Parliamentary Politicos

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. — George Orwell

For those of you without intimate familiarity with the Serbian political soap opera – I give you some definitions:

Socialist Party of Serbia – A political party formed by late Slobodan Milošević in 1990; a bastard child of the Serbian League of Communists. Although Milošević won the harsh battle against reason and life by embracing the nationalist tide, this party never forgot its socialist roots and all of its members still secretly sing L’Internationale in the shower (you can quote me on this).

Serbian Renewal Movement – A monarchist political party, who’s leader Vuk Drašković once promised to prune limbs of Muslims who dare to step on the Serbian soil.

Politicos – People who make politics their career. They’ve never really done anything good for the country. They never made any positive change. But their ego depends on them being in the Parliament, and the bacon just doesn’t taste right if it isn’t state issued.

As it happens, the Serbian Renewal Movement is currently in the minority coalition government, while the Socialist Party of Serbia is supporting the very same government. This means that if the Socialists withdrew their support, the government would fall.

As you can imagine, the Socialists aren’t particularly fond of Vuk Drašković, who was so far in the Serbo-Montenegrin government. However, as Serbia-Montenegro is no more, Drašković wishes to get a new position in the Serbian government (ministry of foreign affairs is shifting from federal to state level now). The Socialists won’t stand for Drašković in the government, they hate him that much.

Now, remember what I said before about what happens if the Socialists withdraw their support for the government?

On the other hand, if they do decide they can live with the hairy monarchist scarecrow, it won’t be their first. In 1998-1999, they were both in the ruling coalition; ’twas something about “Albanian scare” and “Serbian unity”.

For all I care, the government can and should fall. Which brings me to the punch line of this post (if you survived so far, feel free to ask me for a beer): Vuk Drašković is just a politico. He will do anything to always be a politician, even flirt with “commies” which he “hates” so much. The Socialists are even worse – the butchers of Yugoslavia are not only not locked up, with the key making its way down to the Black Sea by now, but their role in opposition is nearly as repulsive as their government once was.