Issue 179 - March 6, 1995

It's been almost exactly two years since the kidnapping of a group of Muslims and one Croat (all FRY citizens) from train number 671 in the Strpci station on March 27, 1993. Relatives of the abductees, the Montenegro Helsinki human rights committee and the civil organization The Public Against Fascism organized a press conference in Podgorica to commemorate the abduction. We still don't know what investigators found out, who the kidnappers are, who gave the orders, where the abductees are and whether they're still alive. Dragisa Burzan, chairman of a Montenegrin parliamentary committee set up to investigate the kidnapping told the press conference that the committee failed to do anything for the simple reason that the authorities refused to cooperate

How would the government of a serious state fare if it couldn't explain where its citizens had disappeared even after two years, or one which spent the citizens' savings, or assisted in tricking thousands of people

Reporters asked Stojadinovic if he had brought whiskey to celebrate in case they exonerate him and he replied: "No, they'll sentence me for sure."

It has been clear that there will be infighting in the top ranks of the Republic of Serb Krajina ever since the special parliament session in Okucani on February 24. The first independent assessments said President Martic's demand for the ouster of PM Mikelic means he's grown apart from Serbian president Milosevic

Milosevic, on the other hand can't, and wouldn't know how to present his extorted peace policy and sell it as liberalization and the joining of the great process of transformation in Eastern Europe. Instead, he is remembering old ideological slogans, dreaming of a new confrontation of blocs and deluding himself with victories of the Left at elections in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria

Right now, all the local community parliaments in the RS, except the Banja Luka assembly are single-party and single-nation gatherings

Serbian Minister of Culture Nada Popovic-Perisic has launched a battle against kitsch and trash with television spots and slogans like "Change Your Angle of Looking at Things". The ceremony, as is customary, ended in kisses and a cocktail party. So, who says that culture is a bore

The National Bank of Yugoslavia (NBJ) decision to tie the primary issue solely to an increased production or the buying of foreign currency deserves full support, but it still remains to be seen if the NBJ will endure the social and political pressures which are expected, because many data point to the fact that the economy is entering a recession