Observer on Presidential Election: West Could Learn About Democracy From Russia
By Sputnik
On March 18, Russia held its presidential election. Sputnik spoke with Dragana Trifkovic, head of the Belgrade-based Center for Geostrategic Studies, about her experience as an observer during the vote in the Crimea.
Sputnik: Please, tell us about your experience as an observer at the Russian presidential elections. What is your impression about it?
Dragana Trifkovic: I was observing the presidential elections in Crimea, along with two other delegates from Serbia. Apart from us in the international team of observers in Crimea, there were delegates from Germany, USA, Austria, Pakistan, Italy, Venezuela, Finland, Latvia, Afghanistan, Malaysia and other countries.
The general impression is that the elections occurred in a good atmosphere and were conducted in a highly transparent manner. At any moment, anyone could follow the course of the elections through video surveillance, as well as the process of counting votes after the closure of polling stations.
The Bosnian War: What Lessons Has the World Learned?
By Sputnik
The first days of spring 1992 were marked by the beginning of a military conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the bloodiest war in Europe since the end of World War II. The conflict lasted until 1995 and, according to different estimates, some 70,000-200,000 people were killed during the war.
RUSSIA HAS UNDERTAKEN BOTH MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS TO HELP SYRIA MAINTAIN THE INTEGRITY AND SOVEREIGNTY
By Dragana Trifkovic
The Congress of the National Dialogue of Syria, which takes place in Sochi, aims to finally settle the long-standing conflict in that country.
It is attended by representatives of various ethnic, religious and political groups who through dialogue should determine the future structure of Syria. In addition to the ruling Baath party, representatives of the opposition and civil unions, as well as representatives of the permanent members of the UN and the countries of the Middle East, came to the congress. Russia has made both military and diplomatic efforts to help the Syrian people maintain the integrity and sovereignty of the country, as well as to overcome terrorism. In cooperation with Iran and Turkey, successful negotiations were held in Astana, and the congress in Sochi is the final point of all efforts to bring peace.
Oliver Ivanovic’s Assassination: Proof That Serbia’s Policy Concerning Kosovo Has Failed
By Dragana Trifkovic
Serbian President Vucic’s policy of appeasement towards Greater Albanian irredentism and chauvinism, in the NATO occupied region in southern Serbia, in the name of ‘peace’ and ‘respectability’ in the eyes of the EU and NATO, has approached its final point.
The assassination of Ivanovic could not have happened if the Serbian government hadn’t agreed to relinquish the police and security apparatus to the illegal occupational puppet government controlled from DC and Tirana. As Trifkovic previously wrote, Serbia attempts to further appease US ambitions in the Balkans precisely at an historical juncture when US hegemony shrinks and global multipolarity rises. – J. Flores
Serbia Does Not Need A ‘Dialogue’ On Kosovo, But On EU Integration
By Dragana Trifkovic
[The Kosovo region of the Republic of Serbia is under US-NATO military occupation, with a puppet Albanian separatist government nominally in control. This has been the situation for nearly 20 years. – ed ]
“Now that the global circumstances have changed, and when the United States and NATO are losing their influence, and while the powers that are in favor of preserving Kosovo and Metohija – such as Russia and China – are strengthening, we are nevertheless pursuing a policy of complete surrender.”
The aim of the internal dialogue conducted by the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, should be to distribute responsibilities and to be the cover for the final surrender of Kosovo and Metohija.
The government constantly assures us that it will never recognize Kosovo as an independent State, but here we must point out the following: they are not expected to announce to the public that Kosovo is an independent State and that we recognized it as such. Nobody is asking for such a clear acknowledgment from them. The problem is that they are instigating the independence of Kosovo by implementing their policies, without clearly defining and communicating to the public what they are actually doing.
NATO occupying forces inspect the ‘work’ of their Albanian terrorist comrades who shelled this Orthodox church in Kosovo
“Serbian authorities ready to give the West all for nothing”
By eadaily.com
Can Serbia join the EU and avoid joining NATO, a military alliance which members are EU countries and that had been bombing Serbia in 1999 for 80 days running? Will Belgrade manage to protect its military sovereignty while being on the way to European integration, the way the other countries of the region are following? What advantages expect Serbia if it is finally granted the long-awaited EU membership and what hardships will the Russian-Serbian relations face in future? Director of the Belgrade-based Center for Geostrategic Studies Dragana Trifkovic answers these and other questions of EADaily.
