In an interview for La Stampa, Kostunica characterized the kidnapping of Milosevic from prison and his extradition to The Hague as an attempt at a limited coup. His party's vice president, Marko Jaksic, classified the decision of the Serbian government to appoint Nebojsa Covic as the coordinator of government affairs in Kosmet [Kosovo and Metohija] upon the recommendation of NATO secretary general George Robertson as another "mini putsch" against the federal government.
If we focus on only these two impermissible moves by Djindjic, then the expression "coup", no matter how small and limited in its scope, is perhaps too strong. What we have, in fact, is usurpation: the autocratic takeover of power and authority belonging to others.
If, however, such a policy on Djindjic's part is examined over a longer period, beginning with the kidnapping of Dr. Milomir Stakic for the purpose of extraditing him to the Hague and resort to a decree that replaces federal laws, and specifies federal revenue as if the federal government were subordinate to the Serbian government, if we consider some of his most recent statements that no one, not even the federal government which still includes Montenegrins whom he does not control yet, can prevent him from doing what he wants to his beloved people, then what we have is far more than a "mini" coup: it is an attempt to introduce a completely unrestricted and unobstructed autocracy.
On the eve of the September elections and, later, of the December elections, we believed too readily that only Milo Djukanovic was destroying the federal state, and that the DOS wants not only to protect it but to make it stronger. Now this second belief has been seriously brought into question.
With almost child-like naivety, Djindjic continues to express amazement that the [Montenegrin] Socialist People's Party (SNP) in the federal government failed to allow him to do whatever he considered right and beneficial. In order to remove this obstacle to his ruler's will, he appears to be prepared to remove, i.e., to destroy, the federal state altogether. That is why he says that we will not be hostages of either part of Montenegro [government and opposition], and that relations between Serbia and Montenegro must either be put in order or we will split in a civilized fashion. And, most strange of all, he does not oppose the federal state because it allegedly represents a threat to Serbian sovereignty and Serbian national identity, which is almost exclusively the argument used by Djukanovic in the case of Montenegro, but only because the current balance of power in the parliament and in the federal institutions condemns him when he does whatever he wants.
Better informed sources say that at one meeting of the DOS where the legal restrictions on Milosevic's extradition contained in the Constitution were being discussed, Djindjic asked, completely seriously: Why can't we suspend the Constitution? That question rests on deep conviction that his freedom to do good to the people cannot be restricted in any way.
Of course, he is not the first to come to that conclusion. At the very beginning of the renowned [Albert] Camus drama, the autocrat Caligula disappears, causing great worry among the aristocracy. After some time, he returns and says that after thinking about it for a while he came to the conclusion: "From now on, my freedom is limitless." It appears that our own Zoran Djindjic has dreamt the same dream as Caligula.
Djindjic, of course, did not dare accuse his Western sponsors of lies and deception, or reveal their names, back in November of last year; instead, he kept it all quiet in the hope that some money would nevertheless arrive. That is why he was able to say:
"We did not set any conditions for the extradition of Milosevic to the International Criminal Tribunal. We did this in order to demonstrate our readiness for integration into the international community."
And when this "readiness" (lest we say: acting according to instructions) was not reciprocated in any manner, Zoran Djindjic squealed: "I am shocked by the farce about Western aid which should amount to a total of 1.3 billion dollars... We were supposed to receive the first installment of 300 million euros in August. Suddenly we were advised that 225 million euros of that amount are going to be withheld to cover loan payments, some of them dating back to Tito's time... The balance of 75 million will be paid to us in November at the earliest."
All in all, by the end of the year we will receive a miserable 75 million out of three billion marks allegedly promised by the West back in September of last year.
