DOS candidates for Djindjic's successor right now are all in the 
I hear the Gov. is pushing Zhivkovich, thinking he's got the most balls to take over?
Posted on 03/13/2003 8:05:11 AM PST by William McKinley
The assassination of Serbia's prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, by a sharpshooter in broad daylight in front of a government building on Wednesday, signals that all is not well within the borders of the metropolitan power of the Balkans. The chief tactician of Serbia's Prudent Revolution that overthrew Milosevic in October 2000, Djindjic was a controversial figure who courted the West with mixed success, achieved limited but substantial economic and legal reform largely by surrounding himself with honest and skilled technocrats, faced much internal obfuscation, and made many enemies along the way. The heir to the throne of Serbia expressed succinctly what many are feeling, namely that "his departure from the political scene is a great loss for the whole country and all its citizens."
While never enjoying much popular support (he had hardly ever polled over 20 percent) but increasingly behaving as if he had been granted a strong mandate, Djindjic's administration was dogged by rumors of his links to organized crime as well as by his close association with the will of the Western powers — especially Germany and the United States — which did not play well at home given the still vivid memories of the 78 day American-led 1999 bombing campaign.
Djindjic was responsible for shipping Milosevic and other prominent men of yesterday to the Hague Tribunal, and had promised to hand over three other indicted war criminals thought to be on Serbian territory by June. Chief among them was Ratko Mladic, the wartime head of the Bosnian Serb army, widely believed to have presided over the murders at Srebrenica during the Bosnian civil war, among other crimes.
While rightly sharing the view that the Hague Tribunal is a political and not a juridical institution, Djindjic understood that there are no absolute standards of justice in the world of international relations; he understood that those who retreat before the responsibilities of statesmanship or invoke such standards in the name of principle against necessity either do not understand politics and should withdraw before its ugliness, or be exposed as cowards when confronted with the ungracious nature of the world.
Djindjic was also responsible for having fully revived the question of the final status of the Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija, currently under U.N. administration and inhabited by an overwhelmingly successionist ethnic-Albanian population. Widely seen as a pre-election ploy to expand his base of political support, Djindjic had gone so far as to propose, correctly, in my view, granting independence to the Kosovo Albanians in exchange for the retention of extraterritorial sovereignty over Serbian holy places in Kosovo as well as over majority-Serb areas (which may have included mutually beneficial population transfers).
Djindjic had been a marked man, having narrowly escaped several attempts on his life, most recently on February 21, when a truck plowed into his motorcade on its way to Belgrade's airport. Wednesday's official government announcement drew a link between that attempt and the day's murder. Djindjic's statement back in February suggested that he suspected that those opposed to democratic reforms or those linked to organized crime were responsible for the attempt. But he was, and remained until the end, entirely unapologetic: "If someone thinks law and reforms can be stopped by eliminating me, then that is a huge delusion."
STATE OF SERBIA
Serbia is now in a declared state of emergency. Read by the acting prime minister, Nebojsa Covic, the government's statement on Wednesday held that "this criminal act is a clear attempt to put an end to the development and democratization of Serbia and plunge it into isolation once again and was carried out by those who have been trying over the past few years to do so through various murders and assassinations." Serbia's will is strong; she will mend her broken soul and her ailing body and find the savages who did this to her people-come what may.
Djindjic's more popular rival, Vojislav Kostunica, the overthrower of Milosevic and a man of unrivalled integrity and moral authority, seemed on Wednesday to echo Djindjic's earlier suspicions when he described his onetime ally's assassination as "a brutal warning that the truth must be faced with open eyes." The murder demonstrated that crime "is the natural enemy of all democratic institutions" and that "all of us-both those in power and those in the opposition-must reflect on and draw a strict line in the sand between that which is legal and that which is not. Here there is no room for compromise and dealmaking," he concluded.
Radio Free Europe did not observe the custom not to speak ill of the dead. It described Djindjic as having a "Machiavellian view of power," by which it meant that he did not "shy away from relying on extraordinarily loose interpretations of the Serbian Constitution and parliamentary rules of procedure to get his way politically, such as his repeated attempts last year to bar members of Kostunica's [party] from parliament. He even went so far as to repeal their mandates and assign them to members of his party and its allies." Djindjic also refused to endorse Kostunica in an election for president of Serbia when the only other candidate was the far-right Vojislav Seselj, who presently sits in a cell at the Hague, and failed to cleanse the electoral list of the dead, the emigrated and the invented while refusing to repeal a Milosevic-era law that required a fifty percent voter turnout rate. This last stunt had cost him many friends in Washington, who had begun to call him "Little Slobo" by the time I had returned from Belgrade in early January, as had his domestic opponents.
