Hooligan nation

Serbia will recall their ambassadors from Norway and all other civilised countries that have recognized the Kosovo declaration of independence. It was to be expected, considering the
importance of the emotional distress of the Serbian nation. But by mobilizing hooligans to burn foreign embassies in the capital Belgrade, was way beyond the acceptable behaviour of a civilized nation. It is the act of a hooligan nation, striving to preserve a bad reputation.

All nations are obliged by international law to protect and secure foreign embassies and diplomatic personnell. According to press reports, the Serbian security forces did not try to stop the mob from entering and vandalizing the USA and Kroatian embassies in Belgrade. A natural conclusion is that the mob had support from parts of the Serbian political establishment.

Incredibly, the Serbian government called for the mass demonstrations in Belgrade this week. They offered free transportation from all over the country to the capital, demonstrating a modus operandi the communist regimes used frequently before the Berlin wall came down with a crash in 1989. Government sponsored mass demonstrations have been out of fashion for a long time. But not in Serbia.

Serbia gambled and lost their right to rule over Kosovo a long time ago. But the Serbians have been so blinded by their hysterical nationalism, that they are unable to see the obvious realities. Well, after all many Serbians still consider the war criminal Slobodan Milosevic a national hero, confirming the pariah image earned during the Balkan wars.

The rhetoric of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica about Kosovo belonging to the Serbian people is strikingly similar to the rhetoric used by Milosevic, when he mobilized the violent nationalism that led to the bloody tragedy of Balkans during the 1990-ies, taking a whole region back to the Middle Ages.

The people of Serbia started on a narrow and dangerous road, that might lead them back to our time and Europe, when Slobodan Milosevic and his mafia regime lost the elections in 1999. Norway and some other countries did what they could at the time, to prevent the regime from subduing the opposition.

The declaration of independence of Kosovo, is the logical, and tragic consequence of the terror campaign and the civil war Serbia started in 1988. When Slobodan Milosevic mobilized the Serbian army, to drive the majority of the population out of Kosovo in 1999, the world just would not accept it. After the mass murder of muslim boys and men in Srebrenica in 1995, the Serbians had burned all their bridges.

For eight years, the UN have ruled Kosovo, trying to negotiate a peaceful deal with Serbia. When all other options failed, the only option left was independence.

Norway and the other countries recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, stresses that Kosovo is a unique case. Do not believe a word of it. Several regions will claim to be in a siminar situation. The Serbs in the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia, have their hearts in Serbia, not in muslim Sarajevo. The union of Serbs, Muslims and Kroats in Bosnia is a forced marriage. Now, Srpska want to leave Bosnia, to join Serbia. Balkan certainly have a long way to go, before they will have peace, reconciliation and understanding.

Serbians have to get rid of the hooligan label they have burned on their nation. But when will they start the long way back to a place among civilized nations?