What we are left with is the tear-wrenching question: who is the deceiver and who is the deceived? It is obvious that the deceit begins with very respectable and quite well-know Western European officials whose names Zoran Djindjic does not dare mention; however, it is easy enough to determine who they are if one keeps track of with whom Djindjic met and talked abroad. These refined and respectable officials probably view us as some sort of Balkan primitive tribe whose leaders, such as Djindjic, Dinkic, Batic and the others can not only be duped but also shamelessly lied to if necessary.
Djindjic himself has found himself in a dual role: he deceived his own people while at the same time he himself was deceived. That is why he is complaining that he is losing his credibility and can no longer stabilize the country. What he is indirectly admitting to, of course, is that no one in the country still believes his lies. At the same time, apparently, he naively concludes that he may lie to and deceive his own people because others have deceived him.
Which brings us to the fundamental question: in which cases is it permissible to lie and deceive?
In international relations where, according to Hobbes' portrait of the natural state of affairs, each state is a wolf unto the others, lies and deception are not only permissible; they are also recommended. Thus in 1991 Mitterrand fooled Milosevic into seeking the arbitration of the European Community on behalf of Serbia, and then the Frenchman Badinter "decreed" that former Yugoslavia no longer existed, that Slovenia and Croatia could be recognized as sovereign states, while the Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina could not secede from these states and join what remained of Yugoslavia. In similar fashion, Tudjman hoodwinked Milosevic when he and Holbrooke convinced him to sell out the Serbs in Western Slavonia and Knin Krajina and that, in exchange, Baranja, Vukovar and Western Srem would remain within the rump Yugoslavia.
What Djindjic, however, does not know is that it is not permissible to lie to one's own compatriots. They say that Jacques Chirac, while he was still the mayor of Paris, put the following slogan up on a billboard: "Tell me which of my promises I did not keep!" And at the very beginning of World War II, immediately after becoming the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill did not promise the English money but blood and tears. And that is why he remains great for all time.
Therefore, Mr. Djindjic, show us the money! You must keep your promise or you must go.
by Kosta CAVOSKI
Encouraged by such favor on the part of the most powerful military alliance, Covic first announced that he would advocate the separation of Kosovo and Metohija into two entities so that the Serbs, too, could have their autonomy, no matter how limited. And on the eve of his departure to Brussels he added that the return of a limited contingent of the Yugoslav Army and the Serbian police into the southern province was on the horizon.
In Brussels, of course, not one of Covic's proposals was accepted; however, Covic accepted everything that NATO asked of him and the Serbian Government:
If Covic had shown the least bit of regard for the integrity, sovereignty and legal system of our state, which he is obligated to do so on the basis of the oath he swore, he would have told George Robertson that no new registration of political parties is necessary because they are already all registered with the Ministry of Justice and thus were able to participate in the September and November elections in 2000 which were also held in Kosovo and Metohija. Hence their new registration with the "new" authorities in Pristina would only imply recognition that the constitutional order and legal system of this state no longer apply in Kosovo and Metohija, instead being replaced by the so-called constitutional framework imposed by the occupying forces. What is even worse is to force our remaining compatriots in Kosovo and Metohija to vote in the November elections without securing the return of any Serb and other non-Albanian refugees or ensuring even resemblance of freedom of movement. No one should participate in these "elections" because "by doing so," as Momcilo Trajkovic explains it, "we will be giving legitimacy to a future independent Kosovo."
The most unfavorable NATO request is that the parallel institutions in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica and other parts of Kosovo and Metohija inhabited by Serbs be dismantled. This refers to the remnants of the Serbian state and other institutions: the municipal and district court of the Republic of Serbia, the hospital, primary health care facilities, post offices which charge for services in dinars [Serbian currency], banks which still use the dinar as official currency along with the rest of the country and, especially important, schools and universities which still use the text books and instructional programs of the Republic of Serbia.
