A 🧵 on the growing political crisis in Serbia. On 1 November 2024, a canopy of the railway station in the 2nd largest 🇷🇸city Novi Sad fell and killed 15 people. 14 🇷🇸 citizens and 1 from North Macedonia 1/24 Immediately after the initial emergency rescue operation government officials, starting from President Vučić down, started reciting in chorus that canopy was not included in the recent reconstruction of the railway station   2/24nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/…

🧵 On 30 October 2023, Andrey Gnyot, Belorussian director, journalist and political activist came to Serbia to film a commercial. He had planned to stay in the country 7 days, instead he remained one year /1 He spent 7 months in the notorious Belgrade Central prison and another 5 months under house arrest. One year of hell and uncertainty about his future. He told us about his Serbian ordeal in an exclusive @bezbednost_org Lighthouse podcast /2

https://x.com/bezbednost_org/status/1857114200813760728?s=46&t=yiwB6Ckss8ahWvnycJdwXQ

In 2024, Serbia is further away from EU membership than it has been a quarter of a century earlier in the last year of Milošević’s rule.

This 🧵interrupting my Twitter silence explains it 1/24 On December 17, 2023 Vučić’s regime stole the elections. Absence of a level playing field has been a constant in 🇷🇸 for the last decade, but in the last election in order to prevent losing Belgrade, Niš etc, the regime engaged in an overt electoral fraud 2/24

On this day in 1999, NATO started its bombing campaign against the FRY and the regime of Slobodan Milošević. Almost a 1/4 of a century later the mythology of a 2,5 months long military campaign completely obfuscated the facts. This story represents an illustrative example 🧵 An Austrian provocateur from Twitter published a photo of himself calling for the removal of a Belgrade monument👇🏻
Pro-regime tabloids quickly reacted with titles such as “monuments to our dead children disturb NATO lobbyist” 1/12

Hungarian MFA Péter Szijjártó gave an interview to Serbian pro-regime @PolitikaOnline here🧵 (English translation) on what the official Budapest talks to Serbs. Taking directly 🥖 from 👄 of Sputnik and RT. Orban and Vucic spreading 🇷🇺 propaganda better than Moscow itself The war in Ukraine is “definitely not our war”, says the minister. There should be an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations that should include US and Russia because with US arms supply 🇺🇦 couldn’t continue fighting/1

Pre godinu dana, za vreme ekoloških protesta, srpska politika imala je potencijal da izgleda potpuno drugačije nego što izgleda danas, potpuno drugačije nego što je izgledala decenijama unazad/1 Zamislite da je politički diskurs šahovska tabla. Trenutno na tabli su Kosovo, istorija, nacionalna pitanja Itd. Diskurs koji pogoduje Vučiću i koji srpsku duboku državu drži na vlasti već decenijama/2

Interview with great intellectual professor Tibor Varadi in @NedeljnikNIN 🧵

Varadi was a minister of justice in the Yugoslav federal government of Milan Panić in 1992. In 1992 Serbia had presidential elections and Panić challenged Milošević/1 Panić asked Varadi to help him rally Serbia’s minorities in his support. In Vojvodina he was knocking at an open door. Everyone: Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians, Ruthenians were for Panić/2

A 🧵 on the #Europride2022 @EuroPride @belgradepride and the claims of the Serbian president and government that they are unable to assure the safety of the manifestation thus threatening to ban it👇🏻 1️⃣Back in 2010 approximately 7000 well-organised hooligans attacked the Belgrade Pride. Massive police force protected the manifestation. Democratic Party and their allies in government were not exactly supportive of the Pride, but were willing to use force to assure its security

The fall of Montenegro’s 43rd government is like Kurosawa’s “Rashomon”. Everyone involved gives radically different accounts of the same event🧵 1️⃣ “The bandit's story”: Djukanovic’s DPS initiated the vote of no-confidence because Abazovic’s government signed the concordate with the Serbian Orthodox Church. If you ask them this is why the government fell. Because of a perceived “betrayal” of 🇲🇪 national interest.

