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bopinion · 7 months

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2023 / 39

Aperçu of the Week:

"I would like to ask you what language the Palestinians speak? Was there a Palestinian coin at some point in history? Is there a Palestinian history or a Palestinian culture? There isn't. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people."

(Bezalel Joel Smotrich, Finance Minister of Israel and Chairman of the right-wing "Religious Zionism" party)

Bad News of the Week:

Serbia and Kosovo. Sadly, proof that the tensions that led to the Yugoslav Wars in the Balkans from 1991 to 2001 are far from over. The conflict over Kosovo is centuries old. The area has special significance for Serbia because it is home to numerous medieval Serbian Orthodox monasteries. Serbian nationalists also see a symbol of their independence in a battle against Ottoman Turks in 1389 in Kosovo. However, the majority - then and now - are ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo. They are mostly Muslims. They regard the area as their country and accuse the Serbs of having oppressed them for decades. Formerly granted special rights have been revoked, for example. In February 2008, Kosovo declared itself independent, and since then the region has been up in the air, with NATO stationing KFOR protection troops there.

Now the situation is escalating again. Already last April, there were clashes when Serbs boycotted local elections in the region. In the process, 30 NATO peacekeepers and more than 50 Serb protesters were injured. The fuse has been smoldering ever since. Last weekend, a conflict broke out between armed Serbs and Kosovar police, ending in deaths. Allegedly, however, this was not an official Serbian military unit, but the private militia of a Serbian businessman. What nobody believes.

Now for days Serbia has been pulling together an unprecedented amount of infantry, tanks and artillery - at 48 points directly on the border. Of course Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, speaking to the Financial Times, denied that his country was planning military action. But John Kirby, the usually well-informed spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, confirmed it. "We are seeing a large Serbian military presence along the border with Kosovo," he said. This includes "an unprecedented deployment of Serbian artillery, tanks, and mechanized infantry units."

It is with some trepidation that I currently pay attention when a "news alert" goes ping. For once again, a cold war may become a hot one. In the middle of Europe. Because of the imperialistic claim to power of one nation against another. Geostrategy and testosterone. Frustrating.

Good News of the Week:

"Judge's ruling on Trump financial empire poses existential threat." was a headline on CNN last Wednesday. Donald Trump and his Trump organization had committed "financial fraud for years." Is that a surprise? No. At least not to Europeans. Who never understood that a windbag like Donald Jessica Trump could get away with such obvious lies for so long in a state of law. And then also leads the forecasts for the upcoming US presidential elections. Excuse me?

Finally, on Friday, Trumpist Scott Hall pleaded guilty to multiple counts of attempted election fraud in the Georgia trial. Trump is among the other 18 co-accused. I can't believe anyone could be so naive as to believe a bail bondsman would have completely independently committed the exact acts that were in Trump's playbook - "I want you to find the votes!"

The GOP seems to be unable to break with the 45th president in U.S. history. Various potential opponents, but especially the powerful super PACs in the background, are increasingly disillusioned that the candidacy is unlikely to be taken away from him. His approval ratings seem rock solid. But slowly I'm getting the sense (or the hope) - from across the ocean - that the legal manifestation of his constant misbehavior is having an effect on the American (voting) people. I've lost track of how many cases Trump is currently charged with in which court anyway. And it's all there: Fraud, Porn Star, bribery, Rudy Giuliani, rape, defamation, fixer, tax evasion - you name it. Seriously, a guy like that couldn't even get himself nominated for the Recording Secretary of a flower growers club anywhere in the world. And yet could become president for the second time in the Land of unlimited opportunities? The supposedly most powerful man in the world?

I fundamentally believe in the good in people. But there are exceptions. Trump is one of them. When I think about which personality would put the greater good above personal ego, I certainly can't think of him. So when there are again and again brave prosecutors and special investigators who stand up to Mar-A-Lago, the Proud Boys and Matt Gaetz, I pay them my respect. And in the end this guy is simply unelectable. Now all we need is for enough hockey moms in the suburbs and used car salesmen in the rust belt to realize that. He's not one of you. He's not anti-establishment. He's a notorious egomaniac. He doesn't have your best interests at heart. But only his own.

