Election brings out Stars and Stripes – in Serbia!

By F. Michael Maloof

WASHINGTON – The presidential election results had just been announced, and people still were assimilating the outcome when a man unfurled a huge American flag in Republic Square – and the celebrations began.

In Serbia. The nation bombed by the United States in the 1990s.

It happened at the foot of a statue honoring pro-Western reformer Prince Michael, according to sources reporting to WND. Michael, a 19th century figure, was known as the Liberator, who freed the country from the Turkish Ottoman occupation.

In the election Sunday, Tomislav Nikolic defeated incumbent Boris Tadic, who had built his campaign on pro-European Union policies and practices.

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With the election of a new president, Serbs gathered at the square to celebrate and unfurl a huge American flag.

"That's right, an American flag!" a Serbian source told WND.

"People started gathering around the man, and that's when the celebration started," the source said. "It's still ongoing, with tens of thousands of people out in the streets throughout Serbia's cities and towns celebrating the end of personal dictatorship in this country.

The man in Republic Square didn't unfurl the American flag by chance, the source said.

"He chose to fly the American flag, because the Serbian people look up to you guys. We always have, even when we were at war with you," he said.

"The United States represents the ultimate ideal of freedom for us Serbs. And not just for us," he added. "There are countless people across this world who love and admire your country and what it stands for."

The source noted the American Revolution of 1776 "started out as a struggle by American patriots for the freedom of their country, but it has evolved into a struggle by all freedom-loving people for the liberty of mankind."

"On this night," he said, "Serbia took its first step toward freedom, and the first Serbs who decided to celebrate this event chose to fly an American flag over the monument to Serbia's greatest liberator and reformer, as a sign of what freedom means to us.

"It means the same thing to us as it does to you," he added. "It means having the opportunity to make the most out of your life – for yourself, your family and your community."

Nikolic is a former ultranationalist who was allied with the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Regarded as a pro-Russian nationalist, Nikolic ran on a platform of steering away from Tadic's position of joining the teetering European Union. Tadic's government has seen massive job losses and a lowering of living standards.

At one time Nikolic was regarded as anti-Western, but he recently shifted to being more pro-E.U., even though such a change was looked upon as just a ploy to gain votes. At the same time, he indicated that under his presidency Serbia would not veer from "the European path."

The EU is urging Nikolic to pursue EU membership and to continue seeking reconciliation with Kosovo, the former province that Serbian nationalists regard as the origin of the Serbian state and its religion.

Kosovo, however, is recognized by the international community as a separate country. Its inhabitants are mostly Muslim and Albanian. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence, which similarly is opposed by the Russians.

The split came about following the Kosovo War in 1999. However, a portion of Kosovo remains under Serbian control, North Kosovo, the largest Kosovo Serb enclave.

Although Tadic lost the election, his Democratic Party is likely to try to assemble a new government. Since it would be in conjunction the other parties, it probably would leave Nikolic without real power as president.

At the same time, many Serbian voters did not see Tadic as a "democrat."

"He violated our country's laws and constitution whenever he had the chance," one observer told WND. "He established a regime that was more corrupt and criminalized than even Milosevic's genocidal autocracy."

F. Michael Maloof, staff writer for WND’s G2Bulletin, is a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He can be contacted at [email protected]