Sledi još jedna priča za leto. Razbijamo predrasude da literatura i tviter ne idu zajedno🧵👇🏻 “Poslednji na zemlji”

Ovu priču sam prvi put ispričao svojoj kćerki na dotrajalom bazenu kompleksa Sportskog grada Kivanis (Ciudad Deportiva Kiwanis) u četvrti Grad znanja (Ciudad del Saber) tik uz levu stranu Panamskog Kanala kada se plovi prema Pacifiku. 1️⃣

Umesto tvitova o politikama odlučio sam da probam kako idu priče (beletristik) na tviteru.

Evo jedne 🧵Naslov priče “Gazirana numizmatika na Safariju”

Govori o poslednjem bezbrižnom letovanju pred rat i Zabranjenom pušenju👇🏻 1-Bilo je to u leto 1987. Sa majkom i ocem uputili smo se na poslednje jedrenje po dalmatinskom Jadranu. Bilo mi je skoro 11 godina.

A 🧵 on the distribution of parliamentary seats (smaller changes possible) in the Serbian parliament and the likely coalitions and what could that mean for: 1-Serbia’s alignment with western sanctions towards 🇷🇺, 2-Environmental agenda, 3-rule of law👇🏻 1 This is the pie chart on the distribution of parliamentary seats PER COALITION👇🏻Serbian parliament has 250 MPs total.

*this can still change but not significantly

Six years ago, Brussels was a victim of two coordinated terrorist attacks. One at the airport, other at the Maalbeek metro station. This is a small 🧵 about that day 1️⃣After having dropped off my girls at school, like every morning, I catched the tram. I was heading to a meeting in the vicinity of the European Parliament and the European Commission.

A 🧵 on Serbia’s stance towards Russia’s aggression on Ukraine and what’s at stake👇🏻

1️⃣Serbia remains the only country in Europe (with Belarus) that did not align with the EU sanctions towards 🇷🇺 2️⃣On 25 February, Serbian National Security Council adopted conclusions on the war in 🇺🇦 expressing support for the territorial integrity of 🇺🇦 (previous position after the illegal annexation of Crimea) but refraining from imposing sanctions on 🇷🇺
rs.n1info.com/vesti/zakljucc…

A 🧵about a confusing signals on 🇪🇺 enlargement to the #WesternBalkans 👇 1⃣ During her ongoing #WB6 tour @vonderleyen is sending clear messages of hope, to 🇲🇰"You will be part of the EU, It is not a question of if, but when", to 🇦🇱"as future EU member, I also want Albania to fully take part in the Conference on the future of Europe"

1-[THREAD] on French politics and #WesternBalkans enlargement. Our NEW research breaking the myths! opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/i… More on @BalkanInsight balkaninsight.com/2021/02/01/sup… or an in depth analysis with @Sebgricourt on @j_jaures tomorrow. @osfEUpolicy @d_part 2-Until a few years ago, French enlargement policies were decided by the executive and a “close-knit community” of people. French public opinion mattered little. #NatashaWunsch @BiEPAG wrote about it aei.pitt.edu/66050/1/pub_58… ⬇️

1-Who is @ABlinken Biden’s nominee for the Secretary of State? A very good summary of @guardian. theguardian.com/us-news/2020/n… and priceless piece on his life and background washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/styl… Here mainly a Balkan angle. My thread 2-Antony Blinken is a seasoned diplomat involved with the US foreign policy ever since the Clinton years. He is usually described as a “pragmatic realist” and, like Biden, a “liberal internationalist”

1-The election of the new 46th Serbian Patriarch (Full title: Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch), who are the candidates, the election process and what's at stake. My thread 2-During the period of interregnum, the church will be lead by a caretaker, most probably Hrizostom, the Metropolitan Bishop of Dabrobosna, Archbishop of Sarajevo and Exarch of all Dalmatia. A Bishop unlikely to become the Patriarch