now! Russia tries to oppress her neighbours, holds them at ransome when it's cold (Ukraine's gas supply) and is generally not very nice. This brings me nicely round to the sale of NIS to Gazprom....silly silly Kostunica to think this will do Srbija good, its all about Russia gaining control, and Srbija will be a pawn in the game.
Im sorry for the rant folks, but it seems that Tadic is the only presidential candidate who has the welfare and progress of his people at heart, and isn't harping on about Slavic brotherhood, and so on. Those days are gone, if they ever existed.

I have a feeling that in Serbia no politician can be elected without being a nationalist. I wonder why the Serb electorate is making the same mistake over and over again by electing nationalist and populists (quasi-nationalists) when their nationalist policy of the past years 15-20 years brought Serbia nothing but destruction, poverty and suffering. It is politicians such as Milosevic and Seselj who brought this destruction, poverty and suffering over Serbia, and it is also politicians such as Nikolic, Kostunica, Samardzic who are dragging on the suffering of Serbs by their isolationist policy. As far as the neighbours of Serbia are concerned they would like to see a democratic regime in Belgrade, since a nationalist regime in Belgrade would bring only instability which could eventually spill over to its neighbours. I assume that Serbia’s population and I certainly know that Serbia’s neighbours are fed up of political instability and war once and for all. They had experienced wars and suffering in the last 15 years to last them for a lifetime! So my advice to Serbia’s electorate is: make a smart decision during your next presidential election and deselect nationalist and self-isolationist politicians of the calibre Nikolic, Kostunica and Samardzic.

I think that in this Kostunica is more realistic than Boris Tadic. Tadic is only delusional when he thinks that the EU is on the brink of signing, while it's obvious to everyone that without Mladic in Sheveningen the EU will never sign the SAA treaty, thanks to the veto by Holland and Belgium. I'm saying that Kostunica is more realistic because he has realised this, he has no intention whatsoever of delivering Mladic, and is trying to make it look like it's Serbia that doesn't want to sign the agreement, and not the other way round. I think that Kostunica is a disgusting nationalist, but at least he is a fine politician, while Boris Tadic still has to wake up and smell the coffee.

Absolutely right Mr Samardzic! Unfortanately the EU is following the USA's steps and as such it is highly doubtful if the EU is capable of bringing important decision for itself. The EU is under the huge influence of the USA and it seems that the EU has no enough strength to distance itslef from the USA's baleful and failing policy. The USA's policy does not differ that much of the policy that nazi Germany used to run. The only difference is that the USA is hiding behind the "democracy" and implement its agenda in a bit more sofisticated manner. The EU as blind USA's follower is in its own way to fail. I dare to say that one of the USA's master plans is unstable and weak EU and generally weak Europe with its crisis regions. It makes easier for the USA to manipulate Europe and impose its filthy policy in order to retake domination. The EU is unfortanately not that unified just becuase some countries are more under the USA's influence while the others are less or not at all. The sad thing is that those countries who dare to say NO to the USA'a policy are named as dissidents as we had opportunity to witness yesterday. So after all this I wonder what is the purpose of the EU while divided in the groups of "right and wrong" countries? What kind of unity is that while the voice of one "right" country has more values than the voice of another so called "dissident" country? It is sad to witness what is the Europe turning in!

“We have nothing against the composition of such a mission or with the fact that it’s a European mission… What we oppose is a European mission failing to carry out European policies in Kosovo, which is sadly the case as it is carrying out American policies there,” Samardžić claimed.

- absolutely spot on and all the more reason for Tadic to implicitly endorse this reality that Serbia faces and to ensure the EU understand that for Serbia this is not "polictical games" because of elections it is Serbia's right to ensure and continue to ensure its sovereignity! Of course Serbia wants to be part of the EU but one thing is certain - Serbia's Sovereignity and territorial integrity must be continued and respected as such! Its upto the EU do you want Serbia as a whole or supporting the anti-international law stance which wishes to enforce the partition of the UN recognised, Sovereign, European and Democratic Republic of Serbia and create an illegal entity with ill-defined parameters on Serbian territory that has no historical, ethnic nor economic reasoning for being ? It's a straight choice either, or ?

"Speaking of the possible arrival of an EU mission without a Security Council resolution, he warned that Serbia could not accept such a decision and that it would, in such a scenario, intensify its presence in the province by organizing the lives of loyal citizens."

