Serbian president criticizes ICC arrest warrant for Putin

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Issuing an international arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin will have negative consequences and will only prolong the war in Ukraine, Serbia’s president said Sunday.

The International Criminal Court issued the warrant for the Russian leader on Friday, accusing him of war crimes. The ICC accused him of bearing personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor that started almost 13 months ago.

But Serbian populist President Aleksandar Vucic, who had in the past boasted about his personal relation with the Russian leader, criticized the court’s decision.

“I think issuing an arrest warrant for Putin, not to go into legal matters, will have bad political consequences and it says that there is a great reluctance to talk about peace (and) about truce” in Ukraine, Vucic told reporters in Belgrade.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/serbia-vucic-putin-ukraine-russia-838fb97cde73440a6dd135dc76eddec6

[tornado34jh]

1. I'm not surprised Serbia supports Putin as well

In many ways, Vucic is just like him. But again, Serbia doesn't really have a good track record, especially after Yugoslavia fell.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

5. Serbia isn't supporting Putin, but isn't it obvious this does not help to any peace process?

Although all the nuclear armed nations can’t say much or toss much from the non ICJ member peanut gallery.

[tornado34jh]

8. It doesn't help any peace process

When you say all the nuclear armed nations can't say or toss much from the the non-ICJ member peanut gallery, wou mean those who aren't a signatory of the Rome Statute, including the United States?

[ancianita]

11. Why do you say Serbia isn't supporting Putin?

They both have mutual support of their Eastern Orthodox Church, the second largest Christian denomination, as do other Eastern countries like Hungary, Georgia, Bulgaria, etc. There's a wealth of religious monetary backing in their leadership.

Right now, because of this warrant, national sides are lining up.

[paleotn]

15. Serbia and Russia have been joined at the hip since the Middle Ages.

[ancianita]

10. The Hague has already imprisoned a number of Serbians, so of course Vucic is a major critic.

After Milosovic, Mladic (and Karadzic, who Jack Smith investigated and prosecuted in the Hague), a couple of other Serbians were recently sent to prison for aiding and abetting during the Balkans war.

A former chief of Serbia's state security service and his deputy have been jailed for training Serbian forces that carried out murder and ethnic cleansing in the 1990s Balkans war.

Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic were both given 12 years.

Prosecutors at The Hague argued that the case proved the government of Slobodan Milosevic was directly linked to atrocities in Bosnia and Croatia

The court ruled they had aided and abetted crimes against humanity.

It was convinced that "a joint criminal enterprise" had existed from August 1991 to remove most non-Serbs from many areas and that plan was shared by senior political, military and police leaders in Belgrade.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57662960

If Putin is up for war crimes, now Vucic could be a person of interest, since he likes to attack the Hague's ICC.

https://balkaninsight.com/2021/12/30/serbia-war-criminals-convicted-in-the-hague-glorified-in-belgrade/

[tornado34jh]

16. That's exactly what I have been thinking

Serbia and Russia have a lot in common. After all, after the Balkan Wars, they still are mad about the fact that Serbians lost their empire. Also, they are also mad that Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. But again, Aleksandar Vucic is really more or less authoritarian, but a lot of Serbians are kind of arrogant. I remember when Novak Djokovic, a tennis player, tried to get to the Australian Open during COVID (I believe it was in 2021). He refused to be vaccinated. Australia prevented him from playing, and Vucic decided to get involved with Australia even though that was an internal matter between Djokovic and Australia. Like most Russians, many Serbians tend to see themselves as better than everyone else in the Balkans, even though it was them, or more specifically the Serbian government, who started the ethnic wars in Croatia and Bosnia. To this day they hate Albania and Albanians because they believe they supported the independence movement in Kosovo, even though it was really Serbia's atrocities that led them to that. They still believe Kosovo is part of Serbia, so of course, they will turn to Russia to get them on their side.

[ancianita]

18. Cool. But I'd suggest everyone read more about Vucic's authoritarian rule. Start here:

from Wikipedia

On 25 February 2022, Vučić said Serbia would not impose sanctions against Russia during the 2022 Russian-Ukraine War.[/b]...

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported harassment and physical assaults on journalists during the presidential inauguration ceremony, after Vučić won the elections.[108][129]

Within five years of President Aleksandar Vučić in effect governing the country, Serbia has become a place where practicing journalism is neither safe nor supported by the state. The number of attacks on media is on the rise, including death threats, and inflammatory rhetoric targeting journalists is increasingly coming from the governing officials.

—?Reporters Without Borders[130][131]

According to Serbian investigative journalism portal Crime and Corruption Reporting Network, more than 700 fake news were published on the front pages of pro-government tabloids during 2018.[134][135] Many of them were about alleged attacks on Vućić and attempts of coups, as well as messages of support to him by Vladimir Putin.[135] The best-selling newspaper in Serbia is the pro-government tabloid Informer, which most often presents Vučić as a powerful person under constant attack, and also has anti-European content and pro-war rhetoric.[11][136][137

On 26 March 2020, Twitter announced that they had shut down a network of 8,500 spam accounts that worked in concert to write 43 million tweets praising president Vučić and his party, boosting Vučić-aligned content to increase its visibility and popularity, and attacking his political opponents.[145]

Three years later, pro- and anti-Putin countries are making their bets and taking sides with autocracy over democracy. This is the doubling down universe of 'might makes right' and 'rule of men,' and, of course it's among ways and means that patriarchal rule enforces human hierarchies.

[tornado34jh]

20. I am certainly well aware of Vucic's authoritarian rule

He's basically cut from the same cloth as Orban, Bolsanaro, Putin, and Trump.

