User:Antidiskriminator/Drafts of articles/Demonisation of the Serbs

The Demonization of the Serbs or the Satanization of the Serbs (Serbian: Сатанизација Срба) was systematic[1] planned and deliberate demonization of the Serbs pusued in Western media as a propaganda technique and war strategy during the Yugoslav Wars of 1990's. The Serbs were presented as Nazi-like aggressive expansionists who are the most responsible for the Yugoslav wars, depicted as particularly genocidal sometimes referred to as "beasts" and "monsters". The campaign started in Germany in 1991 and continued when Croatian and Bosnian Muslim side in Yugoslav Wars employed the PR professional companies (like Ruder Finn) for propaganda campaign.

The demonization of the Serbs received significant coverage in numerous works. Many authors criticized demonization of the Serb, some even referring to it as racist, while some emphasized that demonization of the opposed society and its government is an usual war strategy which is difficult to avoid in the contemporary wars because otherwise most people would be unwilling to support the conflict. Some authors denied that Serb demonization existed finding it as an invention of the extreme Serbian nationalists who forged conspiracies against Serbs, while some presented demonization of Serbs as simple diversity of opinions.

Background

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The demonization of Serbs which is generally connected with Western media and Yugoslav Wars, though there is an opinion that it began even before 1990's.[2] In period 1987—1991 (between the fall of the Berlin Wall and outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars) politicians of all ethnic groups of Yugoslavia accepted extreme nationalistic discourse which routinely demonized the "other".[3]

1990's

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The breakup of Yugoslavia (early 1990's)

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According to Nenad Perić, the campaign of Serb demonization started in July 1991 with barrage of articles in the German media publishing almost daily decsriptions of Serbs such as "militant Bolseviks" who “have no place in the European community”. [4] The campaign did not stop in Germany because two sides in the Yugoslav Wars, Croatian and Bosnian Muslims' engaged US public relations companies for propaganda campaign.[5] The demonization of the opponent is a war strategy conducted by the PR professional companies (like Ruder Finn) during the breakup of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav wars.[6] When Slovenians, Croats, Bosniaks and Macedonians decided to leave Yugoslavia at the beginning of 1990's the Serbs were dehumanized and demonized by the media in the West.[7] This demonization successfully presented Serbs as the most responsible for the Yugoslav wars in the mainstream Western media.[8]

Journalism had an important role in the breakup of Yugoslavia, especially in successful satanization of Serbs.[9] The mass media regularly demonized Serbs who were presented as particularly genocidal[10] sometimes referred to as "beasts" and "monsters".[11] After being first demonized in the media Serbs became demonized in the eyes of American citizens and government.[12] Although the demonization of Serbs together with sanctions imposed to Serbia created a need for national unity the Milošević's socialistic party gradually lost the support of the citizens of Serbia and, starting from 1992, was forced to form minority governments with other parties eventually having the support of only around 20% of citizens.[13]

During the Yugoslav wars atrocities were committed by all sides. In cases when perpetrators of some of the atrocities were nationalist extremist of Serbian ethnicity Western media would accuse the entire Serb nation ("the Serbs") instead using precise terminology like 'Serb extremists' in order to present an entire Serb nation as being in conflict with the whole world.[14] Demonizing of the nationalists of Serb ethnicity was accompanied by "angelizing" Tuđman's nationalists of Croatian ethnicity and Izetbegović's nationalists of Muslim.[14] The Government of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia appealed against demonization of the Serb nation.[15] Svetozar Vukmanović Tempo emphasized that the demonization of Serbs was used as an excuse to introduce UN Sanctions against Serbia and Serbs and isolation of Serbia from the rest of the world.[16]

Kosovo war (late 1990s)

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A Tomahawk cruise missile launches from the aft missile deck of the USS Gonzalez on March 31, 1999

Former Yugoslav minister of foreign affairs Živorad Jovanović estimated that satanization of the Serbs was particularly increased during Rambouillet negotiations with aim to present Serbs as "bad guys" who are responsible for the obstruction of the negotiations with Albanian "good guys".[17]

Demonization of the people from the beginning of the 1990's was replaced with a demonization of Slobodan Milošević.[18] With the beginning of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia this propaganda pattern had to be modified to again include Serbian people who elected their leader.[19][20] Demonization of Serbs as incurably nationalistic with Milošević merely responding to their obsession was oversimplification of the reality.[21]

Media from USA regularly portray conflicts involving their country as struggle between good and evil presenting the leader of the opponent as devil's incarnation. In case of NATO attack on Yugoslavia, NATO propaganda demonized Serbs and Serbian president Slobodan Milošević presenting NATO attack on Yugoslavia as a war between NATO humanitarian forces and satanic Yugoslav forces led by Milošević portrayed as Hitler.[22] At the early stages of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia the Guardian published a text which blatantly demonized Serbs presenting majority of them being `legally and morally incompetent' to carry out their own affairs so their state has to be put under the custody.[23][24] One of the main reason for a group of people from all parts of the world to establish the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milošević was what they referred to as unprecedented demonization of the Serbian people.[25] The members and supporters of this committee were numerous scholars and intellectuals including Klaus Hartmann, Peter Handke, Ramsey Clark and many others.[26]

Demonization of Serbs and Milošević by media in United States and European NATO countries was mirrored by Serbian demonization of NATO.[27]

Criticism

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While some authors find demonization of the enemy a necessity of modern era wars the other believe that any form of ethnic demonization is unacceptable[28] and that it is necessary to reject demonized images of the Serbs not because they should be idealized but to dispute biased propaganda which justified NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.[29]

Many scholars (like Chandler, Woodward, Burg, Hayden, Shoup, Cohen or Kent) refuted demonization presented in practically all mainstream accounts of the period such as texts of Judah, Nordland, Gutman or Cohen published in the Newsweek, The Time, The New York Times or Time.[7] Patrick Besson believed that the biggest concentration of opponents to the satanization of Serbs was in France.[30] British historian Jeremy Black was opposed to the practice of demonization of the opposed society and its government finding it difficult to avoid in contemporary wars and emphasized that the majority of modern people are unwilling to accept any "less than Holocaust" justification explaining "Serbs are like Nazis and therefore we must act" argument used during 1999 crisis on Kosovo.[31] Some authors criticize leftist scholars for disputing the guilt of Slobodan Milošević referring to their works as conspiracy theories, attributing “enemy of my enemy is my friend” approach to them (because Milošević resisted the USA imperium).[32] Some authors find a discourse of undisguised demonization of the Serbs which depicted them as aggressive expansionists had actually a racist tone.[33][34] Serb satanization is a consequence of the unbalanced good-against-evil positions toward conflicting parties in the Yugoslav wars.[35] Rodney Atkinson emphasized that biased texts in the British press created the myth about Serbs being "nationalists".[36]

Controversies

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There are authors who believe that demonization of Serbs belongs to the self-victimization discourse of extreme Serb nationalist and that demonization process went in opposite direction because Serbs invented conspiracies against themselves and consequently demonized the whole world, except for several countries they perceived as friendly.[37][38][39] Sabrina P. Ramet explains that those who committed massacres can use demonization as useful tool for self-victimization and maintaining a positive image.[39] Marko Atilla Hoare emphasized that "demonization of Serbs" was actually a diversity of opinions blaming "left revisionists" for "demonizing the media".[40] Some authors reject allegations of "demonization" of the Serbs as fantasy of people who are actaully responsible for underrating of cruelty and brutality of Serb nationalism and for ommission to protect victims of Serb aggressiveness.[41] Roger Cohen a columnist for The New York Times emphasizes that "demonization" of the Serbs is a manoeuvre to turn general view of the Yugoslav Wars on its head by transforming Serbs from aggressors into victims.[42]

Aftermath

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In January 2000, six months after the end of the Kosovo War, Vojislav Koštunica estimated that Serbs were stigmatized to such extent that the consequences of the satanization of the Serbs would remain after overthrow of Milošević and after all sanctions against Yugoslavia would be removed.[43] Zagorka Golubović explained that some Serbs were ashamed to unconditionally declare their Serb ethnicity anymore although they were actually proud of their nationality, as a consequence of the demonization of the Serbs.[44] Since the demonization of Serbs continued in Croatia many younger Serbs decided to became Croats and converted from Orthodox Christianity to Catholicism, some changing their names to look more Croatian.[7] In 2008 Dobrica Ćosić expressed his concerns for Serb children and future generations of Serbs because of the hatred and despise toward Serbs caused by their satanization.[45] Danko Popović thought that intensive satanization of Serbs and Serbia made Serbs feeling inferior to other people.[46]

In 2008 the Kosovo declared independence from Serbia and Serb bashing was again employed, while dispute was routinelly presented in Manichean terms.[47]

In April 2013, during the thematic debate organized by the United Nations General Assembly, the president of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić stated that demonization of Serbs has prevented a development of different interpretations of the events for 20 years.[48] In June 2013 National Assembly of the Republika Srpska issued a declaration which proclaimed that lack of the balanced and objective approach to all conflicting parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a basis for the numerous forms of the satanization of Serbs.[49]

The public image of Serbia as international pariah was somewhat changed in 2015 during European migrant crisis when the Serbian government was praised for its proper handling the migrants during the crisis.[50]

References

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  1. ^ Tony Benn (6 January 2004). Free Radical (e). Continuum. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-4411-6560-2. Retrieved 16 August 2013. The Serbs, who are now so systematically demonized by world leaders and the media...
  2. ^ Marko Mladenović (1999). Pisma za Mary Ann: trilogija. Narodna knji. Alfa. p. 103. Retrieved 15 August 2013. Сатанизација Срба не траје, као што неки тврде, десет, већ много више година.
  3. ^ Badredine Arfi (23 February 2005). International Change and the Stability of Multiethnic States: Yugoslavia, Lebanon, and Crises of Governance. Indiana University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-253-11133-3. Retrieved 29 August 2013. In period 1987-1991 ... a new political discourse anchored in ultranationalism ... Demonizing the "Other" became an intercommunal routine
  4. ^ (Perić 2019, p. 351):"The Serbs’ demonization campaign began in July 1991 with a poisonous barrage of articles in the German media, led by the influential conservative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). In almost everyday columns, the FAZ editor Johan Georg Rajsmiler justified the unlawfully declared independence of Slovenia and Croatia by describing the Serbs as “militant Bolsheviks” who “have no place in the European community”."
  5. ^ (Perić 2019, p. 351)
  6. ^ R. Craig Nation (2003). War in the Balkans, 1991-2002. Strategic Studies Institute. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-58487-134-7. Retrieved 28 August 2013. In the Yugoslav case, where efforts to demonize the enemy became a strategy of war pursued by professional public relations firms such as Ruder Finn Global Public Affairs, the challenge was particularly severe.
  7. ^ a b c Raju G. C. Thomas (1 January 2003). Yugoslavia Unraveled: Sovereignty, Self-Determination, Intervention. Lexington Books. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7391-0757-7. Retrieved 27 August 2013. Dissident Slovenes, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, and Macedonians chose to leave Yugoslavia. The Serbs were demonized and dehumanized by the Western media and their united Serbian state destroyed.... Cite error: The named reference "Thomas2003" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ Edward S. Herman (2009). "Serb Demonization as Propaganda Coup". Washington, DC, United States: Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved 27 August 2013. The successful demonization of the Serbs, making them largely responsible for the Yugoslav wars,
  9. ^ Dejan Medaković; Radovan Popović (2000). Suočavanja sa ljudima i vremenom. BIGZ. p. 192. ISBN 9788613009504. Retrieved 15 August 2013. У историји новинарства остаће забележена и његова улога у распаду Југославије, а посебно биће упамћена и успешна сатанизација српског народа.
  10. ^ Edward S. Herman (2009). "Serb Demonization as Propaganda Coup". Washington, DC, United States: Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved 27 August 2013. The successful demonization of the Serbs, ...as unique and genocidal killers,
  11. ^ Carl Boggs (1 January 2005). Imperial Delusions: American Militarism and Endless War. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7425-2772-0. Retrieved 15 August 2013. Serbs were regularly demonized in the mass media
  12. ^ Robert W. Merry (31 May 2005). Sands of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy, and the Hazards of Global Ambition. Simon & Schuster. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-7432-6667-3. Retrieved 26 August 2013. By then the story line had cast the Serbs into the role of villain; demonized by the media, the Serbs became demon- ized also in the eyes of the American government and people.
  13. ^ Jens Stilhoff Sörensen (15 January 2011). State Collapse and Reconstruction in the Periphery: Political Economy, Ethnicity and Development in Yugoslavia, Serbia and Kosovo. Berghahn Books. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-84545-919-2. Retrieved 27 August 2013. Furthermore, the demonisation of Serbs in the West, and the economic sanctions imposed on Serbia, created a feeling of being exposed to external hostility and therefore a need for unity. However, the support for the regime was already in decline...
  14. ^ a b Michel Collon; Milo Yelesiyevich; Terence McGee (2002). Liar's poker: the great powers, Yugoslavia and the wars of the future. International Action Center. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-9656916-6-6. Retrieved 27 August 2013. Lie No. 5: Demonizing an Entire People - Each time atrocities were committed, the corporate media accused "the Serbs." In reality, they involved not just any Serbs, but the extreme, right-wing, nationalist militias. Cite error: The named reference "CollonYelesiyevich2002" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ University of Cambridge. Research Centre for International Law (28 July 1997). The Yugoslav Crisis in International Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-521-46304-1.
  16. ^ (Vukmanović-Tempo 1996, p. 289):"Сатанизација Срба, а и ЈНА је искоришћена да се према Србији и Србима спроведе економска блокада, а са њом и потпуна изолација од осталог света."
  17. ^ Живадин Jовановић (2006). Косовско огледало. Beogradski forum za svet ravnopravnih. p. 130. ISBN 9788683965199. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Појачава се сатанизација Срба, они су кри- ви за сва зла, и за опструцију преговора. Срби су "лоши момци". Ал- банци су жртве, за њих све симпатије, они су "добри момци".
  18. ^ Helle Malmvig (26 September 2006). State Sovereignty and Intervention: A Discourse Analysis of Interventionary and Non-Interventionary Practices in Kosovo and Algeria. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-134-16307-6. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  19. ^ Noam Chomsky (1999). The New Military Humanism: Lessons from Kosovo. Pluto Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7453-1633-8. Retrieved 15 August 2013. it became necessary to modify the propaganda framework, demonizing the people of Serbia, not merely their leader
  20. ^ Scott Taylor (2009). Unembedded: Two Decades of Maverick War Reporting. Douglas & McIntyre. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-926685-88-5. Retrieved 15 August 2013. The western media began yet another round of demonizing the Serbs
  21. ^ Michael Ignatieff (1994). Blood and belonging: journeys into the new nationalism. Penguin Books. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-14-023262-2. Retrieved 15 August 2013. It would make matters simpler if we could demonize the Serbs as incorrigibly nationalistic and assume that Milosevic was merely responding to their ethnic paranoia. The reality is much more complicated.
  22. ^ Canadian Peace Research and Education Association (2001). Perspectives on human security: national sovereignty and humanitarian intervention. CPREA. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-9688083-0-6. Retrieved 15 August 2013. Demonization of Milosevic and the Serbs In its propaganda campaign to justify its attacks on Yugoslavia, NATO presented the Kosovo crisis as a war between the humanitarian forces of NATO and the devilish forces of Yugoslavia led by the Hitler-like Milošević.
  23. ^ Tom Campbell; Seumas Miller (25 February 2006). Human Rights and the Moral Responsibilities of Corporate and Public Sector Organisations. Springer. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-4020-2361-3. Retrieved 27 August 2013. the majority of the Serbian people, by supporting or condoning Milosevic's eliminationist politics, have rendered themselves legally and morally incompetent to conduct their own affairs (sic) and a presumptive ongoing danger to the others. Essentially their country must be placed in receivership.
  24. ^ Daniel Goldhagen (29 April 1999). "German lessons - 'The majority of Serbs are now legally and morally incompetent'". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  25. ^ "SLOBODAN MILOŠEVIĆ INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE". milosevic.co. milosevic.co. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  26. ^ "SLOBODAN MILOŠEVIĆ INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE". milosevic.co. milosevic.co. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  27. ^ Howard F. Didsbury (1 January 2003). 21st Century Opportunities and Challenges: An Age of Destruction Or an Age of Transformation. World Future Society. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-930242-58-9. Retrieved 15 August 2013. The media in Europe and the United States demonized Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic and the Serbs, labeling Milosevic as another Hitler... The NATO countries and Serbs demonized each other...
