Huh, we traveled through Serbia and Montenegro by train 5 years ago and stayed in Belgrade for 3 days, I cannot remember seeing any cameras. But I certainly do remember the feeling that China is trying to seek influence in Serbia. If I remember correctly, there was a gigantic billboard right outside the main station in Belgrade which showed the futuristic utopia a Chinese company wanted to build in the surrounding quarter after demolishing the old (and beautiful) station.
PS: if you are European and looking for a great 3-4 week trip, buy a train ticket to Belgrade via Ljubljana (stay there 2 nights) and Zagreb (stay there 2 nights). Stay in Belgrade for 2 days, take the trans-balkan express train (a beautiful and spectacular ride) to Montenegro, stay in Kotor for a week, take a bus to Dubrovnik, stay there for one week, take a bus up coast to Split, stay there for one week, and then you can either take the night train back to Zagreb and from there back home, or continue up coast via Rovinj and Piran to Triest, and take a train back home from there. You will not be disappointed.
One can throw a boot into how superpowers have conditioned smaller countries into endless cycles of trading patronage for influence.
Many third world countries simply lost that institutional capacity to being an upstanding nation without living off "benefits payments" received from some major power.
Not just third world. Reminds me of the politics of Poland from the 18th century onward, that is, after it began to loose its status as a European power following the cataclysmic events of the 17th century (such as the Northern Wars/Swedish Deluge and the Khmelnytsky Uprising). The subsequent corruption and meddling of Prussia and Russia led to the partition and destruction of Europe's largest state.
Today, neocolonialism tends to be economic in method. At least this way, we save appearances at UN meetings. At least for now.
Presently, there are mainly three factions vying for power in Poland, namely, the US camp (represented by the current ruling party), the German camp (represented by the current opposition and the previous ruling party), and the Russian camp (represented by a weakened group of postcommunists that once held power). China is in the mix, too, though its presence is less obvious. Similar things may be said about the other states straddling Central Europe. One strategy involves playing these powers off one another so that they become mutually limiting. Another complementary way out requires that these countries form a bloc of states that can counter foreign domination, which is ostensibly what they're attempting with the Three Seas Initiative. Serbia, however, is not a member of the TSI, probably because of its ties to Russia and conflicts with the other Balkan states in the group. Not sure how those ties relate to Chinese influence.
You will be very disappointed, Europe is trying very hard to fight off the virus and frivolous train rides by tourists are not on the menu in many places right now.
Wait for a bit until this COVID stuff is behind us (let's hope that is sooner rather than later).
I would very much like to believe that GP was trying to picture a post-covid scenario and providing a rather personal recommendation to fellow travel enthusiasts.
Let’s try to at least imagine a world where we can get back to some sense of normality :-)
PS: if you are European and looking for a great 3-4 week trip, buy a train ticket to Belgrade via Ljubljana (stay there 2 nights) and Zagreb (stay there 2 nights). Stay in Belgrade for 2 days, take the trans-balkan express train (a beautiful and spectacular ride) to Montenegro, stay in Kotor for a week, take a bus to Dubrovnik, stay there for one week, take a bus up coast to Split, stay there for one week, and then you can either take the night train back to Zagreb and from there back home, or continue up coast via Rovinj and Piran to Triest, and take a train back home from there. You will not be disappointed.