Conditional Coincidence

by Stojan Cerovic

The international donor conference, which is about to provide us with approximately one billion dollars, is postponed for another month. In the meantime, the international community is expecting the FRY authorities to elicit a law on co-operation with the Hague Tribunal, which would make Milosevic’s extradition officially permitted. All this appears to have been scheduled during Kostunica’s recent visit to the USA. He, for example, insisted on the prolongation of time needed for the preparation of the law, but they told him that, in that case, they would also need time to raise the money.

Now, it seems that everything is all right. Is anybody at all opposing the idea of giving us the money necessary for our country’s restoration and improvement? Is it not better to behave in compliance with the law? And, isn’t Milosevic guilty and shouldn’t he be brought to justice? Are we really going to opt for starvation at this moment rather than letting our prisoner perish in a foreign prison?

I would not like to make this more complicated than it really is, but I wonder how we would all of a sudden plead understood the proportion of such enormous crime, accept the Hague justice and agree to extradite the major suspect, without admitting that it is all connected with the money issue, since we don’t sell our men. Thus, if the Americans associate the impending donor conference with the condition of Milosevic’s extradition, as far as we are concerned, it seems to be a mere coincidence. We would have to agree that any reference to it would be denied and that we would lie about it until the end of time. However, we are warming up to deal with the truth and reconciliation.

If we wanted to pull the wool over somebody’s eyes, it would be possible to do so at least in theory. One option was to open a sober and serious inquiry into everything, including the war crimes, and to prepare the court trial on our territory. But, ever since Milosevic was arrested and ever since the misuse of authority that pertains to the illegal purchase of the Dedinje villa was mentioned as his gravest sin, no more word has been heard about the mentioned inquiry. I am likely to think that the authorities decided to cover up the whole story and that no court trial is being prepared, although it had been promised. It either became clear that it is almost impossible to create such a trial, or that Milosevic will have to go to The Hague in any case. It is evidently too much to expect from this unfortunate government to keep its word and worry about the country’s sovereignty and dignity at the same time.

So, I believe that the general standpoint that money is much more needed at the moment than sovereignty will prevail, though it is quite possible that such a dilemma does not really exist. The country of this dimension, at this site and with such reputation has no way of preserving too much sovereignty. However, it would not be too surprising either if the promised money did not come. Didn’t we hear enough promises about the enormous financial aid that was supposed to be granted to us – it was a popular theme after the NATO air intervention and it was called the Stability Pact – but I cannot really see anyone getting much of it, apart from Bodo Hombach and various other experts, mediators and officials. That means that we should not revolve around this story to that extent and that we should not get too excited about it.

If, however, Milosevic eventually gets extradited to The Hague, it will be an end to his historical episode, or at least to its global part, to an extensive subject of his conflict with the entire world. Only then will Washington be in position to proclaim a real victory and there is no doubt that it is the main reason for such a firm demand for his extradition. From the viewpoint of a superpower, he is above all insolent for allowing himself to challenge the whole world and he perceptibly gave a bad example worth being properly punished. In this sense Milosevic is much more important than it seems from within Serbia, which counts only his local transgressions. The Trouble is that Washington is heading towards its goal vehemently and without restraint. Such an approach and imposing of terms and conditions are in a direct contradiction to what is really expected to happen after Milosevic gets punished. It will turn out that he is guilty above all before America, for he got her involved in a wrong war, so now he must go to The Hague because of the donor conference. A message from his case, which is supposed to be ‘do not commit crimes’, will turn into ‘do not mess with America’.

Now, it is an essential lesson for Serbia, but it has almost nothing to do with war crimes. The question of those crimes, which does not upset many people here anyway, will become even more hopelessly unpopular and it will probably induce some cynical reactions. That means that there is no hope that The Hague Tribunal will in any way contribute to our general moral upgrading and divert us from evil. On the contrary, we will have to worry about it ourselves, even in spite of The Hague, which sounds somehow logical.

It is not unlikely that we will have to worry about our economic revival on our own as well, and I suppose that it would be better if the government did not include the figure of that one billion dollars in its budget. My point is not that Serbia would be much better off on its own and beyond the world, since we know very well how that looks like. Instead, Serbia should maintain some kind of equilibrium, and not to fall down on the other side. In this case I think of those who are trying to prove that the world cannot wait to have Serbia gilded, and that waiting for that promised help is the only thing worth doing. All in all, it is high time to learn to pay heed to both others and ourselves simultaneously. It is not that complex, we are just inexperienced.