Word: serbia
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Every revolution has its moment of combustion. Yugoslavia's came on an autumn Wednesday in the persons of three elderly men on a tractor. Hundreds of Slobodan Milosevic's dreaded special police had swept down on the hard-bitten diggers at the Kolubara coal mine in Serbia's heartland who had first initiated popular resistance by refusing to work. Attempting to force out the 7,000 striking miners intent on crippling the country's electric grid, security troops surrounded the complex and blockaded a key bridge with police buses. But the workers stood fast, broadcast for help on radios...
...would step aside. He conceded electoral defeat and congratulated the man he "just learned" had outpolled him. But ever defiant, he warned he had no intention of bowing out altogether. After a "rest" spent visiting with his grandson Marko, he would be back to rebuild his Socialist Party of Serbia and resume an important role in the country's political life...
...first time, the ordinary workers, who had made up the faithful bloc of Milosevic's supporters for years, turned out against him. These were the backbone of the nation, the weather-beaten farmers, the downtrodden shopkeepers and, most crucially, the stolid miners in the coal-black core of Serbia who kept the nation's electricity alight. When they spontaneously launched their local protests to drive out Milosevic, the balance of power shifted...
Soon after, another pillar of Milosevic's authority fell away. The protesters moved on to the tower home of Radio Television Serbia. It was not only the regime's crucial mouthpiece--without it Milosevic could not counter the clamor in the streets--but also its most despised tool. A special antiterrorist unit had been set in place to confront any trouble. These troops resisted longer, firing tear gas and a few stray bullets. But when the protesters drew up their excavator and set the entry on fire, overwhelmed troops scooted out the back. The broadcast--the only one seen regularly...
...while, Milosevic remained out of sight, whereabouts unknown. His suburban palace looked eerily empty as it stood guarded by a single soldier. Rumors flew that the boss was holed up in a bunker in eastern Serbia or already on a cargo plane to Belarus. In fact, he was locked away, as ever, in his private parallel universe, brooding on his next move, no doubt egged on to defiance by his uncompromising wife Mira. Serbs were so used to his prodigious talent for survival that they feared he still had one more trick up his sleeve. From his balcony overlooking...