Photo: Marija JankovićHe does not waste time on ideology, democracy and the rule of law are self-evident. He said that "the ram should be caught by the horns", that the opposition must not exhaust itself in mutual competition and dealing with the regime's brawn, that this government is security contaminated, susceptible to blackmail from all sides and as such an extremely dangerous risk for Serbia's national security. He said it was time for change
Zdravko Ponoš was born in 1962 in the village of Golubić near Knin, where he grew up and graduated from elementary school. As he himself said before, he was looking for ways to leave the village, so he moved to Zagreb after graduating from high school and enrolled in the Military Technical High School. This was followed by the Military Academy, where he obtained a degree in electronics engineering, then postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.
After school, he worked at the Military Technical Institute in Užice, with occasional trips to Kosovo and Metohija, where he was on duty during the NATO bombing in 1999. He had the task of monitoring the movement of enemy aviation with the aim of reducing losses on the Yugoslav side as much as possible, which he described as the "brightest part" of his work.
After October 5 and the regime change, he started working in the Directorate for International Military Cooperation, through which he met Boris Tadić, who was still only a member of the Parliament. Cooperating with members of the armies of other countries, he then begins the path of a military reformer. He was educated at Western schools and seminars, hence the remarks of the uninitiated that he is a "NATO general".
Due to the contribution to the modernization of the army, "Vreme" awarded him the personality of the year award for 2006.
He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 2006 and appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army. His opponents say that he "melted tanks" during the general staff meeting, but even then he said that the army must "adapt to asymmetric, modern threats" such as terrorism, where tanks do not help, especially not ancient ones. Some said, and still say now, that he reduced the combat readiness of the army, while others say that he modernized and professionalized it.
He remained in the position of the first man of the Army for only two years, because already in 2008 he clashed with the then Minister of Defense Dragan Šutanovec. The conflict escalated after the traditional New Year's reception at which Ponoš and the general staff officers did not appear. Namely, Ponoš pointed out that the defense policy exists only on paper, that nothing is implemented in practice and that budget money is not spent as it should be. Šutanovac retaliated by accusing Ponoš of damaging the reputation of the army and endangering the democratic order. Serbian President Boris Tadić sided with his godfather Sutanovac and replaced Ponoš.
By decree of the President of the Republic, he retired in 2009, after which he became an adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vuk Jeremic. He was in the cabinet of his current (still on paper) party leader from 2010 until the change of government two years later. Jeremić is from 2012-2013. held the position of President of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), and Ponoš was the head of his cabinet at the UN.
He stayed with Jeremic and the last presidential elections in 2017. when he won just over 5 percent of the vote. Immediately after that, the People's Party was formed, and Ponoš became its vice president.
In an interview for "Vreme" in August 2021, he said: "In Vučić's Serbia, we have a synergy of greed, incompetence and arrogance." We have a government that uses criminals to suppress street protests and bring order to stadiums, security services to organize the production of marijuana and monitor opposition politicians and journalists, government planes and diplomatic posts to take icons and cash out of the country, previously converted into foreign currency in purpose-built exchange offices. The Belivuk case is Vučić's blunder that accelerates his downfall. He is aware of that and that's why he started a frantic campaign of justification and distraction."
Ponoš was sent into the race with Aleksandar Vučić by a coalition gathered around SSP, NS and DS i Assembly of Free Serbia, while the green-left coalition Moramo is "open for talks".
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Two unions of public services supported the request of FDU students for information about RTS employees, since claims appeared in the public that it was a request for "files". The students say they are looking for "public truth about public service."
Among those pardoned is the man who attacked a citizen who came to ask about the street in the office of the mayor of Kosjerić in April. The pardon applies only to one of the two offenses, and the injured party announces a constitutional appeal.
Before the constitutive session of the new convocation, consultations were held with representatives of all the lists that entered the Assembly. The student movement said in advance that they will not turn those talks into political agreements.
The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, claims to Danas that he has been monitored for a year and a half and that he suspects that listening devices are in his office at the Rectorate, at the faculty, in his car and at home.
After the election defeat, Vučić is increasingly addressing his supporters via TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, where his posts receive hundreds of thousands of views.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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