Western press has spent an enormous effort in admonishing Serbia for its nationalism and in the last 15 years the admonitions degenerated into an outright demonization of the Serbian people.

While much of that demonization can be attributed to organized publicity of those with something to take from Serbia, the readily citable examples of the nationalists themselves supplement the claims made by the media. For example, during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, frequent conversations with the NBC anchors made Serbian criminal Arkan into a, de facto, spokesman for the Milosevic government. As an expert in extortion, racket, murder and plunder, Arkan nurtured a celebrity status in Serbia so, presumably, that gave him the advantage as a Serbian media personality that West should look at.

While these astounding examples of involvement of Serbian mafia in the spheres of government in the 1990s may have been numerous, they are all indicative of the general social corrosion that evolved out of the communist dictatorship that ruled Serbia since the end of the WWII.

In turn, the Serbian social elite - the intellectuals - spent very little on the thorough diagnosis of the corrosion and even less on devising measures to stop it. In fact, the intellectuals expanded enormous effort in explaining away the corrosion and many other Serbian ills, typically, as some sort of a conspiracy, anti-Serbian or otherwise, by this or that foreign or domestic element.

The apparent dialectics of the Serbian intellectual approach to the formation of the national conscience in the 1990s and the congruent diplomatic practice of it by the government is a stark contrast to any pre-WWII one. The astonishment of Serbs of being bombed by the West with whom it has been a traditional ally attests to the power of subterfuge dialectical nationalism has on a nation.

Dialectics: The specter of the haunted Balkans

Dialectical approach believes that constructing opposing arguments leads to their fusion and ultimately to a more meaningful truth. Formulized by a German philosopher Hegel, dialectical approach was used by Marx to erect his conclusions about capitalism, many formulized as inevitabilities.

The inevitabilities of dialectical conclusions as well as the intricate structure of elements that are intrinsically opposed to one another have a messianic appeal, especially to a society undergoing paganization as was the case in the Eastern Europe. The monolithic, uncompromising dialectical inevitabilities akin to the absolutes of a deity replaced faith in God.

Since it believes that the inevitabilities, termed synthesis, are a result of a conflict that rearranges fixed quantities of opposing forces, dialectical approach considers inevitabilities as a zero-sum result. Implicitly then, dialectical approach militates against compromise and industriousness in favor of conflict, plunder and corruption.

Moreover, one can abuse the dialectics by flipping the procedural structure upside-down and formulate the inevitabilities first (synthesis), then go and seek out opposing elements (thesis and antithesis) that can produce such outcome.

In fact, Balkan nationalists have done precisely this so that by flipping the dialectical procedure they created a potent mix that rationalized destruction, plunder, depopulation, corruption… as part of an overall nationalist objective.

Franjo Tudjman, ethnic cleanser of the Serbs

For example, ethnic cleansing and plunder of Krajina Serbs by the Croatian president Franjo Tudjman is claimed by nationalist Croats to be inevitability (synthesis) because Serbs wanted a piece of Croatian land (thesis) and Croats did not want to give it to them (antithesis).

Bosnian Muslim Alija Izetbegovic also framed his islamization policy of Bosnia (synthesis) as an inevitability of a dialectical process in the Balkans: communist state is a Christian conspiracy to remove Islam from Bosnia (thesis) while Islam demands that wherever there are Muslims it forever becomes an Islamic land (antithesis). Implicitly then, killing Christians is a good thing for Islam and Bosnia.

The Albanians that dominate Serbian Kosovo province also dialectically argue that since Milosevic government has oppressed them (thesis) and NATO that assures their security now cannot stay there forever (antithesis) then Kosovo must be granted independence in order to maintain that security (synthesis).

On the right, Alija Izetbegovic greeting a Wahhabi dignitary

In Serbia, both nationalists and anti-nationalists derive their political convictions on the dialectical structure whose conflict-based dogmatism enhances political factionalism that precludes any compromise and any reform. While those in the anti-nationalist camp end up being exploited by those with anti-Serbian interests, the nationalists, gripped by dialectical dogma, place themselves into a self-induced fantasy.

The intellectual and the ruling Serbian elite that has hijacked Serbian national conscience and made it a field for a dialectical orgy has reduced the spectacle of turbulences to quarrelsome points of contention and are eagerly demanding that the public keeps on drinking the opiate with which these ideologues with no practical experience in creating value-added have used government to enrich themselves by plundering others.

The fact that Serbian nationalism in the post-WWII era has been defined and managed by scribes and criminals, both with no practical experience at creating any value-added, indicates that nationalism per see is not the problem in Serbia but rather the national tolerance of these scribes and criminals to use the political power they captured in order to force their definition upon the national conscience.

Who defined nationalism in 1990s?

In a provocative opus Intellectuals, Paul Johnson examines the moral and judgmental credentials of intellectuals who, self-appointed and without any sacerdotal limitations, pontificate to humanity by dispensing their wisdom on how to conduct human affairs. Although Johnson's choices do not live up to the magnanimity of their proposed intellectual ideas, the analytical novelty that seeks congruency of the intellectual's biography with his ideas is a powerful evaluative tool.

Aleksandar Rankovic, known as Leka has a quart named after him in Belgrade, Lekino Brdo

Like Johnson's intellectual antagonists, post-WWII pontificators of Serbian nationalism have been men with no practical experience in industry, commerce or any value-added activity and most of them have acquired wealth through exercise of acquired political power.

