Serbia's interest lies with EU—Basescu

Having been visiting all the Balkan countries for the last 15 years, I can assure Mark that the Romanians do indeed see Serbia as a friendly nation. They were very anti NATO's bombing campaign and indeed commented that while Serbia withstood 70 days of bombing, 70 minutes would have been enough for them. Throughout the period of sanctions, Romania did "help" Serbia, their friendly Orthodox neighbour. It is very positive that they both support Serbia's position on Kosovo and Serbia's desire to join the EU.

Mark,

In your mind the Croatians are the friendly ones? Siding with Hitler, trying to exterminate Serbian people and you seem to find no fault with them. Just like you see no fault with the Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians who also sided with Hitler and Ottoman Turks who enslaved Serbian People. These are the groups Serbian people only have a problem with in the area. With neighbours like these what kind of behaviour do you expect from Serbs? For them (Serbs) to say you are all right for siding with Hitler and Ottoman Turks and never repenting about crimes committed against Serbian people. Majority does not automatically mean Right or Good.

And what is your problem with Serbia being described as a friendly nation, Mark? They are trying their best to move on and certainly aren't threatening anyone in the region.

Haven't they been demonised enough now?

From my understanding tens of thousands of ethnic Romanians live in Serbia and tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs live in Romania.Has the Romanian Jew Elie Wiesel ever had one bad thing to say about Serbs?Not that I know of.Food for thought for the beautiful Albanian people on how all of their neighbors perceive them.Shalom

And what is your problem with Serbia being described as a friendly nation, Mark? They are trying their best to move on and certainly aren't threatening anyone in the region.

Haven't they been demonised enough now?

Joe, Mark, if in any doubt about Serb friendliness to others, just look at the demographics. Compare Serbia with other countries formed on the territories of former Yugoslavia. Which country in the region has the biggest percentage of minorities in its population? Which countries become most ethnically homogen in recent years? These numbers say it all. Base your opinions on the facts, not on propaganda.

Of course Romanian president speaks about our friendliness, we always had a good relations with Romania.

"Haven't they been demonised enough now?"

No, not nearly enough. Nicolic victory in the first round shows just how right the international community is about Serbia.
If you don't know Seselj and Nikolic were closest partners to Milosevic.

is it a wonder that slovenia, croatia, bosnia, macedonia, montenegro and soon to include kosove have torn themselves away from serbo-slavia? according to many serbs, everyone is wrong and they're the only group that is right?

And what is your problem with Serbia being described as a friendly nation, Mark? They are trying their best to move on and certainly aren't threatening anyone in the region.

Haven't they been demonised enough now?
(kate, 29 January 2008 17:53)

kate,
it isn't as if serbia has done anything to cleanse herself of all of the misery she's caused to so many people in the region. infact, she's going in the opposite direction.
the wounds are still very fresh. belgrade's leaders are all too aware of this but their lack of cooperation is clearly evident and as a result they will continue to be treated in the same regard. sadly, it's the innocent, decent people of serbia who will pay the price and not the politicians who put them in this mess.

he referred to serbia as a "friendly" nation. i nearly spilled hot tea on myself from laughing.
as serbia's immediate neighbors how they feel about that quote.

Mark,

Good idea. Let us include N. Korea and Iran as "friendly"
nations.

NATO's bombing campaign and indeed commented that while Serbia withstood 70 days of bombing, 70 minutes would have been enough for them. (Martin, 29 January 2008 18:06)

martin,
they may seem "friendly" w/regard to the relationship they share but i can assure that is not the perception worldwide. i realize that serbia could care less about what other people think of them but i think they will regret that too.
as far as the bombing goes, it could've been avoided all together but your leader slobo, that was elected by the serbian people, decided to go a different route. now it seems the serbian people are on the verge of elected another leader along the lines of slobo. for your sake, i hope he doesn't bring you the same results.

Cygnus,

Don't be ridiculous by going back to WWII or to the Ottomans. We are talking about friendliness NOW in 2008. Ask non-Serbs, who visited both Croatia and Serbia recently to find out who are friendlier. You will not like the answer.

"Serbia will not give up on Kosovo and Metohija within its borders, nor will it give up a Kosovo and Metohija in which everyone has the same rights, both Serbs and Albanians. At the same time, Serbia will not give up on its European future," Tadić said.

-Mr Tadic, you might be asking for too much. Serbia has to make a decision, EU or Russia. Kosovo is only Serbias on resolution 1244 and will never be more than than.

I hope for all sides that there will be no violence over this issue. That would be a bid loss for all parties.