WHODUNIT?
Among Djindjic's many enemies, who ordered the hit? Five groups stand out (given the professionalism of the murder, we can discount the likelihood of a lone, disaffected gunman): 1) associates of Milosevic, led by his vengeful son Marko (whereabouts unknown); 2) pro-Mladic former paramilitaries; 3) Seselj's ultranationalist goons; 4) extremist Albanians afraid Djindjic was going to succeed in finding a compromise solution to the problem of Kosovo's final status; and 5) influential elements of Serbia's underworld community. Of course, nothing is yet clear. But I suspect that one can rule out the pro-Mladic and the pro-Seselj possibilities, as well as any Albanian involvement. While all three groups had strong reasons to desire the death of Djindjic, there are compelling reasons to think them not responsible for this crime.
Mladic and the other two indicted war criminals in question are working to avoid detection and capture and can surmise that whatever deterrent factor murder may bring will be trumped by the justice and necessity of the pursuit and capture of those who gave the order (in this case, shame and duty trump fear). Seselj may very well have chosen to present himself before the Hague Tribunal instead of waiting for Djindjic to arrest him and reap the political benefit from doing so, but since he is already in a cage and stands little chance of returning to freedom any time soon, neither he nor his party stand to gain much political benefit from the death of Djindjic. Pure revenge or envy is a possibility, but this too is not Seselj's style (although I do not rule it out entirely). Lastly, the Albanians. Even a whiff of Albanian involvement would lead to an escalation of tensions in Kosovo and almost certainly insistence by Belgrade to reenter militarily Kosovo if the foreign authorities administering Kosovo could not immediately produce the suspects. All in all, assassination of Serbia's prime minister is not in the national interest of Kosovo's Albanians.
Remaining as plausible suspect groups are Serbia's organized crime leadership and the increasingly bitter and desperate associates of Milosevic, which in some cases come out to the same thing. Rumors persisted throughout the post-Milosevic period that Marko Milosevic had orchestrated numerous attempts on Djindjic's life. This in part explained Djindjic's preoccupation with his personal security — he had gone so far as to accept the German government's offer to modernize Serbia's security agencies. Moreover, his government was making small but real inroads into the deeply rooted organized-crime networks, which caused pregnant consternation in the underworld. What remained unclear was whether some in his circle or the rule of law had filled the power vacuum left by the crackdowns. Either way, it seems most plausible that this assassination was the work of powerful organized crime elements.
GOING ON
Serbia's new birth of freedom is here to stay, for thanks in part to Djindjic's tactical genius, the scourge of Communism in Europe was finally eliminated. Whatever his faults, surely Djindjic's name will be recorded with golden letters in the annals of history. Deservingly, then, do I cite at length the words of Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday:
Prime Minister Djindjic's fearless leadership was instrumental in ending the terrible and despotic regime of Slobodan Milosevic and peacefully restoring democratic rule. I met with him many times and came to know him and admire his courage and wisdom. He promoted the economic and political reforms necessary for Serbia's integration into Europe and spoke out against extremism in all forms. He courageously initiated a public campaign to combat organized crime, which threatens every institution in Serbian society. We are confident that Serbia's political leaders will continue Prime Minister's Djindjic's vital work. The United States remains committed to helping Serbia undertake the economic and democratic reforms that will lead it toward a brighter and more prosperous future within Europe.The evil men behind this cowardly act (and their sympathizers) have reminded all Serbs of the barbarous past that we shed so peacefully only a few years ago. We Serbs must not allow the murder of Zoran Djindjic to become a liberation from our future liberty. I pray that the men who ordered his assassination be found, that they be brought to justice, and that those in charge of the investigation understand the distinction between a vengeful act and a reckoning.
May we Serbs learn from this crime the political necessity of a principled yet disinterested interest in the liberty of our people. May the West learn that siding with the one most like you in parts of the world unlike yours more often than not leads to the mere appearance of stability, to the detriment of both.
— Damjan de Krnjevic-Miskovic, a fellow at the Center for South Eastern European Studies in Belgrade, is the assistant managing editor of The National Interest and a columnist for the Russian daily Izvestia.
Correct. That's why I posted it. They are making things up as they go along -- hoping to find the "most plausable" concoction, rgeradless if it has any truth in it. <p. You have to understand that you are dealing with a government on the loose -- and it doesn't matter if it's a Miloshevich Socialists government or Djindjich's "Democrats." The idea of what the government is all about (to rule, not to serve) transcends all political though in Serbia. The only thing that is different is the label, not the substance.
