Aleks Eror
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Political polemicist, sometimes journalist. Published by @Politico, @ForeignPolicy, @unherd, @guardian etc. Opinions strong, views insincere
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Articles by Aleks Eror
Serbia’s students should take a leaf out of Magyar’s book
The writer is a journalist and political consultant based in Belgrade Péter Magyar’s election victory over Viktor Orbán in Hungary...
Is Serbia on the cusp of a democratic revolution?
Political discontent and political cynicism make Serbia’s future hard to predict Despite being one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders — only Aleksandr Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, and Albania’s Edi Rama have been in office longer — Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic rarely attracts much media attention; even though he has been described as an “autocratic strongman” in these very pages (and, indeed, in many others).
Is Serbia on the cusp of a democratic revolution? | Aleks Eror | The Critic Magazine
14 hours ago A man has been jailed for having sex with a dead body. Stephen Sellars, 62, of Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire, was interrupted by the woman's son and nephew as he carried out the act in her home. On Friday, Sellars was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment at Hull Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to the …
Get ready for the worst World Cup ever
FIFA is scoring a pathetic own goal with its treatment of football Have you felt yourself sweating recently? Has this been accompanied by chills, muscle aches, headaches, and a general physical weakness? It has, you say? Oh dear. The prognosis is very grim indeed: you must have World Cup fever! This is likely to be the absolute worst World Cup to date Fear not, you’re not alone: the planet’s most popular sporting tournament kicks off today.
Why left-wingers should care about borders
A welfare state, and social solidarity, depend on restrictionism Anyone who has ever found themselves within earshot of a middle class communist will have heard that, like most things disliked by progressives, national borders are fundamentally racist. They’re just imaginary lines arbitrarily drawn on a map that, much like biological essentialism, exist only to stoke hate and division. They are ugly reminders of a parochial and outdated nationalism that has no place in our fluid modern world.
No, Viktor Orbán was not an ‘autocrat’
The outgoing PM’s ideas struck a chord with disaffected voters in Hungary and beyond. Share Topics Politics World Want unlimited, ad-free access? Become a spiked supporter. On Sunday night, Hungary’s dramatic election campaign ended in a way that nobody in the liberal press could have predicted. Just a couple of hours after voting ended, outgoing prime minister Viktor Orbán gave a gracious concession speech and congratulated his opponent, Péter Magyar, on a decisive victory.
Orbánism is not dead
The veteran Hungarian prime minister is going but his agenda lives on Every party has to come to an end eventually – it’s just unfortunate when it ends in a bloodbath. That’s ultimately what happened in Hungary at the weekend as Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power came to a brutal end after a landslide defeat to Péter Magyar — a former member of his own party who no one had even heard of two years ago.
What Louis Theroux ignores
Pea-brained influencers make for an easier target than Islamic misogyny With the liberal consensus in steep decline over recent years, the progressive left has increasingly found itself gripped by a sense of constant moral panic. From micro-aggressions to pronoun alarmism, the chattering classes see signs of the end of times coming at them from every direction.
In defence of Trumpism
He has played an essential role in shattering left-wing taboos I wasn’t always a fan of Donald Trump — mainly because served as a living embodiment of all the trashiest aspects of American low-culture. When he first came down that golden escalator in 2015, it was like watching an episode of The Jerry Springer Show, minus the joyous hit of guilty pleasure.
David Shipley | The Critic Magazine
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Is Serbia Heading Toward a Serbo-Maidan?
Politics Geopolitics Europe Ukraine For more than a year, Serbia has been gripped by an unbroken chain of marches, blockades, campus sit-ins, and mass demonstrations. Revolts first erupted in the aftermath of the Novi Sad railway station disaster in November 2024, when 16 people were killed by the collapse of concrete canopy. What started as grief quickly curdled into fury, and that fury has become a permanent feature of Serbian daily life. The streets have not emptied. The chants have not faded.
Human rights aren’t universal
Who has the right to chicken nuggets? There is a particular kind of story that now functions as an Internet punchline across the English-speaking web. A foreign offender remains in the country because his child prefers British chicken nuggets, for example. Each case is treated as a freakish aberration — as if it’s an unfortunate misapplication of otherwise noble laws by overzealous judges or activist lawyers. Unfortunately, this is comforting nonsense. These cases are not bugs in the system.
What killed English football fandom?
Fans are being priced out and domesticated England is caught in the throes of a profound identity crisis. Decades of mass migration have quite literally changed the face of the nation, with the dogma of multiculturalism erasing the ethno-cultural elements of English identity and flattening them into an enthusiasm for tea and queuing.