For example, Aleksandar Rankovic, Tito's security chief who violently suppressed Kosovo Albanians and because of that enjoys an elevated place among some of the modern dialectical nationalists, has been a thief, a killer and a man of low moral scruples who acquired Marxist theory as a necessity for his political appointment. It is believed that he used to declare many Serbian men "enemy of people and the state" so that by arresting the man he could have sex with their wives or pawn the widow for sex to someone whom he owes a political favor. His removal from power by Tito in 1966 caused a loss of all of his material possessions as well as his mind: he was seen talking to himself.

Dobrica Cosic dubbed creator of modern Serbian nationalism.

Often cited by the Western press as a creator of modern Serbian nationalism, Dobrica Cosic is a writer, a man of no experience in business, industry or commerce therefore a high probability exists that he is completely ignorant of economic consequences on property his nationalist construct might have. In fact, the very controversy of his nationalism brought him fame and wealth. Moreover, other then his books on history and politics, his novels and speeches, Cosic was never successful at organizing, or managing a value-added large groups of men and as a result he was a failure as a brief president of Yugoslavia during its collapse. As an ideologue, he appears more interested in a belief then in the legal minutia that goes into a construction of a well-designed Republic. An excerpt of his statements in 1998 during the "Days of Zivojin Misich" attest Cosic's preference for a political belief rather then the details required to achieve the politically grand:

- Colossal Misich didn't believe in unity of Yugoslavian peoples. He didn't believe in unity through trenches... Misich and Katich were men who had a concept of integrity. He like Bismarck believed that Serbia had the mission to unite brotherly peoples. Maybe that's the reason why the two men confronted.

Vuk Draskovic, leader of SPO

Another scribe with zero practical experience in industry and business and with a string of nationalist books to his name, Vuk Draskovic is a political dinosaur that outlived his previous communist bosses, managed to veil power along with Milosevic and yet remains politically unscathed. His experience at managing large groups of men has been to call street protests, to encourage protestors to shout slurs at the Milosevic government and encourage them to provoke the Serbian police so that it will use force against them. While dubious whether he enjoyed violence, Draskovic's dedication to the mob of the street-politics demonstrates his lack of interest in the details needed to construct a well-designed Serbian Republic. His political party, SPO, for example, has engaged in a large-scale plunder of Serbian property when it self-initiated a sell-off of previously nationalized property to the highest bidder and not the owner whom the communists plundered in the first place. His political party has not accounted for the proceeds of the sell-off and it is a high probability that Draskovic’s men have stolen all of the money from the sell-off.

Vojislav Seselj

As a leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj is a fallen hero that awaits a trial at the Hague court. During his dark days in the Bosnian jail for being a nationalist, this genius with a stratospheric IQ and a comparable knack for speech, has been a vitriolic democrat and a nationalist. Croatian sources claim that the pamphlets smuggled from the Sarajevo jail were so inspirational to the Serbian democratic nationalists that his Muslim jailers, jealous of that, might have sexually molested him. Seselj eventually managed to be awarded a Congressional medal for his troubles yet managed to support Milosevic, a communist protégé that stole his nationalist rhetoric and placed his own agenda upon it. Like all others, Seselj has no experience in commerce, industry or business nor did he waste any of his time to think up any kind of a legal minutia that goes into designing a strong republic.

Slobodan Milosevic

Unlike Seselj, Milosevic does have business experience and the fact that he managed to outwit his political opponents attests to the superiority of practical management of men versus ideological pontification to them. Although he never created a bank, Milosevic was politically awarded a directorate of a now-defunct Beobanka through which he established a personal relationship with the US Secretary of State Larry Eagleburger. Much ado about nothing was made over their past coffee conversations.

Perhaps not as genius as Seselj, Milosevic managed to illicit support from him and hold him as a political dog to whom he threw a bone every time he needed nationalist whipping in the media. His unwavering dedication and love for his wife Mira despite her implicit rejection of his ancestry by remaining Markovic and not Milosevic indicates that he is a man of few loyalties and the ones that he has are attractive to him because of their denigrating character. Perhaps this explains carelessness with which Serbian image abroad has been squandered under his rule.

Towards Progressive Nationalism

The economic miracle of the West characterized by a sustained economic growth is a result of a nationalist spirit in those particular societies that has rationally reoriented the society towards these objectives. The English mercantilism, for example, was an outgrowth of national conscience that sought to aggrandize kingdom’s wealth. Later theories of the laissez-faire and free trade were additional attempts by English patriots, motivated by their nationalism, to enhance the power of England by enhancing its wealth. “Wealth and Glory” cried English nationalists.

Spurred by success of England, German nationalist Friedrich List agitated for a national reorientation towards business and commerce while fervently advocating German unification. Bismarck’s “blood and iron” policy has been precisely that nationalist spirit (blood) reoriented towards wealth of Germany through increased output of iron.

Nationalist objectives of sustained economic growth have been extended to their logical conclusion with the American experience. In a letter to Benjamin Austin, Thomas Jefferson, for example, expresses his nascent American nationalism declaring that “Our independent place among nations was acknowledged” adding an explanation as to how one can know if that nationalism is good. “A commerce which offered… was worthy of welcome to all nations.”

All of these experiences of nationalism demonstrate absence of dogmatic principles of dialectics. Freeing Serbian nationalism from the grip of dogmatic scribes who have no idea of the impact their intellectual fancies have on property must be replaced with thinkers that devise schemes to enlarge the Serbian economic pie. The latency of Serbian post-WWII democracy, therefore, is in a direct proportion to the tolerance and status granted to dialectical nationalism that persists in maintaining its grip on the Serbian society.