This building belongs to his best friend and the leader and finacier of the Zemun group,Dragan Spasojevich.It is a business centre,built without permission!
"I am Legiya,I am a God!" Legiya was shouting while he was disarming the police patrol tyhat arrived to interviene during his last escapade in one of the elite Belgrade`s restaurants!
The event was a birthday party of Ceca Raznjatovich,late Arkan`s wife.
And,we all know that Gods and their friends don`t need building permissions for their "temples"!;
BELGRADE -- Friday – The Hague’s chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has made a personal decision to fly to Belgrade to attend Prime Minister Djindjic’s funeral.
Federal Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic yesterday told B92 that he had tried to discourage The Hague official from making the trip.
Svilanovic said: "We remain resolute in carrying out the duties we have towards the victims, and to the highest ethical values, as well as fulfil our international obligations. However, it is her decision after all. I told her my opinion the way I did, but I think that anything more than that would go beyond good taste".
Now,if anyone has accelerated Djindjic`s execution,that was this horrible inconsiderate sorry excuse for a jurist!
And,she has no sense of decency!She is imposing herself on a private grief of Djindjic family and wants to attend a funeral,against the advice of Foreign Minister!?
And,Svilanovich,that spineless p***k,didn`t have a guts to tell her that for this occasion, she is "persona non grata"!
I only hope that Zoran`s wife or mother would give her a slapp on the face if she comes!That would be the day!
Where is that sniper now???
Serbia's "Democrats" at their best -- no doubt! Finally they have an excuse to dispense with nicities and shed that fake "we are Europe" and "rule of law" cloak. After all, they are homo balcanicus, except that some of these apes pretend to be human.
Dushan Mihailovich says that the state will "liquidate all those who resist arrest."
Djindjich's assassination has shown that it makes no difference what label the government there carries -- it's all the same, regardless if it is communist, or not.
In the West, the ideal they pretend to emulate, illegal buildings are handled through courts, and resisting arrest carries a harsher penalty, but resisting arrest is not an excsue for execution.
I think this is actually good for Serbia. The collaborationist scum is in terror, and is overreacting to their detriment. It won't be long before the people get sick of these emergency measures and panick-stricken Djindjich cronies executing people on the spot for minor offenses, and turn on the rest of the dung he left behind.
I don't share the view that there is anyting to pitty about Djindjich. To me his was only one thing: collaborationist scum, another Nedich, another Milosh Obrenovich, ready to deliver anyone's head on the platter.
One more thing: don't be naive and assume that Carla is coming to pay "respect" to some small-time lackey. She is coming to remind his successor of his obligations to the Empire lest he forget. She is coming to lay down the law for Zharko Korach and the rest of the DOS dung, just in case some of them are wavering while paying lip service to Zoran's legacy and the Imperial Court. They will be on mega doses of imodium to halt those lose bowell mass movements, while making sure the eyes are fixed on the roofs and not on Djindjich.
DOS candidates for Djindjic's successor right now are all in the
I hear the Gov. is pushing Zhivkovich, thinking he's got the most balls to take over?
Korach has the most balls? Doubt it. He is probably the most collabroationist of them all, judging from his previous affiliations. He was one of the strongest supporters of sending Miloshevich to the Hague right after October 2000, when everyone was still pretending that it was "uncertain," so I am sure the Empire's All Seeing Eye caught glimpse of this nerdy creature as a useful potetial servant. I would not be surprized if the choice for Korach had actually been made in Washington.
Like I said before, they are not just imitators, they are bad imitators. Fools is the proper term. The are playing sharades. Pretending to be something they are not. Make believe. Like little kids playing cowboys and Indians and expecting the world to take them seriously. If they only knew how little the world pays attention to what they do, unless they genuflex and send someome to the Imperial Court in the Hague.
What paras trained by NATO??
Explain,please,Des.
As of late, Djindjich had taken a turn in his political direction. He was beginning to sound more like a "nationalist" than ever before and certainly than any of his DOS buddies. Clearly, he realized that eliminating competition (Koshtunitsa, Sheshel', even Miloshevich) was not enough to win the hearts and minds of Serbs.
He was keenly aware that when he turned over Miloshevich to the Hague his popularity was barely 5.5% in 2001. With nationalist competition eliminated, sold out and tricked, the road to becoming a great Serb leader was clearly in his vision. So, his politics turned natioanlist -- demanding a resolution of the Kosovo status and threatening to undermine the Dayton Agreement if Kosovo is granted independence. He started to visit the construction of the St. Sava's Temple, the largest Eastern Orthodox Cathedral in the world in the final stages of completion that took almost a century to build, over many political and other obstacles.
