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The weekly Koha (The T imes) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. E dited by VetonSurroi, a young Kosovar journalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Y ugoslavia, Koha

soon became a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be published daily under the

name of Koha Ditor. With the kind permission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted on

http://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.

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Koha Digest # 65 (19.07.1995)

THE MACABRE DANCE OF THE MILOSEVIC-MLADIC DUET

by KOHA / Belgrade, Prishtina

At least ten days before the Serbian occupation of Srebrenica, Western diplomats in Belgrade

knew that there will be a Serbian offensive in Bosnia, as a (exclusively) political reply to the

failed American-Serb negotiations in Belgrade. Doses of alarm captivated these circles,

because it was known that Bosnian Serbs were preparing an effective military offensive.

But, they didn't know when.

If one would remember the political-military scene one month ago, then everything wouldhave been more clear: Milosevic was negotiating with Frasure - the main topic of the

negotiations was to as mildly as possible legalize the Serbian military achievements, and in

fact - how to end this war with only one dissatisfied party, the Muslim, instead of the present

three (Serbs, Croats and Muslims). At that time, the political sign was more or less clear in

Milosevic's interpretation: the West is not that interested in Eastern Bosnia safe areas, since

they in a way, are an obstacle to the Serb ethnic territorial integrity.

A logical step in case of an American-Serb agreement - or even in case there is no agreement

- would be to cleanse the Muslim enclaves in Eastern Bosnia. The most favorable option, say

some of Karadzic's advocates in Belgrade, would be exchanging these enclaves with someparts of Sarajevo under Serbian control. The most unfavorable option is to have Mladic's

army enter and within one day expel the Muslims from this territory, which at the beginning

of the war in Bosnia fought a real partisan war against Serb forces, without receiving any

instructions from Sarajevo.

And, precisely this happened while the Serbian president Milosevic was explaining in the

famous American news-magazine "TIME" that if sanctions were lifted, there would be peace

in the Balkans within six months. Coincidentally maybe, but the publication of the interview

with the Serbian president and general Mladic's action are symbols of the Serbian politics on

this and the other side of the Drina. On one hand, because the Western intelligence services

know quite well that there is a logistic-military axis between all Serb forces in the formerYugoslavia and which is grounded on the column of the old Yugoslav Peoples Army (pilot

O'Grady's grounding, it is known in Washington, was a product of the anti-air defense located

in Belgrade). On the other hand, and precisely because of this reason, because the only factor

which is obliged to respect the Greater Serbian pyramid whose center is in Belgrade, is the

military, headed by General Mladic.

The political signal for the initiation of a military offensive came from Belgrade and was

applied in Srebrenica due to the effectiveness of the Milosevic-Mladic duet. Why?

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From the last negotiations, Milosevic understood what was the West willing to offer him. A

new territorial organization which would imply a Greater Serbia in the future. But, he was not

happy about the conditions, the fact that the key to the sanctions are still in the hands of the

Americans, with a scale of lifting or suspensions. Now he is the position to expect new offers.

On the other hand, with the military coordination from Belgrade he is still controlling General

Mladic (the only member of the Bosnian Serbs leadership who can enter Belgrade anytime)

and is conveying a message to Karadzic that on this side, the famous general is much more

popular than the psychiatrist from Sarajevo. And, thirdly, with the military offensive he

constantly sends a message to the West: "You see, you didn't listen to my proposal how to

reach peace. Now you have to face war again".

Mladic, on his own side, needed an offensive not only to cleanse the territory of Muslims.

Facing (over one month) a Croat-Muslim offensive which would surround the Serbs from the

three sides around Sarajevo - Mladic was forced to fight even harsher than so far and loose.

That much, that he was forced to evacuate his mother from the village he was born in. Thegeneral who has experienced the suicide of his daughter during this war (along with the

speculations that this happened because she didn't approve of his military actions) needed a

psychologic moment of victory in this moment. And, so he did it, in the weakest point of

defense, the one which was supposed to be protected by the UN. According to him, the next

two points are Zepa and Gorazde, both, again, under UN protection. Or, according to the

Bosniac vocabulary, under no one's protection.

The fact that safe areas are totally insecure, will be the main effect of the Srebrenica

offensive. The UN, totally humiliated, are closer to withdrawal from Bosnia, which is also

wished by President Izetbegovic. One of the problems in this direction is that the wholeoperation of UNPROFOR's withdrawal is costly and difficult. And, we shall not forget,

requires the direct American assistance inside the NATO.

If Srebrenica has been a detonator of a decision to come, to have UNPROFOR withdraw, we

will be facing many questions to which there are no answers:

- how will the evacuation of the UN troops be done,

- how will the Bosnian army be supported against Karadzic's army,

- how will this whole situation reflect on the integration of Knin in Croatia (Tudjman

also announces that there will be no UN forces in Krajina as of November) and

- is this territory ready for a long Afghan war where the West will materially supportone side?

EX-YU

BOSNIA AND THE (UN)SAFE AREAS

"As of today, the Bosnian Serb Army (BSA) is controlling

Srebrenica", declared Alexander Ivanko, prot-parole of the UN inBosnia, after the penetration of the Serbian forces in the Bosniac

town, not respecting thus the NATO air-strikes which aimed at ending

the Serbian offensive against the eastern Muslim enclave. Srebrenica

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becomes the first of the six UN safe havens occupied by the Serbs.

Ivanko further stated that the Bosniac town was occupied and that the

Dutch peacekeepers holding the southern protection line in the south

of the town had abandoned the positions. The attempts to establish a

new line, outside the Dutch base in Potocari, at the north of the town,continue.

In Belgrade, Former Yugoslavia, Stephen Oberreit, representative of

MSF, said that his group had evacuated the Srebrenica hospital and

that large movement of population is expected in the coming days.

"No one remains in town. The whole population is on the road to

Potocari", he said, including also the Dutch blue-helmets base, three

kilometers up north.

The news about the fall of the enclave came a bit after the action of

the Dutch and American flights, which attacked the Serbian forces inSrebrenica in sign of punishment for having violated the area

protected by the Dutch.

Over a week ago the UN warned about the potential repetition of the

air-strikes, in case the Serbs forces don't give up on their tanks and

infantry attacks which started last Wednesday, against the enclave

with 42 thousand inhabitants, a majority of Muslim refugees, and

under Muslim control.

Serbs didn't pay attention to UN's warnings and started the waragainst Dutch units, attacking the demarkation line in the south

attacking the town and the UN headquarters.

Srebrenica is the first safe haven which was created by the UN two

years ago, aiming at defending the civilian population, however, as

it happened in the case of the other five areas, this one didn't escape

fighting either.

Ten days ago, Serbs declared that citizens and UN peacekeepers had

only 48 hours to leave the area and hand over the weaponry.

The Bosnian Serbs Army released a communique stating that the

offensive started as a reply to the Muslim units, which were crossing

the borders of the enclave to attack the Serbian positions.