Personal happy moment of the week:

Hello again! The coronavirus is back: as soon as it gets cooler, the variant BA.2.86, called "Pirola", starts to spread. With new symptoms, an extensive resistance to the previous vaccines and practically without monitoring - because a test regime or even a data collection does not take place (anymore). The shock was correspondingly great when a colleague first called in sick at the beginning of the week and then submitted the information "COVID infection". I am one of the three colleagues who had the most intensive contact with him in the preceding days. Immediately, a colleague got rapid tests, all of which were negative. A follow-up test two days later also confirms that I got away with it once again. Lucky me.

I couldn't care less...

...about the political future of Rishi Sunak. The British prime minister, in office for less than a year, looks pale and erratic. There is no sign of leadership or vision. There are plenty of headwinds at the current Tory party conference: the Conservatives are 20% behind the Social Democrats in polls. The economy is not recovering, there is no normalization after the Brexit chaos. The migration issue is inflated and not solved. Climate targets are being softened, climate measures put on hold. Rail infrastructure measures are being cut, mobility with automobiles is being supported. His party's populism is becoming more and more right-wing, and increasing radicalism is dividing the country. Soon, Labour may adopt the old Brexiteer slogan "taking back control."

As I write this...

...I am glad that a deal was brokered between the Writers' Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Lasting 148 days, the strike was one of the longest in the history of writers for television and cinema in the USA. So my much liked late night show hosts will soon be able to entertain me with their monologues again.

Post Scriptum

For 40 years there should have been a worldwide holiday on September 26. Because the Russian Stanislav Petrov prevented the third world war in 1983. The computer in a Soviet control center reported an American nuclear attack. However, the responsible officer Petrov believed in a false alarm (in the end, a spy satellite was irritated by reflections of the sun), refused to trigger the nuclear counterattack and thus saved mankind.

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drthrvn · 2 years

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first Ukraine and russia. then Taiwan and China. and now Kosovo and Serbia

#literally what the fuck is going on #also who else thinks that it's russia who's behind this Kosovo situation #(probably everyone thinks so lol)#current events #politics #anyways i'd very much like not to live kn a brink of ww3 thank you #kosovo #serbia #taiwan #china

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jrueships · 3 months

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WHAT IN THE I WANT TO KILL YOU BUT I CANT BECAUSE WE'RE IN A PUBLIC SETTING BUT OOOOH WOULDN'T IT BE FUN ENEMIES TO LOVERS NECESSARY UNNECESSARY MASQUERADE BALLROOM DANCE TO THE STRINGS OF OUR TENSION IS THIS ?!?!?!?

#nikola jokić a shy taciturn prince of wherever the fuck hes from #serbia #idk i just named the first spicy pale skin region i could think of tbh #who just wants to tend to his horses and live out a quiet unperturbed life out in the moutains #and joel embiid the charming crystal of cameroon who's here not for a long time but for a fun time #slap an arrange marriage for strange political reasons and boom #200k enemies to lovers slowburn WRITE IT! NOW!!!#not me i came up with the idea which means i have the whip now so like disneys animators u will churn out and burn out #and i will get the credit bcs im awesome 😊#everyone whos still up say aye #this gets zero notes

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workersolidarity · 7 months

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🇷🇸🇽🇰 FOUR DEAD IN KOSOVO AFTER MONASTERY SIEGE ENDS IN GUN BATTLES

At least 30 armed Kosovo Serbs ambushed police officers in Banjska village in northern Kosovo on Sunday, resulting in the death of a police officer.

The ambush began when Kosovo authorities received reports of a truck blocking a road. When police arrived on the scene around 2:30am, they were ambushed by around 30 men carrying firearms, lobbing grenades, and launching shoulder-fired rockets.

Though officers were eventually able to repel the initial attack, three officers were wounded and transported to the Mitrovica regional hospital where one of the officers died from his injuries.

After the ambush failed to take out the police unit, the attackers fell back to the Banjska village Monastery where several gun battles were fought, eventually returning control over the village to the Kosovo authorities while the attackers were blockaded inside.

Finally, at 5:27pm, Kosovo Security Forces entered and captured the Serbian Orthodox Monastery, bringing an end to the siege.

Kosovo authorities say they have arrested multiple Serbs in relation to the event and at least three of the attackers were killed. The identity of the attackers, dead or alive have not been released as of yet.

But despite the end to the violence, tensions remained high on Monday. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti claimed the attackers were "professionals" with Military and Police backgrounds and claimed they were financed and motivated by the Serbian government, calling the attackers "Serbia-sponsored criminals."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic responded to the accusations by calling the event "absolutely reprehensible" before blaming the Kosovo Prime Minister for months of provocations.

Vucic told reporters of Mr. Kurti's government, "[Mr. Kurti is] the only one to blame, the only one who wants conflicts and war."

"His only wish is to drag us into a war with NATO and that's the only thing he does all day."

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politicallolcenter · 1 month

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Meanwhile 25 years have past

#memes #politics #europe #serbia #yugoslavia

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uniquekindoftrash · 11 months

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youtube

is this how "democratically" elected mayors enter their administrative buildings in "democratic" "countires"

so called Kosovo is an occupied territory where even institutional and physical abuse of Serbs and other non-Albanians is allowed and supported by the west - NATO and KFOR included

only God protects our people in these times because those who hold the power to do so are willingly supporting the other side or are standing on the sidelines and allowing this thing to happen

WE WANT RESOLUTION 1244 TO BE ENACTED AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AND SERBIAN DEFENCE FORCES TO BE ALLOWED TO PROTECT OUR CITIZENS FROM THESE TERRORISTS

OUR EXISTENCE IS ENDANGERED

#serbia #kosovo i metohija #kosovo #politics #un #united nations #kfor #nato #eu #usa #hate crimes #violence #Youtube #human rights #human rights violations

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phroexx · 5 months

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#hilary clinton #american bloodlust #us politics #world politics #serbia

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brandtner · 6 months

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Just gonna throw it out there: Srpska being a cretin doesn't make factual sense in modern times, not in 2023. Until the nineties, yes, but after that his inner idiotic core has been evolving into an evil villain mastermind, fighting with his parents, slowly succeeding at some small points from his evil plan and them being unable to control him, having no other choice but to resort to the help of the west. He is growing up and stepping into the shadow of long gone Serbia and people either love it or hate it, but either way still see him as a better leader than Serbia.

#Hes still a dumbass its just not his main trait anymore #yugotalia #based on politics purely #Especially suing Nato #What I want people to know is that Srpska is the new Serbia now #education #yugotalia srpska

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fouri-er-talks · 3 months

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So, since 2022, LGBT people from Serbia are eligible for asylum in the Netherlands.

I'm not sure if I feel positively or negatively about this.

#lgbt #serbia #asylum #politics #vent

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ohsalome · 2 years

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Serbia & China are yet another illustrations of the point: you are wrong to think that war in Ukraine doesn't involve you if you're a far distance away. Allowing putin ro run wild without repercussions will embolden other authoritarian politicians to follow in his steps. The reluctance of international peacekeeping organizations to make any decisive move is a proof that you can get away with any crime. The rules of civil world are void. Do you have any frozen conflicts in your country? Any politicians with authoritarian tendencies? Expect more escalations.

#Ukraine #Serbia #russia #war in ukraine #war #politics #putin

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warsofasoiaf · 9 months

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What makes calling the various upheavals around certain parts of the world often collectively called colour revolutions color revolutions, such a sure way to spot someone who has no real knowledge on these events and why specifically russian disinformation? Were they the ones coining the term or is it their preferred line of tactics? I think I heard regular newspeople using it now and I thought it referred to revolutions fostered by the two sides in the cold war and I suppose since too.

The term color revolution specifically applies to revolutions in states like Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, along with Serbia which was the most pro-Russian of the territories following the breakup of Yugoslavia. They were characterized by anti-authoritarian and pro-democracy sentiment against fraudulent and rigged elections and a push toward anticorruption. So while there were other democratic protests in other regions, "color revolution" specifically refers to these movements. The Hong Kong protests were very similar, but it was not an official color revolution. The term has been more broadly applied to any anti-Russia or anti-China protest, particularly pro-US or pro-European, but that's largely a term of convenience and almost exclusively used by disinformation peddlers and parrots.