  28. ^ Andrew Moravcsik (1 January 2005). Europe Without Illusions: The Paul-Henri Spaak Lectures, 1994-1999. University Press of America. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-7618-3129-7. Retrieved 15 August 2013. ...wars today require demonization of the opponent...The Yugoslav authorities demonized the Albanians, while NATO governments demonized the Serbs.... we have learned that any form of ethnic demonization is unacceptable.
  29. ^ Russ Kick (1 January 2009). You Are STILL Being Lied To: The NEW Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths. The Disinformation Company. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-934708-30-9. Retrieved 15 August 2013. To reject the demonized images of Milosevic and of the Serbian people is not to idealize them .... It is merely to challenge one-sided propaganda
  30. ^ Goran Čvorović (8 December 2012). "Patrik Beson: Srbima je učinjena velika nepravda". Večernje Novosti. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Ali, u isto vreme je u Francuskoj, od zapadnih zemalja, bila najveća koncentracija oponenata satanizacije Srba, kako u vojsci, tako u nekim medijima i među određenim intelektualcima, koji su pokušavali da razviju drugačiji diskurs.
  31. ^ Jeremy Black (20 June 2005). War and the New Disorder in the 21st Century: Compact. Continuum. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8264-7635-7. Retrieved 26 August 2013. To do so, it would be necessary to wage a war in which the opposing society and government was not demonized , but that would be difficult , given the need to offer public justification for the conflict, and given the unwillingness of much of the public to accept anything less than the Holocaust justification. 'Serbs are like Nazis and therefore we must act' was the gist of the argument pursued by the West in the Kosovo crisis of 1999
  32. ^ John Feffer (2009). "Why Yugoslavia Still Matters". Washington DC, USA: Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  33. ^ Natasa Kovacevic (19 May 2008). Narrating Post/Communism: Colonial Discourse and Europe's Borderline Civilization. Routledge. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-134-04414-6. Retrieved 27 August 2013. What is obscured in such a discourse is the way this intervention, ostensibly aimed at rescuing multiculturalism from the Holocaust, adopts racist undertones in the designation of Serbia as a terrorist state, in an open demonization of Serbs...
  34. ^ Književnost. Prosveta. 1999. p. 904. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Заборавља се да је сатанизација једног народа најгрубљи облик расизма.
  35. ^ Matjaž Klemenčič; Thomas A. Emmert (15 September 2012). Charles Ingrao (ed.). Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative. Purdue University Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-55753-617-4. Retrieved 29 August 2013. ...a naive and one-sided good-versus-evil view that demonized the Serbs...
  36. ^ Fraser, Ron (October 2008). "The Demonizing of a Nation How one of the West's staunchest allies was turned into a pariah". The Trumpet. Retrieved 12 May 2020. The grossest calumny in the continuing anti-Serb bias in the British press is the myth that it was the Serbs who were 'nationalists.'
  37. ^ Pascal Bruckner (2007). The Temptation of Innocence: Living in the Age of Entitlement. Algora Publishing. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-892941-26-8. Retrieved 15 August 2013. So it wasn't that the world demonized the Serbs, it is the Serbs who began by demonizing all their neighbors and gradually the whole world (except for some friendly countries, Greece, Russia, Romania) by inventing a plot against themselves,
  38. ^ Rabia Ali; Lawrence Lifschultz (1993). Why Bosnia?: writings on the Balkan war. Pamphleteer's Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-9630587-8-2. Retrieved 15 August 2013. Along with the satanization of everyone else, and the Serb bravado, there is the whining self-pity that runs trough all extreme Serb nationalist discourse.
  39. ^ a b Sabrina P. Ramet (1 July 2005). Serbia since 1989: Politics and Society under Milopevic and After. University of Washington Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-295-80207-7. Retrieved 29 August 2013. Demonization specifically makes it possible for perpetrators of atrocities to maintain a positive self-image even while victimizing