The UN also confirmed that governmental units have "misused the

status of Srebrenica as a safe area" in order to attack the Serb

positions (!). At the same time, in Pale, in the BSA headquarters east

from Sarajevo, Jovan Zametica, Karadzic's counsellor stated:

"Muslims have violated the status of Srebrenica as a safety area,

applying terrorist attacks against the civilian Serb population".Zametica warned that NATO's policy, that of air-striking, was

counter-productive. "It seems that the international community has not

learned yet from it's own previous mistakes - that, more the attacks,

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the more decisive we become".

EX-YU

"BLUE HELMETS" AWAIT FOR SEPTEMBER?

by DRAGAN CICIC / AIM / Belgrade

Almost without firing one bullet, UNPROFOR is close to the solution

which it feared the most and which made it reject the intervention in

Bosnia: the shameful withdrawal in the middle of the winter. Several

weeks ago, a NATO counsellor who wishes to remain anonymous,

said that the decision for withdrawal will surely be made public in

September. After the Serb occupation of Srebrenica, the permanenceof the blue helmets in Bosnia is less certain, even though nether

NATO (but symbolically), nor the Dutch blue-helmets, resisted, nor

did they try to stop Gen. Mladic's troops.

Thus, the fall of Srebrenica became an important burden in the

balance of those who since long ago consider that the further

engagement of the UN forces makes no sense. An UNPROFOR

official in Sarajevo declared last month that the "the safe areas are the

most dangerous places in the B&H", therefore the "presence of peace-

keeping forces in these regions represents no means of response".These pessimistic viewpoints of the UN representatives in the field

derive from the constant remarks of the state officials whose troops

are in Bosnia, that the withdrawal of their soldiers is always more

realistic.

"If in the next two or three weeks there is no important advances in

the peace process, the issue of withdrawal will reappear" the French

head of the army stated on July 5. The allies are discussing this issue

since several months ago, while in April, these opinions were also

shared by Russia. Alexander Zotov, President Yeltsin's special envoy

for the Former Yugoslavia, warned that, if the truce is not extendedand the fighting persists, his country would consider the withdrawal

of troops from Bosnia.

At that time, all Ghali's proposals about UNPROFOR's future were

being discussed. All of them failed to be adopted for the crisis

deepened. A series of events which seriously endangered the existence

of the peace mission started with it's incapability to extend the truce

at the beginning of May. The conflicts erupted in all fronts, including

Sarajevo. Some time ago, shelling of the center of Sarajevo meant the

annulment of the biggest success of the international community - thedeclaration of the Bosnian capital as a heavy weaponry exclusion area

up to 20 kilometres. NATO replied with symbolic attacks, and the

Bosnian Serbs took hundreds of UN soldiers as hostages. Thus, the

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UN got another blow in the face and another reason for withdrawal.

This episode had another serious consequence: first, the disagreements

within the UNPROFOR Command. Rupert Smith, Commander of the

blue-helmets in BH asked for NATO air support, but this request wasstopped by the French General Janvier, UN Commander in the

Former Yugoslavia and the UN Secretary General's representative,

Yasushi Akashi.

According to some information, Akashi gave it a long thought to

allow intervention also in the case of Srebrenica, but at the end he

never gave the green light, for the Bosnian Serbs had practically

ended their operation. With this policy, UNPROFOR endangered its

position in regard to the Bosnian government, but didn't get the

sympathies of the Bosnian Serbs either. Even before Srebrenica fell,

Hasan Muratovic, minister in the BH government declared: "Since thehostages, UNPROFOR is doing nothing in BH, thus these 20

thousand people (UNPROFOR soldiers) are really not engaged, are

waiting to see what will happen. In this sense their mission is in

danger and the crisis is total. They don't do a thing in the Muslim

enclaves in Eastern Bosnia, first of all because the Serbs don't allow

them to bring in food and they were also deprived of their equipment

which is used by Serbs to shell them, while the humanitarian

assistance destined for the population is eaten by UNPROFOR

soldiers".

The additional mistrust expressed by both parties towards the blue-

helmets, forced the creation of RRF. These troops, mainly French

and British units, are looked by the Bosnian Serbs with suspicion,

because they are fearing that these well armed soldiers can start

concrete and serious actions against them. The suspicion within

Karadzic's team arose especially after Gen. Smith's statement that

RRF's first task would be opening - with force if needed- a corridor

which would link Sarajevo and Kiseljak.

Muslims on the other hand are tending to believe that these are only

the first forces which will help the evacuation of the rest of the blue-helmets and their equipment. Since there are almost no blue-helmets

on the territories under Serb control, this means that the UN troops

would have to fight the governmental troops rather than Serb troops

if necessary while withdrawing. French Admiral Lancstad hasten to

accuse the BH government for not allowing the RRF settle in Bosnia.

At the same time, he rejected the Serb and Muslim speculations about

the RRF, stressing that their primary task is to defend the lives and

security of the blue-helmets, and not punish anyone, defend the

humanitarian convoys or enclaves.

The plans for the evacuation of the UN forces exist already and they

were adopted by NATO's assembly by the end of June. The project

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on the "decisive engagement", as the operation would be called, is

registered at the center of the Western Military Alliance under

number 40.104.

INTERVIEW

ZDRAVKO GREBO, Citizen of Sarajevo

SARAJEVO: WORLD'S NEGATIVE MODEL!

Interviewed by YLBER HYSA / Budapest

Grebo is a professor of Political Sciences in the University of

Sarajevo, and is one of the witnesses of the Bosnian tragedy, whostubbornly goes back to his town, and "continues believing" even

though "it is not possible" for Bosnia to be unique. What does this

mean, not only for Bosnia and the Balkans, is explained by Grebo

after midnight in Budapest, after a couple of glasses of wine and

next day's travel through some terrifying check-points and the over

one kilometer long legendary tunnel which takes one from the world

to hell: Sarajevo!

KOHA: You came out from Sarajevo and yet still go back there.

GREBO: What makes me go back to Sarajevo is a realistic option,

even though in the moral aspect, I have no other solution, for two

reasons: I am guilty because a certain group of people are still in

Sarajevo while in the past three years I have constantly repeated that

it is worth staying and fighting as long as there is hope. It is not fair

to stop and say that there is no more hope and that I was joking when

I said what I said, because I can't betray that world. Even if I would

think differently, Sarajevo is the only place in the world, maybe this

is a masochist feeling, but it is the only place where I fell fine. I

simply don't have a place in this planet where I would feel normal

and quiet, even if I would lose the hope of these three years.

The second important thing here is that, in spite of all, I am not

willing to tell fairy tales about Sarajevo because correct people don't

speak openly about their suffering. I don't wish to talk about what

Sarajevo has suffered, what kind of misery, shame and offense this

is. But Sarajevo, I won't say the whole of Bosnia, still resists to react

in the same way, with revenge - to commit a crime which would be

maybe acceptable, if not reasonable then understandable. If it is true

that Muslims were killed in Eastern Bosnia not because they were

members of the Social-Democratic Party or the SDA, but becausethey are Muslim; if it is true that in the second Bonsiac war thousands

of Muslims ended in concentration camps in Mostar and Croatia;

maybe it would be understandable to have someone who has lost close

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relatives or whose daughter or wife have been raped, not react in the

same way. This, as far as I remember did not happen in Sarajevo.

