Meanwhile In Balkans...

[Roman Alymov]

By the way part of new massive subway ring in Moscow (as far as i remember, the world's longest subway line now) was subcontructed to China, and the line is now working, i heard no complains about quality (but a lot os complains about Gov wasting money while troops on the frontline are short of everything).

[bojan]

As long as those controlling them take no bribes they can do quality work.

[urbanoid]

So, how's it going down there?

[bojan]

Slow cooking the cunts.

[urbanoid]

23 minutes ago, bojan said:

Slow cooking the cunts.

How does it feel to support a 'color revolution'?

That's what our state-owned TV came up with:

Quote

‘We got the message,’ said Vučić after massive Belgrade protest but rejects ‘color revolutions’

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić acknowledged the scale of mass protests in Belgrade over the weekend, stating that those in power “need to understand the message.”

Public Meeting Archive, an independent monitor, said between 275,000 and 325,000 people across Belgrade turned out—making it the largest protest ever recorded in the country’s history.

“We got the message. Everyone in power needs to understand the message when so many people are protesting. We’re going to have to change and learn from it,” Vučić said in a televised address on Sunday.

However, he was firm in rejecting what he called “color revolutions,” emphasizing that Serbians wished to change their government through democratic elections, not through street protests.

“Color revolutions” is a reference to a series of often non-violent protests attempting changes of government and society that took place in post-Soviet states at the turn of the 21st century—for example, Georgia’s Rose Revolution in 2003 and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004.

“The citizens of Serbia do not want violence and do not want the destruction of their country,” Vučić added.
 

Sonic weapon

Serbia’s student-led protest movement started when a newly built concrete canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, in which 15 people were killed, including a student.

Many Serbians attribute the Novi Sad disaster to alleged rampant corruption, which they tie to the decade-long leadership of Vučić and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

They also accuse Vučić and SNS of ties with organized crime, stifling media freedoms and violence against political opponents. Vučić and his allies deny that.

Despite Vučić’s assurances that Saturday’s protests remained mostly peaceful, reports surfaced of alleged excessive force by authorities, including claims that security forces deployed a Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), commonly referred to as a “sonic weapon.”

It is alleged the device disrupted a 15-minute moment of silence for victims of the Novi Sad tragedy, causing panic among demonstrators.

Vučić denied these accusations. “It is a vile lie. I have had the opportunity to see this weapon abroad, and it emits a strong, piercing sound. That sound was not heard on the streets of Belgrade on Saturday night,” he said.

Government accusations and opposition response

During his address from the Palace of Serbia, Vučić accused opposition figures, foreign intelligence agencies and independent media outlets of attempting to destabilize the government.

He described them as “tycoon-owned criminal media groups designed for pressure.”

Protest organizers, including Ivanka Popović, a former rector of the University of Belgrade, disputed Vučić’s claims.

“I think it's very important to note that there were some things in his words that don't quite ring true, and the student protests or the student-led protests so far have been peaceful,” she said.

“The incidents have been instigated by the authorities,” Popović said in an interview with TVP World.

“And if your government is willing to go with violence against its own people, I think we're coming to a very serious point in our country's history where the citizens will not stop until the change is achieved.”
 

Election prospects and EU implications

Vučić’s speech appeared to acknowledge growing dissatisfaction with his administration. “We will have to change ourselves, and we will have to learn a lot from this,” she admitted.

Serbia’s relationship with the European Union could also be affected by the protests. Popović suggested that the EU had tolerated Vučić’s autocratic tendencies for too long. “The EU has a transactional relationship with Vučić (...) He has been delivering some expectations of the EU; the EU has turned a blind eye to the obvious autocratic tendencies that he has.”

“But if Serbia is to move forward and align with the European Union, there has to be a change in government in this country,” she said.
 

Uncertain future

The protests, initially student-led, have drawn support from a broad spectrum of Serbian society. “There is actually no social group that has been left untouched by the corruption and mismanagement of this government,” Popović noted.

“People have overcome their fear of speaking out. We are seeing an awakening of active citizenship in Serbia.”

Popović described what is going on in Serbia now as “an active show of democracy in action.”

https://tvpworld.com/85641021/we-got-the-message-said-vuic-but-rejects-color-revolutions-

[bojan]

2 hours ago, urbanoid said:

How does it feel to support a 'color revolution'?

Or Russian funded one, as German ambassador said at one moment when there were large protests vs lithium mining...

As I noted previously, I don't give a fuck what people outside Serbia, either east or west think, because there are those both west and east that have interest in this current cunt staying in power.

Edit - reading what Fishlips* says leads to irreversible brain damage.

*Vucic

[ink]

With mentioning that I fully support everything Bojan said above.

The impossible has happened, two Serbs have agreed on something political.

Up next: flying pigs and hell freezing over.

[urbanoid]

3 minutes ago, ink said:

With mentioning that I fully support everything Bojan said above.

The impossible has happened, two Serbs have agreed on something political.

Up next: flying pigs and hell freezing over.

Shouldn't two Serbs have actually like three political opinions between them?

(it's actually our self-deprecating humor - Where there are two Poles, there are three opinions)

[Ssnake]

2 hours ago, bojan said:

Fishlips*

That footnote was unnecessary. Anyone who's seen a photo of him just knows that he's straight out of Innsmouth.

[ink]

3 hours ago, urbanoid said:

Shouldn't two Serbs have actually like three political opinions between them?

(it's actually our self-deprecating humor - Where there are two Poles, there are three opinions)

I remember hearing that joke for the first time in the Wire - though I imagine it's much older than that - it's a good one!

[Stargrunt6]

On 3/17/2025 at 8:42 AM, urbanoid said:

Shouldn't two Serbs have actually like three political opinions between them?

(it's actually our self-deprecating humor - Where there are two Poles, there are three opinions)

I heard that joke about Poles from a character on The Wire with that heritage.

[Stefan Kotsch]

This modification in Germany too: 2 lawyers - 3 opinions.  So a very international wisdom. 🤗

[Roman Alymov]

1 hour ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

This modification in Germany too: 2 lawyers - 3 opinions.  So a very international wisdom. 🤗

In Russia, it is "two doctors - three opinions"

[Stefan Kotsch]

So it must be true. 😉

[PaulFormerlyinSaudi]

(Sorry, wrong thread.)

Edited March 19 by PaulFormerlyinSaudi
a pre-coffee posting

[bojan]

And it has exactly what to do with Balkans?