Why is that a weird flex? When you’re a Slav in Western Europe, the constant belittling attitude you receive from Westerners provokes two natural reaction - you either distance yourself from your origin, or you embrace it proudly.

I will seriously respond to this comment now, without any shitposting. I do apologise for how long my reply will be, as well as for using technical terms which many won’t be familiar with - I am sure you will though.

I know my country’s politics very well. I also know how the EU works inside out, which legal and political mechanisms are at place and I have done substantial academic research on EU enlargement (I wrote my master’s thesis on it). Serbia, legally speaking, is a candidate for membership. Negotiations started in 2014, and have stalled since. There are plenty of factors that need to be considered here, and narrowing it down to ‘Serbia wants to be a Russian vassal’ is dismissive and irresponsible, particularly from the EU’s perspective. Many people in Serbia feel exhausted by the EU’s lack of willingness to accept new members, which also contributes to the current support for membership. There are plenty of reasons why this ‘enlargement fatigue’ is in place but I won’t waste time by opening this second Pandora’s box. Of course, the Serbian government is also extremely incompetent and unwilling (for their own reasons, mainly corruption) to align with the acquis communautaire, the body of EU law which candidate countries must accept into national law in order to join the EU. The main concern of course, is the alignment with the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The second issue is of course the status of Kosovo - Chapter 35 of the negotiations with the EU is essentially only about this topic, which is sui generis for the case of Serbia and will address it later.

While I always enjoy rattling up Balkan nationalists, including Serbs, what triggered me with this person’s comment in particular was the grouping together of Russia and Serbia into one box, which is just plainly factually, legally and politically incorrect, and is a common tactic deployed by Albanian nationalists to portray Serbia as a threat to Europe. Serbia is a tiny country, with such little significance that it is laughable to discuss this. It is, most importantly, economically and in most cases, politically, on the side of the EU, despite the populist rhetoric coming from the government, which maybe leads the worst foreign policy for Serbia since Milosevic. Conversely, Serbia and Albania, as countries, have completely acceptable relations and are becoming more economically dependent on each other - in my opinion, a great thing.

Now - I do understand that Kosovo Albanians see Serbia as a threat to what they see as an independent and sovereign country and will use any opportunity to push this narrative. The real truth is that Serbia cannot take back Kosovo, and no government, no matter how nationalistic, would not attempt to do that right now. Especially not this one, which has given the Pristina institutions essentially everything they asked for and more - due to sheer incompetence more than anything else.

Of course Kosovo is a matter of pride. The Kosovo myth is an integral part of our national identity, and played a massive part in the Serbian nation-building of the early 19th century. It is a very emotional subject for many Serbs. And most people know at least something about it.

But also, of course it is a de facto independent country. We lost the war. Now, this independence, in my humble opinion, goes against every principle of public international law. The 2010 ICJ Advisory Opinion completely disregards what was practice until then. I suggest you watch the video made by Professor James Ker-Lindsay on this topic, if you’re interested, for a more objective explanation.

Now, the population in Kosovo, primarily Albanian, hates Serbs - they have been taught to hate them from a young age. Not saying that Serbs don’t hate Albanians, of course they do - but the feeling is much stronger on the Albanian side. It is true that 1.5 million people there do not want to become a part of Serbia again. But there are still over 100,000 Serbs there, who are worried that they will be forced to leave their homes, assimilated into Albanians, etc. and Serbia cannot leave these people alone. In a perfect world, of course, a multi-ethnic independent Kosovo - why not? The reality though is that Kosovo is not this today, but rather an Albanian irredentist entity with the goal to merge with Albania. This is why it is fundamentally necessary to prevent anything like this from happening.

Anyway, sorry for the long comment, and if I missed anything do let me know. Peace ✌️