Therefore, Sarajevo still preserves as strange hope that a kind of

coexistence, naturally, not as before, is possible. I won't play crazyand not see that Serbs, Croats and Muslims are fighting in Bosnia,

and that there is an incredible measure of collective identification.

However, people in Sarajevo live and are the suffering together and

as long as this model exists, it should be defended. I don't know

whether it will survive, and I honestly am loosing hopes, but as long

as there is a little chance, I will fight to defend it. See, combining

these two reasons, thinking that it is a moral obligation to stay where

it is difficulty and trying to keep my promises from the political

programs, makes Sarajevo my place.

KOHA: You claim you still hope and that you don't like fairy tales.Concretely: do you believe in unique Bosnia?

GREBO: The question is not accurate - I do believe in it, but I know

it is impossible! I believe that Bosnia had its chance, that it sunk into

the substance and stories that if Yugoslavia fell apart, Bosnia couldn't

continue the same, and this was not true. Bosnia was different from

Former Yugoslavia, and I believe that Yugoslavia didn't fall apart

because of the fact it was multi-ethnic, but because it didn't pass the

test of democracy. Yugoslavia could have solved its internal tensions

otherwise, but unfortunately this didn't happen and stories about whatcould have happened and didn't, are a waste of time. In regard to

Bosnia, when the disintegration of Yugoslavia started, excluding the

shameful case of the terror in Kosova and I don't say this because I

speak for KOHA, when the whole of Yugoslavia was covered with

shame, it became clear that Yugoslavia was falling apart according to

a weird model of the creation of national states, or even nationalist

statehood concepts. Bosnia remained in the middle.

Bosnia was the exclusion. It was inhabited by different people. If

Bosnia could have been divided naturally, it would have been divided

a long time ago. This was not possible because simply the peoplewere living so mixed and oriented to one-another, that it was

necessary to have a bloody and criminal war to achieve it.

Bosnia was, how to say this, an unpleasant reminder, an unpleasant

exception from the rules, something that could prove that national

homogenization and unification should not be followed by all means

that there are other models to follow. This is why Bosnia has paid and

still pays a very high price. Bosnia was an example of a filthy

conscience, of a bad example which must be destroyed so it can't

remind of that something else is also possible.

KOHA: Can I make a digression once we have mentioned the end of

Yugoslavia. Someone does this in a movie called "Underground".

How do you comment this discourse which won the "Palme d'Or"...

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GREBO: This is big point in our huge internal shame. It is not that

I am evading to answer your question, since I replied to it one year

ago with fists. Kusta used to be - I don't know whether Albanian

slang applies this term - "my little boy". He was a man whom I could

send to buy some cigarettes for me... We had a very serious quarrelin Prague, a year and a half ago. The fact that he got the "Palm..."

will make him unhappy for the rest of his life. I don't doubt that the

man is talented, but I haven't seen the movie...

However, the falseness which lasts four years now, and if we count

Kosova over a decade already, is ruining our lives and doesn't allow

the truth to come out on the surface. This gesture has taken away the

"gold" of the Big World which must convey us the message that there

is no hope, that simply the World has other criterions, that principles

don't count and that our lives have become cheap. If a man has the

moral courage to receive the "Palm..." on these grounds, so let himbe! Maybe the majority won't have it clear, but the final verdict will

come in Cafe "Setaliste". This is the place where Kusta must end his

life and this is what "Cuka", "Beli" and "Pasa" tell him. This will be

the trial of his life.

Naturally, I am sorry for the man, there was no need for it to end this

way, but in this series of incredible lies, which were the pretext of all

these crimes, simply, everything is possible.

KOHA: When referring to the World, you are a professor of politicalsciences. Do you believe that the "New World Order" is happening in

Sarajevo?

GREBO: In a way, even though educated people believe that the

World must have more developed and coherent ideas. I fear that we

are referring to a bunch of ignorant officials and people who have no

plans about what can be called "New World Order". The fact that the

war in Yugoslavia happened, is as if they got haemorrhoids on their

bottom. It is an unpleasant thing, they don't know how to get rid of

it, but we are the ones to pay the consequence of their ignorance.

What is more important than their ignorance is that they havebetrayed their principles. As I said, it is not important whether Bosnia

can pay a high price to prove that multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and

multi-religious life is possible, but it is paying the price to make the

West, or rather the International Community preserve the illusion that

it can still decide about something. They simply don't decide about

anything, the things have escaped their control and the International

World Order doesn't exist because of the cowardice and the lack of

vision of those states and leaders which, thanks to their military and

economic force, could settle this matter. Bosnia's problem in this

context is absolutely tragic because, in our misfortune, it happens thatall possible inter-planetary conflicts can be tested in Bosnia.

Great Germany against France and England; all of them against

Russia; all of them together, whatever that might mean, against the

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Islamic world, etc. Therefore, Bosnia is bearing a difficult burden to

prove that, despite all differences, people can live together and on the

other hand serve as a laboratory where these possible conflicts in the

future World, which seem to be inevitable, will be played in a small

territory, therefore the Bosniacs must pay with blood. It is a long-term deception, because if Bosnia falls, if the idea which kept Bosnia

falls, which is very likely to happen, then by God, it will not be easy

for anyone.

KOHA: This means the promotion of the ethnic states in the Balkans,

or...

GREBO: Not only this, but also the promotion of some strange

alliances. Since the Berlin Wall fell, the West has lost its identity in

a paradoxical way and simply it has no support, nor place where it

can formulate their values and programs. All of us see a strangeformation of strange alliances. In Belgrade we have "Orthodox

summits" and you must not be naive and not think that a kind of a

pan-Islamic solidarity is being tested, and that the so called civilized

Catholic and Protestant world is creating its new strategic positions...

KOHA: Is this a Huntington approach of "Civilization Clashes"...

GREBO: Unfortunately this is a negative Orwellian utopia. I fear that

losing the real chances to defend the principles and not the national

programs starting from Kosova, Macedonia and Bosnia, etc., then theinternational community has lost all chances to act preventively. I

don't wish to scare anyone, but I fear that the future not only of

Bosnia and the Balkans, but also the World is really dark.

KOHA: Do you think that the negative example of Bosnia can be

transferred to Kosova and Macedonia?

GREBO: Yes, I do believe so. I am definitely satisfied that the

Kosovans, Albanians, helped by God, have not fallen to the

temptation to start a war. What has some time ago happened in

Macedonia proves that no one is excluded from the basic dilemma.Sooner or later you can escape from the bad relations with your wife,

if this can be a good comparison, and one day the final decision will

come.

I believe that it is clear that Albanians, seemingly, have chosen a

good path, preserving their coherent position, evading a war which

could have caused thousands of casualties and massacres. However,

there is a critical question - and in fact I am more asking rather than

responding - and that is how much can the status quo be stood, which

are the limits of patience of an unbearable situation? I fear that peoplewho have real power, the ones who have applied terrible aggressive

measures against all people, simply have learned a lesson: everything

is possible! I don't know, and it is a shame that I didin't learned

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anything about Kosova in the past three years. But I know that the

resistance model of Kosova can't last for too long!