Russia was primarily opposed to this because the regional autocrats in charge of these territories tended to be pro-Russian and increasingly looked to integrate their territories with Russia economically and militarily, allowing Russia to maintain a bit of its colonial pull that it enjoyed as the Soviet Union. So they promoted the idea that these revolutions were not organic and were exclusively funded by foreign influence operations largely as a means to preserve their own regional influence and prevent former puppet states from drifting westward. And some foreign influence definitely was the case, many of these regional autocrats saw foreign aid dwindle and be re-routed to NGO's that supported the opposition. But this largely falls to a fallacy that the dictators were owed foreign aid in the first place, and neglects the organic dissatisfaction that a lot of people in those countries felt. These countries suffered under corrupt regimes, with high levels of unemployment, official repression, and poverty. That *always* drive pushes toward opposition. Given the Revolutions of 1989 (which pro-Russians, tankies, and campists also largely describe without evidence as inauthentic), and the later Arab Spring, this appears to be a natural reaction to communications technology making organization easier and information more accessible.

By calling them "CIA-backed," disinformation actors were attempting to link them to CIA-funded, backed, or led coups that were a significant part of US foreign policy and truly did happen, particularly in Central and South America. But these accusations again lack evidence, there aren't any case officers named or operational plans found. It's largely an excuse fabricated out of whole cloth to describe an undesirable outcome, just like any other claim of voting irregularities when someone loses an election.

Thanks for the question, Santa.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#modern politics #color revolution #ukraine #georgia #serbia #kyrgyzstan

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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BY KRIS BROWN

Last week, Serbia experienced two separate mass shootings that killed more than a dozen people, including children. Serbia, a nation tied for the third highest rate of gun ownership in the world, was shaken by this violence. Unlike here at home, mass shootings are not a daily occurrence.

It did not take long for the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, to take swift action. A mere day after these senseless shootings, Vucic announced several measures that would prevent further tragedy. The measures include a ban on new gun permits, tougher penalties for illegal weapons possession, psychological checks of gun owners and an amnesty for the surrender of illegal weapons.

It only took two days, after two horrific mass shootings, for Serbia to act. Why, after more than 200 mass shootings in 2023 alone, has the United States failed to take similar sweeping action, or much action at all?

Day after day, the US experiences senseless gun violence and yet it’s generally accepted that lawmakers will do little to prevent the next mass shooting. This is despite Americans making it clear they don’t want empty chairs at their dinner tables, and don’t want their children to share experiences and trauma with war veterans. Simply put, most Americans want action to be taken on gun violence.

The difference between Serbia’s action and the US’s inaction boils down to the gun industry’s political influence. The US can’t take the sweeping actions favored by the majority of Americans, including even universal background checks, because a small – but powerful – minority of lawmakers have adopted the gun lobby’s complete opposition to sensible gun laws and regulations. The gun lobby – and not just the NRA – has spent decades making this possible by funneling endless supplies of donations to political candidates as well as by creating an extremist view of the second amendment that is antagonistic towards any and all firearm restrictions and safeguards.

The gun lobby wants Americans to believe that there is no legislative or regulatory remedy to gun violence. Its loudest voices are telling Americans they’re not “praying enough” for mass shootings to stop. They blame mental health. They point their fingers at everything and everyone except the actual cause of gun violence in the US. While they do everything to distract, one thing is clear, the carnage is caused by ample and easy access to guns.

How do we know it’s gun access? Because when governments, particularly state governments, put into place commonsense safeguards, we see fewer killings, less death and less trauma.

Much like Serbia, other countries have sprung into action immediately in the wake of mass shootings. It only took one mass shooting in Australia for the government to ban assault weapons, and in the decades since the rate of deaths by firearms has plummeted in the country. The UK has not experienced a mass shooting since 1996, when it acted to ban certain guns in the wake of a shooting in which 16 school children and one adult were killed in Dunblane. After the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand, the government offered a buyback program and removed almost 60,000 firearms from circulation.

