De tre tidigare jugoslaviska delrepublikerna Serbien, Kroatien och Bosnien har samtliga haft val under 2003. I alla har nationellt sinnade partier stärkt sin röstandel. Men medierna har bara uppmärksammar detta när det gäller Serbien.

Det serbiska valet ägde rum den 28 december 2003. I Kroatien var det val ungefär en månad tidigare. En mer genomträngande och sammanhängande analys av varför nationalistiska partier vunnit terräng i hela det forna Jugoslavien skulle vara på sin plats, inte minst för att ge ett framtida Europa en chans till fred. Men de stockholmsbaserade, dominerande svenska mediernas kommentarer kännetecknas av ytlighet och okunnighet, för att inte säga fördomsfullhet – inte minst mot det serbiska folket. Det gäller såväl de allmänna medierna SR och SVT som tidningarna. Vad som i Jugoslavienfrågan får sägas i Sverige – och framför allt inte får sägas – framgår av hemsidan www.manifest.se/balkan.

“Det är de fattiga, de outbildade, de marginaliserade som kommer att rösta fram det nationalistiska Radikala Partiet SRS i Serbien” låter radioekots östeuropaexpert Kjell-Albin Abrahamsson förmedla om valutgången – med ett förakt i tonen, som erinrar om argumenten mot den allmänna rösträtten i vårt land en gång i tiden. Inte ett ord om de ekonomiska konsekvenserna av Natos bombningar av Serbien 1999, om följderna för ekonomin av ett årtiondes sanktioner (utan FNs stöd). Inte ett ord om arbetslösheten och de sociala katastrofen, eller om hur de som suttit vid makten med Västs gillande under de senaste åren samvetslöst berikat sig. På samma sätt som Västs handgångna lokala företrädare i Bosnien försnillat oerhörda belopp, av utifrån komna medel.

Återuppbyggnadsvärdet av bombade industrier, sjukhus och en förstörd infrastruktur i Serbien beräknas uppgå till minst 750 miljarder kronor. Väst utlovade våren 2001 ungefär 30 miljarder kronor i ekonomiskt stöd till hela västra Balkan – villkoret för denna droppe i havet var att Milosevic utlämnades till Haag. Bomber är inget nätt litet nyårsfyrverkeri för en kväll, men det är inget Kjell-Albin Abrahamsson vill störa vår sinnesfrid med. Krig är aldrig heroiska. De är vidriga och grymma. Det handlar om krigsförbrytelser, vem det än är som anfaller en försvarslös civilbefolkning. Men rannsakade och dömda för krigsförbrytelser blir bara de, som stormakten bestämmer. Haagtribunalen vet vem som inrättat den och betalar notan. Därför ser den genom fingrarna med en rad krigsförbrytelser, begångna av Väst och dess vänner.

Väst har med berått mod slagit sönder människors försörjningsmöjligheter i Serbien. Vi träffade i höstas Röda Kors-personal i industristaden Kragujevac. Man förstår lätt att staden kämpar en hopplös kamp mot fattigdomen, med 40.000 arbetslösa i en kommun om 180.000 invånare – när dess industrier bombats meter för meter av Nato.

Kjell-Albin Abrahamsson nämner inte med ett ord flyktingsituationen i Serbien, med sammanlagt nära en miljon flyktingar efter alla krigen i Kroatien, Bosnien och Kosovo. Han nämner inget om den allt magrare flyktinghjälpen från de internationella hjälporganisationerna. De har i stort avvecklat sin verksamhet. Vi träffade hösten 2002 i flyktingförläggningarna i kurorten Matarusjka Banja serbiska flyktingar, som kom från de kroatiska krigen redan i början av 90-talet. Vi träffade där serbiska och romska flyktingar från Kosovo från 1999. Alla levde de i en erbarmlig tillvaro.

I Aftonbladet den 30 december 2003 skriver journalisten Wolfgang Hansson om det senaste serbiska valet den 28 december under rubriken: “Valet ger kalla kårar! Hatet finns kvar!” Det var ungefär en månad efter att Kroatien haft sitt parlamentsval. Där segrade det nationalistiska partiet HDZ, ett parti som har sitt ursprung i den fruktade organisationen Ustasja, ökänd för sin likvidering av serber, judar och romer i samarbete med tyskarna under andra världskriget. I Sverige upplevde vi Ustasja genom mordet på den jugoslaviske ambassadören Rolovic i Stockholm 1971. Trots att det kroatiska nationalistpartiet vann det kroatiska parlamentsvalet – med direkt stöd av exempelvis det bayerska CSU och dess ledare, den tyske kanslerskandidaten Stoiber – känner ABs Wolfgang Hansson inget obehag. Det var väl på sin höjd ett protestval mot Kroatiens ekonomiska eftersläpning.

Tudjmans HDZ var – med tyskt stöd – den drivande kraften i sprängningen av Jugoslavien i början av 1990-talet. Krigets första massaker var den som utfördes av kroater på serber i Gospic 1991. En HDZ-ledd regering i Kroatien svarade också för den största etniska rensningen under hela 1990-talet, när mer än 200.000 serber på några veckor fördrevs eller dödades under “Operation Storm” från det Krajina, där de och deras förfäder levt sedan århundraden. Ännu är ingen ställd till svars i Haag för denna den kroatiska arméns framfart, som började med amerikanska flyganfall mot jugoslaviska kommunikationscentra i Krajina natten mellan den 3 och 4 augusti 1995.