KOHA: Does this mean that there is only one model left - the

Bosnian?

GREBO: I fear so!

KOSOVA

THE COLDNESS OF THE MOVEMENT OF MORATORIUM

by BATON HAXHIU / Prishtina

The Peasants Party of Kosova released a communique stating that it

was temporarily suspending its activities and at the same time it

suspended all its functions on all political instances in Kosova. In his

regular press conference, President Rugova commented this act as "a

political process of pluralism in Kosova and I am cool about this

event". It is normal, continued Rugova, for the parties to decide

whether they will function or not and there is nothing wrong with it,

but this will be discussed in the Coordinating Body of the political

parties, said Rugova, without commenting this problem at all in the

introduction of his conference, but only answering the questions of thejournalists.

This kind of statements are not new for since some time the routine

of silencing the problems, accompanied by the immunization of the

general situation and the pretensions to the minimization of the

reasons which caused these processes, is dominating. Each time there

is an inter-parties problem, it is transferred to the Coordinating Body,

a worthless, underestimated and formally constituted institution

needed for support, for rhetoric use and for escaping responsibility.

Referring to the Coordinating Body is escaping the problem becausethis institution, formed in 1991, is wrapped with enigma: does it

function, does it assemble, and if it convenes, what does it decide, in

reality does it decide anything at all. The experience so far shows that

the Coordinating Body does not function at all, and does not convene.

If something new is to be decided and the Coordinating Body

convenes, then the "relation of forces" in this instance in three to two.

Asked to comment on this issue, the Parliamentarian Party of Kosova

refuses to give a statement "because a moderate evaluation of this

delicate issue is required". The public in Kosova, for the time being,is not commenting this issue with exaggerated pathetic, even though

the experts on political issues in Kosova are perceiving this as a

starting point of the party moratoriums. The others say that such a

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Moratorium is a political bankruptcy because of the lack of

functioning in this political totality in Kosova. The Parliamentarian

Party considers this to be a good opportunity to start a new discussion

about the issues trying to criticize this political inertia so it can make

it position functional. Other experts on these relations say that thepolitical position of the LDK could hardly be shaken because the

Rugova authority dominates and because there is no mechanism to

change the situation and establish the responsibility. The others say

that nothing new has happened in this direction, since this moratorium

had been expected even before. So far, it is commented in the

couloirs, no other political body functioned, but there were only the

LDK and other 15 chairmen. Presenting this problem in its

communique, the Peasants Party states that "it was established not as

multi-party decoration nor for the political careers of its leaders, but

to together with all other associations, unify Albanians"! The Peasants

Party enumerates a list of reasons which were kept silent so far. Itmentions: the non-constitution of the decision-making mechanisms;

the improvisation of institutions; legality and legitimacy; leading

several politics (Rugova, Bukoshi, a grouping inside the LDK and

other groups); the privatization of the Government; the non-

functioning of the Coordinating Body, the tendency to transfer

institutions outside Kosova; the close-down and non-opening of

Kosova representative offices abroad, etc. This is Kosova's reality

- says the communique.

It shouldn't be forgotten that the new five-years political life isaccompanied with many events, which come to the surface, becoming

public for some time and to be kept silent, even though none of these

events is "dead", and all of them are actual as long the key to their

solution is found.

They appear occasionally on the surface, scratching the sterile

political reality in Kosova. The amplitudes of optimism and pessimism

in Kosova, nevertheless, depend on the comments of the KIC or

"Bujku" and the often optimistic statements of President Rugova.

But, covering all these problems, and hoping that an ad hoc solution

will solve the problem, we fear that we are not really serious towardsourselves and all those who participated in free elections and

voted for the independence of Kosova. When a movement or a policy

is not dynamic, is not active, when it stagnates, then the first

consequence is the division inside. However specific the case might

seem, as an isolated excess, this is an expression of the lack of

engagement of the largest party and its key persons.

This reality reveals another truth - that the whole accumulated energy

is aimed to be used not for the creation of a new content, but

preserving the old inefficient forms, making superficial changes,changing peripheral issues but not touching the essence of the

problem. Is this joking again with the blind public, and external

observer would ask?

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Thus, slowly we are facing the fragility of the political processes in

Kosova. And we will learn to be cool about them. And that's it!

EX-YU

THE GREEK BONUS

by KOHA / Belgrade - Athens

All of those who have elaborated the old story about the marriage

between politics and sports, witnessed some days ago a basic example

which evidences the above fact. The famous final game of the

European championship in Athens surpassed the limits of sports quite

a lot. The ball of the game was transferred from Athens the samenight to Belgrade, on the "Francuska" street, where the windows of

the Greek Embassy were broken, two cars were damaged,

demonstrations took place, where the Greeks were offended and even

exclamations "Macedonia", "Kiro -majstore" and "Cyprus is Turkish"

were heard! A similar demonstration continued the next evening when

the basketball players of "Yugoslavia" came from Athens to Belgrade.

"We don't have a clear evidence about the damage", Spiridon

Hatzaras, press attache of the Greek Embassy in Belgrade declared to

KOHA. On the critical night, he had been inside the building andcalled the action of the demonstrators a "barbarian act", adding that

Belgrade hadn't experienced such an incident since 1960, when the

Communist youth had entered the building of the Embassy of Belgium

after its intervention in Congo, which was explained as an expression

of solidarity among the non-aligned. The allusion seems to be clear -

now as well as then, the actual Belgrade politics had a lot to do with

these incidents. In fact, in the past years there have been quite some

incidents and anti-Western moods in Belgrade, but the last one is very

strange, for it is directed against the friends, one of the few allies or

maybe "the only" of the Serbs - Greece! Whatever organization

belonging to whatever ranking, or any truck that would be comingfrom Greece would be followed by the Serbian TV camera and even

broadcasted in the central news emission. If it weren't for the Greeks,

we would have been lost, said a high hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox

Church, adding that some 900 multi-tons trucks had brought

assistance to Serbia when it was suffering the most because of the

sanctions. This reaction of the church in the first days after the

incident, almost as if wished to glue the cracks in the newly created

Serb-Greek relations, but also state a clear posture in the reactions

which came after the incident. This was not heard from the Serbian

officials, but an apology came from the highest Greek officials (theGreek Charge d'Affairs, Spinellis, reminds of the following in the

Belgrade press: "...we have not received any reaction of the official

state, adequate to what the Greek party expressed"). What did really

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happen?

