Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been very silent in recent months. His only political tweet is the following condemnation of terrorist attacks but nothing about the Russian attack on Ukraine. This is not a coincidence 🧵
Biggest loser of the election in Serbia tonight, SNS. The progressives appeare to have won 60%+ and a 2/3 majority in parliament, but it is a phyric victory without opposition in parliament the election is discredited and its rule less legitimate than ever before.
Middle aged man from Belgrade has to drive 3 hours (200 km) to get vaccinated in small town Rudna Glava after foreigners used up all the vaccines in Belgrade.
Today, the EU and Germany exchanged democracy, rule of law & EU perspective for the Balkans for lithium. There are no independent institutions or media with national reach, no space for critical civil society in Serbia. 1/3
No accession talks with 🇲🇰🇦🇱
No visa liberalisation for 🇽🇰
No candidate status for 🇧🇦
No democracy in 🇷🇸
No progress with 🇲🇪
This is NOT the way to show 🇺🇦🇲🇩 that they have an 🇪🇺 future.
Today, two of Putin's closest allies in Europe, Orban and Vučić, are up for a vote. I hope voters in 🇭🇺 & 🇷🇸 take a look at the images from Bucha when they take their decision.
'I welcome that Serbia places a strong focus on fundamental reforms. I commend you for the steps you have taken. This is enormous. You have done a lot of hard work.' Ursula von der Leyen 2 months ago. Today 👇
Today the national museum of Serbia posted the tweet below about David vs Goliath featuring a painting from the collection. Soon afterwards the tweet is deleted. I guess Goliath was offended.
Lukashenko is not 'Europe's last dictator'. It was never true. Think of Milošević and Putin. Today, don't forget the autocrats that rule undemocratically, Orban, Vučić, etc. Not full dictators, but reminders that Europe is not a sea of democracy with one exception.
Today, I blocked Marko Djuric, Serbia's ambassador in the US, for claiming that I was a holocaust denier. I have been insulted and attacked by him for 10 months, but accusing me of Holocaust denial is going too far. I have also reported his tweet.
The message will be heard across the Western Balkans. A deal that serves the EU is more important than values. With such an approach, EU enlargement is dead. 3/3
The French proposal for unlocking the Bulgarian blockade is a disaster for enlargement. While it looks good to end the 🇧🇬 veto, it achieves little and holds great dangers:
Is Kurz's silence thus a surprise? It seems like his silence is directly linked to working for a dubious NGO linked to Putin's inner circle. It's just the lasted chapter in the problematic relationship of former Austrian chancellors with Putin's Russia.
Thousand protests against new restrictions announced by Vucic at Serbian parliament. Frustration with the arrogance of power and irresponsible lifting of restrictions for elections.
Revealing Murals in Serbia (& RS). For months, murals such as this one "When the army returns to Kosovo" have appeared all over Serbia. They are not spontanous or bottom up. The murals and the slogan clearly have government approval. 1/5
Thus, there is no guarantee that the mining project will be up to Serbian (not to mention EU) standards. Massive protests stopped the first attempt in 2021. Now the EU and Germany are openly supporting project after election fraud & worsening of rule of law. 2/3
The violence against protestors, the talk of a 'Majdan scenario ' show AV and 🇷🇸 government is nervous, mismanaging and revealing on the nature of regime. The next days will be crucial for 🇪🇺 & 🇺🇸 to be clear on message.
Haunting scenes from Belgrade as police beat up protesters after attempts were made to break into the city hall. This comes after daily protests following what observers have decried as massive election fraud.
Credit: AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic
If the 🇷🇸 government doesn't condemn Russian aggression--the only country other than the aggressors themselves, it should put an end to all 🇪🇺 accession talks. There can be no accession for a country led by a government that so fundamentaly differs with the values of the 🇪🇺.
Regionalne vlasti su saopštile da dijelovi južne ukrajinske regije Herson više nisu pod ukrajinskom kontrolom.
Dok traje ruska invazija, stižu osude država širom svijeta. Evo ko je u Evropi osudio napad i kako su reagovale države Zapadnog Balkana?
Serbia-Kosovo dialogue is in shambles. One key interlocutor about to indicated for war crimes (to be confirmed by the court), the other autocrat ruling without opposition. Whoever thinks that a durable solution can be found with these partners is seriously delusional
The more Macron explains his views on the Balkans, the more it is clear that it is based on ignorance, bias and arrogance. Europe's ticking time bomb is not I Bosnia but in West European unwillingness to understand that Europe is bigger than just it's Western half.
Није демократија када грађани изаберу онога кога Флоријан Бибер
@fbieber
жели, већ када изаберу онога кога они желе. У времену пред нама ће гомила такозваних експерата, а заправо лобиста, настојати да грађанима Србије оспоре демократско право на одлучивање.
The pro-attacking neighbouring countries and bombing them crowd protesting in Serbia. NB: They are the product of the systemic promotion and glorification of Putin & Russia by the Vucic regime & media for a decade.
Serbian Minister of Defense Vulin tested positive. Speaker of Parliament Gojkovic too. As the head of the Office for Kosovo Djuric. All attended the celebration party on Sunday.
While everyone was afraid of the Italian or Spanish scenario, Serbia is heading towards the Iranian.
Sachunterricht in Österreich 2020. Drei Landplagen: 1. Heuschrecken, 2. Die Türken, 3. Die Pest. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen wie sich ein türkisch-stämmiges Kind fühlt als Plag mit Insekten und Krankheit verglichen zu werden.
