The Legacy of Slobodan Milosevic

Region:
In-depth Report:

Slobodan Milosevic was faced with an extremely serious and deadly situation in the 1990s. Indeed, that applied to all Serbs at that time in the Balkans, and still does to this very day. Mr Milosevic was up against the West, led by America and followed by the European Union. After realising that the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia could not be saved, Milosevic did everything he could to safeguard the newly created Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and protect Serbs living in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo and Metohija. And because of that, the West imposed crippling and merciless sanctions on the FR of Yugoslavia.

And to make matters even worse, there was no country in the world which was able to come to the aid of Mr Milosevic and the Serbs. We have to remember that the world at that time was very different to what it is today. In the 1990s, America reigned supreme in the world – it had no challengers. Russia was on its knees as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and of communism, while China was in a developmental stage.

However, despite that perilous situation, Mr Milosevic kept the West out of the FR of Yugoslavia – maintaining its independence and its national industries and resources – and he preserved the territorial unity of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as ensuring that Kosovo and Metohija remained an integral part of Serbia. Like all leaders, Mr Milosevic made serious mistakes. However, he was a true Yugoslav and Serb patriot who ensured that his country and people would not be slaves to the West or, indeed, to anyone else in the world.

When Milosevic was overthrown in an American and European-instigated campaign, in October 2000, the West’s colonisation of Serbia and Montenegro began. Today, Serbia and Montenegro have been separated from each other by the West, have had many of their national industries and resources privatised and then sold off to foreigners, have seen their once mighty militaries decimated on the orders of Washington and Brussels, and are in an appalling economic situation. In short, both Serbia and Montenegro are now colonies and slaves of the US and EU.

The Serbs have been utterly humiliated by the West. That is a deeply upsetting reality. Everything which has happened to Serbia and Montenegro since October 2000 was prophesied by Mr Milosevic – his words were visionary. In concluding, Mr Milosevic was a bulwark against American and European imperialism, Croatian fascism, Bosnian Muslim fundamentalism and Albanian organised crime. Today, the world is suffering terribly from each and every one of those abominable groups – Mr Milosevic’s warnings about them have been vindicated. Furthermore, Mr Milosevic fought for the independence and sovereignty of Serbia, and for Serbs to be free and to have self-respect and self-dignity. I salute President Milosevic.

Why have NATO officials and Western leaders not been prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes in Yugoslavia?

The ICTY is neither a legitimate nor a proper court. It is financed by the US and EU and exists only to punish Serbs for having resisted the West in the 1990s, and to warn other people in the world of what can happen if America and NATO are resisted. In short, the ICTY is a tentacle of the US and NATO. The people who work for the ICTY are guided only by self-interest: money and publicity. It breaks my heart to see Serbs there. And it breaks my heart even more knowing that Serbs sent Serbs to the ICTY – and I am referring, of course, to Mr Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic having been sent to that despicable place by treacherous Serbs. History will not be kind with those traitors.

Was the trial of Mr Milosevic “victor’s justice”?

The trial of Mr Milosevic was a farce. If the ICTY had had even the slightest bit of credibility, it would have allowed Mr Milosevic to cross-examine Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, who both have Serb blood up to their necks. If there was any justice in this world, Messrs Clinton and Blair would stand trial in a court in Belgrade for the murders of citizens of the FR of Yugoslavia, for the illegal bombing campaign of an independent and sovereign country (FR of Yugoslavia), and for supporting the KLA, a terrorist and organised crime group.  There was, of course, no judgment in the trial of Mr Milosevic because he died during the proceedings; however, he was the indisputable moral victor of the sham trial. He destroyed the prosecution’s case against both him and the Serbs, demonstrating the case to have been deceitful, political and prejudiced. Mr Milosevic and the Serbs were the victors.

The death of Milosevic leaves unanswered questions

I do not think that we will ever know for certain if  Milosevic did die from natural causes or not. Perhaps it is the case that he simply died from heart failure. But, it is true to say that the trial was not going well for the prosecution. Furthermore, the former Yugoslav president was in a prison and court run, effectively, by the US and NATO. Given that the Americans have no moral compunction in invading and/or bombing other countries, causing the deaths of thousands of people in doing so, it is well within their deprived mindset to have killed someone who was tearing their case to pieces.

How Milosevic will be remembered in Serbia

Today, Serbia is a weak, poor, small and landlocked country. And on top of that, it has lost its independence and sovereignty, together with its economy. There are now NATO supervisory offices in key Serbian institutions, ensuring that the puppet Serbian Government continues on the dangerous road to NATO and EU membership. So, for instance, NATO has a supervisory office in the Serbian Defence Ministry, the very building it bombed in 1999. Many Serbs today mourn for Mr Milosevic and realise that they took for granted what they had under him: jobs, salaries, pensions and national security. Of course, there were many problems in Serbia during Mr Milosevic’s tenure but these were largely because of the collapse of the SFRY, the West’s sanctions on the FR of Yugoslavia, and the West’s constant efforts to undermine him. Mr Milosevic’s legacy is very favourable and is becoming more so as each painful year for Serbia passes.

Why was Milosevic demonised by the west

Initially, Mr Milosevic was demonised by the West because he opposed the breakup of the SFRY. Then he was demonised because he aided Serbs fighting for their freedom and survival in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo and Metohija. Further to that, he was also demonised because he was running a socialist economy which ensured that Serbia’s national industries and resources remained nationalised and free from foreign control. Mr Milosevic stood in the way of the colonial agenda of the US and EU.

Regarding the SFRY, the Americans and the Germans ignited the wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, which destroyed everything that the heroic Yugoslav people had toiled away for since 1945. The reasons for that callous interference were numerous, from seeking the destruction of the last communist country in Europe to preventing Russia from having future influence in the new Europe to eliminating Yugoslavia’s military industry, which, by 1991, had accounted for seven percent of the global market.

Zoran Djindjic and his “democratic revolution”

Zoran Djindjic will go down in Serbian history as one of the worst of traitors, similar to Milan Nedic. He – and others – instigated the overthrow of Mr Milosevic and gave Serbia to the US, EU and NATO. He was working for the very people who bombed and massacred Serbs in 1999. How he could have worked with the Americans, the Europeans and NATO against his own country and his own people is, simply, incomprehensible to me.

The Serbs, throughout their history, have only ever wanted peace and freedom. Yet Mr Djindjic helped to turn the great Serbian people into slaves of the West.I only wish he had been tried in a Serbian court for treason. I will never forgive him for what he did to the FR of Yugoslavia and to the Serbian people. The suffering of people in both Serbia and Montenegro today is, in large part, down to him, though, of course, there were many other traitors, too. But, that is history now. Serbs need to reflect on their status today as slaves and rise up to overthrow Western colonial rule and the West’s current puppet in Belgrade, Alexander Vucic.

My affinity for the Serbs (and Yugoslavia) dates back to my childhood, when Serbs (and, indeed, all of the other groups in the SFRY) had freedom, security, stability and peace in their lives, under Josip Broz Tito (how Serbia needs a Tito-like leader today!). I am confident that the Serbs will, one day, rise and regain their freedom. After all, they defied and eventually beat the Ottomans, the Austro-Hungarians and the Nazis. And they will, hopefully soon, expel the US, the EU and NATO from their country. Serbs stand for peace and freedom. Justice is on their side, as it has been throughout their history.

Dr Marcus Papadopoulos, is a specialist on the Balkans. 


Comment on Global Research Articles on our Facebook page

Become a Member of Global Research


Articles by: Marcus Papadopoulos

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]