Street Protests Aren’t Enough to Transform Serbia
In November 2024, 15 people lost their lives when a newly renovated concrete canopy outside the central railway station in Serbia’s second city, Novi Sad, suddenly collapsed. Before long, national mourning snowballed into public outrage as people blamed a mix of shoddy construction work and government corruption for the deadly disaster.
Street Protests Aren’t Enough to Transform Serbia
Argument An expert’s point of view on a current event. Politics Elections Corruption In November 2024, 15 people lost their lives when a newly renovated concrete canopy outside the central railway station in Serbia’s second city, Novi Sad, suddenly collapsed. Before long, national mourning snowballed into public outrage as people blamed a mix of shoddy construction work and government corruption for the deadly disaster.
Why the Democrats cannot be populists
It goes against the managerial nature of the party When Donald Trump secured his return to the White House in the U.S. presidential election last month, shell-shocked Democrats promised that they would enter into a period of “soul searching” to try figure out why the American electorate opted for a gaudy reality TV star over Kamala Harris, a grating bureaucrat that probably reminds them of a sanctimonious hall monitor that they last encountered back in middle school.
The shadowy economics of fentanyl
One professor is investigating how the deadly drug trade works — and how it might be fought Bertrand Monnet isn’t your ordinary business school professor. Standing at well over six feet tall, he has a quiet intensity to him that’s reminiscent of the actor Vincent Cassel. A former French marine, Monnet now teaches at the EDHEC Business School in France, where he studies the international black market in illicit drugs, which, according to his estimates, is worth around three percent of global GDP.
The EU Has Failed in Serbia and Kosovo
The frozen conflict between Serbia and Kosovo has come dangerously close to heating up again in recent weeks. First, an armed standoff between Serb gunmen and Kosovo authorities in the north of the country left three assailants and one police officer dead. Then, just a few days later, the White House warned of an unprecedented buildup of Serbian troops along the border with Kosovo, raising concerns that war might be about to return to the Balkans.
The EU Has Failed in Serbia and Kosovo
The frozen conflict between Serbia and Kosovo has come dangerously close to heating up again in recent weeks. First, an armed standoff between Serb gunmen and Kosovo authorities in the north of the country left three assailants and one police officer dead. Then, just a few days later, the White House warned of an unprecedented buildup of Serbian troops along the border with Kosovo, raising concerns that war might be about to return to the Balkans.
How will Ukraine rebuild?
One lonely road cuts through the Azerbaijani town of Fuzuli. On one side, a cluster of decaying, vacant houses sit in a dip in the landscape, the remains of the original settlement. Three decades ago, it was home to around 17,000 people. But in August 1993, the entire population, made up of ethnic Azeris, fled. The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was into its final year, and Azerbaijan’s ethnic Armenian separatists, supported by the Republic of Armenia, were approaching.
Long-distance nationalists
How the Armenian lobby has affected world opinion On 22 May, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that he was finally prepared to accept that the long-disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh is the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. If Pashinyan proves good on his word, this concession will one day be remembered as the moment of a historic thaw in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have fought for control of Karabakh for over a century.
Montenegro’s Chance for Change
Earlier this year, on March 19, the Montenegrin electorate went to the polls to elect a new president. The people delivered a seismic political upset by finally dislodging long-time President Milo Đukanović from the seat of power he held for thirty-three years. During that time, by constantly switching between the offices of prime minister and president, he built a system where he effectively became the state itself.
Iran is teetering on conflict
Europe’s web of alliances has always been almost incomprehensibly tangled. This is one of the reasons we still disagree so vehemently about the causes of the First World War: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand lit a fuse woven from a million threads. It is one of the reasons, too, why the Western media is paying little attention to a confrontation currently brewing in the south Caucasus.
Iran is teetering on conflict
AnkaraArmeniaAzerbaijanBakuBlack SeaCaucasusFirst World WarIranKarabakhKyivMoscowRussiaTehranUkraineWar Europe’s web of alliances has always been almost incomprehensibly tangled. This is one of the reasons we still disagree so vehemently about the causes of the First World War: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand lit a fuse woven from a million threads. It is one of the reasons, too, why the Western media is paying little attention to a confrontation currently brewing in the south Caucasus.
Convicting Kosovo’s former leaders of war crimes could be the best way to achieve long-term stability in the Balkans
As former president Hashim Thaci stands trial in The Hague, his acquittal risks inflaming anti-Western sentiment in Serbia and derailing Europe’s reconciliation efforts The trial of Kosovo’s former president Hashim Thaci began on Monday at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. Thaci and three of his associates are being tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against Serbian civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo War.
Qatar World Cup: Switzerland vs. Serbia Match Is Really All About Kosovo
Serbia and Switzerland face off tonight in the final round of group fixtures at the 2022 World Cup in what has become one of the great geopolitical grudge matches in international soccer. The two sides met at the same stage of the last tournament in Russia four years ago, and tempers boiled over after Switzerland’s Kosovo-born winger, Xherdan Shaqiri, scored a last-minute winner that eliminated Serbia from the competition and secured Switzerland’s progression to the next round.
Buying Fake Sneakers Isn't That Bad, Here's Why | Highsnobiety
In 2022 There's No Reason to Be Mad at Fake Kicks I have seen a lot of head-scratching hot takes on social media — ranging from "I guess that makes sense" to "Naw, I am calling the police. However, this right here, officer, has to be one of the most heinous declarations that I have come across. Posted on Twitter, this NFT-loving user states, "You date a guy who wears fake sneakers, and you expect him to be real with you. How can he be real with you when he can't be real with himself?" I get it.
After Liz Truss’ Win, the U.K. Braces for More Political Turbulence
Britain’s Conservative party leadership battle ended on Monday with Liz Truss, the former foreign secretary, beating Rishi Sunak, former chancellor of the exchequer, to become the country’s fourth prime minister in six years. But the turbulence that has plagued British politics over much of the past decade looks set to continue.
Serbia’s sanctions standoff with the EU
Aleks Eror is a Serbian-born freelance journalist based between London and Belgrade. When German Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to Belgrade last week, he reiterated that, as a candidate country to the European Union, Serbia must adhere to the sanctions regime the bloc imposed against Russia over its war in Ukraine. Only two European countries are yet to impose meaningful sanctions against the Kremlin: Belarus and Serbia.
The Far-Right Parties Keeping The Serbian President In Check Over Ukraine
BELGRADE -- "Every step toward imposing sanctions will only damage Serbia, not Russia," said Andrej Mitic, the international secretary of the far-right Dveri party, over a glass of lemonade in the regal lobby of Belgrade's Hotel Moskva. "For that reason we see these current anti-Russian policies as anti-Serbian policies....
Protecting Their Nation From 'Hostile Narratives'
Many Serbian young people of all political stripes believe the West pushes an unfair account of their country’s role in the Yugoslav wars. In November 2021, a standoff between nationalists and progressives in downtown Belgrade drew the world’s attention to Serbia and its enduring failure to face up to its role in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić cruises to re-election
BELGRADE — Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić cruised to a second term in an election Sunday and will now face questions over whether he can continue his balancing act between Moscow and the West. Vučić was projected to win almost 60 percent of the vote in the presidential poll — some 40 points ahead of his nearest challenger, according to pollster Ipsos and the Center for Free Elections and Democracy, a local NGO.
Serbia jest dziś blisko Rosji, ale nie jest tak prorosyjska, jak się wielu wydaje. Co powinna zrobić Bruksela
Dziś w Serbii odbywają się wybory prezydenckie, parlamentarne i samorządowe.
For Serbia’s Vučić, the big challenge comes after election day
BELGRADE — There’s no suspense over who will win Serbian elections on Sunday — President Aleksandar Vučić will triumph once again. But one big question hangs over the Balkan country: Can Vučić stay on friendly terms with both Moscow and the EU following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Polling shows Vučić and his conservative Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) dozens of percentage points ahead of their rivals as the country holds presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections on the same day.
With New Tactics And New Blood, Serbia's Opposition Is Trying To Become Relevant Again
BELGRADE -- With Serbian citizens set to vote in presidential, parliamentary, and municipal elections on April 3, a retired army general and a leading opposition candidate for the presidency, Zdravko Ponos, recently appeared on one of Serbia's most popular political talk shows, Utisak Nedelje (Impression of the Week). There he was asked to clarify comments he had made about General Ratko Mladic, a convicted war criminal and the military leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the Yugoslav wars.
Serbia’s Days of Hedging Between the EU and Russia Might Be Over
The European Union has spent much of the past decade divided and impotent, as it flailed its way through a series of seemingly never-ending crises. But Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine last week appears to have reenergized the bloc, leading to the emergence of a newly assertive EU bound together by a common enemy.
The Week's Best: 10 Stories And Videos You Shouldn't Miss
Serbia - Obrenovac - Extreme right wing organizations on anti-migrant protest in front of Migrant center in Obrenovac - May 13th 2020 Photo: Radio Slobodna Evropa (RFE/RL) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week.
In Serbia, A Toxic Mix Of Nationalism And Animal Rights
BELGRADE -- In a gruesome social media video, a dog fight is taking place in what appears to be an open-air basketball court. Two pit-bull-like dogs are set against each other by a group of young men, who surround the battling animals in a circle. One dog quickly overpowers the other, digging its teeth into the upper lip of its opponent's snout, prompting squeals of agony.
