Issue 229 - February 26, 1996

The plans are getting more grandiose and imaginative but that's only because we live worse. The state of Serbia is being run by people whose ambitions are stimulated by poverty and failure and their visions are enhanced. If we sank already, that only means the step into the 21st century will be bigger

Why China town, why in Belgrade and why Politika

The state has completely taken over public companies. This means power over the population through manipulation of electricity prices prior to elections, power over the economy since the state proscribes who is going to pay and how much

Social property is here to stay, there won't be a massive and speedy privatization is the key point to come out of the SPS Belgrade election conference. The SPS congress could come up with some surprises but the fact that Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic made that statement gives it weight

The present situation in Yugoslavia is certainly far from attractive for foreign investments. All the more so because capable individuals, who had sent their families abroad for safety reasons before the conflict in the former Yugoslavia broke out, have not been doing business for quite some time

The independent Studio B television station is no longer independent as of Thursday, 15 February. The city council urgently took notice of and adopted the decision made by the Supreme court to nullify the privatization of Studio B which took place six years ago. A new leadership, comprising mainly socialist clerks at city level, was appointed in no time. The old one (Dragan Kojadinovic - chairman of the executive board, Milorad Roganovic - director and editor-in-chief) looked pretty jaded and dejected, while Studio B's young crew decided to drive the new boss mad by announcing in the prime time news bulletin that the good old station is gone, without asking him for permission.

All the mercenaries on the ground, regardless of their specialty, are military dropouts. Adventurers who adore uniforms and weapons, criminals, former convicts. Many aren't interested in pay but they like robbing. They're a feature of every war

Breaching procedural regulations leads to voluntarism and abuse of law