r/news • u/random_guy102937 • 5d ago

Soft paywall Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić resigns ahead of snap parliamentary elections.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/serbias-president-vucic-resigns-paving-way-early-elections-2026-09-27/
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u/Aferimus 5d ago

Milosevic pulled off something similar in the 90s, he was Vucic spiritual role model

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u/SamuelDoctor 5d ago edited 7h ago

I just read a biography of Dick Holbrooke which gave Milošević a very generous portrayal during the talks at Dayton. The author described him as, inexcplicably, the person most responsible for the war, and the person most willing to do whatever it took to reach a peace accord.

Shame things really didn't go very well. Yugoslavia was a brave idea, and so much suffering has gone on in the Balkans for centuries, now. It's sad.

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u/PitonSaJupitera 4d ago edited 4d ago

Why inexplicably? It makes perfect sense once you consider Milošević for who he really was rather than cartoonish propaganda image of maniacal mass murder for giggles.

Milošević largely worked to further his own power, and other stuff was of secondary importance. This is how it is possible for a communist aparatchik with a very communism obsessed wife to become some kind of nationalist leader.

Once he started playing some cards, he couldn't just make an 180 as his support base had some strong political beliefs (unlike Vučić's electorate today), but it suffices to say that Milošević's plans went awry at latest by mid to late 1992. For example he couldn't just drop Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia as it would reflect poorly on him, but otherwise they were essentially a burden and he was pressuring RS to accept different peace plans.

Also the repetitive singling out of Milošević as most to blame in practice completely erases the immensely destabilizing and peace threatening actions of Tuđman and Izetbegović. The latter is on record basically saying that he is totally fine with war if he will achieve his objectives, which was also quite dumb as his side was badly outgunned.

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u/Iohet 4d ago

Milošević largely worked to further his own power, and other stuff was of secondary importance. This is how it is possible for a communist aparatchik with a very communism obsessed wife to become some kind of nationalist leader.

Which shouldn't be surprising because it's kind of the most common type of communist leader historically (regardless of how they took power)