Word: serbia
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...Until recently, Serbia's politics amounted to a pretty even match between pro-European moderates who wanted Serbia to join the E.U. and nationalists who wanted closer ties with Russia. Kosovo's declaration of independence tipped the balance in favor of the nationalists. Some 60% of Serbs say they want to join the E.U., but that number drops below 45% if they are told the price of E.U. entry is the loss of Kosovo. The ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party - which once advocated union with Russia and Belarus, and is now tied for first place with a coalition of more...
...Poisoned Atmosphere The outcome of the elections could spell the end of Serbia's European dreams. Moderate voices are in retreat. The centrist president Boris Tadic, who publicly endorsed a "stabilization" agreement aimed at starting negotiations to join the E.U, has become the subject of a hate campaign. After the signing of the E.U. agreement, the nationalist tabloid Kurir carried a photo of Tadic and a colleague toasting the deal under the headline "Serbian Pigs Rejoice! They Gave Away Kosovo!" Tadic reportedly received a letter recently accusing him of "treason" and promising him "a bullet in the forehead." Authorities...
...Belgrade's decision to hold elections in Kosovo is part of a broader effort by Serbia and Kosovo's Serb minority, which makes up about 10% of the population, to maintain control over the breakaway state. The defiant phrase KOSOVO IS SERBIA! has cropped up all over the place, from a tennis tournament in California (where a banner bearing those words was confiscated from Serbian fans) to the European swimming championships in the Netherlands - where a Serbian medalist was suspended for wearing the slogan on his T shirt. Hard-line nationalists in Belgrade who continue to reject Kosovo...
...thrown that plan into doubt. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has yet to make a decision about pulling out, and European diplomats now concede that the E.U.-led mission is in jeopardy. As a result, they say, Kosovo could face an interregnum with no properly functioning state institutions. "Serbia is going to use this period to provoke the West politically and in security terms," says a veteran Western diplomat. "It's going to be hairy...
...Ivanovic stands truculently at the center of the worsening crisis. As deputy director of Mitrovica's hospital, he controls hundreds of local Belgrade-paid government jobs. And as head of the Serbian National Council, he is key to local resistance against any power but Serbia in northern Kosovo. Interviewed in his hospital office, Ivanovic, dressed in a leather jacket and surrounded by Serbian flags, says the E.U. would be wise to stay out of Mitrovica altogether. Any attempt to establish a presence in the town will lead to "illegal chaos and instability," he says. Serbs like Ivanovic want to prevent...