German, Serbian leaders clash over Kosovo, Russia sanctions

POLITICO ^ | June 11, 2022 | Hans von der Burchard

[McGruff]

Tensions ran high between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at a press conference Friday evening where the two leaders disagreed not only over sanctions against Russia but also over the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state.

“It is our expectation … that these sanctions will also be supported by all those who [see] themselves as EU accession candidates,” Scholz told reporters. Later in the press conference, he added that Serbia should take a sanctions decision as soon as possible, arguing that “this is something that is best done not when [the war] is over, but when it still matters.”

Vučić, however, pushed back by making a controversial comparison between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and NATO’s military mission against Serbia in 1999. “What is the difference if someone attacks Serbia without a decision of the United Nations Security Council, or if someone undertakes aggression against Ukraine without a decision of the United Nations Security Council? Please just explain to me the difference,” he said.

[McGruff]

‘We do not respond to pressure in this way,’ the Serbian president tells the German chancellor in rebuke.

[ohioman]

The Serbian President has a good point.

[UNGN]

German corporations are investing $Billions into Serbia to exploit the Cheap, white labor. If you are building airplane parts, your money goes further there, than anywhere in Europe.

This will be the test to see if Serbia wants jobs or want autonomy.

Despite an ocasional “Z banner” protest of 200 peple still stuck in the 1990’s, I’m going to go out on limb and say “Jobs”.

[UNGN]

Vučić is the ultiimate populist. He is a master being all things to all people.

If anyone can make both sides happy, its this guy.

Putin has to be careful not taking him for granted, though, because Vučić will throw Putin under the bus if their bromance threatens his presidency.