When is now?

A group of twenty or so military-age men is marching through the main street in Borovo Selo, chanting “Kill the Serb”, singing “Oh my Croatian mother, we will slaughter the Serbs” and similar songs…

Oscars and unrealistic expectations

Now that the Oscars are over, leaving many around here disappointed or thrilled that the film ‘Quo vadis, Aida?’ didn’t win, it is worth pointing out the continuous clash with reality in these parts.

Gomorrah

Marinika Tepic informed the public about sexual abuse of women and girls in Jagodina. Her visit to the forbidden city and the courage she needed to face Palma’s “Tigers” caused great turbulence.

Ferenc Fehér Square

We are very disturbed by the effort to get rid of the name of the poet and translator Ferenc Fehér, because his name means nothing to you – nothing, perhaps, that you are prepared to acknowledge.

Concert of the world

In the recent article in Foreign Affairs, Richard Haas and Charles Kupchan argue for the Global Concert, or Concert of the World, by analogy with the Concert of Europe in the 19th century.

Your money or your life

Which is better – to work in spite of the pandemic and save your health while risking losing your job? Which is scarier – to end up in a hospital with pneumonia or on the street, broke?

Lynch society

The first thing we think of when we talk about lynching, is that it is the opposite of the rule of law. Today, that practice is mostly eradicated, but we are witnessing another phenomenon: media lynching.

Land of the polygraph

The machine doesn’t lie – said Vucic about the polygraph. So, if the machine says that a person is lying, then it must be true. Vucic wasn’t hooked up to a polygraph machine when he said this…

Winners and losers

Biden just shut down the Keystone Pipeline because he wants to develop other sources of energy. So, to win a job in alternative energies, somebody needs to lose their job in carbon-based energy.

A death in the family

This is not an article about Djordje Balasevic or his death. Those who knew him better, who loved his songs more than me, will write about him. This is an article about Yugoslavia and its death.

Priorities and results

An indicator of the overall situation are the assessments of our country on the Global Corruption Perceptions Index, which is published every year by the Transparency International.

Three notes

I have not been thinking much about social choice theory for a while though once you learn it you cannot but use it when you are thinking about political issues and especially about power and elections.

Gas chamber

Stalin tortured his subordinates by scheduling meetings in the middle of the night. How else to explain the need of Aleksandar Vucic to open the Balkan Stream gas pipeline in pitch dark, at 6 AM?

Year of consequences

The Covid-19 pandemic marked 2020 and its consequences will be felt in the years to come, so it is likely that we will spend the entire next year in the long shadow of the virus.

Budget made for Vucic

Even if we assume that the official forecasts of GDP growth will be fully realized, the growth of salaries of civil servants will be almost two and a half times higher than the growth of total production.

From boycott to tabloid parliament

This is not the old skirmish between the government and the opposition. Now, a machine gun has been placed in the Parliament, and it opens fire on whoever is designated as a target.

Unilateralism or taking back control

Johnson has argued that the UK would be the only coastal nation which doesn’t have control over its waters. But that only means that the UK is not ready to enter into a trade deal which includes fishing.

Hypocritical proposal

Addressing the online threats against Vucic, the minister of the interior Vulin said that anonymity on the internet is “the source of all filth”, and that “it should be abolished”.

The weight of evidence

We’ve had several candidates, said Vucic, but I have signed the decision. Sinisa Mali then explained how this “collective decision” came about: we unanimously accepted Vucic’s proposal.

The balance of power

So now both Banja Luka and Podgorica depend on Belgrade. Mr. Vucic is the true winner of the continuation of autocratic government in Banja Luka and of the transition of power in Podgorica.

How many people actually died?

The National bureau of statistic published the data on the births and deaths in August. The number of deaths could be one of the rare indicators of the real consequences of the pandemic.

Black Friday

After the session of the pandemic Crisis Committee Darija Kisic Tepavcevic announced that mandatory health surveillance of travelers returning to Serbia from abroad would be introduced in 5 days…

Improvisation with consequences

The content of the agreement is in line with Trump’s election campaign, and is in fact aimed at winning over American voters of Serbian, Albanian, and Jewish descent to vote for Trump.

EUphrenia

The age of EUphoria is long gone. It is replaced by the age of EUphrenia, a behavioral and cognitive disorder, which can be tracked at all levels of the production of reality in Serbia.