Word: serbia
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This year, however, the symbolism of the day mattered less than cold, hard reality. Serbia is bankrupt, with an unemployment rate of 50% and inflation running at an annual rate of more than 110%. In the past few months, government ministers had started explaining to Serbs how much they needed foreign aid--and that they wouldn't get it unless they surrendered Milosevic. On June 29, a meeting of international donors was due to be held in Brussels. The Bush Administration had refused to attend unless the government in Belgrade demonstrated that it intended to hand Milosevic over...
Reaction in Belgrade was muted. A rally hastily organized by Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia drew just 3,000 diehards. Nationalist anthems blared from loudspeakers, but the protesters soon drifted away. "Those were the days," said Petar Gracanin, a Milosevic crony who was once Yugoslavia's Defense Minister, sounding almost wistful. Close by, young Serbs ignored the fuss. "Let them have their protest," said Jelena Savic, 19, a law student, buying ice cream. "It's their last one. Thank God it's over...
Fine words, yet the linkage between Milosevic's extradition and financial aid to Serbia troubled some. "Of course, the money is important," said Latinka Perovic, a Belgrade historian. "But we have a moral duty to do away with the culture of killing, and I have heard precious little about that in the last few weeks...
...power of the U.S. The indictment that the Hague tribunal issued two years ago would be a dead letter today--and "international justice" an empty phrase--were it not for American power. It was the NATO bombing of Kosovo--overwhelmingly American--that expelled Serb forces, devastated Serbia and utterly discredited Milosevic...
...Then again, such problems may be symptomatic of the widespread denial that persists among Serbs over some of the crimes committed in their name in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, and the trial - together with the recent discovery of mass graves inside Serbia containing bodies moved from Kosovo, and an increasing willingness of witnesses to come forward - could also prove cathartic...