The Econmist - USA (2021-10-30)

46 Europe TheEconomistOctober30th 2021

Serbia

A Balkans

armsrace

“C

omewithme,”saysAleksandarVuc­

ic,Serbia’spresident.“Nowyouare

goingtoseea smileonmyface!”Fromthe

terraceofBelgrade’spresidencybuilding

hepointsatskyscrapersshootingupand

declarestriumphantly:“Likea phoenixris­

ingfromtheashes!”

OtherformerYugoslavstatesworrythat

Serbia’sarmyisalsorisingfromtheashes.

Duringa pettydisputewithKosovoabout

car number­plates in September, Serbia

flewwarplanesclosetotheborderandde­

ployedarmouredvehiclestocowitssmall­

erneighbour.

Between 2015 and 2021 Serbia’sdefence

spendingjumpedbysome70%to$1.4bna

year.RussiaandBelarushavegivenitten

mig­ 29 jets.Russiahasgivenit 30 tanks

andarmouredpersonnel­carriersandsold

it anair­defencesystem.It hasboughtChi­

nesearmoureddrones,Russianhelicop­

tersanda French surface­to­airmissile

system.Thismonththedefenceminister

announcedthatSerbiawasnegotiatingto

buytransportplanesandhelicoptersfrom

Airbus.Lastmonthcamenewsthatitwas

talkingtoIsraelaboutanti­tankmissiles.

Turkishdrones,whichwereusedtodevas­

tatingeffectinlastyear’sdefeatofArme­

nianforcesinNagorno­KarabakhbyAzer­

baijan,maybeontheshoppinglist.Ser­

bia’sowndefenceindustryisalsoproduc­

ingnewkit,asopposedtojustchurning

outmoreYugoslav­erastuff.

AftertheYugoslavwarsofthe1990sSer­

bia’smilitarycapacitydecayed.Butin 2014

thegovernmentdecidedtorearm.Russia’s

interventioninUkraineshowedthatthe

eraofconventionalwarfareinEuropewas

notover;andfloodsin Serbiathatyear

werea “wake­upcall”,saysDanielSunterof

theBalkanSecurityNetwork,a think­tank.

Theyrevealedthatthecountryhadbarely

anyhelicoptersforsearch­and­rescuemis­

sions. In 2015 Croatia,also restoring its

armedforces,askedAmericatosupplyit

withrocketswhich,if firedatSerbia,could

reachdeepinsidethecountry.

Amodernstateneedsa modernarmy,

saysMrVucic.Serbiaspendsmoreinabso­

lute terms than before, but its defence

spendingasashareofgdphashovered

around 2% since 2005. Compared with

Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania, that is

“peanuts”,saysMrVucic.ButSerbswere

notatwarwithBulgaria,HungaryorRo­

maniainthe1990s.Theywereatwarwith

neighboursthatnowhavesmallermilitary

budgets. Serbiaoutspends Albania, Bos­

nia,Montenegro,KosovoandNorthMac­

edoniacombined.ItalsooutspendsCroa­

tia,whichisbuyingFrenchjetstorestore

itsalmostnon­existentaircapacity.

IfSerbiaweremerelymodernisingits

armedforcesnoonewouldmind.Itisthe

contextthatsetsoffalarms.Bosniaisin

politicalturmoilagain,andMiloradDodik,

theBosnianSerbleader,suggestedonOc­

tober14ththatif hispartofBosniaseceded

andviolenceweretofollow,Russiawould

stepintodefendit.Serbia’sgovernment­

controlled tabloids constantly proclaim

thatwarwiththeKosovoAlbaniansorthe

Croatsisimminent.InOctober,following

a clashbetweenKosovoSerbsandtheKos­

ovo police, Serbia’simaginative tabloids

linked the presence of British Gurkha

troopstotheviolence.

Atthesametimenationalists,includ­

ingSerbia’sdefence minister,talkabout

thecreationofa“SerbianWorld”,which

manyinKosovo,MontenegroandBosnia

feariscodefora GreaterSerbiathatmight

swallowthemup.MrVucicdismissesthat

as“propaganda”.Hesaysthatalltheneigh­

bours know that rearmament is “not

againstthem”.

VukVuksanovic,a researcherattheBel­

gradeCentreforSecurityPolicy,saysthat

therealsignificanceofthecountry’sre­

arming is politicalrather thanmilitary.

ShowyarmsdealsimpressMrVucic’ssup­

porters,whotendtoholdthearmedforces

inhighesteem.

ButSerbiaiseffectivelysurroundedby

nato(seemap).Witha bigallianceshield­

ingitssmallneighbours,Serbiaishighly

unlikelytosenditssoldiersintoactionin

theforseeablefuture.Indeed,Serbiahas

excellent(ifdiscreet)relationswithnato,

andAmericatrainsSerbiantroops.Having

a strongarmymeansthatbigpowerstreat

youwithrespect,saysMrVuksanovic.And

if, “Godforbid”, the regionalstatus quo

weretobreakdown,then“ifwecaninflict

damage onour hypothetical opponents,

theywillperhapsbemoreaccommodating

withusatthenegotiatingtable.”n

B ELGRADE

Serbiaisona shoppingspree

SERBIA

NORTH

MACEDONIA

BOSNIA&

HERZEGOVINA

ALBANIA

GREECE

KOSOVO*

MONTE-

NEGRO

HUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

AUSTRIA

ITALY

SLOVENIA

CROATIA

Ad

ria

tic

Sea

Belgrade

NATO members

*NATO mandate to defend

150 km

F

rench officialdomisabuzzwith

preparations for the pfue, which the

meae and sgae are organising for the

pr in 2022. Lost? Spare a thought for the

outsider who must daily navigate the

French passion for acronyms and ini­

tialisms. All countries use them, but

France has a particular penchant. The

latest (pfue) refers to the French Presi­

dency of the European Union, which

starts in January 2022 (and is in fact the

presidency of the European Council).

No matter. The abbreviation is already

everywhere, and, as the opening sen­

tence says, officials from the foreign

ministry and a secretariat in the prime

minister’s office are preparing this

occasion for the president.

The preference of the French for

abbreviations is so ingrained that they

scarcely notice it. Britain may have its

nhs, or America nasa. France has them

for every part of life: transport (tgv,

rer, sncf), politics (ps, eelv, lrem,

lfi, rn (formerly the fn) and lr), un­

ions (cgt, cfdt), work (smic, cdd, cdi,

cse, rtt), the police (bri, raid), taxes

(csg, urssaf, ifi). The principle seems

simple: why use a word like budget

when an abbreviation like plf(projet de

loi de finances) will do?

What is behind this zeal? Some date

it to the organisation of the modern

state in the late 19th century, when

bodies such as unions (cgt) or the

political movements that later joined

together as the sfio, the precursor to

the Socialist Party (ps), emerged, and

with them the complex names that

deserved shortening. Perhaps it is also

the result of the state’s tendency to

bureaucratic complication; an acronym

can simplify rather than confuse. So the

Société Nationale des Chemins de fer

Français (the national railway) becomes

the less indigestible sncf.  

The fact that practitioners of such an

elegant language infect it with such

abominations has not gone unnoticed.

The Académie Française, which polices

such matters, recommends that when it

comes to acronyms “moderation is a

good thing and abuse dangerous.”

Curiously, one of the few spheres in

which the French leave prolix descrip­

tions alone is food. No cdc for confit de

canard, nor bdv for blanquette de veau.

Organisational or bureaucratic life, it

seems, is to be tolerated and shortened.

Gastronomy can take its time. 

Frenchacronyms

PFUE? LOL

P ARIS

The French addiction to acronyms