Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon News

Where was George?
Days after his foreign policy lecture at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, GOP front-runner George W. Bush misses debate class at Arizona State University.
By Anthony York
[11/22/99]

Guarding their silence
Prisoners' rights advocates say a code of silence among prison guards led to the acquittal of the officers charged with arranging the rape of an inmate.
By Christian Parenti
[11/22/99]

Danny and Allison, Part 1
They're young, Jewish professionals who routinely split their ticket. So far, they lean toward Rudy because they say Hillary doesn't seem to have any principles.
By Jake Tapper
[11/22/99]

Throw away the key!
Jesse Jackson has betrayed the civil rights movement by defending young thugs who need to be punished, not babied.
By David Horowitz
[11/22/99]

Maybe I should buy you a globe for Christmas
George W. Bush's father planned to hit then-Gov. Bill Clinton with a series of one-line "zingers" about his foreign policy ignorance in '92, but guess who's laughing now.
By Robert Parry
[11/20/99]

Complete archives for News

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Draskovic was in Turkey last week for the OSCE summit, as an honorary member of the Czech delegation along with fellow Serbian opposition politicians Zoran Djindjic, Zarko Korac and Montenegro's pro-Western president Milo Djukanovic. He seemed out of sorts in Istanbul. He has a few reasons.

For one, it was his first trip to the former capital of the Ottoman empire, which subjected the Serbs to some 500 years of domination. For Draskovic, being in Turkey is like visiting the evil empire, which, though now defeated, still resonates with historical menace.

Draskovic is also uncomfortable because no one recognizes him here. Clearly accustomed to being treated as a political celebrity, Draskovic isn't used to life as an ordinary mortal, and to being upstaged by the other OSCE delegates, including President Clinton and Russian president Boris Yeltsin, as well as the crisis in Chechnya.

Finally, Draskovic is sick to death of spending time with his slickest political rival, Zoran Djindjic, leader of a pro-Western coalition of opposition political parties, the Alliance for Change. The two men, dragged from meeting to meeting together with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, openly despise each other. They said nasty things about each other at their joint press conference, with Czech president Vaclav Havel looking on benignly.

Draskovic didn't seem to get his bearings until two reporters recognized him and pulled him to a table for an interview. Once seated with a cigarette in his hand and an espresso in front of him, Draskovic seemed relieved, and settled in to sell his political strategy for ousting Milosevic which he presented to Western leaders at the summit.

"I demanded two things," Draskovic said. "First, the very urgent unconditional lifting of oil and air sanctions. And secondly, I said that Europe and America should make a public statement, that at the moment of an approaching settlement about democratic elections monitored by the OSCE, at that moment, all sanctions should be lifted, and Serbian police and soldiers -- a few hundred -- would return to Kosovo. I am quite sure in the case of extraordinary democratic elections we will win."

The offer "has to shock the people of Serbia," Draskovic continued. "If the regime rejects the West's offer to lift sanctions if elections are held, millions of people in Serbia will go on the streets, to protest such leaders who are not ready to accept."

Draskovic is frustrated that Western leaders continue to pressure him to join forces with Djindjic, whose Alliance for Change has been holding lightly attended anti-government demonstrations for the past three months in Serbia. Draskovic led massive anti-government street protests together with Djindjic back in 1996-1997, but they broke down when the two achieved local government control in some towns and then started quarreling. He doesn't sense that the much weaker protests currently taking place have any chance to succeed in ousting Milosevic.

But Draskovic has another complaint with the Western diplomats urging him to cooperate with Djindjic: Djindjic needs him more than he needs Djindjic, and Djindjic is a man Draskovic has no intention to help. Draskovic believes, with some polling evidence to back him up, that he is the most popular politician in Serbia, and that should elections be held, he would win. While Djindjic, a German educated philosopher with a polished, clean shaven image, is the favored candidate of the U.S. and Europe, he is not that widely popular with people outside of liberal intellectual circles in Serbia's big cities.

Draskovic on the other hand, with strong nationalist credentials, has a much more passionate following among Serbs, the majority of whom live in the countryside. Draskovic also controls the capital's only independent television station, Studio B.

Next page | Who tried to assassinate Draskovic?