Page 42 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine May 2024

42 I Southeast Europe bne May 2024
The Serbian president has repeatedly warned that the world could be heading for the worst conflict since WW2.
Serbia’s President Vucic, the prophet of doom
bne IntelliNews
Serbia is not directly involved in the conflicts unfolding in either Ukraine or the Middle East, yet the country’s President Aleksandar Vucic has repeatedly voiced gloomy forecasts about the state of the world.
In his latest projection, Vucic said on April 15 that the situation in the world would become “the worst since World War II” in the coming months.
Speaking to public broadcaster RTS, Vucic said the whole planet is “on fire”, and that everyone is trying to “reduce the flames a little bit right in their backyard”.
"It's good as long as it happens somewhere else, that's what they think. In the long term, I don't see that there is a solution, because things change, some resist those changes," Vučić told RTS, reported Serbian news agency Tanjug.
www.bne.eu
He made the comments more than two years into the war in Ukraine, and shortly after Iran launched a barrage of missiles against Israel over the weekend.
He also accused major world powers of ignoring international law, while smaller countries – like Serbia – were expected to abide by the rules.
"We, the little ones, have to stick to international law, because that's the only thing we can cling to, and these big guys, they will fight and fight, and it will get stronger and worse,” the Serbian president said.
This came after in March Vucic set out his expectations for the future, saying the world faces two possible scenarios: either a ceasefire in Ukraine, or a third world war.
"One scenario is whether the West will go in the direction of a full conflict with Russia, since it is not very easy to stop the Russian army on the ground," Vucic told a press conference in Belgrade during the visit of Bavarian leader Markus Soder.
“The second is that with the help of the United States of America and China, some kind of long-term truce, if not permanent peace, would be established, which would mean a huge relief for the world,” he added.
These warnings echo comments Vucic made back in September 2022, seven months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also warning the world could become engulfed in the biggest conflict since the Second World War.
“I think we are going to go from a special military operation [as Russia described