The Price of Obedience

In the noted interview for German weekly Der Spiegel by Slobodan Milosevic, no one really noticed the part where the Serbian president spoke of the lessons he learned from the breakup of Yugoslavia. Milosevic mentioned his choice of personnel. "Some I would never choose again. But in hard times some don't show their true face," he said.

Who are the associates he would never pick again can only be guessed since whole teams of them have fallen out of favor since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Picking out the people who hid their true face is a thankless task especially since Milosevic often made U-turns which many of his people simply couldn't follow.

Among his allies, Milosevic would gladly, retroactively, renounce Vojislav Seselj and Radovan Karadzic who he worked with to create a new Serb state. But Milosevic won't admit he had anything in common with them now and he couldn't have referred to them in the Spiegel interview.

The group of turncoats certainly don't include Milan Panic - former Yugoslav prime minister and American businessman, Dorica Cosic - former Yugoslav president and Dragoslav Avramovic - ousted NBJ governor, three men who were used up although they served Serbia to relieve the worst of its troubles. All three were ousted the moment they touched the fundamentals of power or at least tried to demystify (Avramovic) the nature of the authorities. The regime still owes them a debt of gratitude and it's hard to believe the Spiegel interview referred to them.

That leaves only the people who were with Milosevic from the start as the metaphor of a policy but later stumbled and fell. That group includes Borisav Jovic and Mihailo Markovic, the former SPS ideologist. Both were seen as Milosevic's closest associates and most competent interpreters of SPS policies. They were ousted as conservatives and opponents of the SPS-JUL rapprochement but they were shaken up earlier in the Belgrade-Pale clash when Smilja Avramov, advisor to the president, was dropped out.

Milosevic uses his people mercilessly but also takes care of them. He sent Jovic and Markovic into retirement not to an embassy, although many other much less capable people were sent into the diplomatic service (Vladislav Jovanovic, Danilo Z. Markovic, Rados Smiljkovic, Bogdan Trifunovic, Slobodan Unkovic, Zivorad Igic).

Retirement, oblivion or some post are just three of countless ways the regime uses to eliminate its associates from daily politics. Oblivion is also looming over two men who controlled important parts of the media for the authorities - Milorad Vucelic - one time RTS director general and Zivorad Minovic - former Politika director. Regardless of what they did, both showed signs of disobedience and that got them off the list of appointment where Aleksandar Bakocevic ended up. Three defence ministers were retired for not living up to the president's expectations - admiral Miodrag Jokic and generals Tomislav Simovic and Marko Negovanovic.

The missing include mainly people who got out of politics like Jagos Purica and Petar Skundric who was in the top ranks of the SPS. Both went back to their university jobs. Former Belgrade Mayor Slobodanka Gruden also dropped out of politics. Comeback kids (in JUL) include Zoran Todorovic, Snezana Aleksic and Vladimir Stambuk, the so-called peace personnel.

Writer Antonije Isakovic was pacified while author Brana Crncevic is on ice along with minister Radovan Pankov and Tanjug director Slobodan Jovanovic. Nedeljko Sipovac has been recycled along with former SPS deputy leader Goran Percevic and other young personnel (Simic, Djogo, Krsljanin) who could come back in lower posts, such as in the railroad like former SPS general secretary Milomir Minic. Most other once prominent socialists are resting up and waiting to be called (Radoman Bozovic, Mihalj Kertes, Ratomir Vico, Milivoje Pavlovic).

The story of Milosevic and his people is as old as his emergence in politics. The choice of a good team of associates is one of the stereotypes that has been following him from the start when he began removing everyone who was in his way. Most of the intellectuals that backed him then claimed he would first implement constitutional changes and get rid of opportunists, autonomists, Albanian and Slovenian separatists, and then aggressively impose economic reforms and a personnel revival in Serbia. The belief was that then the fighters in the anti-bureaucracy revolution would be replaced by "a smart academic Serbia" and push on to the 10,000 USD per capita income Milosevic predicted. In the meantime, the economic and personnel renewal had to be postponed indefinitely to tackle the Croats, EC, Germans, the rest of the world and Karadzic.

There was no time for the personnel revival amid the constant battle with inner and outer enemies. Milosevic kept using the same group of obedient and loyal people. That finally resulted in teams in both parliaments that make them comical and give rise to the theory that this is a time of the rule of the worst.

Milosevic warned several times that he wasn't happy with the people around him. He spoke in Leskovac in the summer of 1992 and criticized some leadership members for "often showing conceit". That was aimed at Bora Jovic who was seen as one of Milosevic's closest and most capable followers but also one of the most "wooden" people in the top ranks of the ruling party. That was also the start of Jovic's fall.

That year, the president also gave a long interview to the RTS and Vucelic who asked: "Your opponents are saying that you make personnel changes frequently and make a poor choice of personnel. Both political followers and opponents criticize you for that. Do you feel you have made mistakes or are your critics wrong?"

Milosevic answered: "I can say that they are more or less right."

Milosevic was asked a similar question in November 1994 by then TV Politika editor in chief Aleksandar Tijanic. The president admitted personnel policies were not one of his strong points.

That moaning about personnel could be interpreted as an effort to distance himself from the political and economic chaos in the country. The essence of personnel changes in Serbia at almost all levels lies in changes among the same group of people. For example, Mitevic was followed as head of the RTS by an increasingly obscure group of people. Those appointments were decided by Milosevic and he certainly can't claim he didn't know what was happening.

One of the most persistent analysts of Milosevic, Belgrade law school professor Kosta Cavoski, once described him as a man who does everything himself with no outside influence. Cavoski believes Milosevic does not see anyone in politics as an equal. "He even turned his ruling party into his own court," Cavoski said. Something similar was noted by journalist Slavoljub Djukic who thinks Milosevic's associates are "tools, not creators of policy".

That is probably why no one has appeared in Serbian politics over the past few years as a second level rival. There is no institution of a strong second man in the SPS or any opposition party. The gap in Milosevic's environment was not invented by him but is a tried and tested political formula. By removing powerful figures around the leader, the leader seems bigger and more important. Milosevic is big because no one else comes close.

If he would never choose some of his associates again, the question now is which personnel will Milosevic choose in the future. Informed sources said there is only one personnel office in Serbia with only Milosevic and his wife allowed in. Those sources said her people have never let them down unlike his people. In her diary, Mira Markovic once admitted that the entire logistical support for her husband's rise to power came from her friends. Many socialists fear the time of her people is coming.

Exceptions

The only one of the Milosevic people who was arrested was former trade minister Sava Vlajkovic. The only one who enjoys a special status and trust after being ousted from two posts (RTS director and head of the state goods reserves) is Dusan Mitevic. The only one who has stayed on as advisor to Milosevic from the start is Kosta Mihajlovic.