One of Serbia’s longest-standing, closest relationships is with Russia, an alliance with its origins in the two nations’ Eastern Orthodox religious ties. Serbia also isn’t super cool with NATO, what with NATO heavily bombing them in recent wars.
The US isn’t okay with Serbia retaining good ties with Russia, however, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Brian Yee warned Serbia “cannot sit in two chairs at the same time,” and has to choose between aligning itself with the West, or the Russians.
That position is in keeping with the US eagerness to push Europe into a new Cold War, but Serbia isn’t into that, with Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic rejecting the call, saying Serbia’s real concern is that someone might “pull our own chair out from under us.”
Dacic says that the Serbian government will continue to act in its own best interest, and that means retaining ties with the West, Russia, and the Chinese all at the same time. US officials probably won’t be happy to hear that, but they can’t really force Serbia to choose sides.
Probably want to call Moscow first- these days the US has a pretty consistent track record of wrecking countries we decide we don’t like for one reason or another. Remember when Hussein was our best buddy? Remember when we buddied up to Gaddafi so he’d give up on his regional interests? Where are they now?
“cannot sit in two chairs at the same time”
Obviously this guy’s never been to a walmart.
Two chairs might not be enough…
…or Kroger, Meijers, Costcos.
NATO may opt to bomb Serbia to defend Western values.
Clintonites are running wild, as if they run State Department. What with the rotten state of economy in Europe, small countries are scrambling to feed themselves looking for trade where they can find it. Such things are hard to understand for well fed apparatchiks. But he did come around and later modified this atatement with a more understanding one.
This administration may become known in history books as the “bullying administration”. It speaks loud and carries a military stick which cannot be used without triggering a major conflagration at least in East Asia.
This statement demonstrates once again that the so-called wise-brake-generals in the white house are defective brakes or are actually supporting this dangerous bravado.
To be correct though, the Obama administration has not only done the same but has acted in the case of Libya. The bullying by the current administration is merely more frequent.
And Nixon as well as Bush 2 bullied and attacked. And so did Clinton.
Because I barely escaped serving in the armed forces of one of the vilest governments ever, the German Wehrmacht, I have been anti-war my entire life. I am not comparing that army to those of the allies of WW2. I am saying that one can never know what one’s uniform will be abused for by the rulers.
My despair with the anti-war movement is the following. After WW1 there arose in Europe a substantial anti-war movement. Its logo was a broken rifle. It failed because it did not associate itself with an uncompromising anti-war political movement. It has been proven over and over again that writing and talking is useless.
Currently people are killed if not murdered in large stretches of our world either for some God or for Mammon.
I feel a colour revolution coming on…………
There won’t be any more color revolutions , like what happened to Yugoslavia . Russia is now prepared to stand up to NATO . Both China and Russia where humiliated in Yugoslavia . They don’t intend for it to happen again .
“With us or against us” did not work out well for the US when Dubya did it.
Furthermore, he discredited the concept even with our allies.
You’re 100% correct, Mark, and I couldn’t agree more. The “with us or against us” didn’t work out well when Dubya did it .. and, as you said, he discredited the concept even with our allies.
Does Trump really believe this will work with Serbia? If so, he hasn’t been paying attention. Serbian FM Ivica Dacic has already made it clear, Serbia will put its interests first; and, its interests still coincide with Russia’s.
Serbia should tell the U.S. that it already ruined any possibility of a relationship in the 1990s. Concerning the EU, it’s a zombie apocalypse.
I don’t know why our foreign minister would tell Serbia such a stupid statement . Your either with NATO or your with Russia .. “you can’t set in two chairs at once ” . Honestly Russia has been traveling on a higher moral road than United States for at least the last twenty years . What we did to Serbia , Iraq , Ukraine ,Libya and Syria makes me ashamed to be an American . If you don’t believe me read the 54000 pages of the trial transcripts of Milosevi9c’s trial . where Milosevic humiliated the Hague court almost every day . It was relatively easy to find out who the criminals were .. They were Muslim Jihadist from all over the world partnered up with the US air force to destroy Yugoslavia . Just like they did to Libya and tried to do to Syria .