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To the bewilderment even of those who had little faith in the capacity of Serbian decision-makers to act in their own rational self-interest (forget the country, to which they are as emotionally attached as the Zelensky gang is to Ukraine)
Serbia was present at the "Ukraine - Southeast Europe" summit held in Odessa on 11 June. The event was orchestrated by the Ukraine neo-Nazi regime's collective West sponsors to rally support for their Kiev proxies and attendance was a key litmus test of loyalty to the party line. Judged by the iniquitous standards of Western "partners" from whose patronage Serbia has no benefits to gain,
Belgrade's conspicuous attendance at the Odessa event was a praiseworthy gesture of abject servitude.Clearly, Serbia's official attendance both at the 9 May Victory Day Parade in Moscow, however reluctantly, and also at the Zelensky booster rally in Odessa a month later, is not - as regime propaganda tries to misrepresent it - a masterful balancing act but a desperation commitment to incompatible and schizophrenic foreign policy options. It reflects a complete incapacity of Serbia's foreign policy brain trust, if such even exists, to realistically assess the complexity of an international situation where every frivolous act carries an enormous cost. It also reflects an amateurish failure to understand that those who consistently engage in such unprincipled conduct ultimately overplay their hand and end up shunned and punished by both sides.
It is particularly noteworthy, and indicative of the supremely bad judgment of Belgrade's decision-makers, that in Odessa, as in Moscow, Serbia was represented by its President, thus treating very diverse events as if, from Serbia's point of view, they held the same weight and significance. Even if, its offended protestations to the contrary notwithstanding,
the Serbian regime lacked the courage to shrug off its Western "partners" and resist pressure to go to Odessa, it had the option of demonstrating a modicum of independence by sending to Ukraine a lower-level official, such as the Prime Minister or Minister of Foreign Affairs. That at least would have signalled its perception that the Odessa gathering of collective West satraps and neo-Nazi junta supporters was an event of lesser political magnitude than the recent celebration of victory over fascism in Moscow. But nothing of the sort was demonstrated by political dilettantes whose entire ineptly run enterprise is foundering under the stress of irrepressible civil disobedience at home and a succession of policy debacles abroad. They have proved to be a sorry bunch of nincompoops who evidently have lost the capacity to formulate sensible decisions, even in their own narrow self-interest.
Comment: Also see: