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As Yugoslavia undergoes a tough presidential election battle, Western governments and media have given their uncompromising support to opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica.
Their sentiments are undoubtedly fueled by the desire to oust incumbent autocratic president Slobodan Milosevic, whose brutal ethnic policies have brought great instability to the region, rather than by the desire to offer authentic support to Kostunica. Such a compromising approach bears the smattering of potential disaster.
The West's underlying assumption is that with the ousting of Milosevic and the rise of a new Serbian leader, an automatic (and somewhat magical) end to the region's instability will occur.
Reality, however, may be very different.
There is no question about the need for Milosevic to be uprooted from his current leadership position, and even brought before the Hague Tribunal to be tried for his war crimes. But securing that objective should by no means be regarded as a happy end to the saga.
It is simplistic to trace all of the Serb atrocities against the region's Muslims to a single human being - albeit Milosevic himself. The real threat has never been just the one man. The real threat lies in insidious ideas and beliefs - ideas and beliefs shared by many Serbians that account for their plundering campaigns of discrimination, harassment, rape, mass murder and pillaging against Muslims.
Ideas and beliefs that must be truly intense, and far-reaching, to have made merciless monsters of so many human beings.
And, although they may now be dormant under massive external pressure from NATO forces, it is not realistic to believe that such ideas and beliefs have been completely eradicated. It is foolish not to consider that they might erupt again once that external pressure eases.
Furthermore, how can we be certain that these ideas and beliefs are not shared by Kostunica himself, the very man the West so ardently backs (albeit, perhaps, to a less destructive degree)?
Choosing to overlook this possibility (probably for reasons of convenience), Western governments are pouring millions of dollars into Kostunica's election campaign.
And, not only have they pledged to automatically remove all sanctions against Yugoslavia upon his election, but they have gone further to promise massive aid to the country once he is president.
Western news agencies also gleefully interpret an opposition win to be the dawn of a new trouble-free era in Serbia.
Never mind that Kostunica is himself a fervent Serb nationalist, and has refused to turn over Slobodan Milosevic to the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. Never mind that he is demanding the withdrawal of NATO forces from Kosovo and the return of Serb forces.
Never mind that Kostunica was photographed a year ago in Kosovo, ostentatiously waving his gun, paramilitary-style.
The fact that Kostunica does not find Milosevic's record of ethnic cleansing criminal loudly bespeaks his own ideas and beliefs.
The worrisome observation is that Western governments (whose involvement in Yugoslavia one would have hoped would remain true to the humanitarian goal of restoring security and freedom to the innocent victims of the raw Serb aggression) have lost their objectivity, and allowed themselves to engage in an egotistical battle with Milosevic - rather than to battle the real danger here which is the ultra-nationalist ideas and beliefs of the Serbians.
These ideas and beliefs may soon find a voice in Kostunica.
Regardless of who occupies the Yugoslav presidential seat, Muslim Slavs in Bosnia, Kosovo or wherever should feel secure and enjoy full human and civil rights.
Sadly, judging by the history of Serb leaders and as long as ultra-nationalism, hatred and spite remain a steady part of the Serbian mental diet, there is little reason to be optimistic about that happening - go Milosevic, come Kostunica or whomever
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