Regardless of our opinion about Slobodan Milosevic now, 12 years after his overthrow on October 5, 2000 or our feelings about him back then, this speech is an important historical document as well as an important warning to people living in Serbia and in other former Republics of Yugoslavia. It is also a must read for people in Arab countries that were recently a stage for the so called "Arab Spring". I doubt that young people in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya or Syria are ready to hear this message now, but I hope some of them will take time to learn from the past events in this once grand country that is now reduced to what Milosevic described in this speech: National humiliation, state fragmentation and social misery...
Belgrade - October 2, 2000
Honored citizens,
In the expectation of a second round of election, I'd like to take the opportunity to explain my views on the political situation in our country, especially in Serbia. As you know, efforts have been underway for a whole decade to put the whole Balkan Peninsula under the control of certain Western powers. A big part of that job was accomplished by establishing puppet governments in some countries, by transforming them into countries with limited sovereignty or no sovereignty at all.
Because we resisted, we have been subjected to all the pressures that can be applied to people in today's world. The number and intensity of these pressures multiplied as time went by.