Mark,

I share your opinion about Serbia as a "friendly" nation.
The funny thing is that some people try to present everything in light of the Rumanian-Serbian relations..just like there would hardly be other neighbors. And according to someone if Elie Wiesental has no complaint than everything has to be OK.

Serbia has not been "demonized" rather finally after committing mass murders and endless list of human rights violations which violate international law,the Serbs are being actually exposed.Kate,only when Serbs accept responsibility can long term peace stand a chance.

Stevan,

Your argument about your minorities is extremely weak:
1. You inherited those minorities when Vojvodina was awarded to you as a present.
2. Those minorities did not become your citizens by free choice but by force following those border changes.
3. Those minorities are poor and can not afford to move to other countries.
4. If it would be only up to Serbia than Vojvodina would become homogene in no time.

Mark,

You come on here to smear Serbians every chance you get, how exactly does that exude friendliness. It's easy to go down a list of neighbouring nations who do not like Albanians too you know... Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro have all had there fair share of problems with Albanians just to name a few. I also fail to see who or where you got these reports on Croatian friendliness, do you like the Thompson concerts where they zieg hail 40 thousand strong and chant slogans from WWII era, maybe you were referring to events like this that epitomize Croatian 'friendliness'?

"he referred to serbia as a "friendly" nation. i nearly spilled hot tea on myself from laughing.
as serbia's immediate neighbors how they feel about that quote.
(mark, 29 January 2008 17:20) "

well the last time I checked the atlas, Serbia has a longer border with Romania than any other neighbour. So how immediate is that for you?

Serbia's neighbours also include Bulgaria and Hungary. I am also not aware that they and Montenegro feel that level of animosity towards Belgrade that you seemed to be imputing.

You come on here to smear Serbians every chance you get, how exactly does that exude friendliness. It's easy to go down a list of neighbouring nations who do not like Albanians too you know... Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro have all had there fair share of problems with Albanians just to name a few. I also fail to see who or where you got these reports on Croatian friendliness, do you like the Thompson concerts where they zieg hail 40 thousand strong and chant slogans from WWII era, maybe you were referring to events like this that epitomize Croatian 'friendliness'?
(Cygnus, 30 January 2008 19:35)

cygnus,
correction: i don't come here to smear anyone but rather to debate issues that involve the albanian people. you've never seen me commenting on issues that didn't involve albanians so settle down. with that being said, there are plenty of serbs here who spew nonsense w/no regard for their own deeds and if you think i'm going to sit back and ignore it...think again. you certainly don't need my help in tarnishing the image of serbia because your own leaders have mastered that task.

by the way, i didn't bring up croatia but i have nothing but respect for them for more then one reason.

Mark

"by the way, i didn't bring up croatia but i have nothing but respect for them for more then one reason."

There in lies the problem Mark. I could show you brutal mistreatment even outright bestial treatment of Serbian people by it's neighbours and you could quote "have nothing but respect for them". Unless you change that attitude there is no reason to respect your opinion or for you to expect a change in Serbian behaviour.

i couldn't agree more, joe. are we to include n. korea & iran as "freindly" nations?!

Cygnus,
I fail to see what relevance Hitler & the Ottoman Empire have to do w/this report?
Since you’re keen on discussing the Turks, which people in the Balkans were the last to fall to the OE? No. it wasn’t Serbia but rather the Albanians. Sadly, we were the last to come out from under them but read up on how many Serbian traitors join the ranks of the OE to fight against their own kind and other Balkan nationals. Mind you, I am no fan of the OE. In fact, they’ve done no better for Albanians then the Serbs. Naturally you will not believe me since you choose not to and it might bring your world down around you.

Also, what bearing does length of a border have to do with how “friendly” nations are towards one another? That’s absurd.

“Stevan,
Your argument about your minorities is extremely weak:
1. You inherited those minorities when Vojvodina was awarded to you as a present.
2. Those minorities did not become your citizens by free choice but by force following those border changes.
3. Those minorities are poor and can not afford to move to other countries.
4. If it would be only up to Serbia than Vojvodina would become homogene in no time.
(Joe, 30 January 2008 15:15)….”

3. ??? There are not a lot of rich refugees. If they were persecuted, they would escape, regardless of poverty.
4. If Serbs wanted to expel someone they would. There were few moments in history when it could easily been done. That was never Serb intention.

