The West has a problem in Serbia because it is difficult to find an anti-Russian nationalist movement there.
Anti-Soviet people are easy, there are a lot of them, but for both the “red” Serbs and the Serbian nationalists, see Russians as a force backing Serbian independence. People remember NATO role in the collapse of Yugoslavia as well.
Without radical nationalists a color revolution doesn’t work out. There’s no one to form a militant group to start a serious mess with the police. The same football fan movement in Serbia is more likely to take to the streets with the idea of once again beating the Croats, but certainly not in order to overthrow their government, albeit not the most respected one, in the interests of the West. Especially when everyone knows that the West wants Serbia to participate in the war against Russia.
So, under these conditions, one cannot expect a classic Maidan scenario, when “peaceful” protestors are supported by close-knit groups of radical nationalists.
Not quite, as they never managed to get a government that would fully supplicate itself to the west. They effectively got a similar situation to Ukraine before maidan where Serbia stayed neutral between Russia and the west.
The West has a problem in Serbia because it is difficult to find an anti-Russian nationalist movement there.
Anti-Soviet people are easy, there are a lot of them, but for both the “red” Serbs and the Serbian nationalists, see Russians as a force backing Serbian independence. People remember NATO role in the collapse of Yugoslavia as well.
Without radical nationalists a color revolution doesn’t work out. There’s no one to form a militant group to start a serious mess with the police. The same football fan movement in Serbia is more likely to take to the streets with the idea of once again beating the Croats, but certainly not in order to overthrow their government, albeit not the most respected one, in the interests of the West. Especially when everyone knows that the West wants Serbia to participate in the war against Russia.
So, under these conditions, one cannot expect a classic Maidan scenario, when “peaceful” protestors are supported by close-knit groups of radical nationalists.
Wasn’t the overthrow of Milosevic a color revolution?
Not quite, as they never managed to get a government that would fully supplicate itself to the west. They effectively got a similar situation to Ukraine before maidan where Serbia stayed neutral between Russia and the west.