ON SUNDAY at 9 pm, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, epidemiologist Predrag Kon, MD, and pulmonologist Branimir Nestorovic, MD, made an appearance as guests on the talk show on Serbian television Pink, which functions as a propaganda machine for the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his regime.

It was yet another episode of a horror soap opera that the coronavirus pandemic has turned into in that neighboring country of ours: Kon stared vacantly into the void, Brnabic got lost in her metaphors about wells and tunnels, and Nestorovic talked relentlessly about everything and anything, confirming once again that he should not be invited as a guest by any responsible media, nor should he be consulted by any responsible government.

Vucic and his associates are unable to manage the system

It was painful to watch this blatant propaganda on which, in the middle of this pandemic, Vucic and his closest associates are spending more of their time than on the fight against the coronavirus. However, it was a perfect illustration of why Serbia failed spectacularly in stopping the infection from spreading, and why there are already two thousand confirmed infected and about sixty dead individuals.

Aleksandar Vucic has failed in gathering a team of competent experts around him in this state of emergency, even when it comes to the health aspect of the pandemic, not to mention the aspect of effectively managing the state system in this unprecedented situation. The problem lies not only in Vucic's associates but also in himself, as he has once again shown that as President of Serbia, he does not have the capacity he so confidently thinks he does. Even if he were Superman, that would not be enough to successfully organize the state system as far as the fight against the coronavirus is concerned, nor would that be enough to motivate the citizens to show solidarity and comply with the rules.

It all started with a scandalous press conference at the end of February

An additional problem is that Vucic, with his constant verbal outbursts, threats, theatrics, and self-praise, is constantly sending contradictory messages to the citizens of Serbia and creating panic. In many cases, that would not have happened if the President had not yet again uttered some nonsense.

The tragedy of Serbia began at the end of February when Vucic called a press conference to which he also brought Nestorovic, who was already famous for his behavior unbecoming of a public expert.

Nestorovic called the coronavirus "the funniest virus in history" and topped his deranged presentation with an anthological statement: "Women, feel free to go shopping in Italy, they are having huge discounts right now, and the estrogen will protect you." While he was blabbering on like that, Nestorovic could not stop laughing, and neither could Vucic, who was standing right behind him at that moment. Zlatibor Loncar, the Minister of Health, stated that "the coronavirus is much weaker than the common flu."

It was February 26, a period when some parts of Lombardy were already under quarantine, with many Italians shopping for groceries in panic, and with Italian doctors starting to realize they were facing something previously unimaginable. At that time, there were about 400 confirmed cases of infection in Italy.

While Croatia was preparing, Vucic couldn't stop laughing at sexist jokes

Croatia was already preparing heavily for what was about to come while Vucic was laughing at Nestorovic's sexist jokes and taking his charlatan assessments seriously. After that, everything went downhill for Serbia and its citizens.

Everything that Vucic has done since then has been a series of minor or major failures and oversights, some of which have directly led to the spread of the infection.

About two weeks after the scandalous press conference with Nestorovic, Vucic changed his mind and switched to an apocalyptic rhetoric, claiming that no one called the coronavirus "the funniest virus in history." The President of Serbia is definitely not the first state leader to underestimate the danger the coronavirus poses, but it seems like he has been competing with the US President Donald Trump for weeks over who will be able to manage the crisis more catastrophically for the lives and health of their citizens.

The main spreader of panic and chaos in Serbia is the President

Vucic's verbal acrobatics from the end of February to the end of March were masterfully summed up by the satirist Zoran Kesic on his show 24 Minutes.

Meanwhile, the President of Serbia used the pandemic primarily for the purpose of introducing a state of emergency in Serbia, suspending the work of the parliament and taking even more power into his hands. Around the same time, the psychological and police terror against the citizens of Serbia started with a combination of daily public appearances and draconian measures of ad hoc abolition of civil liberties, without a clear strategy for fighting off the infection.

Over time, Vucic's daily public appearances became impossible to follow for a sane person, given that the President of Serbia is constantly threatening someone, reciting crazy monologues, crying, gasping, moaning, and rambling about anything and everything. Instead of proving to be the leader he considers himself to be, Vucic proved to be the main spreader of panic and chaos in Serbia by, for example, announcing that he would suddenly introduce a 24-day curfew in the entire country, which then caused a stampede of citizens towards supermarkets, as Vucic claimed that citizens will no longer be allowed to go shopping.