- I would go even further and start legal processes for the illegal sale of all and every state business that has been persued thus far in Serbia's sovereign territory. For instance the mobile phone tenders were issued under the UN but this respects Serbia's sovereignity if any country acts against this then they need to clarify the legal stance of their companies doing business in what remains Serbian sovereignity - profits will need to be taxed to Serbia while 1244 remains and thus will and can be sued in those states who try to act against it - the whole of the UNMIK privatisation process over the last 8 years will be in tatters.

EA

Serbia is one of the largest Balkan countries, the EU obviously will not suffer by not accepting them, by why do all the Albanians here think that Serbia is so insignificant with regards to the EU? Why would the EU be pushing Serbia for EU membership if it is so insignificant? Why would they be bothering with Macedonia and Albania, are they more significant than Serbia? Serbia is in Europe and is welcome in the EU if it wants to join, nobody has the right to deny them EU membership, same as Albania and Macedonia, who are both poorer.

Peter, thanks to Serbia's policy of aggression towards their neighbors, their country is still under de-construction. The EU is offering potential membership as an insentive or symbolic carrot, if they refuse to accept the reality of Kosova's independance, then it's time to pull out the stick, because eventually that's the only language they understand. As for Macedonian and Albanians progress towards the EU that's totaly unrelated to Serbia.Slovenia is much smaller and "poorer" than big bad Serbia and yet they're in the EU and NATO. Did I forget to mention Slovenia is the current chair of the EU,although they aren't as rich or big as your favorite Serbia.

Kostunica's game is pathetic.

He knows that he cannot get SAA signed because of the war criminals. But then again,
he might and that he can kill two birds with one stone.
In other words he is saying that supposedly now there are two issues with signing the agreement. One is the support of Kosova's independence by EU and the other is the request to deliver Mladic.

Kostunica is essentially asking to drop one of the requests as his way of making "compromise", knowing full well that Kosova's independence is coming very soon no matter what. He hopes he can sign the agreement without delivering the criminals and he already has kept the door open for this through Tadic and Jeremic. I believe all this ambiguous stand is about to test the waters. At the end Kostunica thinks that he can sign SAA whenever he wants.

One advice for him. He better rush it before EU puts another condition for him "to recognize officially Kosova's independence if Serbia wants to get to EU.
(Please don't respond to this comment with the likes of "Mighty Serbia doesn't need EU", because that's not my point).

# 10

Tom, obviously you are mixing up the terms nationalist and patriot! A nationalist is a person who defends his nation’s interest even at the costs of somebodyelses (his neighbour nation) destruction, whereas a patriot is a person who defends his nation’s interest but not at the costs of somebodyelses destruction! This is a huge difference! According to my definition you might say that the wars that Serbia waged in the 1990s in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosova were patriotic but I beg to disagree!

Anyway what’s done is done and I think it is about high time to move to a better and prosperous future! If Serbia embraces politics of respect for and co-operation and friendship with its neighbours that would be great, but if Serbia chooses to pursue nationalistic policy then that is its decision but it is sure that it will become a pariah state with a grim future! Let me assure you one thing, if Serbia further pursues this self-isolationist and nationalistic policy only the common citizen will suffer. The politicians have already taken care of themselves!

You might say, what do you (as a non-Serb) care about Serbia. Oh I do care, because I would like my neighbour become stable, democratic and prosperous, otherwise if my he is poor and nationalistic oriented it will be a source of instability that will eventually drag me into his vicious circle.

Peter,I think you completely missed my point.I wasn't trying to show or claim to be an expert on Slovenian's economy or progress. As I understand your #8 comments, according to you Serbia is a larger and more significant country than Macedonia or Albania and therefor deserves to be accepted into the EU sooner.Is that not what you meant? Then you claim in comment #15, you state that Serbia is not you favorite and yet in many of your comments one can read your obvious pro-Serb tilt.My point is if you truly cared for Serbia then you would help by making them aware of there mistakes.Their refusal to comply with EU membership requirements simply disqualfies them.Harboring mass murderers , rapist, arsonist, and baby killers shouldn't cause any senseable people to be proud.I am under the impression that Serbia will never turn in their fugitives from justice because the country is still in denial of their prominent role in committing Genocide in Serbenica. What I suggest for the EU in their attempts to stabilize Serbia is to first convince Serbia that the inevitable independance of Kosova is fast approaching.

