Germany to occupy Serbia?

It used to be 30 pieces of silver but nowadays the payments are much 
higher. After millions of dollars had been poured into Yugoslavia to turn 
it into a modern-day colony the new President, Vojislav Kostunica, was 
warmly embraced by "civilised" nations in the Biarritz casino where 
European leaders were meeting. Mr Kostunica was invited only to a lunch, 
not to actual discussions of policies. But, as everyone knows, there is no 
such thing as a free lunch. In this case, the ordinary people will foot the 
bill and the people of Yugoslavia will be paying most of the price.

Many Serbs have already woken up to the fact that Mr Kostunica is only a 
figure-head and the man pulling the strings is Zoran Djindjic.

He was the one who hid from NATO's bombs last year at a nearby resort. He 
is now moving into positions of dominance and some reports say is de facto 
in charge of the Bank of Yugoslavia.

As such he is in a strategic position to profit from the millions that are 
to be poured into Yugoslavia to buy up Yugoslavia's publicly owned 
enterprises and to corrupt other politicians.

Mr Djindjic immediately signalled the new government's desire for closer 
ties to Washington after an election campaign in which the opposition 
sought to distance itself from the United States because of public anger 
over last year's NATO bombing campaign.

"Without a strategic partnership with America, there is no solution for the 
Serbian national interests", Djindjic said.

The main thrust of the pro-Western forces inside Yugoslavia at the moment 
is to terrorise the population, especially the left and nationalist forces.

The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) (Molesevic's party) issued a statement 
on the reign of terror unleashed against its members, their children and 
supporters.

"Despite Mr Kostunica's public proclamation that his supporters would not 
harass members and sympathisers of the SPS, we've witnessed, in the last 
three days, in Belgrade and throughout Serbia, a reign of terror.

"Supporters of the Socialist Party have been physically threatened over the 
phone. Children of socialists have been threatened. Members of the SPS have 
been beaten. Offices have been attacked and ransacked", says the statement.

Kostunica has forced the Socialist Party of Serbia to accept new 
parliamentary elections on December 24 despite the fact that the results of 
the September election were not challenged at the time.

DOS (Kostunica's Democratic Opposition Party — an alliance of 18 parties) 
is moving as fast as it can to frighten off and destroy any opposition to 
its new order before the people of Yugoslavia realise that the promise of 
good times is a mirage, just as it was for the people of other former 
socialist Eastern European countries.

There is also the possibility that Kostunica's alliance could implode at 
any time, just as it has done many times before.

Mr Djindjic and Co are preparing the ground for an actual foreign 
occupation of the country with the least possible resistance.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, addressing the German Parliament 
expressed his opinion that Germany should not only provide material help to 
Yugoslavia but that the Budeswehr [the German Army] and non-military 
organisations should establish a permanent presence there.

He declared that this was a unique chance to create a democracy in the 
context of further European unification.

History may be about to repeat itself. In World War II the German Nazis 
occupied Yugoslavia, set up Quisling governments and slaughtered hundreds 
of thousands of Serb citizens.