  40. ^ Hoare, Marko (2003). "Nothing Is Left". The Bosnian Institute. Retrieved 15 August 2013. The media in Britain and the US have not, therefore, been guilty of 'anti-Serb bias' or of 'demonising the Serbs'; nor have they upheld the policies of the British government or made propaganda on its behalf; nor have they been a monolith; they have, on the contrary, represented a diversity of opinions.
  41. ^ (Libal & Halstead 1997, p. 177):"In the first years of Yugoslav crisis, the real problem on the West was not an anti-Serb bias, but on the contrary, constant underestimation of the potential for violence and cruelty in Serb nationalism. Those who then fantasized about an alleged "demonization" of the Serbs bear considerable responsibility for the failure to protect victims of Serb militancy"
  42. ^ The New Republic, 11 March 1996, "Far from aggressors, Serbs are transformed into victims. This is quite a manoeuvre. The general view of the wars of 1991 to 1995 is turned on its head; and the press becomes a malevolent force mysteriously engaged in 'demonization' of the Serbs."
  43. ^ Politika NIN. Politika. January 2000. p. 13. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Ко- начно, у свету, нарочито на Западу, Срби данас носе на лицу страшан жиг. Слободан Милошевић ће отићи, али ће тај жиг остати. Војислав Коштуница каже да је, за њега, сатанизација Срба гора и од
  44. ^ Zagorka Golubović; Ivana Spasić; Đorđe Pavićević (2003). Politika i svakodnevni život: Srbija 1999-2002. IFDT. p. 166. ISBN 978-86-82417-06-4. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Razlikuju se, dakle, oni koji se bezuslovno identifikuju kao Srbi, od onih koji zbog stranih uticaja na demonizaciju srpskog naroda iskazuju i izvestan stid, iako se ponose svojom nacijom
  45. ^ Добрица Ћосић; Ана Ћосић-Вукић (2008). Vreme zmija: piščevi zapisi 1999-2000 : mali svetski rat protiv Srbije. Службени гласник. p. 58. ISBN 978-86-519-0066-5. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Шта ће бити са децом и младим нараштајем српским после овог рата? Сатанизација Срба коју је читаву деценију вршио Запад изазва- ла је мржњу, зловољу, презирање Срба код читавог човечанства
  46. ^ Danko Popović (1998). Na krstu i raskršću. Serbian Literary Company. p. 156. ISBN 9780968248430. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Сатанизовање Срба и Србије имало је такав интензитет, толике размере да је не само потрло истину и искривило слику Србије у светском јавном мишљењу него је утицало и на Србе, ... па се Срби.... осећају инфериорним ...
  47. ^ Clark, Neil (14 Jan 2008). "It's time to end Serb-bashing". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2020. The Serbs have been demonised because they have consistently got in the way of the west's hegemonic ambitions in the region...Now, with Kosovo again in the headlines, the Serb-bashers are once more out in force. Once again, the dispute is being portrayed in Manichean terms.
  48. ^ Tomislav Nikolić (10 April 2013). "United Nations General Assembly - Statement by H.E. Mr. Tomislav Nikolić, President of the Republic of Serbia" (PDF). http://www.un.org/. p. 7. Retrieved 29 August 2013. Media demonization of Serbs has been carried out very fast and with an unparalleled uneven-handedness and uncritical spirit of the western media which has not allowed for full two decades any different opinion or interpretation of events to emerge {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  49. ^ "Deklaracija Narodne skupštine RS o uzrocima, karakteru i posljedicama tragičnog oružanog sukoba u BiH". Frontal (in Serbian). Banja Luka. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Narodna skupština konstatuje da, u ocjenjivanju događaja iz prethodnog rata, nema dovoljno objektivnog, uravnoteženog i ujednačenog pristupa svih strana u Bosni Hercegovini i van nje, a posebno kada je u pitanju kršenje međunarodnog ratnog i humanitarnog prava i odnos prema uzrocima, karakteru i posljedicama ratnog sukoba. Negativna kvalifikacija pojedinih događaja bila je osnova brojnih oblika satanizacije srpskog naroda.
  50. ^ MacDowall, Andrew (18 September 2015). "Wait, the Serbs are now the good guys?". Politico. Retrieved 12 May 2020. Only a decade-and-a-half ago, Serbia was an international pariah, shunned for its role in the Yugoslav wars, and perceived as the instigator of ethnic conflict and persecution. Now government and civil society have won praise for the compassion with which the current crisis has been handled.

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Further reading

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