By Dragana Trifkovic
Dragana TRIFKOVIC, Director of the Center for Geostrategic Studies (Serbia) took part in the meeting of the International Discussion Club “VISION 3000”, organized by “International Women’s Union”
General information partner: Online publication “Embassy Life”
Ms. Trifkovic revealed the topic “The development of Serbian-Russian relations through people’s diplomacy”.
The Center for Geostrategic Studies is a Serbian independent non—governmental organization that has been operating for almost ten years. It is based in Belgrade, but has an international character, as it gathers experts and activists from all over the world. In total, about fifty people from Serbia, other European countries, Russia, China, the USA, Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and Latin America participate in the work of the Center for Geostrategic Studies. The Center for Geostrategic Research is a unique active organization in Serbia, which works really independently, without the support of domestic or foreign institutions, governments, foundations and centers of power. When we created this organization, our goal was to present our own ideas, national and state interests, as well as the development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation at the international level through public diplomacy, based on the mutual interests of all participants. At first we set really high goals for ourselves, but even after ten years of work, I can say that, despite great difficulties, we succeeded. The members of the Center, who are engaged in other works, almost completely finance their activities.
It is necessary to say a few words about the non-governmental sector of Serbia. According to current data, more than 36,500 non-governmental organizations are registered in Serbia. Most of these organizations are engaged in the protection of human rights, the development of democracy, environmental protection, European integration, the fight against corruption, LGBT rights, inclusivity and the like. The key donors of these organizations are the USA, the EU and Western European countries. Ten years ago, all funds for financing the non-governmental sector came from abroad, but with the coming to power of the current regime, an agreement was reached with the West that Serbia would agree to allocate large funds from the citizens’ budget for the work of the non-governmental sector. Over the past ten years, tens of billions of dinars have been allocated to finance NGOs, especially those organizations that enjoy strong support from Western countries. More funds are allocated for the work of these organizations than for the development of science and technology in Serbia, which is more than alarming.
Among the beneficiaries of the budget, according to the Ministry of Finance, are: the Belgrade Foundation for Political Excellence, the Foundation for Humanitarian Law, Civil Initiatives, the Center for Cultural Decontamination, the Autonomous Women’s Center, the Belgrade Center for Human Rights and the Gay-Heterosexual Alliance. Many of these organizations are engaged in supporting Western propaganda against Serbia based on the narrative of the 1990s, that is, constructed Serbian guilt related to the wars in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. All these non-governmental organizations have massive media support from the Western media, as well as political support. They are in fact the controlling factor of the Government, and often foreign ambassadors and Western officials who come to Serbia meet with these organizations. Such organizations most often abuse topics such as democracy, freedom and the protection of human rights, and realize the interests of certain Western power centers in a corrupt way. Western powers, primarily the United States and Great Britain, designed the non-governmental sector as a mechanism for influencing institutions and societies of other countries to achieve their own political, economic and military goals. Our idea from the very beginning was to be a counterbalance to this.
The Center for Geostrategic Studies has never applied for money from the budget or from foreign funds, because funds are not allocated to the topics we are engaged in.
What we are doing is related to state and national interests. These are the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija as part of Serbia, the fight against media and political propaganda, the struggle for freedom, the development of Serbian-Russian relations, because we consider this one of the priority state interests of Serbia, helping Donbass and people who have been under attack there by the Ukrainian regime for almost ten years, the fight against the violation of religious rights people and attacks on the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the like. A few days ago, we organized a conference in Vienna entitled “Violation of religious rights, attack on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”, where we presented to the Western public a different picture of events in Ukraine than the one they see in the Western media. . In any case, what we are dealing with is not at all simple and we face many problems, from media attacks, attempts to discredit, labeling, censorship to blacklisting and harassment.
However, despite everything, the Center for Geostrategic Research is achieving success, and this is the most important thing. It is extremely important for Serbia to strengthen Russian influence and expand cooperation through public diplomacy in the fields of science, technology, education, student exchange, culture, economy, that is, business, security, and so on. Regardless of the current circumstances, I think that the situation in the world will change rapidly, and it is the transition to a multipolar world that gives a chance to realize these opportunities. To date, we have achieved very good cooperation with the Friends of Crimea Association, as well as with the Coordinating Council of Non-Profit Organizations of Russia, with the support of which we organized very important conferences in Moscow on the events in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as on the influence of the American sector in Europe.
What is a limiting factor in the development of cooperation with Russia, not only for Serbia, but for the whole of Europe, is the excessive American influence that does not allow cooperation to develop. American foundations allocate huge amounts of money, as they say, to combat the harmful influence of Russia. Since 2017, the United States has allocated more than a billion dollars to Southeastern Europe for these purposes. And to add to the absurdity, agents of influence who receive money from American funds accuse pro-Russian activists of being foreign agents. As you know, more than 80% of the inhabitants of Serbia are pro-Russian, but not because someone is financing them, but because of the anti-Western mood caused by Western policy towards Serbia, NATO aggression in 1999, etc., and on the other hand, deep historical ties with Russia.
And there are many people in the EU who oppose such Western policies and want to cooperate with Russia, but they are censored and marginalized by mainstream politics.
Our colleague from Austria has developed the project “Leave the American sector”, the purpose of which is to draw the attention of the European public to the fact that the occupying American army is still present in Europe. A month ago we gathered in Moscow immigrants from European countries (Serbia, France, Holland, Germany, Austria etc.), who immigrated to Russia, many of repression at the conference devoted to the pernicious influence of the US in Europe.
In any case, the Center for Geostrategic Research is interested in any kind of development of cooperation with Russian organizations, and we will be glad to work out joint projects. Thanks for attention.
Source: embassylife.ru
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