“In former Yugoslavia, the West is getting bogged down in its own lies”
By eadaily.com
The news that the court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has acquitted Bosnian “brigadier general” Naser Oric despite his crimes against Serbian POWs in Bratunac and Srebrenica has enraged the Bosnian Serbs. According to President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, this verdict is one more proof that crimes against Serbs remain unpunished. President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic ironized that the lives of Serbs seem to be not as precious as the lives of people of other nationalities but still urged the Serbs to try to build common future with their neighbors, the Bosnians.
The acquittal of Oric was not a surprise for either Serbian or Russian experts. They are unanimous that it is just one more display of the policy the world community has applied towards the Serbs since the collapse of Yugoslavia. According to Head of the Center for the Study of Modern Balkan Crisis, the Institute of Slavonic Studies, Russia’s Academy of Sciences, Yelena Guskova, the world community was unable to settle the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result, it decided to form an international tribunal, which has been mostly anti-Serbian ever since. “Encouraged by the United States and the European Union, the Bosnian court has ruled in line with this policy. This is why Dodik has once against appeared with the initiative to conduct a referendum on whether there should be such a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina or not,” Guskova said in an interview to EADaily.
Serbia does not need to join NATO – NATO is already in Serbia, expert says
By eadaily.com
Serbian mass media have once again caused a stir in public with the news that the defense ministry plans REGEX-2018 military exercises in Serbia next year. The NATO presence in the country is a painful issue for most Serbians who still remember the Alliance’s aggression of 1999. The defense ministry was the first to respond to mass media reports. In an official statement published on the ministry website on August 9, Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin says that REGEX-2018 will not be a “NATO exercise”, but a “regional initiative” launched in 2013. “So far, this regional initiative has been implemented in Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Jordan, and next year it will be here,” he says in the statement.
Recalling that Serbia is a neutral country, Vulin says, “We will exercise with everyone from whom we can learn something, both with NATO and with CSTO, we will work bilaterally with the US Armed Forces, we will work bilaterally with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and will learn from everyone we can learn something from.”
“President of Serbia wants the Serbs to stop being Serbs”
By eadaily.com
In his last article in Blic newspaper, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic urged the Serbian society to start “an internal dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija.” And by saying this, he has opened a Pandora’s box. His article has caused serious controversy among the Serbs, and this is natural, according to Serbian experts, as the problem of the future of Kosovo and Metohija is vital for Serbia as a state.
In an interview to EADaily, Serbian political analyst, expert at the Belgrade-based Institute for European Studies Stevan Gajic said that unless expected, Vucic’s article would be really shocking. “But this is a consistent policy: since 2013, our government has been engaged in the so-called Brussels dialogue, which implies granting Kosovo attributes of a state, like borders, telecommunications, courts, cadasters, and forcing the Serbs to recognize passports, car numbers and other documents in that unrecognized territory. But neither we nor our compatriots in Kosovo and Metohija have received anything in exchange,” Gajic said.
He pointed out the fact that the article was published in mid-summer, when most of the Serbs were on holidays. “It was an attempt to feel the people’s pulse, to see how they would react. Until now, we have endured all kinds of humiliations but now we may lose a big territory. This is probably why Vucic wants first to feel our pulse,” Gajic said.
“Serbia must stop talks with EU and start taking care of itself”
By eadaily.com
Although people in Serbia are less and less supporting European integration, “new old” government is setting up a separate ministry to deal with integration issues, Dragana Trifkovic, head of the Belgrade-based Center for Geostrategic Studies told EADaily on June 28. The European community has been experiencing domestic crisis for a number of years already, as even its founding states are leaving it, Trifkovic recalled. Officials in Brussels think Brexit will pave the way for reforms inside the EU and integration of the Balkans, which is a wrong idea, as it may aggravate the crisis inside EU, the expert says.
According to her, the EU is not able to settle even the current problems, so it will hardly manage to cope with new challenges.
The steps Serbia has already taken on the way to Europe have brought no breakthrough in settlement of any of its problems (economy, legislation, freedom of media, anti-corruption measures etc.). Brussels conceals this carefully drawing a false picture of the state of affairs in the country, Dragana Trifkovic says.