Here at home, we’ve seen improvements after states such as California, Colorado, Maryland and Michigan took action to fill gaps left by legislators at the federal level. These states recognize that when an assault weapon or a high-capacity magazine is used in a public mass shooting, nearly 14 times as many people are injured and twice as many people are killed. In doing so, they have made their states safer, but a lack of federal action still leaves them vulnerable to guns brought in from other states. Despite that, California now has the seventh lowest firearm death rate in the country, while states with weaker gun laws, such as Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico, have among the highest. This is not a coincidence. When states put more stringent safeguards into place, fewer people die by firearms.

Serbia has clearly taken note from the successes of these other nations that put people over guns. What will it take for the American legislators beholden to the gun lobby’s money and influence to do the same? It doesn’t have to be like this. Americans don’t have to live paralyzed in fear of whether our schools, our places of worship, our healthcare facilities or our malls will be the stage of the next national tragedy. The US government can in fact stop gun violence like other countries have, but only if our policymakers start answering to the people, not the industry.

Other nations have experienced mass shootings, but in the US too many of our legislators are dependent on gun industry donations and support to take the bold action needed to save lives.

#us politics #news #the guardian #op eds #Kris Brown #2023 #mass shooters #mass shootings #gun control #gun rights #gun violence #Serbia #gun regulation #Aleksandar Vucic #Australia #new zealand

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zingaplanet · 1 year

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While I am personally horrified by the people Djokovic has associated with I am not sure I would call someone who often talks about peace and the need for education (and seemingly puts money into it too, if you don't trust his words) a genocide supporter? I have seen people from his home country and the neighbouring countries (on different sides of the war in question) express very different opinions on whether his actions are problematic or not. Can you share on what basis you formed that opinion? (which you are obviously entitled to, I'm just curious)

Hi! Yes of course, I actually like genuine scientific inquiries like this, I’ll do my best to answer it (and I’m going to answer this seriously because genocide is a serious topic). This is going to be a long answer, perhaps even separated into several posts (and i'm going to treat this like a scientific research cos i'm bored lol sorry), so bear with me. Now before I start, I’d like to point out that I don’t have a background in psychology, that being said I can’t scientifically prove nor deny whether certain words/actions indicate his support on the genocide in absolute (unless he explicitly said it on record) but I did my master’s research on genocide and have studied to a certain extent the Srebrenica massacre and I'm going to approach this from a political science perspective.

Let me start by saying that I am also not Slavic in any sense, thus resources available to me are those written not in the native tongue of their primary sources. But even in the most rigorous scientific research, you can never fully eliminate researcher’s socio-cultural bias, and for specific emotionally sensitive topic such as genocide, a third-party perspective is sometimes more beneficial for a detached overview free of personal affiliations.

Firstly, what you’re saying about Djokovic’s explicit statement about peace is to a large extent correct. For instance, he has publicly appeared in the UN General Assembly (the only tennis player to do so), to condemn the US military strikes against Syria (see here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tennis-open-djokovic-syria-idUSBRE98101W20130902). He even said, on the record, “I’m totally against any kind of weapon, any kind of air strike, missile attack”.

The reason I was willing to give him the benefit of a doubt (as we should actually always do to every person) is to go beyond what he explicitly has been seen as consciously doing (such as making statements on the record or public actions that can be picked up or traced by media). And this is because, public figures very very rarely actually tells the truth unprompted about sensitive political issues that are PERSONAL to them or that they are involved in (Hannah Arendt wrote a book about this! Called On Lying and Politics, it’s awesome check it out). To put it simply, it’s survival instincts and self-protection. This is why in political science we rarely ever found what is called the “smoking gun evidence” (this came from old detective stories where detectives actually found a gun that is “smoking” meaning it’s just been shot and behind the barrel, voila the undisputed murderer!), or the indefinite, absolute proof of someone doing something. You also cannot treat a statement that the suspected person CONSCIOUSLY made in presence of the public media (as in the case of his statements on the war in Syria) as indefinite grounds for his stance as they can very easily be pre-empted.

In political research, what we mostly found is non-definite, guiding evidences (called “straw in the winds”, "hoops", and other very pretentious terminologies if you wanna get technical lol see here) especially if it concerns very sensitive closed-door matters such as genocide. But I mention this because, if you find enough of these evidences, methodologists say that they can in a way substitute as strong enough convictions combined together (this of course needs more rigorous tests unapplicable here but the general logic is applicable everywhere, the method is called process tracing).