He began to call on the Serb tradition, the only true Serb identity, which is plenty rich in culture and art to be a fertile inspiration for the genrations to come and the spiritual food for the rebirth of the genuine Serb national identity.
All one has to do is listen to this Opelo (Requiem) and realize that barbarism of modern Serbia is not at the root of my noble roots. This Requiem is like the most beautiful opera, and it compliments the works of Serbs in literary as well as other arts and archiechture, medicine, scholastics, law...
Djindich, who was a very intelligent man (unfortunately lacking a matching character befitting his intellect), realized that the only way Serbs will ever be a nation again, as I hitend earlier in this post (#16), is to look at themelves. Unfortunately, most don't know even where to look.
Ironically, and for his own political gain, only a few weeks ago he visited the construction site at St. Sava's Temple and said the following words (Vechernye novosti, March 14, 2003):
"...a great deal of our national work remains unfinished...Our status as a state is unclear, our internal order incomplete, our borders uncharted. Again we are a society at a crossroads, but every time when we don't know where to go, we need to turn to our roots..."[my emphasis]
Add to that the last paragraph of my post #16. Amen.
I believe that Djindjich is a colateral damage of the brutal Western policy against Serbia.It is beyond belief thast some people in the West thought that some people,so deeply involved in organized crime and state politics,and so well armed and with so much to lose,will go peacefully to jail???>p>
Sam Vaknin is a very clever man and his column in Central Europe Online is something I read with pleasure!
But,as you can see from the quote above,I was the first who accused West for Djindjich`s assassination!!!
(Ovations in the background!!!!)LOL!
Should I sue???Any lawers on the site?LOL
Joan,you`re right when you point out some inconsistencies in various descriptions of this assassination.
I am,for various reasons,well informed/trained in this subject (weapons,ammo,sniping,bulett wounds) so,from the very beggining some reports were very,very strange and,outright stupid!
I didn`t want to post about them before I find out some first hand informations.
I had that misfortune to see some people being shot by the same caliber buletts,and,also to treat many of them after being wounded!So,the first information that Djindjich was shot by two buletts of "large caliber"and,especially,the drawing that was supplied was uterly impossible,and here is why:
7,9x53 Mauser was a standard Yugo Army caliber.It is a very powerfull catrige with very good balistics for the long range sniping(up to 700-800m).When I heard "two shots" I immediately thought that, eather the shooter used Yugoslav semiautomatic(selfloading) M-76 rifle or,there were two shooters!But,knowing the behiaviour of the human body hit with that bullet(you go down like sack of potatoes!!)to achieve a "double tap" and hit a falling target twice is ...a miracle!?No way!
That means ,two shooters,shooting at the exactly same time!Highly improbbable!
And,we have a bodyguard wounded,also?So,two shots,two targets hit,but ..3 wounds????
Doesn`t add up,does it?
Some other "experts" suggested that Djindjich was "shot with a 50 (12,7mm) caliber sniping rifle with armour pearcing bullets(!) in order to "penetrate his Kevlar west!"God,save us all from such experts!
I loughed at this because:
Yugo Army has in her arsenal and Legia`s unit to,3 different kinds of this rifle that I know of:US Barret rifle;French McMillan and Yugoslav "Black Arrow".Thes e weapons are not used for close sniping(!) because they are not accurate under distances shorter of 400m!Therefore,for this range(85-90m)is not exactly the first choice,unless they wanted to kill Djindjich in his car!So,that theory was rubish!
When I read that the rifle was good old Zastava M-69 ,the things became ,even more complicated and official statement(first one) more implausible/
I happen to own this particular rifle,inheritance from my father,and use to shoot with her many times(target shooting,OK,no wrong ideas)!Wonderfull rifle but,it is a bolt action rifle,and,if it was a single shooter,there was no way that he could shoot Djindjich TWICE so quickly!Remember JFK movie and Kevin Costner trying to reload as fast as he could to test the theory of Osvald being the sole shooter??!
Never mind,something was very wrong with the first statements!
Second;the police had reported that in the room they found"a chair and a blanket".Both things make sense if the shooters had entered the building a night before and were waiting for Djindjich to come in the morning.Blanket on the sill,Joan,is an old trick to stabilise the weapon on the hard surface.Reduces recoil.That`s why shooters in the open often use rolled blanket or a small sandbag as a rifle support.
So,everything ,so far is professional,appart from one odd thing:three guys left the building carrying openly guns and rifle,and,attracting attention???Usualy,you leave the weapon and escape(slowly!).
