Word: yugoslavia
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...truth is that Washington has never arrived at a firm concept of what kind of Yugoslavia it wants to see emerge from the wreckage of war. In the past, the Administration has been willing to agree to anything the Serbs, Muslims and Croats might all be pushed into accepting. That now looks like a hopeless effort, and Clinton will have to do better before he announces -- and wins support for -- the next chapter in his Bosnian policy. "The strong options depend on only one person," said a State Department official. The President does not need any more briefings or position...
...Jezda the Boss" was holed up in Israel, condemning Serbian aggression in the Balkan war and hatching plans to preside over a government-in-exile. Such grandiose schemes come naturally to Vasiljevic, 45, the maverick entrepreneur who sponsored last year's Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky chess match in Yugoslavia and has variously been suspected of everything from gun- running to illegal currency trading...
Whatever the loss turns out to be, the collapse of the bank exposed the financial chaos that has engulfed what remains of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) as the Serbian war machine rolls on in Bosnia. Ravaged by 20,000% hyperinflation whipped up by United Nations sanctions, the desperate Serbs on the home front have turned to shady banks like Jugoskandik to help put food on the table. In return for deposits of hard currencies such as U.S. dollars and German marks, Jugoskandik paid up to 15% in monthly interest. Customers could thus earn $150 a month...
...part, Vasiljevic says, he looks back on his old life in Yugoslavia with few regrets. "I was on top of the pyramid there," he declares, "and I didn't want to be part of the pyramid anymore because I saw its purpose. It's not a war against Muslims. It's not a war against Croats. It's just a criminal war, a war of corruption." On that point at least, much of the rest of the world could agree...
Vasiljevic says he fled Yugoslavia to escape extortion threats from what he calls the "communist mafia regime" in Belgrade. He says the government demanded more than $1 million in taxes that he had already paid, and has since seized $31 million worth of gasoline that he owned. "I left the country to avoid paying blackmail to the communist country for use for war purposes," he says. Moreover, he adds, he wanted to blow the whistle on government demands that he purchase nearly $1 billion worth of missiles and other arms. "I don't want to take part in something that...