8372 victims of genocide in Srebrenica. Cups of coffee in their memory, of the crime 25 years ago. It is a a European shame to not to have stopped the perpetrators, it humbles us all who lived at the time.
Strangest thing about
#Praljak
drinking poison was the judge seemingly ignoring it at first, Praljak had to tell him it was poison. Was the judge thinking, eh, he's just drinking a shot of rakija?
@ICTYnews
Remember, in 2007 Vucic praised Ratko Mladic. The facts didn't change, there was no secret about the crimes Mladic committed. Vucic supported him BECAUSE of the crimes he committed. What changed were the opportunities for Vucic.
.
Many more 🇷🇸 citizens came out today, despite ☔, without 🥪🚌, to protest against violence than Vučić with all state & party resources could mobilze. No violence in 🇽🇰 could change this dynamic. Nationalism has failed to trump engaged citizens. Time for 🇺🇸 & 🇪🇺 to realise.
It also suggest that migrants should be excluded or less worthy. Hardly a message for anybody who, like herself, represents the ability for the child of migrants to succeed.
The way the Serbian regime talks about critics and academics is telling 'Albanian servants and mercenaries and Djilas' opposition' sounds just like Milošević in the 'good' days
Probably Dua Lipa doesn't know, but this map represents the same kind of exclusionary and also aggressive nationalism as any other. It claims that one group has more rights because it was there earlier, which is not a credible claim considering that nations are modern
Greek Civil War (46-49) +150,000 dead
Hungarian uprising (56), ca. 3000 dead
Turkish invasion of Cyprus (74), ca. 10,000 dead
Armenia-Azerbajian (88-94), +30,000 dead
Yugoslav wars (91-99), +120,000 dead
Russian-Ukraine (since 2014), +14,000 dead
Dear 1244 crowd, if you think that NATO intervention in Kosovo is like Russia invading Ukraine (which it isn't), then it should be easy to condemn Russia right?
The Serbian police is protecting the illegal mural of the war criminal Ratko Mladić from citizens. Where is the 'amazing progress'
@EU_Commission
@vonderleyen
?
I was wondering how long it would take for the Serbian tabloids to give the 'somebody is selling expensive pizzas in Hvar' story its racist angle. Here we go :
When you are bot's bot. Marko Djuric didn't like my tweet. Of the 209 people who liked his tweet all but one(me) also retweeted the original. Classic bot pattern and when going through the likes tons of accounts like Zdenka below.
10 years ago Aleksandar Vucic wanted to name streets after him. The state hid him for 15 years. Now Mladic is sentenced for life for his crimes. A reckoning with those who enabled, supported and hid this war criminal is yet to begin in earnest.
I am very grateful to
@markodjuric
for retweeting my interview for
@OnlineDanas
. I am sure it has extended the readership. It is just a pity that probably 90% of those 700+ liking and retweeting his post are bots, at least those who liked my tweet are more likely to be real.
@UnderSecStateP
@avucic
I hope you are less diplomatic in the conversation with him (an autocrat who promoted a Pro-Russian atmosphere for a decade and doesn't support sanctions against Russia)
The map also suggests some territory to which Albanians are "autochthonous" and thus have ownership, but others live on the same territory, Serbs, Montenegrins, Greeks, Bosniaks, Macedonians. They all can claim to be equally autochthonous.
Any sanctions or measures against Kosovo would be outrageous considering the policies of the government of Aleksandar Vučić for decade which has not seen ANY measures.
#EU
proposed measures to take against
#Kosovo
government, notably pm
#Kurti
.
Suspend bilateral meetings; lower presence in events about EU financial cooperation and suspension of some financing.
This can be reversed once 🇽🇰 implements north-related requests:
4. it ignores that the problem is (partly) EU-made. 10,000s Macedonian citizens got Bulgarian passports BECAUSE they are EU passports, not because they are Bulgarian. Citizens demands to be EU citizens (to work) is abused by Bulgaria to claim they are "ethnic" Bulgarians.
My Austrian restaurants serve Ethiopian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Italian food. I'm a bit sick and tired of this 'banal' nationalism every day. As we can't travel all our restaurant visits are Austrian
Serbia declared tomorrow a day of mourning. What is Serbia supposed to mourn? The Kosovo police officer killed? The terrorists that were killed in the shoot-out? I have some questions. For the tabloids the answer seems clear.
Crises brings out the best and the worst. Such an argument does not help. Nations are not ancient and such claims are embarrassing for a serious historian.
@fbieber
After this, you deserve persona non grata status in the Balkans. You can’t offend the President of Serbia in such a primitive way. Go do it to your own head of state.
In 2000, pictures from Milošević's election rallies were doctored to inflate the number of supporters, 20 years later, the number of virtual supporters is inflated in Vučić rally (hard to offer free sandwiches in a virtual world).
Vucic meeting the special envoy of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov: "The Russian people are our brotherly people, and centuries of history have proven this more than once. Therefore, Russian-Serbian relations cannot be destroyed under any pressure."1/5
Parallels btw. Mariupol & Vukovar, Mariupol inhabited by Russians & Ukrainians, Vukovar by Croats & Serbs, attacked & destroyed in the name of fighting "fascism" while engaging in war crimes & ethnic cleansing. Remember 1991 headline "Vukovar liberated"