Rich People's Takeover

Only one man knows whether the leadership of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) will soon discuss joining the Serbian Government, said a senior SPO official last Wednesday, and pointed his finger upwards. It was clear he was implying SPO leader Vuk Draskovic.

The man on the street, who not only knows nothing about his fate but is no longer even interested in it, still believes that the only man who has real information is Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who was last week concentrating on some international affairs he cares more about.

The Serbian President has pushed aside for a while the clashes in the Socialist Party, talks with Draskovic and changes in the Government (of the Government). This, of course, does not mean he has not deliberated all of the above. He has, and many take this as dangerous.

Milomir Minic, Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) General Secretary, the same one whom his best friends (Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic, for example) did not inform of the changes his party would undergo, began granting interviews with clear messages of loyalty and love for the head of state.

The reconstruction or change of the whole Government is undoubtedly the most important local rumor that leaked from Milosevic's cabinet. According to independent sources, this subject has prompted Milosevic to meet the SPO leader seven times, as well as his frequent get-togethers with Dusan Mihajlovic, the current (and future) coalition partner in the Government.

Little has leaked after all these meetings, one of the reasons being that none of Milosevic's collocutors are completely clear about why they are involved in the whole thing. They do not even know why he would want to change something in the Government (or the whole Government) right now and that is why each of them has found a version that suits them the most. Draskovic seems to believe that Serbia's President is simply blackmailed. Americans (and Western Europe) are holding a carrot in their hand, not only a stick, and if Milosevic wants to get the carrot, he has to change something in his state. This "has to" has prompted SPO to make such great demands. Independent press, independent legislature, 50 percent of power and, according to some sources, funding of SPO's future election campaign.

The SPO international combination has only one problem, but it is a big one. If he agrees to what he has been asked Milosevic has to change not only the state, but himself as well. An answer to all the questions arising from this conclusion is given in a short sentence an SPO senior official and MP uttered recently: "I heard he gave up on us".

A coalition of the left and the center, headed by Dusan Mihajlovic and rallying all those who are not "war-mongers", is New Democracy's vision of a more peaceful future, although this is not so simple either. It is possible that Milosevic now needs nothing more than SPS, the Yugoslav United Left (JUL) and the police. He already has the majority in both Parliaments (Federal and Republican), should they ever meet; with JUL, he instills a little fear in those in SPS; with the help of SPS, he does not permit JUL to become too big for its britches; with the police, he successfully controls both.

Also, the recent events have proven that Milosevic's problem with the war lobby within SPS and the rest of the opposition is insignificant. The Socialists he does not eliminate as easily as Serbian RTV Director Vucelic have to be obedient, while the "remainder" of the opposition forces in Serbia have long since been pushed to the margin.

Besides, rumor has it that Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic, Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj and Democratic Party of Serbia leader Vojislav Kostunica have gotten into an argument over the protest in front of the US Embassy. Radical sources even accused Djindjic of spending the funds raised to advertise the protest on promoting his own rally in front of the American Cultural Center. Seselj later did say that "a couple of blows were exchanged" among the parties, but that everything was now OK and that they would continue cooperating. One should believe Seselj. He is the only one out of the "remainder of the opposition" who still maintains close contacts with Draskovic, despite all their recriminations and quarrels.