Few public figures have been targeted for the harsh criticism leveled at Milosevic. He has been called "the perfect Stalinist" for his stealthy rise to power. He has shown a willingness to turn on friends and allies and used wars, scapegoats and fear to acquire and consolidate power. The Observer of London has noted that "everything he touches turns to dust." A critic writing in a Scottish newspaper wrote that while Milosevic has played on Serbian nationalism in his repression of Kosovar Albanians, "he would switch to cubism if it would get him a bit of Spanish coastline."