Atomic Shelter

Of all the bizarre details related to the arrest of Smiljko Kostic, the managing director of the Nis Tobacco Industry (DIN), I was most impressed by news that he had built an atomic shelter in his native village Zitoradja. To set things straight, that is the only real news. We all know that Kostic and his likes are filthy rich and we are all made to believe that they inherited their wealth from their grandmothers. Until the party comes up with evidence that the grandmother was a pauper, picking one of them as an example of how it cracks down on crime. In a society like ours, even the reverse is possible. If the party can enable somebody to get rich illegally, why can't it make it look like somebody got rich illegally? It is therefore possible that Kostic had built a basement for food supplies rather than an atomic shelter. Kostic's lawyer thought the case wouldn't even make trial, but "well-informed" sources say that it did because Kostic is a crucial witness in DIN's shady deals which had nothing to do with the production of cigarettes. In other words, some people were getting a swimming pool in their backyards while Kostic was building an atomic shelter.

There will be a trial, but don't expect anything spectacular. Kostic will probably do a bit of time in a prison that looks like a country club. He will then go to his atomic shelter while those who are trying to put him away will be splashing around in their brand new swimming pools.

Let's take Nenad Djordjevic's case for example. It is very unlikely that a trial like his own will reveal anything about the health funds in this country or the way the Yugoslav Left-Wing Alliance (JUL) operates. Assuming that the JUL put him behind bars, it is obvious that only the JUL can get him out of there. The case of Rade Brajovic, the managing director of the Vecernje Novosti media enterprise, is an interesting one.

When his neck was on the line, he started running around shaking hands with the comrades, he always tried to be in the front row and attended every reception he could. He didn't bother to get a lawyer, for he knew that the party is above all courts, judges and lawyers in this country. Let's go back to our main subject, the atomic shelter. The question is: why did Smiljko Kostic bother to build an atomic shelter in a country that transformed virtually all atomic shelters into night clubs, boutiques, parking lots, pubs and indoor bowling areas? Is Kostic smarter or even more stupid than the state, or is he just a stuck-up hillbilly who wanted to be the only one with an atomic shelter in his village?
A few worried people might be led to believe that Kostic has built a shelter because he knows more than we do. They might believe that his party comrades are telling him "look mate, we screwed up and they are going to bomb us" while exchanging greetings at all those receptions we watch on prime time news. In that case, Kostic will have a place to hide while others will bang at the doors of nightclubs that used to be atomic shelters.

The trial will begin soon. The only thing I am interested in is whether Kostic has built an atomic shelter and why. He will probably be put away for using more iron and concrete than specified. There has never been a fair trial in this country since the Second World War so why should it now be any different?