Serbia votes
by http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2357
On Sunday, citizens of Serbia will head to the polls and cast their ballots for their preferred candidate among the seven. Between the media and the pollsters, there is an expectation that no candidate will get the necessary majority in the first round, and that the second round will be decided between the incumbent, Boris Tadic, and his perennial challenger, Tomislav Nikolic. Tipping the scales in that case would be the voters sympathetic to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, currently precariously allied with Tadic but sharing many views with Nikolic, especially concerning Kosovo and the EU.
In fact, this election will be a referendum of sorts on Serbia’s future course. Nikolic is openly pro-Russian, even though he does not (as some allege) advocate isolation from the EU. He also firmly believes in keeping the occupied province of Kosovo inside Serbia. Kostunica largely shares these positions, although he remains declaratively in favor of EU membership. Tadic, on the other hand, gives good lip service to Serbia’s integrity, but continues to believe that EU membership “has no alternative.” He is also handicapped by the Western-fostered perceptions that he is “their man” in Serbia, and that he would acquiesce to a separation of Kosovo. Contrast this with the upcoming elections in the U.S.: not only are there no clear front-runners yet, the policies they offer are but slight variations on the Imperial theme. With one notable exception, everyone is running for Emperor and promising more of the same, just somehow “better” because the “right people” would be in charge. Come November, Americans will have less of a choice concerning their future than Serbia.
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=12225