According to some sources, for the first game between Greece and

Yugoslavia, the price of the tickets had reached the fantastic sum for

a Greek pocket and cost 100 DEM. This created a negative reactionamong the inhabitants of Athens. Greece lost the game and this had

only made things worse, while the bad organization of the

championship tried to be emended with a popular measure of Greece's

Minister of Sports, Lianis, who decided to buy a large part of the

tickets from the budget and, seemingly, give them to the interested,

many of them extreme fanatics. This could have been the source of

the incident, as explained by some. However, on the other hand, the

reports of sports commentators in the Belgrade media who were

present in Athens (the majority of them in the media controlled by the

Serbian state), were accusing the Greek fans, presenting their attitude

as a generalization of the Greek disposition, thus inciting theirreaders. "I can't understand such reporting nor its purpose", says our

collocutor, and even less the attitude of the officials, when one of the

players Tomasevic and his colleagues were offending the Greeks

openly (even with sexual allusions!) and were inciting the masses

gathered in front of the municipality building! All of those who saw

what happened that day in Belgrade, were surprised by the nationalist

reaction of the people against Croats or friendly Greeks. During the

whole day, the streets of Belgrade were full of sports fans who were

carrying flags and national ichnographies and yelling as much as they

could. This continued till deep in the night, in the presence of theBelgrade officials. Milosevic's congratulation was also conveyed. The

many comments were based on the "unjust" sanctions which had

ousted Serbia and Yugoslavia from the basketball throne, which has

now reinstalled national pride. Thus, the ball got directly inside the

net of the Serbian policy, and was proven a national investment which

for some time gathered all Serbs around the basketball field and made

them forget for some time the sanctions, politics, poverty and the

problems. Once again the Serbs were the best, lonely in their victory,

while the bad guys were on the other side. Some of them were also

Greek! Thus, Serbs immediately remembered that they were paying

Greek visas, while the Croats and Lithuanians weren't - these wereunison exclamations of many Serbs heard those days in many radio

broadcasts, all insisting on getting an apology from the Greeks. A

Greek businessman in Belgrade apologized in a way by writing a huge

poster in front of his shop in Belgrade, and the Greek students of the

University of Prishtina acted in a similar way. In the meantime, visas

are still being extended in the Greek Embassy in Belgrade, despite the

first news launched by the Belgrade media that this had stopped. The

visa still costs 35 dinars (less than any other visa, the Greek officials

will tell you) and between 3000 and 4000 people got them within

these months. Translated into concrete figures, these are close to 60thousand DEM a month that "FRY" citizens pay to swim in the Greek

sea.

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But, let's go back to Athens again. The previous explanations which

can allude to some organizing mistakes and which could have lead

towards the incident, with the often repeated fact that "the loser

always has the right to be angry", somehow is in contradiction with

the fact that the Greeks lost also from the Croats in the game for thebronze medal, and when the Croats came to take their medals, the

public applauded. The big offense of the Serb media (RTS, Vecernji

List, Radio Index, etc.) had a premeditated calculation in case

Yugoslavia would have lost the final, and for what someone to blame

was needed. Even more having in mind that a possible final was to be

celebrated between "FRY" and the Croats and an eventual loss would

be equal to national catastrophe.

However the mentioned arguments could have been applicable while

the winner was unknown, but not afterwards, when the Greek

Embassy was attacked, not prevented by the police, who, after whathad happened, could have easily foreseen such events! Then, sports

and politics in the bilateral case of the Balkans neighbors gets a totally

different dimension.

All this celebrating atmosphere in the style of national pride and the

anti-Greek disposition seemed to be well calculated. In fact, with the

incredible control over the disposition of masses, its architect

Milosevic, proved the Greek "allies" that the historical friendship

between them depends on him exclusively, and not the tradition, the

church or something similar. Maybe the last event in Athens-Belgraderelation, relativizes the best the Balkans alliances and counter-

alliances which are based on the explanations about the religious war

in the Former Yugoslavia, to reveal the whole situation in the

fundament of any political connection: the interest! And this

formulation logically leads towards the suggestion that such bilateral

interests of these Balkans allies have crashed somewhere. Analysts of

the Greek side who wish to remain anonymous, see this "short

circuit" in the movements of the Greek diplomacy to visit Pale, where

in a mission on behalf of the EU and the UN they managed to

guarantee Karadzic the promise that there would be no more strikes

after the hostages affair. Such a Greek initiative seems to haveignored Belgrade this time, and this did not please the big boss. This

in fact was only one step in the last diplomatic Greek orientations,

including also the policy of the Balkans region. Thus, expressed in

basketball terminology, the Greek bonus was completed and

Belgrade's "free shots" followed.

The visit of the SPS's vice-Chairman Percevic to Macedonia and

meeting with Gligorov should also be perceived as a complementary

activity, with the initiative of the first. The old idea of Serbian

president about the Confederacy of the Balkans Orthodox verticalBelgrade-Shkup-Athens ended with the spoiled links.

But, will there be another "technical foul" after all of this? Some of

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our Greek collocutors are not expecting any changes in this area,

since Milosevic is convinced that he needs Greece (for economic and

political reasons). In fact he only pointed his finger towards his

southern ally, and he proved that he is the coach of the team which

surprisingly shoots three points at the basket, of the allies if needed...

INTERVIEW

MICHEL FOUCHER, Counsellor at the European Council

THE BALKANS OR SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

Interviewed by YLBER HYSA / Belgrade

KOHA: How do you perceive the situation in Bosnia after the crisis

of hostages?

FOUCHER: I believe that with the beginning of the changes in the

correlation between the Bosnian army and the Bosnian Serb Army,

the Government in Sarajevo is trying to consolidate militarily and

break the ring surrounding Sarajevo, and not achieve a military

victory, for that is impossible, but rather win some battles so it can

get another round of conversations. But, the situation is tragic and

still, children, women and other people are being killed and despitethe fact that the Bosnian army is growing strong, the civil population

is bearing all the consequences.

KOHA: After Chirac's election as President, do you expect any

changes in the French foreign policy in regard to the Former

Yugoslavia?

FOUCHER: France always preserves the continuity of its foreign

policy, because we take our politics not only as a sphere of interest,

but also as a responsibility. Once again I will stress that in Bosnia we

are not defending our strategic or economic interests. I believe thatwe have political responsibility, for we know that if we are not

capable of helping the situation be solved this will be reflected in the

trust of the Europeans. We are not that responsible for the

disintegration of Yugoslavia, which was a collective suicide, but we

are responsible in helping find the solution.

President Mitterand was the only president to visit Sarajevo, while

Chirac is trying to make the army more active and strong in case they

are provoked...

KOHA: In a conversation, you mentioned that Bosnia and this

Balkans territory are in Europe...

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FOUCHER: Terminology should not solve this problem, but as long

as the people in this region represent themselves and their situation as

a part of the Balkans, not making reference to the past, to a series of

wars, to it as the evil of the Balkans, etc. then my conviction is that

the Balkans are also part of Europe in the sense of the continent, andI would call it Southeastern Europe. I believe that this claim could be

grounded not only in the geographic aspect, but also the political one,

and this influences that the whole region in its perspective, if some

basic preconditions are fulfilled, as negotiations, the end of war, the

permanent agreements we are so far away from, then the problems

would be solved within 20 years. This region must find its way in the

European space, and I am referring to the political space.

KOHA: Do you believe that the division of Bosnia created a

dangerous precedent for the Balkans? Is Europe ready to respond to

this test?

