Shooting One's Foot

by Stojan Cerovic

Serbs on the left side of the Drina River will have to listen to Serbs on the right side, because they depend on them. They will not refuse and secede. The majority will easily and quickly come to their senses, regardless of their bellicose statements. General Mladic did not attend the Bijeljina Assembly, as he probably wished to avoid humiliation - appearing in the role of a leading peacemaker. The war must be brought to an end by those who fought it, and this bestial war cannot be finished honorably or elegantly

If Belgrade and Bijeljina were far away from here, if all this were happening to others, or if this were theater, we would say that the piece was boring and the plot trivial, until the appearance of The Letter. Any other outcome could have been guessed at. The Serbian leaders could have remained firm in their refusal of the Vance-Owen plan, or they could have agreed to a different outcome. But with the letter which was late in arriving, Cosic, Milosevic and Bulatovic came up with an original solution, and let none pretend that they expected something like it.

The letter upset the logic of the drama, so that even two days later, many here and in the world did not understand what was really happening. Were the signatories serious, or was this just another trick aimed at hoodwinking international bores? There were good arguments for either option, but the originality lies in the fact that the letter is neither a joke nor a reality. It arrived too late to achieve a goal; it could not change the mood of the assembly in Bijeljina, nor could it convince the world that Belgrade was seriously accepting a peace plan, which would lift sanctions. It thus happened that a positive gesture resulted, temporarily, in a doubly negative outcome. A rift between Belgrade and Bijeljina, and the closing of borders.

At a press conference which had long been postponed, probably because he wished to practice keeping a long face while he said that he had never wanted a Greater Serbia, Dobrica Cosic tried to explain the idiotic timing. I would prefer not to have heard it, since I would have gone on believing that Serb leaders had gone Dadaist. It turned out however, that they had underestimated the Bijeljina Assembly, just as Stalin had once believed that he would fix the Yugo-Communists by wagging his little finger. This parallel is one-way, since the Bijeljina Assembly and its alleged state are totally dependent on Belgrade, and cannot become independent. But, they could at least have told the deputies half an hour earlier what they were supposed to say. The letter arrived after they had declared war to the United Nations, so that the turnabout demanded of them was faster than that described by George Orwell.

Those who say that Milosevic kept one ear open for news from Moscow while negotiating with Lord Owen, are probably right. Some will say that he should have known a few days earlier that there was no hope. Very well, but a man in his position has the right to believe in miracles. On the other hand, Lord Owen made an effort to leave a suggestible impression. Namely, it has reached me that he had described Serbia's future as a "big black hole, for many years to come." Finally, Momir Bulatovic was there, and he might have indicated that the Montenegrins expected him to stand tall for a change, and explain that they weren't interested in sanctions anymore, but that if Serbia was, they would gladly cede their part. And that is why the decision to write the letter was made.

Cosic, in the role of Milosevic's spokesman, said that not one of the three signatories had thought of going to Bijeljina, in order that they might not influence those whom the Vance-Owen plan affected most. Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic found himself in the role of the Tsar's messenger when he read the letter which allegedly left full freedom of choice. Eye witnesses say that some of the war deputies wept when they realized that the rear had weakened. All in all, this story does not deserve to be told with much seriousness or piety for either side.

How to take seriously an assembly which decides on the life and death of thousands of people and is opened by the surrealist painter Milic of Macva who speaks of the oldest people in Europe who will come to rule the world? At the same time war strategists in Belgrade are writing a letter in which they demand that this victorious war be stopped at once. While Bijeljina is proclaiming Serbia's invincibility and challenging the whole world to battle, Belgrade is signing a defeat.

The weariness after sleepless night has not passed yet, and many patriots still cannot decide what was a dream and what reality. Is it possible that the beautiful war will end with the Serbian army withdrawing from captured and cleansed territories? Where is Vojvoda Seselj now? Who has turned traitor? Could it be that Cosic and Milosevic are agents of the new world order?

This is just a beginning. The turnabout is complete and surprising, but Milosevic still has to decide where it leads and if he will be able to bring things to an end. The ritual of mass and individual support to The Letter has started in Belgrade. Some Bosnian Serbs like Nikola Koljevic have started making more moderate statements. However, there will still be many complications on both sides of the Drina River. This is why television has started a propaganda drive for peace, reason and "moderate progress within the limits of the law". Milosevic had to write the letter if only because television had not had enough time in which to lay out the ground work. In the end, an old fashioned method of communication proved faster and more efficient than electronics.

Vojislav Seselj's reckless career should take a downhill turn now, since he will now be able to make short statements only, to those newspapers he considers to be treacherous. His party grew enormously thanks to the Tsar's favors, and will be reduced to its right measure. The man who ruled parliament will become an unconvincing member on the side lines, unless he decides to swallow yet another defeat and offers his services in the seeking of radical solutions in Kosovo or Montenegro. Citizen Arkan, whom Bijeljina remembers very well, did not hesitate for a second, and practically threatened that he would go there again, and fix that same Biljana Plavsic who gave him that famous kiss as a hero and liberator.

Of course, so-called bad Serbs were right, but then, can anyone find any satisfaction in such ruptures during which human dignity and moral integrity suffer. Whatever we may think of the writer Antonije Isakovic, we should be ashamed of his self-humiliation, because such scenes will be repeated for as long as there is someone who enjoys them. The referendum in Bosnia will be an occasion for a new, mass wallowing in the mud. Unless, of course, it is agreed that the Bijeljina Assembly reconsider the Vance-Owen plan, which would be even more humiliating. This recommendation was adopted by the Serbian Assembly at Zoran Djindjic's (of the Democratic Party) proposal, who two weeks ago was the first to protest against the signing of the plan. He is now allegedly happy with the allegedly important corrections which have been made.

As far as treachery is concerned, it took place at the beginning, when people went to war against neighbors and relatives. It was treason against life and civilization, with fathers betraying their children. Stories about one group of criminals, rabble-rousers and profiteers who were betrayed by another, are of no interest to the public. They all knew what they were doing, and profited from the war, and it had very little to do with the people on both sides of the Drina River. They started betraying each other when their interests crossed and the profits started running dry, so that it would be a good thing if they were to discuss the matter among themselves. The problem lies in the fact that they like to share their woes with the people.