I'm trying to decide whether one of the commentators on my recent Antiwar.com column is a troll, a "Kosovian" trying to reframe the issue, or a self-defeating Serb. See for yourselves; "Brian" says:
So, is "Brian" right? Are the Serbs finished, their cause lost? Hardly. Because if that truly were the case, would he (but also the "Kosovian", cultist, and Imperial media) be trying so hard to make it sound so? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Unlike "Brian," I am not about to make blanket statements about what all Serbs think or feel. Having observed the place for over a decade, however, I can make a case for three major groups of them.
The Quisling Cult
The government, most political parties, banks and finance, and the media are run by what I call the "Quisling Cult," whose adherents range from opportunistic to True Believers. Whether they are motivated by virulent self-hatred (nurtured by the Communists, and the Hapsburgs before them) or simply money and power, they seek to ape the Empire and the EU, whom they see as their betters, in hopes of joining them.
In the past, pressure to join with invaders and "rise up" from the tormented crowd produced converts that went on to became Croats, Albanians, or "Bosniaks". The Cult is merely an extension of this phenomenon.
Due to the uncanny resemblance with the cargo cults of New Guinea, the "Quisling Cult" seemed like a logical name. This group is not very numerous. It is, however, both loud and in charge. If this sounds familiar, bear in mind it was copied from a template, after all.
The Confused Patriots
Those opposed to Serbia's occupation and ongoing degradation are more numerous than the Cult, but lack cohesion. They know what they don't want - giving up Kosovo, being forced into the EU - but aren't entirely sure what they do want, or how to go about fighting for it. "Calculated neutrality" isn't exactly an idea people would be willing to kill or die for. Even if they managed to formulate a message, they would still be barred from the media - but that's a far smaller problem, and easier to solve when they get to it.
The Serb identity was first thrown into confusion almost a century ago with the creation of "brotherly" Yugoslavia, then systematically suppressed, undermined, falsified and obliterated by the Communist Yugoslavia, leaving it open as to what exactly it means to be a Serb these days - the situation the Cult and the Empire have exploited, while the patriots seem more unable than unwilling to address.
Serbian politics over the past two decades have been characterized by betrayal that makes "Game of Thrones" an exercise in trust. Anyone even remotely on the side of the patriots has been overthrown, murdered, co-opted or suborned, until the Cult dominated almost all politics. The die-hard remnant is fractious. They remind me a lot of the Whites after the Bolshevik revolution- with the Tsar gone, they have no common cause, and hatred of the Reds just isn't enough. About the only issue uniting them is Kosovo, but even then they have no strategic vision as to how to fight for it. So they fight tactically, on issues such as the "gay pride parade" or GMO. That, I think, goes a long way to explain their failure to thwart the Quisling Cult.
The Sedated Majority
And then there is the vast majority, desperate for leadership and not finding any. These are the people numbed by Communism, shocked by its collapse, still in a fog as to why and how Yugoslavia's demise happened, and hurt by a decade of UN blockade, NATO bombs and the kleptocracy that followed. They try to live their lives the best they can, in a system designed around robbing them blind.
Some of them, mainly the younger generation, are nihilists, seeking only pleasures of the flesh - they tend to be sympathizers of the Quisling Cult but too lazy to actually join it. Others still follow traditional values, but more out of inertia than any actual awareness of principles behind them. To win, the patriots need to energize and inspire this group, while the Cult only needs to keep them in a passive, lotus-eating funk. This is accomplished through a diet of tabloid newspapers and trash TV: "reality" shows like "Big Brother", soaps, celebrity and other scandals, and mendacious "news."
This is where the Serbs' fabled resilience has been turned against them, as they tolerate government abuses out of fear (constantly reinforced by the media) of war, starvation, even worse poverty and international isolation, but also out of faint hope (again, reinforced by the media) of "living like everyone else" once they enter the Promised Land of the EU. They don't realize they already live like many EU subjects - e.g. Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Cypriots, Spaniards, the Irish...
The polls cited in the media to show alleged Serb support for the EU, or "Kosovian" independence, or anything else, are misleading. At best, they are inaccurate - at worst, deliberately so. Pollsters are paid to provide the desired statistics, so they do. And even if the majority clearly opposed the Cult policies, the Cult would do it anyway. Remember, they hate the people they administer (on behalf of the Empire), and consider them lesser beings.
Lack of massive street protests does not imply consent to government policies. Marching in the streets rarely works, and only if the government is susceptible to popular pressure. The Cult isn't - its power base is not in Serbia, but in Brussels and Washington. If anything, they have been adept at diverting the street to their own ends, from the coup in 2000 to the Kosovo protest in 2008. Last, but not least, when demonstrations do take place - such as the rally in Kosovska Mitrovica, for example - they get downplayed in the media, both foreign and Cult-dominated domestic. When Reuters says "more than 5,000" that's technically true - 30,000 is more than 5,000 - but is rather deliberately missing the point.
Now, believing that Serbia's patriots will get their act together sufficiently to derail the Cult, set their country free and figure out a way of curing the century-long corruption in their midst may sound like wishful thinking at this point in time. But then, I'm sure the Janissaries lording over the Belgrade Pashalik in 1804 didn't really believe their rule was at a risk of ending. Nor did the court in Vienna believe invading Serbia in 1914 could result in a disaster.
If the Empire and the Cult think their story has a happy ending... they haven't been paying attention.