FOUCHER: No, I believe that Europe is not ready to accept the

change of the internationally acknowledged borders, because it would

open Pandora's box again. Therefore, we want a political agreement

inside the recognized borders. This applies even in long-term cases

when the right to self-determination could be applied in some parts of

Bosnia, pursuant to the Washington agreement, for the part of

Western Herzegovina has the right to establish confederacy links with

Croatia, and we must be diplomatic and imaginative, to try and find

pragmatic formulas of federations and confederacies about Bosnia.And it is very hard to find solutions to the satisfaction of all nations.

KOHA: Could this model of confederacies be applicable in the case

of Kosova or maybe Macedonia...

FOUCHER: In reference to what is called FRY, a centralized

confederacy system can be imagined as it was in the past during a

long period in the largest Yugoslavia, normally including Serbia as a

national state, a local form of decentralization in some municipalities

in Vojvodina, another level of decentralization in Sandzak and for

Kosova a system of, let's call it, autonomy or sovereignty, inside sucha democratic confederacy. There has been talks about Quebec, for

example, or you have some other cases, look at Spain. It is

decentralized in some levels of autonomy based on local situations.

The Basque or the Catalan have more autonomy than, let's say, the

people of Andalusia...Therefore, you could imagine a situation with

a variable geometry inside a confederacy system and afterwards it

becomes obvious that essentially the term: "all or nothing" is not

totally non-applicable! Forms of compromise must be found, but

democracy is the key to it...

KOHA: So, first democracy and then the status...

FOUCHER: I believe that this state needs a political evolution and

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have some pragmatic agreements. I hope it will be possible, because

if not, I think that in the case of Kosova we would face the same

danger as in Bosnia.

KOHA: Is it true that the French are not all that present in Kosova?

FOUCHER: I really wouldn't know. The problem is that France can't

start a cooperation which is not official and finds it hard to assist the

population in Kosova, since the situation prevents the contacts at

official levels and institutions... We are lacking some elements in

France, which has a long statal tradition, these means that make up

the foundations of a network existing in Germany, USA... But it is

totally incorrect to claim that France is not interested about what is

happening in the former Yugoslavia in general. France has quite some

troops in the field and is very active in the diplomatic plan. In fact,

the public opinion in France is very concerned about the politicalsituation reigning in Bosnia and in Kosova as well. The French are

very concerned about the eventual expansion of the conflict.

KOHA: How would you describe the situation in Macedonia, which

you have visited several times?

FOUCHER: The Albanian minority participates in government, even

though I have heard of the frictions among their political parties. I

believe that all neighboring countries are interested in preserving

Macedonia as it is today, because of its importance of its position inthe Balkans, between the Morava and Vardar valleys. It is a fact that

some big wars in modern history have happened on its territory. I

believe that this form of a buffer-state is not a bad solution.

Macedonia is not isolated and it represents a corridor between

Thessaloniki and Belgrade and can become a corridor between Tirana,

Shkup, Sofia and Istanbul. I don't understand the Greek attitude

which is part of the European Union and which with a more cohesive,

diplomatic and European approach could have a positive influence on

Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria. And it seems that Greek circles

lacked a long-term diplomatic strategy. Right now, Macedonia is abuffer state in the middle of three or four ambitions...

KOHA: What is Albania's sole in this surrounding?

FOUCHER: This state which was closed for 50 years and needs the

big help received from the EU, the USA, and will still be in need of

help.

The most important thing right now is to build up democracy and give

assistance for the creation of a minimal infrastructure and jobs whichwould help the situation in this country which seems serious. The

state is missing many things, even the force of justice... Thus, in

these circumstances, I believe that Tirana should first concentrate on

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the issue of democracy and development of the market economy.

Albania is a small country but it has its importance as any other state.

But right now, it is in deep need of the assistance from abroad.

MACEDONIA

SAME OLD STORY

by ISO RUSI / Shkup

The exclusive interview of Kiro Gligorov in the "independent" weekly

PULS, was almost an introduction to the events regarding to what

are called Macedonian-Albanian relations. At first sight, it is very

strange to have Gligorov appear at all. It is obvious that Gligorovconsiders the journalists of "Puls" to be loyal, maybe a few of which

he trusts enough to, after such a long time, present his opinion about

relevant issues concerning the state he leads.

In the recent plenary session of the Council of Europe, the

Macedonian representatives who were members of delegations of

other states, were clearly told that Macedonia will not become

member of CE in September. Among others, Macedonia is warned

that only the state TV covers the whole territory, and that the

President and the Premier have not given any interviews to oppositionmedia. On this occasion, "Delo" weekly, which is considered close

to the opposition, re-published the open letter addressed to Gligorov

in which one year ago, it asked him to explain his viewpoints about

the provisional name of Macedonia which is in use at the UN.

Anyhow, Gligorov interrupted his several months long silence, with

the interview to a magazine which he personally considers to be the

pride of the Macedonian press.

Asked about how he evaluated the inter-ethnic relations along with the

remarks that "the wounds of the so called University of Tetova havenot healed" and the thesis that "the policy of coexistence will lead us

to the co-death", Gligorov responds: "recently there have been more

and often attempts of some to present the inter-ethnic relations in a

black&white mode.

Unfortunately, as president of the Republic and as citizen, I can't be

satisfied with the present situation. Some tensions and nervousness

have been created and they don't favor the tradition of inter-ethnic

relations, nor the will of the actual policy and the disposition of the

largest part of the people, regardless of their national appertaining".According to Gligorov, "the politicization of these issues comes out

of the frames of real economic, social and political possibilities in the

Republic". A typical example of this, says Gligorov, "is the initiative

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for the so called Albanian university". The main reply to the asked

question is as follows: "the principle of coexistence implies the

respect of the human being and his dignity, the guarantee of civil

rights and equality and the protection of differences and the ethnic

rights. In this sense, according to Gligorov, the politics of ethnicclosure, parallel systems and especially the position of maximalist

requests, now and immediately, take towards the conflict...

I consider that the path we have taken and the steps we are making

take us towards the solution of this problem, which will make us

create mutual trust and understanding".

Gligorov also discusses the issue of the concept of the state:

"The simplification to the vulgarity of the concept of the civic society

is a vital need of all national platforms. It is ridiculous to stress that

the civic concept is a-national. There are many examples which willprove this in Europe, which sine one century is being developed

within the concept of the civic society. The status of the citizen

doesn't question at all the national individuality of the person. On the

contrary, the respect of its national, religious and political identity,

gives the individual the same rights and obligations compared to the

other individual in the state. This broadens the frames of human rights

and the space of the democratic institutions in a society, because it

departs from the individual towards the collectivity. The concept of

traditional sovereign national states of the 19th century is totally

opposite which in reality, in their extreme are totalitarian states,because they are structured in a totally opposite way, on the principle

of the omnipotence of the collectivity on ethnic grounds, which will

mean the creation of structures and orders of citizens according to the

hierarchy, which, at the end, creates human freedoms and relevant

rights.

