Word: serbia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...former professor at the Belgrade University Law School, Kostunica was expelled in the 1974 by the Communist authorities because of his democratic beliefs. He has been active in Serbia's political arena for the past decade and remains the only major opposition politician who never even met Milosevic personally, let alone cooperated with his regime. Even his opponents admit that he is stubbornly persistent in his views, a fact that has contributed to his reputation of incorruptibility and honesty. He is also a moderate nationalist and a relentless critic of the West, which makes him all the more appealing...
From the outset of the campaign, Kostunica was forced to fight an extremely uneven and dirty battle. Milosevic's war against the independent media, which culminated in May with a violent takeover of Belgrade's only independent TV station, left Serbia in complete media darkness. As a result, Kostunica can access the voters only through a strenuous door-to-door campaign. Furthermore, Milosevic doesn't hesitate to use the police to crack down on his opponents, with arrests, kidnappings and beatings becoming a daily occurrence. Despite the dramatic escalation in political violence, Kostunica succeeded in uniting the anti-Milosevic Serbia...
...will the people of Serbia react? Will they flock to the streets to defend their votes or will they allow Milosevic to cheat them once more? This remains the biggest variable in the Yugoslav political equation. After the opposition failed in several attempts to mount massive protests in the past year, many in Yugoslavia are pessimistic. Some analysts, on the other hand, point out that the Milosevic power structure is much less homogeneous than usually assumed. They assert that the people will not sit calmly in the face of clear electoral fraud and notice that the Serbian pro-democracy movement...
...never had anything to do with Milosevic. He's a moderate, center-right nationalist, but his appeal doesn't lie in his program. It lies in his integrity. He's untainted by any past relationship with the regime, but has also been fiercely critical of NATO's policy toward Serbia. And unlike many opposition and government politicians, he's never been linked with any Mafia activities. So he has an image of being incorruptible...
...West has promised to lift sanctions against Serbia if Milosevic is voted out. How does this weigh on Serbian voters' decision...