The Radical Left

Former Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic who was accused by Seselj, among other things, of undermining the country's defence, at the mention of Seselj's name, often said "that man is Serbia's disgrace", or "that's the way it started in Germany. It mustn't happen in our country, and now is the time to stop it." Several months later, in an interview, Seselj said that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic could never have beaten Panic so easily at elections, at least not in the first round, if he hadn't had the support of the Radicals. "Our struggle against traitor Milan Panic and the fifth column in Belgrade also contributed to the fact that the Socialists weren't defeated a long time ago," said Seselj.

In May this year, Yugoslav President at the time Dobrica Cosic, said that with his bellicosity and political extremism, Seselj had lost much and that his influence was waning. A month later, after the Socialists, with the help of the Radicals, had removed him from the political scene, Cosic did not stop expressing disbelief, like so many others: "He is extremely militant," said Cosic of Seselj. "His party is... militant. We all wonder who voted for Seselj. I haven't come across such a person in my milieu."

After targeting the military leadership, Seselj said recently that: "A new political game had started and that it remained to be seen who had the greatest ace up his sleeve."

Apart from Colonel Stojadinovic who for the moment is the only one answering Seselj in kind and voicing doubts about his sanity, the latest list of those destined for political liquidation, includes Chief of the General Staff General Zivota Panic because of the "Panic and son" scandal, General Radovan Radinovic because his wife is Croatian, some others with "Croatian connections", Commander of the First Military District General Vladimir Stojanovic because he is responsible for the sector which did business with General Panic's son and his firm "Kentaur", and head of counter-intelligence Colonel Aleksandar Dimitrijevic, "because it was his duty to know about such goings-on, but he didn't."

As of recently, Seselj keeps repeating: "When all these people are dismissed, the Yugoslav Army's combat readiness will be greatly improved". And: "I know this, because I am an expert on the things I am talking about, and their dismissal is in the Yugoslav Army's interests - I guarantee it... The army must be fundamentally rejuvenated and the best people put in key positions and commands."

As an "expert" on the matters he is talking about, Seselj knows that the strengthening of the Yugoslav Army's combat readiness depends very little on the dismissal of the above mentioned officers, or those whose retirement will follow that of General Panic, or on the number of those who will retire under a cloud or accusations of war profiteering.

Seselj became an "expert on military affairs" when he was the youngest doctoral candidate in the former Yugoslavia and had specialized in issues pertaining to total national defence and civil defence. Vojislav Seselj M.A., was the main star of a meeting in Pristina, in December 1979, when he submitted a paper on "Equality, brotherhood, unity and the togetherness of nations and peoples in total national defence".

"The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Territorial Defence," wrote Seselj at the time, "must be imbued with an awareness of the total equality of members of all our nations and peoples by incorporating the basic principles of inter-ethnic relations guiding our self-managing Socialist society". Seselj also cited some of Josip Broz Tito's scientific views on some ten odd pages, including other classics of Marxism and military science - Lenin, JNA General Viktor Bubanj and JNA General Nikola Ljubicic. Some ten years later, after he had become a Chetnik voivoda (commander), Seselj took a hawthorne stake and tried to demolish Josip Broz's grave. At the time, the soldiers guarding the Memorial Center were under orders to shoot at demonstrators who came too close.

Then, as today, Seselj did not think of the army from the point of view of his profession. As a young man he adopted the Marxist-Leninist stand, i.e. an ideological one. Now, as a Chetnik voivoda, he looks on the army as an instrument of nationalist policy. The first stand, prevented the former JNA from ever turning into a professional, non-political army, which resulted in its collapse. The second stand, the one urged by Seselj today, prevents the transformation of what has remained of the JNA, with endless internal purges. Colonel Stojadinovic claims that the Radicals have their branch in the army which continuously supplies them with lists of undesirable officers, leading to a showdown with "bad Serbs" one day, which could mark the Army's definite end.

With its inability to transform and turn into a professional army, the Yugoslav Army has just replaced one policy with another. In these changed circumstances, Seselj has changed from being the Army's béte noire, into its darling. During 1990, when war was only discerned, Seselj's Radicals kept saying that it was necessary to cleanse the JNA. Seselj demanded the dismissal of Defence Minister General Veljko Kadijevic. Matters then escalated: Seselj demanded that Kadijevic be arrested, tried and "shot" as the main culprit, and that his example should be followed by Generals Adzic, Kukanjac, Admiral Brovet,... Ordinary soldiers and deserters would come at the end. At the time, during debates Seselj criticized "Milosevic's inert regime", since "it took two months to persuade them to arrest General Trifunovic (who had surrendered one of the major garrisons in Croatia without resistance) and try him."

While the army leadership loathed Seselj and was distancing itself from him and his Chetniks, former Serbian Interior Minister Radmilo Bogdanovic, told the Zagreb weekly "Danas": "Seselj only talks nonsense and makes threats." In the meantime, behind the scenes, the police-military structures acquired arms for Chetnik volunteers through cover-up financial operations. From the most hated person, Vojislav Seselj slowly became the army's favourite and was given the honor of reviewing regular Yugoslav army troops at the battlefields. Wherever he showed up in uniform, the soldiers raced to be photographed next to him. Compared to members of other paramilitary formations, Seselj's fighters have been praised by the military tribunal for not taking part in the mass "liberation" of freezers, refrigerators and television sets, and of being quite disciplined.

Asked recently to list the most important achievements of his policy, Seselj mentioned military merit: he said that his party, with its interventions, had led to stabilization on all battlefields and influenced the timely settling of the situation in the Army. For the past few months, Colonel Stojadinovic has been the only officer in the Yugoslav Army who has dared claim publicly that the effects of Seselj's policy are different. Seselj's insane statements on bombing Rome have only served to ghettoize the Serbian people even more, and make all its members suspect as potential international terrorists.

An army which politicians are preventing from transforming itself into a professional army, is facing the threat of being split up by various party factions one day. It could happen that someone takes over a regiment or a base and according to the Bosnian recipe allows everything to fall into the hands of local leaders and parties. Unless of course, something else is at stake, as Goran Latinovic, one of the League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia (SK-PJ) leaders recently told the "Duga" magazine.

"Have you heard Seselj speak in the Assembly on justice, equality, and all this with regard to the budget?," Latinovic asked "Duga's" journalist. "Every Communist would have uttered those same words. Seselj's ideas have a lot in common with Communist ideas. We find them to be very close to ours. That is why we, in the SK-PJ believe that the preconditions for the creation of a "radical left" in Yugoslavia have been met . The end of the war will bring an end to wishes to introduce neo-liberal capitalism here, thus turning the Yugoslav people into white slaves of the European Community and the United States of America."