This is why I said that ethnic concepts of sovereignty are proofs of

radical national platforms, which are not known in Macedonia.

I consider that this is the same vulgarization and is linked to the issue

to the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural character of the community.

You are right when you ascertain that there are attempts to neglect the

fact that the majority population is made by the Macedonian people,

and that it coexists with some other nationalities: Albanians, Turks,

Vlahs, Gympies, Serbs. In relation to this, Macedonia is a state of a

complicated ethnic composition. The ascertainment of the multi-ethnic

composition of the population, with a clear ear-mark on the people

which makes the majority can't be grounds for new experiments. It

would be even a bigger mistake to claim that the existence of

nationalities in the Republic of Macedonia must be closely linked with

federalization on ethnic grounds.

Otherwise, I consider, at least in regard to the official politics of the

Republic of Macedonia, that our viewpoint is decisively proven based

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on the Constitution of Macedonia and its concept about the civil

notion of the state, of the rule of law and the tolerance, as a model of

regulation and advance of the rights of the nationalities.

This is why, it is also irrational and absurd to define and restrict therights of nationalities, as guarantees for inter-ethnic rights. This is

also a policy of direct conflict and totally opposite to the civil

concept, because it requires the determination of the first, second and

third row citizens.

I would like to remind you about some achievements in this period.

Before all, the nationalities have the right to create their political

parties and are today part of political pluralism. They participate in

the parliament, and the representatives of the largest Albanian party

are coalition partners in the government. It is a fact that the situation

in education has advanced. First of all I refer to secondary educationand the Pedagogical Academy which was elevated to the level of

faculty, as well as the quotas of positive discrimination in favor of the

students appertaining to nationalities on the occasion of inscription in

universities of the Republic of Macedonia. The number of TV

broadcasting hours for nationalities has increased, "Flaka e

Vllazrimit" became a daily, a considerable number of private TV

and radio stations were established in the languages of the

nationalities, newspapers, and other publications. This means,

according to me, that the path is to reach the principle of the freedom

of citizens and the nationalities. This is the only thing that bringsresults. And not blackmailing, ultimatums, producing universities in

gatherings and demonstration of force with numbers and repression".

This a bit longer quotation is the best illustration of what is called

official policy in relation to inter-ethnic relations. The proofs of

confusion which dominates openly in all of this can be found in

Gligorov's words. Gligorov's interview can also be perceived as a

continued manifestation of the policy of inactivity. As if the official

Macedonian government, and before all President Gligorov, were

deceiving themselves. Many of these were not done on due time. On

the other hand, many things which have to be done are postponed. In

regard to the inter-ethnic relations it is very clear that the problemsare not being solved, but they are multiplying. This is not stopping

the tendency of the close-down and division on ethnic grounds, which

strengthens what is called the process of federalization, which,

nevertheless, goes towards the creation of other forms of organization

and political and territorial divisions which leads towards the

destruction of the present state.

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MACEDONIA

"SMALL INCIDENTS" AT HIGH LEVELS

by SELADIN XHEZAIRI / Shkup

The Macedonian-Albanian diplomacy symbolized last week. And,

while Tirana and Shkup can justly say that Turkey is an honest

friendly state (Demirel just visited both countries last week), it

remains to be seen what will the effects of the most recent

Macedonian-Albanian contacts at the parliamentarian level be. The

delegation of the Parliament of Albania, headed by the Chairman of

the Foreign Affairs Commission, Eduard Selami, had a series of other

meetings apart from the conversations with the respective commission

of the Macedonian Parliament. The delegation met with Stojan

Andov, Speaker of the Parliament, Prime-minister BrankoCrvenkovski, Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski, Minister of

Education, Emilija Simoska and the Minister of Transportation,

Dimitar Burzelevski.

The mutual relations were at the center of the attention, and they were

not restricted only to the parliamentarian frames: the liberalization of

the movement of citizens in both states; the possibility of removing

taxes on both sides; the increase of the cooperation in transports; the

cooperation towards the realization of the East-West corridor; the

issue of the unification of diplomas issues in University centers of thetwo states and naturally, the position of Albanians in Macedonia and

the Macedonian minority in Albania.

"We also spoke of what is called the problem of the University of

Tetova. We didn't reach a consensus in this area, a common opinion,

but we call it a problem which can be solved by dialogue", said

Selami at the end of the visit. On the other hand and referring to the

same issue, the Macedonian Minister of Education, Emilija Simoska

said: "Selami referred to a university in Greek in Albania. The

explanation of the Albanian party was that because of international

pressure and conventions they were forced to open this University.

Our posture is that no pressure or convention can force a state to open

a University in another language. The evaluation of Albania was that

there was a need to open the university and preserve the calm. Our

evaluation is that for the sake of the stability of our state, the

foundation of another university is impossible. We must have a higher

level of integration of nationalities", said Simoska. The Macedonian

party also stated that during the conversations they requested the

Albanian side to call Macedonia according to its constitutional name

and not FYROM.

Actually, the "only" negative thing in these conversations which lasted

three days, could be called "small incidents" which happened in the

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meeting of the respective commissions of foreign affairs, when to

Albanian MPs at the Macedonian Parliament, who after greeting the

guests from Tirana in Albanian, started and finished their speeches in

Macedonian, thus respecting the "order", as one of them stated.

Meanwhile, at the press conference, an Albanian journalists fromMacedonia was not allowed to ask a question in Albanian?!

At the end of the visit, asked by our magazine about his comments

regarding the conversations and the problem of the Albanians in

Macedonia, Eduard Selami said: "The impression is that the

Macedonian party, despite the fact that it is sensitive to this issue,

because of its position, is starting to understand slowly but surely that

the concern Albania has for Albanians in Macedonia, is not only in

the interest of the Albanians but also for the stability of Macedonia".

On the other hand, referring to the meeting with Albanian politicalparties and their MPs, Selami stated that "regardless of the

misunderstandings that they have between them, and which are

inevitable in politics, I noticed a consensus when referring to the

rights and freedoms of Albanians living in Macedonia. The message

we gave them was that they should be as unique as possible".

At the end, it is worth mentioning that almost after six months of

absence, the MPs of the Albanian Democratic Party came back to the

Parliament of Macedonia. Officially, their return was explained with

the visit of Turkey's President Demirel, however the possibility that

this step was influenced also by Albania's parliamentarian delegationis not excluded. Naturally, not forgetting the provisions of the

Constitution of Macedonia either...

SERBIA

THE KISS OF THE SPIDER-WOMAN

by GORDANA IGRIC /AIM/ Belgrade

This maybe happened to Tito and Jovanka. But we didn't know

anything about it. The "love story" between Sloba and Mira, alias

Cobe and Beca, as they were called in high school, elevated to

mystification, and which was pleasantly transmitted by the

newspapers, has now been totally upset. Apart from his wife, the

President has a mistress, say "Times", "Financial Times" and BBC,

after Mirjana Markovic published her story in biweekly Duga about

her, the other and him. The citizens of Serbia sighed - finally

something is being revealed, behind the robot image of the Serb

President. Naturally, for them, Sloba having an escapade is the sameas to have elephants flying over Belgrade. The few sceptics started

bidding about who can "he" be (if it is not Sloba, is it maybe Lilic?),

but for the majority of readers nothing can be changed here, and on

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the other hand, having a mistress in this country is a matter of

prestige.

