Just when you thought it was safe to go out…

As the police are once again ordered to let fascist thugs use Belgrade as target practice to vent their frustrations, the main parties plan to show the world some good old Serbian national unity, dashing all my naïve hopes expressed a few posts ago that change could be on the way.

On the other hand, the hysterical happiness of Kosovo’s Albanians makes me sad, as the country formally proclaims independence from an entity that for years has had no control over it, only to remain deeply dependent on various international organizations, desperately poor, divided and lawless.

There are so many things that are wrong with what happened yesterday in both Belgrade and Pristina. There is the story of international law and all the consequences this will have on conflicts around the world. I understand the difficulties in which Serbia as a country has been placed with its allies and partners supporting the partition of the country. Nevertheless, at this point in time I guess this was inevitable and unavoidable. How can you force a united population to accept something they are not ready to accept at any cost. Still, unilateral acts lead to frustration and aggression. Kosovo has its new symbols, but, indicatively, I did not see them anywhere in the celebrations. Neither side was willing to compromise, neither side was willing to talk, and now the problem remains only in a slightly different form. The international community was nonconstructive and biased and once again, there is a crisis, a long-term and potentially far-reaching crisis, and we are at the heart f of it. What worries me is that conflicts are not resolved they are cultivated and preserved to be reactivated at the next convenient moment.

What I wish for people of Serbia and Kosovo, whether in one, two or seventeen states, is independence from corrupt ill-meaning politicians, from religious inflammation, from false or exaggerated nationalistic mythologies. I wish us all personal fulfillment and peace of mind.