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Serbia is one of the Russian-controlled Governments, along with Hungary and Georgia; these are the countries where we expect to see such attacks made to suppres

Serbia is one of the Russian-controlled Governments, along with Hungary and Georgia; these are the countries where we expect to see such attacks made to suppress protest. (USA is not controlled, any more than say China is controlled, but is an authoritarian regime (so no real elections), so there's a shared world view, and here also I would expect to see much the same.)

alephnerd 2y ago
> Serbia is one of the Russian-controlled Governments Serbia is a major weapons supplier for Ukraine [0][1][2] and has backed Ukraine's stance on Crimea as it has implications for Serbia's stance on Kosovo. Vucic only cares about Vucic, and will work with any country (Germany [3], Russia, China [4], America [5], Turkiye [6], UAE [7], etc) to continue to hold power and balance alternatives. By becoming close with every major player in the region, it makes it easier for Vucic to continue to crackdown on opposition without dealing with condemnations (eg. Germany will remain silent because of the billions in FDI). Orban did the same thing, but after grinding the EP to a halt, patients for Orban grew thin. By remaining outside the EU, Vucic can continue to hold power while not burning that many bridges with European leadership. > USA is not controlled, any more than say China is controlled, but is an authoritarian regime (so no real elections) Huh? Serbia is a night and day difference to the US. The best comparison to the US is probably Israel. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/leaked-us-intel-document-claims-serbia-agreed-arm-ukraine-2023-04-12/ https://www.reuters.com/world/leaked-us-intel-document-claim... [1] - https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/09/19/ukraine-is-a-booming-market-for-balkan-arms-makers https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/09/19/ukraine-is-a-boo... [2] - https://www.ft.com/content/136ed721-fd50-4815-8314-d9df8dc67fd6 https://www.ft.com/content/136ed721-fd50-4815-8314-d9df8dc67... [3] - https://www.politico.eu/article/serbian-president-aleksandar-vucic-german-chancellor-olaf-scholz-meeting-lithium-deal-electric-vehicles/ https://www.politico.eu/article/serbian-president-aleksandar... [4] - https://apnews.com/article/serbia-china-xi-jinping-visit-nato-e37b7ad0e89ac73b83e754142ce8e399 https://apnews.com/article/serbia-china-xi-jinping-visit-nat... [5] - https://amp.dw.com/en/serbia-and-us-the-next-great-trans-atlantic-friendship/a-71268835 https://amp.dw.com/en/serbia-and-us-the-next-great-trans-atl... [6] - https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/defense-at-forefront-as-erdogan-vucic-tout-long-term-co-op/amp https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/defense-at-for... [7] - https://www.mei.edu/publications/serbias-best-friend-arab-world-uae https://www.mei.edu/publications/serbias-best-friend-arab-wo...
- casenmgreen 2y ago
  I am corrected. Thank you, and very much; I had thought I knew where Serbia was in things, but I was mistaken. I don't want to be mistaken, especially not now, where the situation is so serious. It's an excellent post, and I'm very grateful to you for the time you spent pulling all the links together.
  - Davidp00 2y ago
    Given the correction, can you edit your initial comment?
qingcharles 2y ago
I don't think it's totally clear-cut that the USA isn't currently Russian-controlled, at least in terms of some of the higher offices.
grujicd 2y ago
It's incorrect that Serbia has Russian-controlled government. Why would you say that? We're quite capable of having our own independent dictator, thank you. If anything, Vučić was widely supported by EU. One of our problems is that there's almost no pressure on government from any external side - not from US, not from EU, not from Russia, not from China. Opposition is entirely internal.
- hahamaster 2y ago
  [flagged]
- vladms 2y ago
  Pressure from the outside can always lead to polarization and finger pointing as it can't be expected (reasonably) that the other country doesn't in fact has a hidden agenda. So I think it is good there is no pressure from the outside, the government can't say "but it's the evil X that pressure us and supports the riots!" I do hope something comes out of the protests (even if it is just the government being a bit less corrupt), without more horrible violence. But moving societies is hard and many times painful.
- ruszki 2y ago
  Can you share some details about this EU support?
  - emptyfile 2y ago
    [dead]
codedokode 2y ago
It is not Russia-controlled but it has a long history of relationship with Russia: for example, Russian Empire entered WW1 to protect Serbia.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  the Russians supported Serbia in the 90s as well, albeit in a more limited fashion since the wall just came down and things were pretty raw and hectic in the post-USSR world.