"The Serbian government is not quisling. Serbs are quisling. Serbs have become as an ethnic groups quislings. Forget "Serbs" they "quislings" Where are the protests in Belgrade? Few people can protest more than Serbs!! Where are any 1996 or 2000 protest size rallies!! Serbs are quislings. Serbs now all say Kosova and say Kosova is an independent nation- if they live in Serbia!! It's true about the diaspora being more opposed to kosova independence than serbs that livein Serbia. This is why the government can be so quisling. Because serbs in Serbia are just so tired and exhausted there is now no patriotism. Forget nationalist. Patriotism is dead in Serbia. It is now a quisling nation and that is the new ethnicity.Though using "Kosova" (only Albanians and their sponsors call it that), and incessantly repeating propaganda tropes point to an Albanian partisan, the argument that "Serbs are just so tired and exhausted" to go on existing actually sounds like the incoherent drivel of the Quisling Cult, the self-hating Serbs who wish to be something else. Not surprisingly, the Cult are vocal supporters of Thacistan.
[...]
serbs want to be popular. They want to have money. They don't want to be thought of as caring about kosova land over money. EU is symbolic of being popular and liked.
[...]
No there are not Serbs anymore! The Russian ambassador was going down the right road. Serbs have been replaced by quislings. Forget "Serbs" existing."
So, is "Brian" right? Are the Serbs finished, their cause lost? Hardly. Because if that truly were the case, would he (but also the "Kosovian", cultist, and Imperial media) be trying so hard to make it sound so? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Unlike "Brian," I am not about to make blanket statements about what all Serbs think or feel. Having observed the place for over a decade, however, I can make a case for three major groups of them.
The Quisling Cult
The government, most political parties, banks and finance, and the media are run by what I call the "Quisling Cult," whose adherents range from opportunistic to True Believers. Whether they are motivated by virulent self-hatred (nurtured by the Communists, and the Hapsburgs before them) or simply money and power, they seek to ape the Empire and the EU, whom they see as their betters, in hopes of joining them.
In the past, pressure to join with invaders and "rise up" from the tormented crowd produced converts that went on to became Croats, Albanians, or "Bosniaks". The Cult is merely an extension of this phenomenon.
Due to the uncanny resemblance with the cargo cults of New Guinea, the "Quisling Cult" seemed like a logical name. This group is not very numerous. It is, however, both loud and in charge. If this sounds familiar, bear in mind it was copied from a template, after all.
The Confused Patriots
Those opposed to Serbia's occupation and ongoing degradation are more numerous than the Cult, but lack cohesion. They know what they don't want - giving up Kosovo, being forced into the EU - but aren't entirely sure what they do want, or how to go about fighting for it. "Calculated neutrality" isn't exactly an idea people would be willing to kill or die for. Even if they managed to formulate a message, they would still be barred from the media - but that's a far smaller problem, and easier to solve when they get to it.
Serbian politics over the past two decades have been characterized by betrayal that makes "Game of Thrones" an exercise in trust. Anyone even remotely on the side of the patriots has been overthrown, murdered, co-opted or suborned, until the Cult dominated almost all politics. The die-hard remnant is fractious. They remind me a lot of the Whites after the Bolshevik revolution- with the Tsar gone, they have no common cause, and hatred of the Reds just isn't enough. About the only issue uniting them is Kosovo, but even then they have no strategic vision as to how to fight for it. So they fight tactically, on issues such as the "gay pride parade" or GMO. That, I think, goes a long way to explain their failure to thwart the Quisling Cult.
The Sedated Majority
And then there is the vast majority, desperate for leadership and not finding any. These are the people numbed by Communism, shocked by its collapse, still in a fog as to why and how Yugoslavia's demise happened, and hurt by a decade of UN blockade, NATO bombs and the kleptocracy that followed. They try to live their lives the best they can, in a system designed around robbing them blind.
Some of them, mainly the younger generation, are nihilists, seeking only pleasures of the flesh - they tend to be sympathizers of the Quisling Cult but too lazy to actually join it. Others still follow traditional values, but more out of inertia than any actual awareness of principles behind them. To win, the patriots need to energize and inspire this group, while the Cult only needs to keep them in a passive, lotus-eating funk. This is accomplished through a diet of tabloid newspapers and trash TV: "reality" shows like "Big Brother", soaps, celebrity and other scandals, and mendacious "news."
This is where the Serbs' fabled resilience has been turned against them, as they tolerate government abuses out of fear (constantly reinforced by the media) of war, starvation, even worse poverty and international isolation, but also out of faint hope (again, reinforced by the media) of "living like everyone else" once they enter the Promised Land of the EU. They don't realize they already live like many EU subjects - e.g. Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Cypriots, Spaniards, the Irish...
The polls cited in the media to show alleged Serb support for the EU, or "Kosovian" independence, or anything else, are misleading. At best, they are inaccurate - at worst, deliberately so. Pollsters are paid to provide the desired statistics, so they do. And even if the majority clearly opposed the Cult policies, the Cult would do it anyway. Remember, they hate the people they administer (on behalf of the Empire), and consider them lesser beings.
Lack of massive street protests does not imply consent to government policies. Marching in the streets rarely works, and only if the government is susceptible to popular pressure. The Cult isn't - its power base is not in Serbia, but in Brussels and Washington. If anything, they have been adept at diverting the street to their own ends, from the coup in 2000 to the Kosovo protest in 2008. Last, but not least, when demonstrations do take place - such as the rally in Kosovska Mitrovica, for example - they get downplayed in the media, both foreign and Cult-dominated domestic. When Reuters says "more than 5,000" that's technically true - 30,000 is more than 5,000 - but is rather deliberately missing the point.
Now, believing that Serbia's patriots will get their act together sufficiently to derail the Cult, set their country free and figure out a way of curing the century-long corruption in their midst may sound like wishful thinking at this point in time. But then, I'm sure the Janissaries lording over the Belgrade Pashalik in 1804 didn't really believe their rule was at a risk of ending. Nor did the court in Vienna believe invading Serbia in 1914 could result in a disaster.
If the Empire and the Cult think their story has a happy ending... they haven't been paying attention.