Now the reason this whole controversy about Djokovic started was because people simply started stalking him for his extreme nationalist political views. Now everyone is of course entitled to their own political beliefs and it is not my intention to go into a moral debate on the idea of nationalism itself (this is actually a branch of political philosophy that is still highly debated). But there is solid, ground evidence that political ideologies that are too extreme (left or right) induced dangerous policies threatening to human rights. One of the most prominent examples is far-right nationalism (or ultranationalism). The rise of this in 1940s triggered fascism with notions such as racial supremacy in WW2. Now, without going into detail into the history of Yugoslavia or the Bosnian war, political scientists have noted the rise of fascism in post-yugoslavian states. Far-right parties took power most notably in the newly formed Republic of Serbia. Far-right organizations also acted as paramilitaries and they committed crimes of humanities during the Bosnian and Kosovo wars.

Now Djokovic was very little when the war occured and was only 8 when Srebrenica happened, how is it possible that he might show support or be associated with it? This is because the prosecution of war crimes in the Yugoslav wars didn’t happen until much later, and the political tension in the region hasn’t actually been fully resolved until now. That is to say, as you rightly state, the region itself is INCREDIBLY divided, with talks of race and ethnicity often a taboo, and genocide deniers are not hard to find, and far-right ideologies are still prominent in Serbia until now. And Djokovic, unfortunately, has demonstrated a lot of credible signs over the year (mostly unconsciously when he’s out of the public eye or actions that would not be understood widely outside of his region) that he is leaning towards this ultra-nationalist ideology and this far-right group.

First point of evidence is his clear stance on the Kosovo war (which is part of the larger Yugoslav war). After larger protests broke out in Belgrade over Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008, Djokovic famously recorded a video saying “We are prepared to defend what is rightfully ours. Kosovo is Serbia.” After the Serbian national team won the ATP Cup in 2020, Djokovic, together with his teammates, sang nationalist songs, including “Vidovdan” — a common tune about Kosovo that featured prominently during the wars of the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

The Kosovo war is highly controversial but it was initially started as an insurgency movement to fight the Serbian prosecution of Kosovo Albanians (With around 9000 kosovar Albanians missing and 900,000 displaced during the war). Serbia never fully recognised Kosovo’s independence. In 2001 a Supreme Court, based in Kosovo and administered by the United Nations, found that there had been "a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments", it was also a significant example of repressive Serbian ultranationalism. Asked in 2011 whether he regretted his actions, Djokovic told German magazine Der Spiegel “it is the birthplace of my family and, indeed, of Serbian culture itself.”

At the time, his father Srđan came to his defence with a controversial statement. “Novak is a nationalist, of course, and so am I,”

There is thus no doubt that he is a fervent nationalist, but is he really an ultranationalist to the extent of tolerance towards mass killings in the name of his country? As I said, there has never been explicit statements, but there are enough background evidences that can point us in the right direction.

Now onto those people he was 'photographed with'. In 2021, Djokovic found himself criticised for his visit to Bosnia after photographs surfaced of his meeting with a commander Milan Jolovic of the “Drina Volves”, a unit that took part in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were summarily executed for their nominal Muslim faith. Jolovic has never been convicted of a war crime but he actually earned his nickname "The Legend" saving the life of former war criminal Ratko Mladic. In 2017, Mladic was convicted of war crimes and genocide (along with the Drina Volves) by independent international courts for his time as a commander in the Bosnian war during the 1990s.

The Drina Volves and the figures mentioned are prominent public personas in Serbia, their accolades and the international court ruling are available out in the open and well-known.

Secondly, far more convicting than being photographed together, Djokovic was reported and recorded associating, singing, and dancing alongside Milorad Dodik at the wedding of Nemanja Majdov, the Serbian athlete. Dodik is former chairman of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a well-known genocide denier in Serbia. He has publicly and widely been known to described the Srebrenica massacre as a "fabricated myth".

Bear in mind that Djokovic was not under scrutiny for simply being "in the same event" or even "in the same room", he also wasn't "photographed with" in the loose sense of merely standing side by side by chance as tabloid media often likes to exaggerate. He was recorded and photographed in action of INTERACTING with them (e.g., the photograph was taken on what was clearly a discussion in a civil dining table) which he chose to do so freely.

