Feel free to tell me at any time that I have gone overboard in my pessimism, accuse me for my negative prognoses, tell me that I am always looking on the dark side of things. Then disprove, if you can, my thesis that democracy in Serbia is impossible! Such as we are, we represent a healthy foundation, a point of support, a thankful substance only for despotism.
To tell the truth, such systems have existed before. In the age of Rome, gladiators, Mongolian invaders, the Plague, the Inquisition and wars of religion similar things have existed. But since the invention of a rabies vaccine and the stake as a preventative measure against witches, every similar regime - according to Soviet, Chinese, Korean, Romanian and Cambodian models - in the post-revolutionary period of consolidation of its achievements devours only about ten percent of its citizens. This is good news; less than a million Serbs are in danger!
If the Duke of Karlobag, Virovitica, Ogulin and the Pec Patriarchy and the JUL member Bojic, popularly and undeservedly called Dr. Mengele, symbolically signed an agreement to blind Serbia, as I have heard, then that would mean that Sloba has finally kneeled down before Milosevic, that he has given up on ruling by charisma, that he has abdicated from populism, that he has become aware of influencing only a minority of Serbs and that he has accepted the Radical-Communist model of governing Serbia.
That model, which promotes all political opponents into blood enemies - they, logically, do not have the right to two trifles - to freedom and to life, has led Serbia into orgies of death, terror and ruin, into lynch as a popular form of entertainment, into the banning of thought as a pedagogical aid. In the end, this is the beginning of the ecstasy of the regime, caused by poisoning as a result of overindulgence in governing.
The primary goal is clear - the execution of all the media who claim that this kind of system on the public scene produces only monsters, in the economic sphere only misery, in political production only enemies, and in real life forces the Serbs to acquiesce to all injustices and to live the role of victims or evil-doers. All such media, therefore, cannot exist in such a tremendously fortunate country as this one.
The second half of the goal is better hidden. To force Vuk to display his masculinity and to defend Studio B by force?! That is impossible and would only lead to the arrest of Draskovic, the outlawing of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and to a spectacular trial for him and his friends from the opposition and the media. The accusation has already been repeated several times and all that is left now is the collection of evidence for terrorism, assassinations, organization of a violent overthrow of the constitutional order, a visit to Ravna Gora, a ceremonial gun salute at the memorial to Draza [Mihailovic], rumors that the regime grew rich through theft and deception of its own people, that it has reduced the size of both the state and the national territory, that it will continue to do so.
By this coup d'etat, carefully planned and meticulously timed, the authors have the intention of provoking a strong reaction by one part of the opposition, to which they will respond by force and thus gather evidence that the opponents of the regime are exactly as they have been portrayed in the state media. What a destructive equation - if they respond with force, the anti-Slobists lose; and if they respond with weakness - they also lose!
Therefore, a convincing majority of Serbs is forcibly excluded from the political process and the competition for political power. They are excluded from elections, from media and from any other kind of responsibility for either their own fate or the fate of Serbia. They are fauna become flora. They are forbidden from forming associations, public expression, freedom of speech, thought, travel, organization, agreement. Summary legal bridges are being introduced making the police and the state security into what they have already become - supreme guardians of the Lord and his in no way inhibited despotism. If the Turks had had this kind of information law and the Duke [vojvoda Seselj] as vice-president of the Belgrade pasha's domain such as we do, a banner with a crescent moon would still be flying above Belgrade.
From this point in Serbian ruin it is no longer possible to return to normalcy. Milosevic has sealed the holy trinity of his rule and hermetically sealed Serbia according to his concept - the gates to the country are locked from the inside, the media completely demolished and pseudo-reality brought to a grand finish before the eyes of a hypnotized public which can no longer differentiate between reality and illusion.
The message to both Serbs and the world is that in this country every possibility of a non-violent entrance into the post-Communist period is fading. This regime, therefore, will never be voted out of office by anyone. The relatively clear, although needlessly circumscribed telegraphic message of the Leader to his beloved people. The opposition and the people are directed to well-mannered, Gandhi-like methods of long-term resistance and achievement of nirvana through suffering. This will last so long that every Serb alive will be sick at the thought of the opposition. Namely, according to Serb lore and tradition, it is illusory to pelt a hippopotamus with a pea.
By turning off the media that made things in Serbia visible, a buffer zone of force has openly been placed between the citizens' desire for change, the longing of the opposition for a quick solution and the aspiration of the regime, through a minority but by force, to rule without elections, without a verification of the disposition of the majority of Serbs and with the clear intention of leading the country into a brutal dictatorship under the guise of preventing a civil war. What a crock! Serbia is so sluggish, so exhausted and so satiated with a decade-long tragedies that it would rather endure crime against itself than, at the price of a crime, remove anathema from itself. Sloba, unfortunately, knows this.
That is why he said what he wanted so coldly. He wants to rule without a productive opposition and without election with uncertain results! He wants to rule without the gossipy media! He wants to rule unobstructed by a constitution, laws and the majority. He wants to rule at any price and agrees to govern the Serbs for as long as he lives under one condition - that government does not assume any responsibility. Only then, believes the Leader, will government truly be a pleasure. Everything else is torture.
I'm not sure that the Bengal Tiger yearns for a massive civil war. This would be the most direct way of introducing foreigners into the game, it would fence of Kosovo forever, Banja Luka as well, Podgorica without doubt, and perhaps bring the Yankees to Belgrade after a few months of Serb internecine war in Sumadija have been killed off in a month or two. But I'm certain that he believes that civil terror against the Serbs will not cost him any of these things.
Now we see the cost of the time lost by the Serbian opposition and their mutual bickering. Where is their answer now to the question - what is better for Serbs? To endure terror or, to my horror, to endure a civil war? Is that civil war the price for Milosevic's departure or the price for his stay? On Wednesday morning Slobo raised the price for his departure. I repeat, this move warns all Serbs that, according to the belief of the regime, the price of toppling Slobo is still greater than the price of life with him. Or so, at least, it seems.
One party, therefore, accustomed to everything that is disgusting, intends to submerge Serbia in formaldehyde. Will Vuk, Kostunica and Zoran first touch to see whether that substance is unpleasant and cold or will they allow us to bask in it in a natural setting? They were the ones who wanted to take on the responsibility; they were the ones who wanted to speak in the name of the nation. They should say something now!