[ancianita]

22. You said he's "less authoritarian." Now you write "more or less."

Anyway, let's not downplay one Putin ally over others. They're all our enemies. They chose this.

[tornado34jh]

25. Well, there's different types of authoritarianism

But the thing is, democracy is a very difficult concept for those who have never experienced it. My cousin's wife is from Taiwan. Her family is based there. She is definitely worried that China will try and attack Taiwan. However, in the case of Serbia, a lot of the people voted for him. But again, a lot of this is right-wing populism, and just like Bolsanaro and Trump, it's basically us vs them.

[ancianita]

27. Taiwan and Serbia have enough 'experience' with democracy to know who to choose.

Taiwan's leaders are who the Taiwanese want; Serbia's leader is who Serbia's leader purged the press and rigged the election to force them to want.

People flee to democracies from all over the autocratic world knowing that democracy will give them freer lives, and it's not due to their "relative" exposure. 750,000 of Russia's best and brightest, born and raised there, have flown from that country. Every time they leave on official business in the West, they've had "minders" sent only to keep them from defecting. Even autocratic leaders launder and squirrel away their stolen, dirty money in democratic countries. It's not simple "us vs them" narratives that keep them stuck; it's what stuck people see and learn when the truth inevitably comes out that makes them leave by any means necessary, even if they have to 'human traffic' themselves out of those countries.

[lapfog_1]

2. After we finish with Putin, we need to come after his collaborators in the west.

Orban, this asshole, Tuckems, etc.

Charge them all with aid and abetting of war crimes... and send them to the Hague.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. Seems to be a lot of this going around..."Oh don't investigate, indict or arrest dictators....

and wannabe dictators. You might upset them and then they won't negotiate in good faith! (snark)

[erronis]

4. Scripted responses from the USSRussian allies. It's just like the yammering from RW "news"

whenever their bosses tell them what to spiel.

RU-bot.

[Emile]

6. Fascist stick together.

[J_William_Ryan]

7. Since before the First World War to today,

that Russian/Serbian bond will never be broken.

[peppertree]

12. To a fault

I had the misfortune of having a Serbian classmate sit behind me in class for a couple of years in high school.

This was during the Bosnian genocide - which he staunchly defended as "Serbia's right." He was very much a Milosevic fan - and (wouldn't you know it) a staunch Republican.

The reason? Because Poppy Bush refused to intervene - and Clinton, on the other hand, had begun to do just that.

He hated Clinton with a passion - precisely for that reason. He didn't seem to know anything else about Clinton or his policies.

[paleotn]

14. They both revel in their war crimes.

[DURHAM D]

9. More Serbian news -

Novak Djokovic poised to miss Miami Open after being denied vaccine exemption

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is poised to miss the Miami Open contest after getting denied a COVID-19 vaccine exemption.

DESANTIS JOKES ABOUT SMUGGLING NOVAK DJOKOVIC INTO FLORIDA

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/tennis/novak-djokovic-poised-to-miss-miami-open-after-being-denied-vaccine-exemption/ar-AA18OKOV?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=bf676868397b4b2fbdaba668c8731d66&ei=13

Good decision. Djokovic is as big an ass as DeSantis.

[tornado34jh]

17. He was like that when we wanted to play in the Australian Open

Very arrogant despite Australia, who mind you is basically an island continent, saying they needed proof of vaccine was needed to play. They didn't allow him to play and I believe was detained for a while. Vucic got involved, but I am pretty sure Australia had a reason. Like New Zealand, they are basically islands (Australia being a continent). To my understanding, at least in Australia, they are pretty strict about letting animals come in, so someone with a potentially deadly virus coming in will certainly raise suspicions. Of course, he's just like all the other vaccines deniers.

[friend of a friend]

19. Good, ICE can arrest them both.

[paleotn]

13. Serbia being Serbia.

[ancianita]

21. Please don't play down what is a war against democracy.

Corporate media have already done it for profit too much.

Also, let's not pretend, as downplaying media encourage us to, that a lineup of autocratic nations are not to be monitored, and are going away because Putin (or Trump) go away. Okay? Corporate media are why we are so perception managed.

Downplaying the networks of bribery, stealth threats, lies, spies, cheating, murdering and more -- all that is already how our democracy has been chained to the point of being outright killed. As media just acts like some court reporter -- all this while Trump goes shuffles for the autocratic spheres of wealth building, and fake victimization narratives used by every last one of their leaders. Vucic, Putin, Orban, all of them.

These evils that cause human degradation and suffering won't end because we can't bear the jagged little pill of facing them.

There's no gradation of importance. Any and all allies of Putin's are our enemies. We democracies stand together or every last one of us falls separately.

[paleotn]

23. Huh? What? My comment is from historical perspective.

Serbia has been Russia's lapdog since basically the Middle Ages. So of course they're going to side with their masters. Always have. That's all I'm saying. I think you read far, far too much into my comment.

[ancianita]

24. Okay, fine. I think "Serbia is Serbia" sounds less historical and more like media downplaying.

You've said what you've said; I've said what I've said. We can leave it at that.

[paleotn]

26. Whatever.

[ancianita]

30. ...

Maybe I overreacted, but it wasn't about you personally. I see your viewpoint in the thread, I get it. No judging. I just wanted to add points about how there's always more info than "news" gives us.

We good?

[ancianita]

29. Seriously? Why would it go to trial in the U.S.? Why do you bring up Garland at all?

This is on the Hague. Just pointing out a fact.

[AZLD4Candidate]

31. Goober protects bully who would pants him without remorse.

Unreal.

[electric_blue68]

32. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Shut Up and Sit Down.

[GP6971]

34. Welcome to DU!. n/t