Good morning! Exactly two years ago, I published an article in which I recognized the leadership style of Abazovic as copying the behavior of the Serbian president. Today we publish the same text again.
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Vucic-molded Dritan (reprint)
Imitating and admiring Vucic could be recognized even two years ago, but then everyone supported Abazovic. The man was on his honeymoon with the Serbian opposition and civil society. In the previous two years, many were ashamed of their support for the young Doctor of Science, and Abazvovic showed his true colours. He showed that he was ready to cooperate with everyone in order to preserve the position, he showed that the supreme authorities for him were in Belgrade and Tirana and that he did not care much about what our partners from the West would say.
Photographing on the plane on the way to Davos, increasingly frequent selfies with Vucic, the discovery of business connections between his family and the family of Serbian Prime Minister Brnabic, the arrest of his closest collaborators, the willingness to sacrifice the political stability of the country and its European path for the goals of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), everything inspired me to repeat this text from two years ago. There are some misjudgments in the text, such as that the opinion of people like Daniel Server would be respected by the US administration, but a lot of it turned out to be correct:
Written by: Ljubomir Filipovic, Published: 20 January 2021
No one was enthusiastic about Abazovic after the elections in Montenegro, as is the case with Serbian civil society and the civil opposition in that country. Both right-wingers and nationalists were delighted, so much that even Baja Mali Kninza sang it. But this fascination with Dritan on the part of the pro-Western opposition in Serbia is a special phenomenon. The director of an NGO from Belgrade even wrote about “political genius and talent” and “honesty as Abazovic’s method”. It was difficult to stop that wave, so experts for the Balkans from prestigious European universities spoke enthusiastically about the “fascinating Dritan”. Dritan was what they wanted him to be, they projected an ideal politician, without flaws. An Albanian who loves Serbs, a young democratic leader who defeated an authoritarian Balkan leader. David who dealt with Goliath. PHD. Everything was overlooked in that euphoria, firstly the fact that Dritan did not win (he won a little over 5% of the votes), and then that the values he stands for are nothing more than worn-out phrases, and his political talent is reduced to theatrical and dilettante politics and political opportunism.
The Serbian opposition raced to find their Dritan, first in the young Grbovic from PSG, then in Drasko Stanivukovic. Now I see it’s Bishop Grigorije’s turn, who is promoted by those European experts who promoted Dritan with the same zeal. Stabilocrats must fall at any cost, even at the cost of being replaced by worse ones. Because, how else to prove the years of an academic career built on fixation precisely on those Balkan authoritarian leaders. Some of us knew that Dritan’s party already exercised power locally, and that it behaved just as authoritatively, nepotistically, and corruptly as DPS did. It’s just that the power and therefore the reach of corruption, was smaller.
What I would like to deal with a little more today is how Dritan deceived all these people – journalists, activists from Serbia, what were their motives or reasons to believe in their projection about who Abazovic is and to make these otherwise perceptive people do not see reality. We know what Baja Mali Knindza celebrated – Dritan finally freed Serbian Sparta and returned it to the mother’s bosom. For some of the civil activists from Serbia who are trying to unite the opposition and make compromises with the fascists, he finally confirmed the mantra that the latter like to hear – that everyone committed crimes and that there are no good and bad ones in the wars of the 1990s. However, I am surprised by the movement “Let’s Not Smother Belgrade”. Who tricked them?
But let’s start so that it doesn’t look like I am making anything up. Why do I think that all those who saw Dritan as a means to fight against Vucic were mistaken? Why do I have a justified doubt that Dritan is building his leadership path precisely in the image of Vucic, in his mold?
- First of all, by the title and position he chose for himself – deputy prime minister and coordinator of the security services, a role that Vucic first devised for himself after taking power, when he acted as vice president to Dacic. Until then, such a position did not exist in Serbia, nor until now in Montenegro.
- Abazovic identifies himself with the arrests, building an image of an undisputed fighter against crime. However, Vucic’s arrest of Miskovic was much more serious than these daily arrests in Montenegro. The arrest of Branislav Micunovic was met with applause in Serbia. Many have “proved” that the time of untouchability has passed and that everyone will be the same before the law in Montenegro. And while the activists and the opposition in Serbia are delighted with these arrests, the civil society in Montenegro, especially the one that was favorable to Abazovic, began to see the theatricality and emptiness of Abazovic’s tweets. It is enough to enter their social networks, or read their columns.
- Abazovic also announces the arrests of the former government officials. His fellow citizen Ljoro Nrekic, president of the municipality and leader of DPS in Ulcinj, was among the first to fall. And that is because of the party recruitment that Abazovic is conducting at the state level at the same time, and for which he has been criticized by the EU, by activists, and even by Vijesti, a media company that is at his service with similar intensity as Pink is at Vucic’s. However, Vijesti does it in a more civilized way, we have to admit. Just like RTS. As Abazovic tried to make a scandal about Nrekic, the same way Vucic made scandals about some minor abuses in Prokuplje, for example. In the end, the court acquitted those local officials. Nevertheless, he created a feeling of fear and succeeded in equating the local political image with the national level. Abazovic is counting on the same fear as he waves his arrest lists, at the same time drinking coffee with some from DPS whom he accused of corruption just a few months ago.
- Although he is nominally in charge of the security sector, this does not prevent Abazovic from dealing with diplomats, gathering businessmen, and visiting threatened areas. Similar to Vucic, who dealt with schools, healthcare, replaced diplomats, directors and the like. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dritan rescuing a child from the snow.
- Abazovic announces a review of large projects such as the highway, Vucic did the same with Fiat and the Ada Bridge, for example. Nothing will come of that either, just like this in Serbia. But let’s wait.
- Abazovic brags about shutting down Montenegro Airlines and founding a new company, just as Vucic shut down JAT and founded Air Serbia.
- Today, to support the replacement of DPS in Niksic, where the elections follow in March, SNS engages its field experts. While the Serbian opposition and the supposedly loyal civil sector continue to talk about the cooperation between Vucic and Djukanovic, Abazovic more than pragmatically uses Vucic’s levers of power that are placed at his disposal.
In the end, Abazovic employs a large number of Vucic’s loyalists in the administration. According to the election results, the DF loyal to Vucic got the most posts when it comes to management positions in the administration, and in addition, Abazovic failed to ensure the control of the security sector as he promised to the Western partners. Slowly, people loyal to Vucic and SNS crept into his positions in the security administration. Because of this, he was recently criticized by Daniel Server, someone who will be listened to in the creation of the foreign policy agenda of the new US administration.
All in all, I hope the point of this writing is clear, by supporting such a change of government in Montenegro, those who are fighting against Vucic in Serbia, gave impetus to the attempt to create a little Vucic in Montenegro. But they miscalculated. This one with 5% can hardly repeat the success of the one in Serbia.
That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst
