Belgrade, Serbia
The Serbian parliament elected a radical hard-liner as speaker this week, signaling a return to ultranationalist policies. Tomislav Nikolic was an ally of the late President Slobodan Milosevic, the architect of the bloody Balkan wars of the 1990s. He advocates shunning the European Union and keeping close ties with Russia. He also says he will order military intervention in Kosovo if the ethnic Albanian–populated province becomes independent, as U.N. envoys have recommended. “Nikolic epitomizes war, isolation, and misery,” said Cedomir Jovanovic, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. He called on Serbia’s pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, to dissolve the parliament and call new elections.
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