Covic knows all of this quite well but nevertheless agreed that this parallel system should be dismantled and that our compatriots should be completely subjugated to the new occupation government and that our children should be taught from textbooks which are prepared and printed in Pristina. Of course, the question poses itself: why are the occupying forces asking for all of that from Covic and from our Government? Because they have decided to change the constitutional order and the legal system in our southern province to an even greater extent than that allowed by international law during occupation of a foreign country. In order to do this, they also need the acquiescence of the country they are destroying. That acquiescence is to be provided by Covic with the justification that what's good for NATO is also good for our country.
It is Covic himself who, unconsciously of course, revealed who stands to gain the most from all this: While in Brussels he boasted before his sponsors how he managed to return 6,500 thousand out of 12,000 internally displaced Arbanasi [archaic Serbian term for Albanians, favored by Mr. Cavoski] in the Presevo Valley to their homes but he has not managed to return one out of 250,000 expelled Serbs and other non-Arbanasi. Given that, it easy to conclude for whom, in fact, Nebojsa Covic is working.
It should be remembered that on September 24, 2000 federal elections were held in Kosovo and Metohija and on December 23 of the same year, Serbian elections were held there as well and that no new voter lists were produced at that time. Hence, the attempt by UNMIK in Kosovo and Metohija and OSCE in the rest of Yugoslavia to register all Serb voters from our southern province and produce some sort of new voter lists is nothing but an arrogant statement that Kosovo and Metohija is no longer a part of Serbia and Yugoslavia.
This was aptly observed by Momcilo Trajkovic, who commented that even this manner of registration of voters represents a statement giving legitimacy to the upcoming international elections in November. Instead we should have demanded from the international factors that they satisfy the conditions established by the Serb side: the return of expelled persons, the location of missing and kidnapped persons, and the safety and security for the Serb population in the Province.
What is even worse, UNMIK is attempting and, with the help of our traitors in Belgrade (Gasa Knezevic and the rest), is on the path to removing from northern Kosovo the remaining miserable remnants of our sovereignty and state system. This is with respect to the supposed integration of Serb elementary, secondary and post-secondary education with the UNMIK school system, instead of keeping the school system, the judicial system and the police in Serb hands and thus ensuring that they will remain a part of the Yugoslav and Serbian state system in the future.
The greatest cause for concern, however, is the lukewarm and obliging response by our government to these arrogant demands by the occupying forces in Kosovo and Metohija. Thus, the new Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, headed by Nebojsa Covic, as its first move announced "promotion of trust" between our Kosovo and Metohija compatriots and the international factors. According to Covic, this can be achieved by ensuring the normal continuation of registration of these compatriots for the upcoming November elections, without emphasizing that this also means their mandatory participation in those elections. At the same time, no one has noticed that the prerequisite for registration for the new voter lists is not Yugoslav citizenship but supposed residence for a period of five years in Kosovo which can be easily accomplished by garnering the "testimony" of alleged neighbors. This will result in the inclusion of a large number of Albanian citizens on these lists.
However, in order to hide easily our government is caving in and abandoning our Kosovo and Metohija compatriots, in parallel with the unconditional acceptance of the above-mentioned registration of voters there are announcements regarding "serious" negotiations regarding Serb educational, medical, police and judicial autonomy in Kosovo and Metohija. Zoran Djindjic even claims that "this is nothing new or unacceptable to the international community". He appears to have forgotten that as early as 1999, immediately following the appointment of Bernard Kouchner as head of UNMIK, Momcilo Trajkovic demanded the cantonization of Kosovo and Metohija and that this demand, repeated many times afterwards, was rejected. Would it then not be more appropriate for at least some of the Serb demands to be accepted, instead of agreeing to the foreign registration of Serb voters in order to establish "trust" between the Serbs and the foreign occupiers without getting anything in return?
Finally, it should be said that the former head of this state, Slobodan Milosevic, knew well how to hide national treason under the trappings of patriotic politics for the benefit of our compatriots. The main problem that the present government in Belgrade faces in Kosovo and Metohija is how to abandon our compatriots in Kosovo and Metohija, without them noticing.