Economic agreements and politics are always inter-linked; that's how the US plays its games. Think of all of the US-inspired economic sanctions against the Serbs in the past. Signing the SAA is a green light for the albanians to steal Kosovo; everybody knows that. The big myth is that Serbia has to join the EU to revive its economy. The EU will trade with Serbia whether or not it's a member; business is business. The EU is just angry that Serbia can make special deals with Russia without EU interference and graft.

Simple Mind,

Please tell us what you understand by the term "nationalist". Since when was this supposed to be an insult? I would consider myself an Irish nationalist in that I identify with my country and its culture, I would defend it against foreign aggression, and I suppose I am proud when the country or its people achieve something of value. To me that's a nationalist, and I would imagine that most people in all countries feel the same way. So what's the problem?
I find it very strange that only Serbs are not allowed to be nationalists. Personally, I would have less respect for the Serbs if they were not nationalists.
If you do not feel the same way about your country, wherever it is, I think you are blowing in the wind.

Times have changed. That's why. It's not 1992. It's not 1999. If you still do not understand why. Russia is back stronger than ever. Oh my. The Western powers have made colossal mistakes. Colossal. You know what I am talking about. All this posturing and bluffing by the West is useless. Serbia has all the rights to defend her interests and people.

azir

Slovenia is the richest country of all the former CEE communist states, more so than even Estonia and the Czech Republic. They are classified as a high income state, they have overtaken some of the EU states (Portugal and Greece) and their army (though small), is very modern in terms of equipment. They are miles ahead of Serbia in terms of development, I don't know where you get what you said. Have a look at their GDP, GDP per head (GNI, HDI and PPP), GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, economic makeup (in terms of industry, agriculture and services), trade deficit and percentage of people living below the poverty line, then compare it to the same statistics of Serbia and you will see.

Serbia's economy compares to that of Bulgaria or Romania, meaning technically they are ready to be in the EU (I think it's too early for all those states, but I am not the enlargement minister). Albania and Macedonia are behind, the only thing keeping Serbia from membership is the issue with the war criminals (I have no idea why the Serbian government doesn't bring these psychopaths to justice, surely even the Serbian politicians realize that these were mass murders not seen in Europe since the Nazis and Commies).

BTW Serbia is not my favorite country. I respect and admire them and their culture, but not more than any other European states.

Simple Mind,
Thank you for your response but I still have a problem with your definition of nationalism. I do not accept that nationalism implies aggression against one's neighbours. Let me go back to Ireland for a moment.

During the conflict in Northern Ireland, those who opposed the British presence were described in two different ways. Those who supported armed struggle (IRA, Sinn Fein) were usually described as "republicans". On the other hand, those who pursued peaceful or constitutional methods were known as "nationalists".

Essentially, I believe that using the term "nationalist" in a derogatory sense is a misuse of language. Serbs, as much as the Irish or anyone else, have every right to be nationalists.

azir

"As I understand your #8 comments, according to you Serbia is a larger and more significant country than Macedonia or Albania and therefor deserves to be accepted into the EU sooner.Is that not what you meant?"

No, that is not what I meant. EA was saying that Serbia is of no importance to EU, I was telling him that it is, since they are still negotiating with them over Kosovo, the SAA etc. My use of Albania and Macedonia was just to show that smaller, poorer countries than Serbia also mean something to the EU, since they have both been given potential candidate status.

"Then you claim in comment #15, you state that Serbia is not you favorite and yet in many of your comments one can read your obvious pro-Serb tilt.My point is if you truly cared for Serbia then you would help by making them aware of there mistakes."

That is your opinion, I am not tilting towards Serbia over Kosovo, I just favor their stance more in this whole status issue, but this does not mean I have bias. With regards to Serbia's mistakes, since you have analyzed my posts so much, then how did you happen to miss all the times I criticized Serbia's actions during the Yugoslav Wars and the harboring of Mladic and Karadzic?

"Their refusal to comply with EU membership requirements simply disqualfies them."

I agree, exactly the same situation was with Croatia.

Kostunica is leader of the nation, Tadic as head of state does not have THAT much power as he seems to think. Kostunica should make his position more assertive in shutting up lose cannon minsters and other officials, they may disagree but they cannot make national decisions based on what they see as interest. There is a lack of respect for the rank system in the government. A Sergent cannot dictate to a General what the army must do.