The third and perhaps most indicative notion of his stance on the genocide is his acceptance and public posting by himself on the pride he has in receiving the award of the order of the Republika Srpska, the highest order given by the region. Now bear in mind that the Republika Srpska is a separate entity from Serbia and is instead a predominantly Serbian region inside Bosnia and Herzegovina that housed most of the Serbs migrating from the Bosnian war after the Croatian and Bosnian massacres.

The problem was that this award has ONLY ever been given to those considered to have significantly contributed to progressing Serbian nationalism, and unfortunately this means 80% of the recipients are party to the war. Amongst others they include CONVICTED genocidaires Slobodan Milošević, Ratko Mladić, Radovan Karadžić. Even its most progressive recent recipient Ana Brnabić, PM of Serbia since 2017 and the first OPENLY GAY woman to hold the office has consistently denied Srebrenica as genocide. This award ceremony is a big PUBLIC event, and its recipients are not in any way closeted.

Although there is always the benefit of a doubt that Djokovic as a public figure is simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, that he was ignorant of all this historical background, this seems incredibly far-fetched, if not impossible. It is difficult to imagine that someone from the region (especially one who grew up DURING the war), and who regularly travels and has access to international media, unless they CONSCIOUSLY choose to be misled over skewed historical information, does not know about this. Most of the war convictions were common knowledge, widely reported, and certainly something that people in the region would have heard about. The more plausible explanation is (as is the case with many ultranationalist party arguments at the moment), that possessing the knowledge, he CONSCIOUSLY chose not to believe or agree with it (either the conviction or the views over the mass atrocities during the war).

I admit that I might have used the word “supporter” liberally, but the repeat of association also supports the explanation that Djokovic did in fact at the very least TOLERATE or ACCEPT the mass atrocities committed as unproblematic, enough to repeatedly associate himself with the companies mentioned. As mentioned, a collated group of un-explicit, “straw in the wind” or “hoops” evidence that point to the same direction is relatively conclusive enough to determine his stance.

Here are the known facts: He's a self-identified fervent nationalist in support of far-right nationalist ideas, he chose to associate with the genocidaires repeatedly AND without showing remorse nor response towards the very public media criticism. If we go further by the plausible assumption (after eliminating the less likely presumption that he doesn't know anything about the people he chose to associate with), his acceptance of the award and clear pride of it can even indicate a conscious acceptance to be honoured in the same name as those he considered worthy of honouring, which sadly in this context are mostly genocide deniers and war criminals. This all builds up towards his "loose" moral stance on the genocide at least in the name of his nationalistic beliefs.

After this, judgment is left to each person’s moral compass but personally for me, in the face of atrocities as horrible as genocide, where human beings are treated like numbered animals to be slaughtered for “the greater purpose”, no matter what this century’s chosen purpose is, there is NO neutral stance, because silence or not condemning is equal to allowing these people to die.

Of course, this argument is in no way seeking to oversimplify the intensely complex conflict in the Balkan regions nor to deny the genocide that has occurred towards the Serbians during Ustashe regime. But condemning one genocide does not mean delegitimising another.

All I’m saying is, one should simply not assume that a certain person’s attitude towards a certain aspect of a larger issue (such as peace and human rights) implies a similar one to all other parts of the issue. Just like Djokovic’s stance on Srebrenica and the Bosnian war shouldn’t automatically denote him a peace-hating person, I think we should give him a much larger benefit of a doubt that his public statements and actions do not automatically cleanse him of his controversial views in genocide denial and ultranationalism, and even more possibly, taking into account the evidences, of his support for them.

Now I can’t put link sources to every single thing that I said here but if you are curious about any of them send me an ask and I’ll give you the source. Sorry for the long answer, but there you go!

#I'm putting this out once and for all #I did properly research this back then and i figured might as well just let it out now #sorry for the jstor length rant but there you go! hahaha #i've got noth else to say after this lol pls stop asking me questions about novak #tennis #novak djokovic #politics #srebrenica #bosnia #serbia #war #genocide

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