Weak arguments? Let me see – on one side you and many others on this forum keep blaming Serbs as only guilty party of vicious civil war(s) of the nineties, all other parties according to that theory being innocent, peaceful victims. Further more, Serbs are accused of extreme nationalism and intent to create big Serbia by expelling, murdering and committing genocide against all other ethnic groups. It doesn’t stop even there, Kosovo Albanians are claiming that they were/are victim of some kind of perpetual genocide which Serbs keep committing upon them over the centuries.

You all need reality check. Ponder these facts - Serbia is the most multicultural country on the territory of former Jugoslavia. Number of the minorities didn’t significantly change before, during and after the war(s). Serbia also has a biggest number of refuges in Europe, one million Serbs, victims of Croat, Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians extremists. All other new states of ex-YU drastically changed national composition – before the war they had very sizable minorities – after the war almost none, they were expelled and countries became mono ethnic. Number of Kosovo Albanians, (alleged victims of genocide), keep growing while number of Serbs, (alleged perpetrators of genocide), keep dropping!? How all that can be if your accusation are truth? Reality coming in the way of the good story (propaganda)?

I would very much appreciate if someone of K. Albanians would explain to me how could Serbs terrorize K. Albanians during long centuries of Turkish terror? Serbs were christian “raya” without any rights and Albanians converted to Islam got privileges and power in the province. Wasn’t that other way around, that Albanians terorised Serbs?

Cygnus,

Due to a technical problem I think my message did not go though. So I will partially repeat it.
1. Please realize that we are talking about friendliness of people of nowadays not of past centuries.
2. Please ask non-Serbs, who visited recently both Croatia and Serbia. Find out who is friendlier.

There in lies the problem Mark. I could show you brutal mistreatment even outright bestial treatment of Serbian people by it's neighbours and you could quote "have nothing but respect for them". Unless you change that attitude there is no reason to respect your opinion or for you to expect a change in Serbian behaviour.
(Cygnus, 31 January 2008 04:03)

cygnus,
i don't doubt that brutal deeds were done between serbs & croats during ww2 and the 1990's. this, unfortunately, is the nature of war in the balkans. that is why serbia shouldn't elect people like slobo and start the ethnic strife that shook the balkans for all those years.
i'm assuming your serbian, right? if so, you probably have a favorable opinion of russia whereas i do not.
i don't respect them for many reasons aside from what they do and say about kosove but i won't get into that here today.
croatians and albanians have a good relationship so i have no reason to dislike them and vica versa.

Cygnus,
I fail to see what relevance Hitler & the Ottoman Empire have to do w/this report?
Since you’re keen on discussing the Turks, which people in the Balkans were the last to fall to the OE? No. it wasn’t Serbia but rather the Albanians. Sadly, we were the last to come out from under them but read up on how many Serbian traitors join the ranks of the OE to fight against their own kind and other Balkan nationals. Mind you, I am no fan of the OE. In fact, they’ve done no better for Albanians then the Serbs. Naturally you will not believe me since you choose not to and it might bring your world down around you.

Also, what bearing does length of a border have to do with how “friendly” nations are towards one another? That’s absurd.

"Serbia will not give up on Kosovo and Metohija within its borders, nor will it give up a Kosovo and Metohija in which everyone has the same rights, both Serbs and Albanians. At the same time, Serbia will not give up on its European future," Tadić said.

-Mr Tadic, you might be asking for too much. Serbia has to make a decision, EU or Russia. Kosovo is only Serbias on resolution 1244 and will never be more than than.

I hope for all sides that there will be no violence over this issue. That would be a bid loss for all parties.

he referred to serbia as a "friendly" nation. i nearly spilled hot tea on myself from laughing.
as serbia's immediate neighbors how they feel about that quote.

is it a wonder that slovenia, croatia, bosnia, macedonia, montenegro and soon to include kosove have torn themselves away from serbo-slavia? according to many serbs, everyone is wrong and they're the only group that is right?

Cygnus,

Don't be ridiculous by going back to WWII or to the Ottomans. We are talking about friendliness NOW in 2008. Ask non-Serbs, who visited both Croatia and Serbia recently to find out who are friendlier. You will not like the answer.

Serbia has not been "demonized" rather finally after committing mass murders and endless list of human rights violations which violate international law,the Serbs are being actually exposed.Kate,only when Serbs accept responsibility can long term peace stand a chance.

Stevan,

Your argument about your minorities is extremely weak:
1. You inherited those minorities when Vojvodina was awarded to you as a present.
2. Those minorities did not become your citizens by free choice but by force following those border changes.
3. Those minorities are poor and can not afford to move to other countries.
4. If it would be only up to Serbia than Vojvodina would become homogene in no time.