Trials via Skype?!

To make things even crazier, a Serbian citizen who wrote a Facebook status regarding the announced 24-day curfew the day after Vucic's press conference was immediately arrested for spreading panic. Scandalous trials via Skype were also introduced, and in one of them a citizen was sentenced to three years in prison in an emergency procedure, namely for violating the self-isolation measure. Let's repeat that: a man was sentenced to three years in prison via Skype!

There is not enough space in one article to write about all of Vucic's outbursts in recent weeks, but it is certainly worth mentioning that, during one of his ramblings, he admitted he had lied to Germany about the number of respirators in Serbia in order to procure more, but they insisted that the exact number of respirators be announced publicly, which thwarted his insane plans. His bizarre propaganda actions of thanking China are also worth mentioning, as they include Vucic personally welcoming a plane carrying medical supplies from the Far East at the airport as if the President had no better business in the middle of a pandemic.

Lack of capacity of Vucic's ruling party

The coronavirus also exposed the deterioration of institutions in Serbia, as well as the colossal lack of capacity of the staff of his ruling SNS when it comes to dealing with this undoubtedly challenging situation. Unlike the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who can rely on experienced apparatchiks such as the Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic, who learned the craft of system management back in socialism, Vucic is surrounded by upstarts, falsifiers of doctoral dissertations and alumni of Megatrend, a notorious private university known for its mass sales of diplomas.

Numerous rookie mistakes were also made, such as the coronavirus infecting an entire garrison of the Serbian army, which participated in organizing quarantine for Serbian citizens returning home from abroad. The only way this could have happened was if the soldiers had not had the appropriate protective equipment or had not adhered to the necessary protocols. Both of these cases are certainly a disaster that would, in a normal country, cause the Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin to resign immediately.

The scandalous arrest of a journalist who wrote about the lack of medical equipment

Serbia is failing to implement even the most basic epidemiological measures. The latest example of this failure is the mass spread of the infection in a hospital in Belgrade's Dedinje. It has not yet been established how the coronavirus entered the hospital or how it spread.

Despite the chaos, Vucic and Prime Minister Brnabic are insulting the citizens' intelligence with their theatrics almost daily.

The best example may be the scandalous arrest of the journalist Ana Lalic, who reported on the lack of equipment in the Novi Sad hospital. The arrest was made based on the decision of the Serbian government, that is, on Prime Minister Ana Brnabic's decision, while Vucic lamented in public how he had begged Brnabic to withdraw that decision.

It is as if he did not have any part in that or as if he is not usually bragging about his absolute dominion over every aspect of life in Serbia. In the end, Brnabic withdrew the decision at the request of her "boss", as she stated. After that, she took it upon herself to show the public the photos of Vucic's children volunteering.

It is impossible to list all the ways in which Vucic and his entourage are simultaneously terrorizing the citizens of Serbia and failing in the fight against the spread of the infection, but a paradigmatic example is undoubtedly the brainless doctor Nestorovic, who is still making appearances on the regime's television programs and unstoppably spreading lies and nonsense. Last night, Nestorovic made an appearance on Happy TV, and he was trying to make it seem like his nonsense from the end of February was meant to prevent panic in Serbia. He also stated several times "I am not an idiot", which would never be heard from someone who is not an idiot.

While in European countries that reacted in time and with competence, there are talks about the right time to start gradually relaxing measures, the real catastrophe in Serbia is yet to come. 

Still without a clear strategy

Even though it has been more than three weeks after he finally realized the scope of the danger, Vucic still hasn't managed to organize a functional system. Instead, everything is still being done rashly and without a clear strategy. The question is whether the citizens of Serbia understand that their current President is leading them to ruin with his aberrant behavior and chaotic policy during the coronavirus pandemic, and whether they can oppose him in any way.

In any case, it is clear that Serbia is currently facing a threat that is more dangerous than COVID-19. That threat is no other than Aleksandar Vucic.