My Blogoir entry on the latest Serbian elections has been run by B92, a leading ‘pro-European’ media outlet in Belgrade.

And the comments flow. Mainly negative, which is fair enough. How many Serbs want to hear the views of a former British Ambassador?

See eg this one from John Bosnitch who (if it is the same person) has a lively presence on the grumpy parts of Internet denouncing the EU as a German plot and generally railing against Western policy towards Serbia:

Once they fail to impose their will through state-level pressure and illegal interference in the elections of a sovereign state, they reappear here as "friends" just hanging on for old time’s sake. It’s time for B92 to find some other commentators. I would suggest that most of the critical contributors in this comments section have a much more realistic impression of what is going on in Serbia than any ex-ambassador trying to complete England’s never-ending mission of subduing Serbia as part of its global policy against Russia.

Or this one from Suze:

You EU diplomats are missing the point. You have no desire to understand the Serbian psyche. Kostunica’s morals have been elevated and in the West the Serbian diaspora hold this man Kostunica in the highest esteem … Kostunica holds firm Serbian sovereignty, Kostunica holds firm Serbia’s province of Kosovo and Metohija, Kostunica holds firm respect for international law, ALL this close to his heart and his head. This can never be moral collapse! Serbia should NEVER choose between Europe and Russia because Serbia NEEDS and wants BOTH

Message to John Bosnitch: Calm Down.

Lots of people across this region talk knowingly about the secret British Plan, cooked up at the Congress of Berlin, perfidiously unfolding down the decades.  No-one knows the Plan. This shows just how secret and perfidious it really is!

I have bad news for this region. I will be prosecuted under the British Official Secrets Act for telling you. The situation is much worse than us having a Secret Plan. We do not have a Plan. We have no Great Power interests or ‘eternal friendships’ at stake.

But we do have voters. Thousands on thousands of letters poured into the FCO from British people angry at the attack on Dubrovnik. The then Conservative Government responded by supporting heavy sanctions against Belgrade. Your image in the UK has not fully recovered from this.

Still true, alas.

Suze’s point is important. Do Western governments fail to understand the Serb Psyche, wilfully or otherwise? If so, does it matter?

Or is the problem that the Serbs fail to understand the Western Psyche?

In my time in Belgrade I had many conversations with Mr Kostunica, some with senior British visitors and others in a private form. I joined his meeting with PM Blair at Downing Street.

So I had many opportunities to see him and his carefully phrased and perceptive views in action. I told London on countless occasions that there was no prospect of Kostunica ever accepting an independent Kosovo. Why should he?

Many Serbs of the Bosnitch tendency would argue that ‘the West’ from the start was bent on carving up Serbia (the explanations as to why we would care to do so differ), and Kostunica could have done nothing to stop it.

My point is that even if ‘the West’ is bent on doing down Serbia, and indeed especially if it is, Serbia’s leaders need to deploy maximum finesse to get Serbia the best possible deal.

One test of any policy is its intellectual coherence and moral purpose. Another is its effectiveness. (Iraq?)

Eight years after Kostunica first came to power insisting that Kosovo remain an integral part of Serbia, his Kosovo policy has to be declared a total bust. 

Is this really the best Belgrade could have achieved, given the powerful hand and Western goodwill the Serbs enjoyed following Milosevic’s downfall?

This failure by Belgrade to deal creatively and intelligently with Kosovo goes back many years, even decades. Even after the disasters in Bosnia there was a deal to be done. If Milosevic then had been ready to talk calmly and open-mindedly about possible constitutional deals for Kosovo autonomy he could have avoided the historic policy fiasco Serbia now faces, and probably his own indictment by the Hague Tribunal.

But Milosevic thwarted exhausting Western and Russian efforts alike to engage with him to help Serbia move forward.

A senior Russian diplomat described to me Milosevic drinking and blustering and game-playing for hour after hour in their private meeting, deep into the night. Finally the Russian walked out, telling Milosevic to his face that he was not serious.

So, Suze, I agree with you. We do not understand the Serb psyche, at least as it apparently reveals itself in the policies pursued by some of your leaders.

But Serbia too should try to understand ours.

Our general approach is to say to someone steering his car straight towards a dangerous cliff-edge that it is better to change course. To think more deeply about Life and its Choices. To be more … flexible.

But if that driver ignores us and presses on the accelerator insisting that he has the moral right to be free from Western nagging, there comes a point where it is better to jump back and watch in dismay as the car flies out into space before encountering the unpleasant forces of gravity.

As I once advised Biljana Plavsic, the Serbs too often came across as somone standing in the middle of a busy motorway waving a copy of the Highway Code and complaining loudly about cars going much too fast.

Good point! Wrong Place!

Inat and all that?