You come on here to smear Serbians every chance you get, how exactly does that exude friendliness. It's easy to go down a list of neighbouring nations who do not like Albanians too you know... Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro have all had there fair share of problems with Albanians just to name a few. I also fail to see who or where you got these reports on Croatian friendliness, do you like the Thompson concerts where they zieg hail 40 thousand strong and chant slogans from WWII era, maybe you were referring to events like this that epitomize Croatian 'friendliness'?
(Cygnus, 30 January 2008 19:35)

cygnus,
correction: i don't come here to smear anyone but rather to debate issues that involve the albanian people. you've never seen me commenting on issues that didn't involve albanians so settle down. with that being said, there are plenty of serbs here who spew nonsense w/no regard for their own deeds and if you think i'm going to sit back and ignore it...think again. you certainly don't need my help in tarnishing the image of serbia because your own leaders have mastered that task.

by the way, i didn't bring up croatia but i have nothing but respect for them for more then one reason.

"Haven't they been demonised enough now?"

No, not nearly enough. Nicolic victory in the first round shows just how right the international community is about Serbia.
If you don't know Seselj and Nikolic were closest partners to Milosevic.

And what is your problem with Serbia being described as a friendly nation, Mark? They are trying their best to move on and certainly aren't threatening anyone in the region.

Haven't they been demonised enough now?
(kate, 29 January 2008 17:53)

kate,
it isn't as if serbia has done anything to cleanse herself of all of the misery she's caused to so many people in the region. infact, she's going in the opposite direction.
the wounds are still very fresh. belgrade's leaders are all too aware of this but their lack of cooperation is clearly evident and as a result they will continue to be treated in the same regard. sadly, it's the innocent, decent people of serbia who will pay the price and not the politicians who put them in this mess.

NATO's bombing campaign and indeed commented that while Serbia withstood 70 days of bombing, 70 minutes would have been enough for them. (Martin, 29 January 2008 18:06)

martin,
they may seem "friendly" w/regard to the relationship they share but i can assure that is not the perception worldwide. i realize that serbia could care less about what other people think of them but i think they will regret that too.
as far as the bombing goes, it could've been avoided all together but your leader slobo, that was elected by the serbian people, decided to go a different route. now it seems the serbian people are on the verge of elected another leader along the lines of slobo. for your sake, i hope he doesn't bring you the same results.

Mark,

I share your opinion about Serbia as a "friendly" nation.
The funny thing is that some people try to present everything in light of the Rumanian-Serbian relations..just like there would hardly be other neighbors. And according to someone if Elie Wiesental has no complaint than everything has to be OK.

Mark,

Good idea. Let us include N. Korea and Iran as "friendly"
nations.

And what is your problem with Serbia being described as a friendly nation, Mark? They are trying their best to move on and certainly aren't threatening anyone in the region.

Haven't they been demonised enough now?

Having been visiting all the Balkan countries for the last 15 years, I can assure Mark that the Romanians do indeed see Serbia as a friendly nation. They were very anti NATO's bombing campaign and indeed commented that while Serbia withstood 70 days of bombing, 70 minutes would have been enough for them. Throughout the period of sanctions, Romania did "help" Serbia, their friendly Orthodox neighbour. It is very positive that they both support Serbia's position on Kosovo and Serbia's desire to join the EU.

From my understanding tens of thousands of ethnic Romanians live in Serbia and tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs live in Romania.Has the Romanian Jew Elie Wiesel ever had one bad thing to say about Serbs?Not that I know of.Food for thought for the beautiful Albanian people on how all of their neighbors perceive them.Shalom

i couldn't agree more, joe. are we to include n. korea & iran as "freindly" nations?!

Cygnus,

Due to a technical problem I think my message did not go though. So I will partially repeat it.
1. Please realize that we are talking about friendliness of people of nowadays not of past centuries.
2. Please ask non-Serbs, who visited recently both Croatia and Serbia. Find out who is friendlier.

Joe, Mark, if in any doubt about Serb friendliness to others, just look at the demographics. Compare Serbia with other countries formed on the territories of former Yugoslavia. Which country in the region has the biggest percentage of minorities in its population? Which countries become most ethnically homogen in recent years? These numbers say it all. Base your opinions on the facts, not on propaganda.

Of course Romanian president speaks about our friendliness, we always had a good relations with Romania.

Mark,

You come on here to smear Serbians every chance you get, how exactly does that exude friendliness. It's easy to go down a list of neighbouring nations who do not like Albanians too you know... Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro have all had there fair share of problems with Albanians just to name a few. I also fail to see who or where you got these reports on Croatian friendliness, do you like the Thompson concerts where they zieg hail 40 thousand strong and chant slogans from WWII era, maybe you were referring to events like this that epitomize Croatian 'friendliness'?

