<nettime> Monitor 2

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>]

Milosevic's days now may be numbered. As I wrote in my previous 
dispatch, banning the Montenegrin magazine in Belgrade invoked 
memories of banning the Slovenian and Croatian magazines in Belgrade 
which eventually led to the split between those countries. However, 
banning magazines is just one little issue. The recent purge of 
Milosevic's topmost henchmen is far more serious. Momcilo Perisic was 
the commander of Milosevic's armies. Jovica Stanisic was the head of 
Milosevic's intelligence and police forces. The only reason that 
Milosevic would replace them both at the same time may be that he got 
real scared from something... Coup de etat in the making, maybe? 
Perisic, also was the man who signed the agreement with NATO over 
Kosovo. He opposed use of Yugoslav Army in Kosovo from the beginning. 
Is this peace agreement now in jeopardy, once he is gone? Is this yet 
another way Milosevic wants to buy time to finish the ethnic 
cleansing in Kosovo? Perisic, also, is a native Montenegrin and 
enjoys support of Montenegrin government and its president Milo 
Djukanovic. Banning Monitor may be a light insult to Montenegrins, 
firing Perisic may be a little too much of an insult both to 
Montenegrins and to the Army itself. It smells like last gasps of 
tragically mistaken politics to remain in power. In fact, as I am 
writing this, Milosevic may be arrested or even executed - I don't 
know if he can survive this purge. Stanisic, on the other hand, is 
the only high official that stayed with Milosevic since his ascent to 
power. Milosevic purged everyone else earlier. Or got them killed. 
If anybody knows a lot about Milosevic and the ways he manipulated 
power in Serbia and Yugoslavia, Stanisic is the man. What is 
Milosevic going to do without Stanisic and what is Stanisic going to 
do now when he is not any more a part of Milosevic's apparatus? This 
latest purge looks like a very risky, desperate move by a dictator 
who is rapidly loosing control over his domain.

ivo


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