Exhibiting Forgeries

The Vojvodina Bank in Novi Sad opened an exhibition of forged bank notes on June 5th. The 200 exhibits show 94 types of forgery. It was conceived by Mirko Puletic, a Yugoslav National Bank (NBJ) expert on forgeries.

The exhibit is supposed to educate bank officials working with foreign currency. Dragoslav Babic, head of the foreign payments department in the NBJ, warned that kind of education is necessary since there have been growing amounts of forged foreign currency in the country over the past few years: in 1992 $350,000 US worth of forged money was discovered and the amount grew to $550,000 the next year and $700,000 in 1994.

Divac Conditional

Two weeks prior to the start of the European basketball championship the Divac Case still hasn't unraveled. Yugoslavia's best basketball player says he won't play for the national team unless his former team Partizan Belgrade gives up its compensation demand in a dispute with his current team, the L.A. Lakers. Partizan spokesmen said the Lakers haven't banned Divac from playing and added that it's up to him to decide if he'll play. Partizan sees the problem as an issue of national interest, and no one there denies they want him to play but they're obviously insulted by Divac's statement that Partizan forged his signature on an annex to the contract with the Lakers and now no one in the club wants to compromise.

Partizan managers said they offered a compromise: Divac pays the legal expenses, becomes head of the board of Partizan players outside the country (Djordjevic, Paspalj, Danilovic), has exclusive rights to Partizan deals abroad but, and there's the problem, pays Partizan "a symbolic sum for the development of Yugoslav basketball". No deal was made.

Partizan's compensation demand stands at 10 million dollars. So how big is the "symbolic sum"? Rumors say $250,000 US.

In the meantime, the Lakers informed the Yugoslav basketball association (KSJ) that they had to pay $38,000 for Divac's insurance if he plays, Divac is practicing alone in Belgrade and no one in Partizan is denying that semi-secret talks are underway with the KSJ.

Our advice: don't get too excited. The reasons: even without Divac, Yugoslavia is a favorite in Athens and the whole thing has more to do with money than patriotism.

Exchanging the Dead

Bosnian Serb forces turned over the remains of Bosnian Foreign Minister Irfan Ljubijankic on June 7th. He was killed on May 28th when his helicopter was shot down near Bihac, BETA news agency reported quoting UN spokesmen in Sarajevo. "The body of Foreign Minister Irfan Ljubijankic was handed over in Bihac in an exchange of the dead," UNPROFOR spokesman, Lt. Colonel Gary Coward said. He added that body was identified by Ljubijankic's sister.

The remains were exchanged for the bodies of three Bosnian Serb soldiers.

Dependents

In their search for a sure, rich and reliable source of financing for pensions, the authorities stumbled on countless squanderers, i.e. smokers and people who like to drink and imposed a large tax on tobacco and liquor.

Producers in the West are obliged to include notes on their products warning that they are harmful to your health but here there's no need for that. On the contrary. Tobacco and alcohol consumption have acquired a new dimension (the life of a grandmother is in your hands so drink up!). The new source of pension funding shows that in a humanely conceived state even vices are turned into good.

If the entire tax goes to pensioners, soon the money invested in pensioners will start coming back, at least partly: pensioners will be able to drink and smoke in dignity, encouraged by the knowledge that part of what they spend will come back to them.

Easing Off

As part of preparations for the coming tourist season, Yugoslavia will probably ease visa requirements, Yugoslav consular and diplomatic missions will speed up the process and the possibility of issuing visas at the border is being investigated as well as special traffic lanes to cut down waiting.

The Union 1

The issue of all issues and tendency of all Serbs west of the Drina: uniting into a single, unified state, is being achieved. But not on the basis of inter-state parliamentary commissions but on the football field. Football fans, embodied in the officials of the Bosnian Serb Football Association decided unanimously recently to unite with their counterpart in the Republic of Serb Krajina. They'll start to play in a single league "once conditions are right".

In the meantime, the only soccer club that played in the Serbian and Yugoslav league, Borac Banja Luka, dropped out of the B league which hasn't caused concern among Bosnian Serb soccer officials who said they'll apply to play in all international European competitions.

The Union 2

The 27th Yugoslav Body Building Cup was held recently in Belgrade's Sava Center. Politika reported that "the 300 competitors from 33 domestic clubs included participants from the Bosnian Serb Republic and Republic of Serb Krajina some of who fought their way into the finals".

Another example that the loudly acclaimed, thunderingly implemented and already excessively expensive union of all Serb states hasn't stopped with TV weather forecasts. Step by step...