Det finns tydliga ekonomiska, sociala och politiska skäl för den utveckling som skett på Balkan under senare år. De väststödda partierna har uppträtt korrumperat. De har sett till sin egen personliga vinning – utan protester från Väst – och människor i gemen har inte fått det ekonomiskt bättre än under krigsåren i Serbien, i stället ofta avsevärt sämre – trots västs alla löften om förbättringar, bara Milosevic kastades ut från makten.

Djindjics Demokratiska Parti DS har under den gångna mandatperioden stängt ute alla ledamöter från förre presidenten Kostunicas parti DSS från det serbiska parlamentet. Enligt SRs Kjell-Albin Abrahamsson var Djindjic en demokrat, om han än styrde med järnhand. Till nytta för vem? Det är en av de frågor som Abrahamsson inte ställer. I Montenegro stöttar väst en vapen- och narkotikasmugglare ur maffian, tillika en trafficker, premiärministern Djukanovic. Trots denna bakgrund har han av Väst fått etiketten “god demokrat” och betraktas därmed som rumsren. Sådant känner människorna på Balkan till. Liksom all den hårdhänta erfarenhet de fått av Västs dubbelmoral. Vart ska människorna i Serbien vända sig, övergivna som de är av alla, och beskyllda för att ha orsakat alla krigen på Balkan. Om det ska bli en varaktig fred på Balkan måste Europa göra upp med den egna mytbildningen kring de jugoslaviska krigen. Eller finns det krafter som önskar ett fortsatt varande sår i Europas mitt och därför pressar serberna långt bortom det anständigas gräns – samtidigt som man på ett upprörande sätt ser genom fingrarna med mycket annat?

Related Posts

LONDON – So far so good, at least on the wider level. While internally Iraq seems on the edge of chaos, the much heralded clash of civilizations between the Muslim and Judaeo-Christian worlds has yet to become apparent. We have anger and despair aplenty in the Arab and Muslim worlds. But very little rushing to the standard and there was no great pilgrimage of warriors to join the fight, as happened when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan twenty years ago, and then, having driven the Red Army out, were left to ferment in that mountainous redoubt. With the armaments supplied by the CIA the mujahidin were transformed into Al Qaeda that became, for a relatively brief moment as these things go, ‘the greatest threat to the homeland that America has ever known.’ Nevertheless a ‘Cold War’ between much of the Muslim world and the West is certainly in full swing. Winston...
The Challenge of Nuclear Weaponsin the Twenty-first CenturyA Path Forward The peoples and governments of the world face an urgent challenge relating to weaponry of mass destruction and particularly to nuclear weaponry.  At the crossroads of technology, terrorism, geopolitical ambition, and policies of preemption are new and potent dangers for humanity. Despite ending the nuclear standoff of the Cold War era, nuclear weaponry is again menacing the peoples of the world with catastrophic possibilities.  We recognize the need for any government to pursue its security interests in accordance with international law; and further, we recognize that distinctive threats to these interests now exist as a result of an active international terrorist network having declared war on the United States and its allies. Nonetheless, we reject the assessment of the current US administration that upgrading a reliance on nuclear weapons is in any sense justified as a response. We find it...
By Karin Wegestal MP, the Social Democratic Partyon behalf of the Swedish Committee for Solidarity with the Yugoslav People During the last decade, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has received more than 500,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia, and another 300,000 internally displaced persons, mainly from the province Kosovo and Metohia. For a country with about ten million inhabitants, such an influx of homeless people is obviously a very heavy burden – even under peaceful conditions. But in addition to that, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has been the subject to sanctions from the western powers for close to ten years and its infrastructure was badly hurt through Nato’s intense bombardment during 78 days in 1999. The result of all this is that Yugoslavia, once the most developed industrial country in Eastern Europe, is today the poorest country in Europe. In Serbia excluding Kosovo, with about ten million inhabitants and...

Recent Articles

Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...

TFF on Substack

Discover and subscribe to more peace materials on TFF Substack

Most Popular

Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Read More
Living-Peace-Sign-Budapest-copy
Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
b54a1f10-8c65-4f0b-9dd5-4abc0a7d04cc_2659x2659
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
010
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Screenshot 2026-10-02 011738
Jan ObergPhD, director, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFFLund, Sweden October 2, 2026 This is my full original manuscript. The Chinese Academy of Social Science, CASS, makes two publications out if it. 1. China’s Five-year plan emphasized the capabilities of basic research and original innovation. It is regarded as the goal of the future social development, which, as required, should be significantly enhanced. Can you comment on the importance of original innovation in research and academic study? I believe it is easier to define “original innovation” in the natural sciences than in social sciences. The breaking points of what constitutes something new, or innovative, are not quite as sharp in the latter. But in both fields it is about opening up something that was closed, unseen, unexplored before – making manifest what was earlier latent. Innovations come in many forms and shapes – naming something that was not...
arctic-circle-map
The agreement is catastrophic both because of what it says and what it doesn’t mention. It reduces further the major asset of security policies: Freedom of action. Jan Oberg TFF director September 25, 2026 A couple of hours before the agreement was signed on September 22, 2026, I published the following 13 hypotheses about what it would most likely contain on TFF Substack (in English). I was wrong on only the first point. Contrary to what Trump had written on his Truth Social platform, it does not appear to come into force immediately. In fact, it turned out to be worse than even I had anticipated. After these hypotheses now come a number of reflections in light of what the agreement actually contains, and does not contain, as well as the way in which it has generally been presented by major media outlets and by the public-service broadcaster DR. My...
girl-5894831_1280
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...