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Tisdall, Simon
3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Kosovo's future in the ballot box
"Belgrade has opened a dangerous new front in the struggle over the province's future", notes Simon Tisdall. "Twelve years after a war that cost 100,000 lives ... the Bosnian nightmare is returning to haunt the chancelleries of Europe Serbia's Russian-backed nationalist Prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, spelled it out last week: 'Preserving Kosovo and the Serb Republic [the north-eastern half of Bosnia-Herzegovina] are now the most important goals of our state and national policy.' Recent developments in Kosovo and Bosnia posed 'an open threat to the essential interests of the Serb people'. Disturbed by scary echoes of Slobodan Milosevic's 'Greater Serbia' policy, western diplomats are scrambling to hold the line with Belgrade. ... Adding to the urgency, the mandate for the EU's peacekeeping force in Bosnia expires on November 21."
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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Serbia
Montenegro referendum
"If Montenegro were to vote to secede from Serbia at the weekend and finally screw down the coffin lid on the corpse of Yugoslavia, General Ratko Mladic [fugitive former Bosnian Serb army leader indicted for war crimes] would be an apt choice as pallbearer and gravedigger-in-chief," writes columnist Simon Tisdall. "The referendum is finely balanced. Attaining the EU-mandated 55% majority in favour of independence could be touch and go. But Belgrade's continuing failure to arrest Mladic ... may yet tip the scale. It is helping persuade voters from Montenegro's Bosnian Muslim and Albanian minorities that Serbia, where roughly a third of voters still regard Mladic as a hero, is not a country they want to associate with any longer. ... Far from burying the past, Montenegro's close-run referendum may mark the beginning of a new cycle of uncertainty."
» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Domestic Policy, » South East Europe
Belarus's thorny election
"For a man apparently assured of victory, Alexander Lukashenko is going to unusual lengths to ensure the 'right' result in Sunday's presidential election in Belarus. His anticipated triumph may mark a glum turning point for pro-democracy movements in the former Soviet sphere," writes columnist Simon Tisdall, noting a recent crackdown against opposition activists, journalists and poll monitors. "...The likely collapse, for now, of hopes of democratic reform in Belarus coincides with a broader loss of confidence in the future of the 'colour revolutions' that swept countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia in recent years. ... If a backlash is under way against the populist revolutions that shook the post-Soviet space, a much-distracted US and EU bear some blame. The benefits of 'joining the west' have not proved impressive so far."
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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Belarus
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