There in lies the problem Mark. I could show you brutal mistreatment even outright bestial treatment of Serbian people by it's neighbours and you could quote "have nothing but respect for them". Unless you change that attitude there is no reason to respect your opinion or for you to expect a change in Serbian behaviour.
(Cygnus, 31 January 2008 04:03)

cygnus,
i don't doubt that brutal deeds were done between serbs & croats during ww2 and the 1990's. this, unfortunately, is the nature of war in the balkans. that is why serbia shouldn't elect people like slobo and start the ethnic strife that shook the balkans for all those years.
i'm assuming your serbian, right? if so, you probably have a favorable opinion of russia whereas i do not.
i don't respect them for many reasons aside from what they do and say about kosove but i won't get into that here today.
croatians and albanians have a good relationship so i have no reason to dislike them and vica versa.

And what is your problem with Serbia being described as a friendly nation, Mark? They are trying their best to move on and certainly aren't threatening anyone in the region.

Haven't they been demonised enough now?

Mark,

In your mind the Croatians are the friendly ones? Siding with Hitler, trying to exterminate Serbian people and you seem to find no fault with them. Just like you see no fault with the Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians who also sided with Hitler and Ottoman Turks who enslaved Serbian People. These are the groups Serbian people only have a problem with in the area. With neighbours like these what kind of behaviour do you expect from Serbs? For them (Serbs) to say you are all right for siding with Hitler and Ottoman Turks and never repenting about crimes committed against Serbian people. Majority does not automatically mean Right or Good.

"he referred to serbia as a "friendly" nation. i nearly spilled hot tea on myself from laughing.
as serbia's immediate neighbors how they feel about that quote.
(mark, 29 January 2008 17:20) "

well the last time I checked the atlas, Serbia has a longer border with Romania than any other neighbour. So how immediate is that for you?

Serbia's neighbours also include Bulgaria and Hungary. I am also not aware that they and Montenegro feel that level of animosity towards Belgrade that you seemed to be imputing.

“Stevan,
Your argument about your minorities is extremely weak:
1. You inherited those minorities when Vojvodina was awarded to you as a present.
2. Those minorities did not become your citizens by free choice but by force following those border changes.
3. Those minorities are poor and can not afford to move to other countries.
4. If it would be only up to Serbia than Vojvodina would become homogene in no time.
(Joe, 30 January 2008 15:15)….”

3. ??? There are not a lot of rich refugees. If they were persecuted, they would escape, regardless of poverty.
4. If Serbs wanted to expel someone they would. There were few moments in history when it could easily been done. That was never Serb intention.

Weak arguments? Let me see – on one side you and many others on this forum keep blaming Serbs as only guilty party of vicious civil war(s) of the nineties, all other parties according to that theory being innocent, peaceful victims. Further more, Serbs are accused of extreme nationalism and intent to create big Serbia by expelling, murdering and committing genocide against all other ethnic groups. It doesn’t stop even there, Kosovo Albanians are claiming that they were/are victim of some kind of perpetual genocide which Serbs keep committing upon them over the centuries.

You all need reality check. Ponder these facts - Serbia is the most multicultural country on the territory of former Jugoslavia. Number of the minorities didn’t significantly change before, during and after the war(s). Serbia also has a biggest number of refuges in Europe, one million Serbs, victims of Croat, Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians extremists. All other new states of ex-YU drastically changed national composition – before the war they had very sizable minorities – after the war almost none, they were expelled and countries became mono ethnic. Number of Kosovo Albanians, (alleged victims of genocide), keep growing while number of Serbs, (alleged perpetrators of genocide), keep dropping!? How all that can be if your accusation are truth? Reality coming in the way of the good story (propaganda)?

I would very much appreciate if someone of K. Albanians would explain to me how could Serbs terrorize K. Albanians during long centuries of Turkish terror? Serbs were christian “raya” without any rights and Albanians converted to Islam got privileges and power in the province. Wasn’t that other way around, that Albanians terorised Serbs?

Mark

"by the way, i didn't bring up croatia but i have nothing but respect for them for more then one reason."

There in lies the problem Mark. I could show you brutal mistreatment even outright bestial treatment of Serbian people by it's neighbours and you could quote "have nothing but respect for them". Unless you change that attitude there is no reason to respect your opinion or for you to expect a change in Serbian behaviour.