Nevertheless, this is not an easy story for the summer journalist

scene. This is a matter of peace or war for Serbia - was anuncontrolled exclamation of a small opposition party leader in Serbia.

Even if it is not true, nevertheless some details about the story on the

love triangle must be respected.

First of all, the lady was called by her "eliminated" colleague,

Communist Stevan Mirkovic, "Suslov wearing a dress" and stated that

she pulls all the President's strings. And, when the journalists were

writing about Pozarevac, they would ironically say that this was the

place of birth of Mirjana Markovic and her husband.

Second, in the past months, her people, and this refers to JUL(United Yugoslav Left) conquered all the important financial and

information points, and it is believed that SK - Pokret za Jugoslaviju

(League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia) has "purged" the

cadres in the army. Finally, this lady has always predicted without

any error the fall of different people, previously used by her husband.

Now she announced in "Duga" that when "he" will lose his power,

he will also lose all he gained with it. The threat is evident also from

what the correspondent of "Financial Times" concluded: that

Milosevic was given a "lethal kiss" on his forehead by his wife.And this is how she starts the story: "The two of them, she and he,

had similar biographies until recently. Of similar age, graduated from

similar faculties, and had a similar childhood and adolescence. Since

they were married after graduation, they had common friends and

affinities... Modest people, serious, hard-working and bright. They

would probably have remained the same if it weren't for the fact that

he somehow suddenly became an extremely important personality. The

new place in the societal hierarchy ruined the modest and bright

harmony of their small family".

JUL's leader discovers that he "...is not modest any longer. He ispreoccupied with the types of cars he rides and models of clothes he

wears. He is not serious as he used to be. He is more often in

"amusing" company and without her... Along with the new job, the

new car, the new clothes... came a new woman. We was non-

conformist before, and now he experiences it as a danger for his

status, and this is why he won't divorce his wife".

We understand that the rival has only the capacity to be the second

one, and that she wears short dresses and has a brief working

experience. She has no faculty degree nor husband, and wishes tomarry a famous personality. She uses her affair with "him" to scare

her colleagues at work. However, says Mirjana Markovic, full of

anger, she will never manage to achieve what she wishes the most, to

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appear in public with him.

Making account of which of the three won and lost the most, the most

important part belongs to "him": "He has lost his old personality and

ruined everything in the life of his family. he made his wife andchildren unhappy, and naturally, he has lost his friends too. When he

will stop holding the position he has, he will not be able to bring back

anything of what he has lost. I am convinced in this. And when he

will lose the post, he will also lose whatever he has gained with it".

Vladan Vasilijevic, law professor and an oppositionist, states that this

story is in the function of creating the illusion that the policy of the

two spouses (SPS and JUL) is not the same. "The goal is to trick the

public that there are discrepancies. It will be seen in September, when

the electoral campaign for the Federal parliament will start. They will

try to create a strong coalition which must create the illusion of a

multi-party parliament. This is an open attempt to reach ahomogeneous maximalist coalition which will replace the previous

fiascos of the SPS with Radicals or Djindjic's Democrats".

Therefore, as it often happens, after the publication of the diary, it

will be clear whom is this story directed to and who really got the

"lethal kiss". Because Mirjana Markovic warns at the end, that only

people motivated with high and honest ideals are honest in their

personal lives. And vice-versa. Only the one who is honest in his

personal life, can be honest in his societal role". And it is well known

that the societal roles in Serbia are of vital importance.

EDITORIAL

ENGLISH "BOBBIES" IN KOSOVA

by VETON SURROI

Dark police caps, clean blue shirts and slightly darker ties reflect a

respectable civic order. And most likely this was one of the mainreasons why Montenegro's police chose the above described uniform.

The second reason, concealed from the public, was that this uniform,

in the closed competition of series of models, reminded quite much

the classic uniform of the San Francisco police.

This is how the history of the fashion of force in the former

Yugoslavia looks like. At the beginning of the war in Croatia, the

images of American action films could be observed: the Croats had

their young "Rambos" wearing Ray Bans (General McArthur's old

model), sleeveless shirts and holding automatic guns with tubes turnedtowards the sky, the Serbs had Arkan's death squadrons, camouflage

uniforms and wool caps which could become masks when needed...

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Now in Bosnia we see warriors with ribbons around their heads:

Christians wearing black ribbons, Muslims green ones... All of them

reflecting the whole cycle of American films about Vietnam, starting

from "Apocalypse", "The Deer Hunter" and "Coming Home", movies

which filled up the cinemas in the former Yugoslavia and which wereappreciated the most from New Year's TV program.

Searching for new post-Communist uniforms seems to be one of the

most important requests of the new/old states. And in a way, they

reflect the character of the regimes. The Polish and Hungarians didn't

make many changes: they just brought back the seals and hats of their

countries before WWII. The new states, as Croatia, made radical and

many changes: their ordinary soldiers have perfect American

uniforms, as signs of leaning towards the West; on the other hand, the

officers have brownish uniforms, bordering between the uniforms of

the Turk and some Latin-American military, as if they wished toshow that this state needs a strong hand.

Naturally, there are also some states which didn't change their police

uniforms at all, e.g. Macedonia, which can also be a pragmatic aim

not to waste money needlessly, but also a difficulty to detach from the

idea of having Macedonia inside the Yugoslav frame. (This is not

valid for the army of this state: Macedonian military purchasers

seemed to have found cheap uniforms in some former Soviet states in

Central Asia, for red camouflage uniforms can be found in

Macedonia, and they irresistibly associate with the flora and fauna ofthe big Eastern continent).

This whole description would be incomplete without the par

excellence police state. In Serbia, the police wears camouflage

uniforms, conveying a clear message, that in this country there are

two armies: one of brown uniforms where only the officers are paid

and the other wearing blue, which through the Ministry of Internal

Affairs is almost a private and paid police of the Serbian President.

This is well known to all fearing Serbian citizens today, and I can

imagine their surprise when they'll meet San Francisco's uniforms on

their way to the coast in Montenegro.

I know it is soon to think about the future Kosovan police, but if we

follow the parallels between the politics and the uniforms, I would

suggest our future police to be as the "bobby" in England. Meaning,

an unarmed guard street-guard who will help the elderly and children

to cross the streets and reflect a feeling of care and security for the

ones who have decided to walk down the streets till late evening.

During this century we were so fed up with repressive police that I

believe that "the bobby" would be welcome on the streets of Kosova

in the next century. I believe that we will see them by then.

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APPENDIX

J A V O R E / Albanian weekly

P.O. BOX 202

38000 PRISHTINA

Issued by the KOHA Editorial Board

English Edition: KOHA

Contact Person: Filloreta Bytyqi

Phone & Fax: +381 38 31 031

+381 38 31 036

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