Vucic invited Trump as a guest, as soon as possible, although we do not know if he promised to come. Everything will be in order - from bread and scones to Ivica who will sing and prepare a new set of photos from the last meeting, like back in New York
On Sunday night the president of Serbia he talked to on the phone Donald Trump, the future president of the USA. They exchanged congratulations and expressed their wish for the two countries to cooperate even better in the future. That would actually be all that happened, and everything else in the news reports would be commentary, interpretation or impression. As it was announced and published on one of the national TV networks in America, Trump held similar talks with about 70 statesmen around the world that day. It was Serbia's turn in the evening, which would mean that Trump called in the afternoon, their time.
It's been a long time since a telephone conversation received as much media attention as this protocol contact announcing the future president of the United States, because the official inauguration will not be held until January 20, 2025. It is part of diplomatic practice, just as the future presidential couple receives a courtesy call from the current first lady to come to the White House for tea. Of course, this does not mean that the Bidens and the Trumps are agreeing on the date of moving out, curtains and painting, but a message is being sent about the continuity of power, the change of power, the democratic procedure and the reconciliation of yesterday's political rivals. Presidents become ex-presidents after their term, drink or not drink tea and leave the White House. Dictators don't leave power like that, because they don't drink tea with those who beat them in fair and democratic elections.
However, in Serbia, the telephone conversation took on epic dimensions. On all TV channels, the news that the conversation was in progress appeared in Cairo. On pro-government commercial channels, excitement grew as new details were added. The owner and editor-in-chief joined the program of TV Informer, the official TV channel of the Government of Serbia, giving exclusive news as if it were a natural disaster - or if you look at it differently - that gold rain has started to fall on Serbia. On Pink TV, the Hit Tweet show was all about guessing what the two presidents were talking about. Ana Brnabić and Ivica Dacić expressed their wishes, visions and expectations, fantasizing with the presenter and the third guest, a conspiracy theorist, about possible outcomes, about the golden age that is ahead of us and the bright future.
When the tension reached its maximum, Vučić himself announced himself with a post on social networks, which only fueled the historical character of this conversation. He described the tone of the conversation as "cordial and meaningful". Since it would be completely unacceptable for him to recount the content, the tabloids, media vicars and griots were given the signal to start with odes of admiration and joy.
The result is the impression that this conversation lasted an unprecedentedly long time, in my opinion, at least half an hour. How else would we find out that Trump knows about the successes of our athletes, that he values us more strongly, so Vucic invited him as a guest, as soon as possible, although we do not know if he promised to come. We don't have tea, bro, everything has to be in order - from bread and scones to Ivica, who will sing and prepare a new set of photos from the last meeting, like back in New York. Vučić found a parallel between Serbia and America, because Trump will make America great, and Vučić will make Serbia, and now jbg, not Great, it's too much on Šešelj, on the publishing house from Zemun, but something in the style of respected and "prosperous". It's not MAGA, it's MSGA, it sounds like some martial art or synthetic drug.
Then it became important which order was the invitation to Vučić, and the tabloids speculate that we are between 10th and 15th place, because it is also important that we are the first in the Western Balkan region, and that is why everyone else hates us and envies us more fiercely. Unfortunately, we did not find out how those protocol calls work, because they probably inform you when they will call you to answer the phone, it is Sunday afternoon, that you are not apa-drapa, at the godfather's place or you are in the bathing phase, it is Sunday, tomorrow is a working day , in fact, it's not a working day, it's Ramonda, but it's a working day for you, plus you're traveling, plus the opposition is organizing protests, does Trump need to hear the protestors pissing under your window!?
Then the media concluded, and the President said from Baku, that in our neighborhood, more precisely in Croatia and BiH, they were so furious that they did not want to publish the news about the historic conversation and the fact that Trump loves us more than them. I don't know if anyone mentioned Dodik, who also rejoiced at Trump's victory even though his administration imposed sanctions and froze his assets. I wouldn't waste words on Kurti, he totally lost the elections, he also congratulated Trump, but it looks disingenuous, while his foreign minister is trying to portray Kosovo as the most American nation of all nations outside of America.
The good news does not end there either. Namely, Vučić claims that during the conversation with Trump, Elon Musk, whom he recently met, was also on the other side, which means that we will become partners with him and we will go into space with electric vehicles, with the X network, goodbye, planet!
When we put all this together, rejoice Serbian people, as they say in "Informer", forget that the ceiling is falling on your head, that we have 14 victims, that three people are still fighting for their lives, forget Djindjic and those who killed him, forget Sabre, you may recognize them, forget about educators, forget lithium, forget Putin, now it is allowed to love America, they don't bother us anymore - the "golden age" is coming.
What is happening in the country and the world, what is in the newspapers and how to pass the time?
Every Wednesday at noon In between arrives by email. It's a pretty solid newsletter, so sign up!
Arrests out of the blue, banishment from the country, beatings... All this happened to us in the last week alone. The Serbian Progressive Party, born from the foam left behind by their spiritual father Vojislav Šešelj, is returning to its roots. I can't escape from myself
"The levers of power are not in their hands," said Bishop Grigorije. "But there is something in the Holy Scriptures that I like very much, and that is that the power of God is revealed in weakness. So, all worldly power is on one side. And on the other side, in the hands of these young men and women is the weakness of this world. But in their weakness, the power of God or God's justice appears. That is why they are at such a great advantage."
The regime and its media have been trumpeting the "civil war" for months, and the government is the only one that has a patent for peace and stability - of course, with the help of the propaganda machine and the use of force. "It is a propaganda tactic of SNS that says: 'violence is everywhere, terrorists surround us, but we are here to save you,'" explains communication professor Jelena Kleut for "Vreme".
Students and citizens who accompany them on these walking feats, were welcomed as the most native together with those who came the day before from other places. A dove of peace was also released on the stage next to the promenade along the river - this symbolic gesture of the two students is the most impressive gesture of understanding and respect between the Bosniak and Serbian peoples since the end of the wars in the former Yugoslavia
The three-day parliament for the promotion of Aleksandar Vučić and his Movement for the People and the State was realistically a fiasco. But it was first of all conceived as a media spectacle for regime television directed by court promoter Željko "DJ Žeks" Mitrović, with scenography and iconography adapted to the Serbian political market.
Anyone who condemns the regime's targeting of people from the media, the non-governmental sector, the opposition and universities, must not agree to this targeting of RTS editors and journalists either.
Depriving Dejan Ilić, an intellectual with an impeccable life and work biography, of his freedom, without the slightest meaningful reason, is just one of the brutal indicators that the regime has turned against its own citizens and is entering a phase of terror
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
Trump is not an anomaly or a passing phenomenon, as it seemed when he left the White House at the end of his first term. He is the majority of America. Now that all the levers of power are in Trump's hands, the people of America are left to wonder what this choice says about themselves. If he is the best political leader, what a country it is
After the election failure in 2012, the Republicans launched an internal review process: what went wrong. All of this is summarized in a report colloquially called an autopsy of the Republican Party. With the 2016 election result in mind, it would seem that they made the right move at the right time, although it is difficult to determine whether the text of the autopsy was a guide to the election victory or, simply, Donald Trump happened. The Democrats have the same task in 2024, the only question is whether they are capable and willing to fulfill it
The policies of the new US president are a version of destructive and authoritarian national capitalism - even with elements of racism - that reaches out to those dissatisfied with the so-called liberal hegemony and the power structures that sustain it. Therefore, it is not difficult to determine where such political enthusiasm in Serbia comes from when it comes to Trump. Serbs like to think of themselves as a collective victim of the same system, or at least the government in Serbia tries to project such an image to the electorate.
A few days before the first election that he will win, Trump says: "I could kill a man in the middle of Fifth Avenue right now, and I would still win." "We" are appalled, but we are somewhat comforted by his naivety. He wins
Donald Trump's return to the White House could significantly affect the US smartphone market. His plan to impose a 60 percent tariff on goods made in China includes Apple devices, which could drastically raise their prices and weaken the US tech giant's position
In between
What is happening in the country and the world, what is in the newspapers and how to pass the time?
Every Wednesday at noon In between arrives by email. It's a pretty solid newsletter, so sign up!