Marshal Vucic – that’s what corruption gave us

By Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist

 

In the photo showing (God forbid) the latest election triumph of Aleksandar Vucic, we see Serbia’s president surrounded by holders of high state positions in other Serbian states. Andrija Mandic, the Montenegrin Parliament Speaker, was there on behalf of Montenegro. On behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is, the Bosnian entity – Republika Srpska – there was its president, Milorad Dodik and his Security Minister, Nesic.

The photo we’re talking about is a group portrait of the Serbian World. Nothing is coincidence on it: on the contrary, everything was set up in detail, extremely precisely. In that sense, President Milatovic was wrong. Andrija Mandic is right where he belongs.

Why wouldn’t Andrija Mandic, except for the sake of hypocrisy and maintaining an illusion, for the sake of deception, be in the photo that triumphantly shows that the Serbian World has been set up? Why, when he put a lot of effort into that political goal?

Serbian poets, painters and actors from various parts of the Serbian cultural space, which undoubtedly includes Montenegro and B&H, are not near Vucic. No. There are, I repeat, people who symbolically represent states. Because the message is clear: the photo shows the Serbian state, not just the cultural space.

The high representative for B&H, Mr Christian Schmidt, recently said that Aleksandar Vucic wasn’t making the Serbian World.

That’s true. He’s not creating it. He’s already created it. That is, it was created on its own. To be precise, Mr Schmidt said that “Vucic doesn’t support the Serbian World”. Hell, it was created on its own – as a kidney stone, for example – and Vucic doesn’t back it. He only maintains it. Today, that entire Serbian World, which doesn’t exist, votes for Vucic: it’s practically an election unit. And that was an important message of the elections.

Note to particularly dumb and particularly mean readers who claim they don’t notice the existence of the Serbian World. It comprises Serbia, Montenegro and a half of Bosnia.

The intention is to make the north of Kosovo an integral part of it: but Kurti doesn’t allow it. Because Kurti, unlike the big men who were or are in power in our country, is a politician, not always a hungry hen. And he’s not corrupt, unlike our doyens. Well, “our Western friends” have nothing to blackmail him and force him to obey them and deliver to Vucic a “community of Serbian municipalities”, which he will then, little by little, legally, medially, economically and in every other way exclude from the order of Kosovo and add to the Serbian World.

But no. The Serbian World is a classic marking of the territory. Only those territories, unlike the attempt from 1992, should be annexed to Serbia without war and step by step. When the conditions are right.

The Serbian World is as Lassie, Bigfoot and the Yeti – but the other way around. Namely, no one has seen the listed creatures – only some claim that they have. The Serbian World, on the other hand, is seen by everyone – only some claim not to see it.

And, at the same time, the creation of the Serbian World was no secret. On the contrary. Few things in this region were more transparent than its growth and establishment. If our tenders were so transparent, where would we end up?

Everything happened publicly, out loud and in plain sight. Important people were saying that it was to be made. Important institutions of the Republic of Serbia wrote documents about it. Governments made decisions that armed that world. The only thing missing were those yellow signs that say “under construction” and a drawing of the project, with the date by which the building will be completed.

And yet, in Montenegro, there are still people able to stand in front of the cameras and announce that the Serbian World is just a mirage, just part of the narrative of “Milo’s propagandists”.

The Serbian World was established, among other things, with the amen and active support of the great powers. At the same time, Russia’s role in this was the least important and by no means decisive. An important tool in establishing that world was the anti-corruption fight. You must have noticed: the undoubtedly corrupt regimes of Milo Djukanovic and Bakir Izetbegovic have fallen. The undoubtedly corrupt regime of Aleksandar Vucic is not. On the contrary: no one mentions his corruption. Vucic seems to rule flawlessly. And it will be like that for as long as the illusion of Quinta lasts that Vucic can be corrupted by concessions: that he can be persuaded to lead that country to the west, contrary to the authentic will of the citizens of Serbia.

Samuel Johnson, a staunch conservative and an important author of 18th-century British political thought, is the author of the often-quoted and misinterpreted thought: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel”. Several propagandists of the Serbian World operating in Montenegro used this idea to deal with Montenegrin patriotism and portray it not only as primitive, but also corrupt.

Of course, Johnson doesn’t mean all patriotism. On the contrary: he criticizes false patriotism. More specifically, false patriotism he recognized in William Pitt, the Elder and his supporters. Pitt was British Prime Minister from 1776 to 1768.

The Montenegrin reality offers us an interesting variation of Johnson’s famous thought. Here we witnessed the parade fight against crime and corruption, behind which the high treason and systematic destruction and meaningless of the state took place. In this world, abomination is a general principle. But the abominations of those who committed treason under the banner of the anti-corruption struggle and were the foot soldiers of Greater Serbian nationalism sets high standards of it. At the same time, they made a considerable effort so that the true patriotism of people who were not corrupt, but were themselves victims of corruption and false patriots, would be branded as support for corruption: as a criminal activity.

So I say that the Montenegrin reality demonstrated this: the fight against corruption is the last place of refuge for rogues.

https://www.cdm.me/english/marshal-vucic-thats-what-corruption-gave-us/