The Week's Best: 10 Stories You Shouldn't Miss
Photo: Natalya Bulkina (Copyright) Hey, you're busy! We know rferl.org isn't the only website you read. And that it's just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days. We are also including content here from Gandhara, an RFE/RL website focusing on developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Behind Tycoon's Purchase Of Southampton FC Is A Bitter Battle For Power In Serbia
BELGRADE -- Serbia is soccer-obsessed. The capital's giants, Partizan and Red Star, contest one of the world's fiercest sporting derbies, and if you walk through the city streets, you'll see rival supporters' graffiti scrawled across almost every wall. Betting shops with neon-lit signs are everywhere and they're filled with chain-smoking men who sit fixated on TV screens showing the matches for that weekend.
Fake Njuz: as Serbian media struggles, one satire site is speaking truth to power
Media Serbia Profile Ideas & People Satirical Serbian news site Njuz.net [News.net] could best be described as Belgrade’s answer to The Onion. For more than a decade, Njuz has been lampooning local politicians and confusing gullible readers with headlines like: “Politician dies suddenly after 30 years of continuous non-work” and “Serbia reduces the delivery of brotherly love to Russia by 28 per cent”.
How Serbian street art is using the past to shape the future
Art Belgrade Long read Serbia Art & Culture A new mural of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić has sparked both outrage and approval in Belgrade. But as Aleks Eror explains, the veneration of historical, wartime figures through modern-day art is no new phenomenon in the former Yugoslavia — and in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past. Belgrade’s Njegoševa Street is one of the most affluent areas of the Serbian capital.
Venezia & How Fashion Became the New Winning In Football
Football has a long-standing, if notsomewhat idiosyncratic, relationship with fashion. Although the sport itself didn’t have much of a reputation for style for much of its history, the game’s supporters have put a premium on designer brands and dressing well since the 1970s at the very least. It could be argued that, in a way, the football-fanatical Perry boys and casuals were prototypal streetwear heads.
Belgrade nightlife: our guide to partying in Serbia’s vibrant capital
Culture Belgrade Dispatch Serbia Lasta nightclub on the River Sava. Image: Lasta - Gradski splav/Facebook Belgrade's nightlife is often compared to the best western Europe has to offer, and it stands out in the Balkans as a haven for clubbing and bar-hopping.
‘People struggle to believe that we have cafes and nightclubs here.’ Inside Novi Pazar, Serbia’s most misrepresented city
Photography Serbia Exploration Most Serbians will never visit the region of Sandžak, leaving an already marginalised area to suffer from misunderstanding and misrepresentation. But as photographer Irfan Ličina proves, the region’s rich dual heritage has much to offer — and often looks very different to the austere world portrayed to outsiders.
How Hipster Food Trends Are Ruining the World | Highsnobiety
I’ve never really understood food trends. I mean, I understand them in function, but not in principle. How can food be hip? How is it that foods go in and out of trend? In fashion a designer can create a new aesthetic that catches on for a while, before it eventually becomes oversaturated and the crowd moves onto the Next Big Thing – I get that; but food is different.
Seizing the memes of production: philosopher Srećko Horvat on play in modern politics
Person of interest Croatia Profile Croatian political philosopher Srećko Horvat is the most mild-mannered revolutionary you’re ever likely to meet. His warm, soothing voice might seem better suited to a meditation app than a political rally, but don’t let that fool you: the 37-year-old writer and activist is one of the most well-connected left wingers in Europe.
Why so many Serbians are being evicted from their homes — Summer of Solidarity
Serbia’s socialist right to housing laws have been decimated over the past ten years. But one group of activists is helping save hundreds of people from homelessness By Aleks Eror A protest against evictions in 2019. Photo / Krov When Tatjana Aničić, a 45-year-old single mother from the Serbian capital Belgrade, went to answer a knock at her front door one summer day in 2017 she had no idea what misery was awaiting her. On her doorstep stood a bailiff, who had come to evict her and her infant son.
Why a Belgrade art gallery is exhibiting the diaries of Yugoslav war criminal Ratko Mladić
Culture Belgrade Feature In 2017, Bosnian Serb former commander Ratko Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment over war crimes and genocide committed during the 1990s. Currently on display in Belgrade, Mladić’s war time diaries should provide crucial insight into the mind of one of the major perpetrators of the Bosnian bloodshed. Instead, artist Vladimir Miladinovic’s archive intervention reveals the banality that often underpins tyrannical behaviour.
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