About the ropes:it was a hoax!The reporters had picked up on the histerycal statements of some people who had mistaken a coil of telephone cable that one of the shooters,allegedly,had in his hands!
There is ,also,one more strange thing:three men,allegedly,were seen entering the building,dressed in dark boiler suits(builders/telephone engeniers...)but,no weapons were seen?So many inaccuracies!
Medical part:
I was pissed off by inaccurate reports and silly descriptions of the wounds,so I called a colleague from The Belgrade Klinical Centre.I managed to talk to him,briefly,but he didn`t want to talk,so I suggested to make my own version of report and e-mail him for confirmation.Done!
So,this is what happened:Djindjich was shot ONCE bellow the left shoulder blade(in the back)from the hight of app. 20 m.That means that the trajectory of the bullet was about 50-60 degrees downwards.The bullet was traveling from left shoulder blade towards right hip!Penetrated middle of the left lung,right ventricle of the heart,diaphragm and medial part(inner) of the liver.Spleen was ruptured to,because of the massive kinetic shock caused by a bullet.Each one of these injuries was fatal in its own right!
But,Djindjich had diet because of the cardiac tamponade(sudden,massive bleeding in tha pericardial sack).He was dead within 20-30 seconds!
He was DOA and,if it wasn`t him,no doctor would venture further than a reanimation.No point!But,because it was a Prime Minister,they had to try.Very understandible but futile.So,he wasnt shot "between the chest and abdomen" that kind of injury doesn`t egzist.
The bodyguard was shot much lower above the pubic bone,sustained ruptured bladder and pelvis fracture,which is,also,very dangerous and very often ,fatal injury!He is stable,but,with his kind of wound and ruptured bladder(urin all over the abdomen) he can still die from complications!I prey for him!
The return e-mail from Belgrade was "Bingo!",so,this description is,more or less,accurate!
And,finally,why are these people demolishing this building!!They should have siezed all their assets,and open a library/health center/nursery/,you name it there!Instead,what?
What`s the use?They gained nothing.That bulding was worth $1,5-2 million.They could have sold it and put the money to the good cause.
Now,it`s a pile of bricks!
Sorry for taking so much of your time!
The first paragraph screams stuuupid! "There he was, Serbia's first democratically elected prime minister." My God, where did this dame come from? First democratically elected...???? The lady is cluless, but useful. She represents a big newspaper (whose motto is "All the News that's fit to print"), and therby of the big establishment. But then B92 owes its graces to the willingness to serve just as Djindjich and his rot were/are because they have no choice.
Right now the DOS has thrown Serbia into a police state, whose top policeman cleary says "those who resist arrest will be liquidated. This is unbelieveable! The US suffered a 9/11 attack, with over 3,000 people killed and no one dared initiate repressive police state where citizens can be jailed without charges, political parties prevented from activity, and people "liquidated" if they "resist" arrest. This is Fascism. Serbia is now a fascist state.
Why are Serbs not int he streets demanding that DOS pack up and leave? Do you know how stupid the DOS is? Let me tell you. This is what they called "legitimization" for demolishing of the "Mafia Palace:" "According to the Law Belgrade City Assembly informed that the illegitimate commerical center in Schiller Street occupies 2,087.42 square meters. The object [i.e the building I suppose] was removed (sic) on the basis of the Resolution of Execution [??] and the Conclusion about the permission for execution of the City Secretariat for the Property Jurisprudence and Architectural Affairs [goodnes!]. All the decision were made also in agreement with the Law of Construction of Objects as well as the Law on General Regulatory Proceedures." Does that make the "legitimization" any clearer? Next time, bring really deep boots -- it looks like the DOS sewers are backing up and all of Serbia is begining to stink to high heaven!
Jesus!This is a proof that Djindjich was a DEMOCRAT!Mobile in one hand and remote control in another!How modern!How cool!How pro-Western!!!
Unlike that Commie thug,Miloshevich,Cuban cigar in one hand and glass of Chivass in another!
LOOL
I need a rest from all this crap!
One JD is in order!
Cheers!
BTW,laptop in my lap,and John Daniels in the hand...what am I then?
"He was beginning to sound more like a "nationalist" than ever before and certainly than any of his DOS buddies. Clearly, he realized that eliminating competition (Koshtunitsa, Sheshel', even Miloshevich) was not enough to win the hearts and minds of Serbs."
Kosta you have nailed my thoughts exactly. It was a political trick the way Djindjic "suddenly" turned "Nationalist". I wonder whether he was actually thinking about running in the next election for prime minister in May? Thanks for the great posts and it applies to Branicap and Joan.
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