alephnerd 2y ago

> Serbia is one of the Russian-controlled Governments Serbia is a major weapons supplier for Ukraine [0][1][2] and has backed Ukraine's stance on Crimea as it has implications for Serbia's stance on Kosovo. Vucic only cares about Vucic, and will work with any country (Germany [3], Russia, China [4], America [5], Turkiye [6], UAE [7], etc) to continue to hold power and balance alternatives. By becoming close with every major player in the region, it makes it easier for Vucic to continue to crackdown on opposition without dealing with condemnations (eg. Germany will remain silent because of the billions in FDI). Orban did the same thing, but after grinding the EP to a halt, patients for Orban grew thin. By remaining outside the EU, Vucic can continue to hold power while not burning that many bridges with European leadership. > USA is not controlled, any more than say China is controlled, but is an authoritarian regime (so no real elections) Huh? Serbia is a night and day difference to the US. The best comparison to the US is probably Israel. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/leaked-us-intel-document-claims-serbia-agreed-arm-ukraine-2023-04-12/ https://www.reuters.com/world/leaked-us-intel-document-claim... [1] - https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/09/19/ukraine-is-a-booming-market-for-balkan-arms-makers https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/09/19/ukraine-is-a-boo... [2] - https://www.ft.com/content/136ed721-fd50-4815-8314-d9df8dc67fd6 https://www.ft.com/content/136ed721-fd50-4815-8314-d9df8dc67... [3] - https://www.politico.eu/article/serbian-president-aleksandar-vucic-german-chancellor-olaf-scholz-meeting-lithium-deal-electric-vehicles/ https://www.politico.eu/article/serbian-president-aleksandar... [4] - https://apnews.com/article/serbia-china-xi-jinping-visit-nato-e37b7ad0e89ac73b83e754142ce8e399 https://apnews.com/article/serbia-china-xi-jinping-visit-nat... [5] - https://amp.dw.com/en/serbia-and-us-the-next-great-trans-atlantic-friendship/a-71268835 https://amp.dw.com/en/serbia-and-us-the-next-great-trans-atl... [6] - https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/defense-at-forefront-as-erdogan-vucic-tout-long-term-co-op/amp https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/defense-at-for... [7] - https://www.mei.edu/publications/serbias-best-friend-arab-world-uae https://www.mei.edu/publications/serbias-best-friend-arab-wo...

casenmgreen 2y ago
I am corrected. Thank you, and very much; I had thought I knew where Serbia was in things, but I was mistaken. I don't want to be mistaken, especially not now, where the situation is so serious. It's an excellent post, and I'm very grateful to you for the time you spent pulling all the links together.
- Davidp00 2y ago
  Given the correction, can you edit your initial comment?

qingcharles 2y ago

I don't think it's totally clear-cut that the USA isn't currently Russian-controlled, at least in terms of some of the higher offices.

grujicd 2y ago

It's incorrect that Serbia has Russian-controlled government. Why would you say that? We're quite capable of having our own independent dictator, thank you. If anything, Vučić was widely supported by EU. One of our problems is that there's almost no pressure on government from any external side - not from US, not from EU, not from Russia, not from China. Opposition is entirely internal.

hahamaster 2y ago
[flagged]
vladms 2y ago
Pressure from the outside can always lead to polarization and finger pointing as it can't be expected (reasonably) that the other country doesn't in fact has a hidden agenda. So I think it is good there is no pressure from the outside, the government can't say "but it's the evil X that pressure us and supports the riots!" I do hope something comes out of the protests (even if it is just the government being a bit less corrupt), without more horrible violence. But moving societies is hard and many times painful.
ruszki 2y ago
Can you share some details about this EU support?
- emptyfile 2y ago
  [dead]

codedokode 2y ago

It is not Russia-controlled but it has a long history of relationship with Russia: for example, Russian Empire entered WW1 to protect Serbia.

red-iron-pine 2y ago
the Russians supported Serbia in the 90s as well, albeit in a more limited fashion since the wall just came down and things were pretty raw and hectic in the post-USSR world.