Yugoslavia

WASHINGTON -- Two months after the popular uprising that forced dictator Slobodan Milosevic out of power in Serbia, a mood of uncertainty prevails. Posters put up by the student group Otpor (Resistance) capture the unease. Underneath a picture of a giant bulldozer, symbol of the revolution, is a warning to new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and his entourage: "We are still watching." Will these new leaders, is the message's subtext, prove corrupt like the Milosevic regime? Or incompetent?

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - A characteristically defiant Slobodan Milosevic staged his political comeback yesterday, winning re-election as leader of his Socialist Party of Serbia and denouncing as a coup the popular uprising that swept him from power last month. In his first public appearance since he accepted his election defeat and resigned as the Yugoslav president on Oct. 6, a day after the uprising, Milosevic gave an aggressive opening speech to the Socialist Party congress. "Everybody in this hall knows what kind of violence and lawlessness has taken place since the coup on Oct. 5," he said.

WASHINGTON -- There is an historical theory that goes something like this: Centuries never really begin and end when the calendar says they do. Rather, major shaping events come along somewhere near the start and finish to serve as psychological markers for this "alternate century." A version of this theory argues that the 20th century really began in the Balkans in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I. That said, the wave of democracy that recently swept Slobodan Milosevic from power in Yugoslavia might someday be viewed as the psychological end to the 20th century.

THE SUMMIT OF Baltic states in Macedonia on Wednesday called an end to a decade of war among the republics and peoples of former Yugoslavia. It admitted the present Yugoslavia to membership in the Balkan Stability Pact. This is an agreement under which the European Union plans to invest $4.5 billion over seven years to bring the little countries of southeastern Europe closer to the economic and infrastructural standards of Western and Central Europe. By gaining recognition for himself and for Serbia, the part of truncated Yugoslavia that elected him president, Vojislav Kostunica brought immediate benefits to the Serbian people.

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia - The moderate Kosovo Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, claimed victory for his party yesterday in Kosovo's first postwar elections, saying that unofficial results from Saturday's election showed that the party had won more than 60 percent of the vote in municipalities across the province. The more militant parties, formed by members of the armed rebel force, the Kosovo Liberation Army, appeared to have fared poorly except in a few areas. If the results hold, it is a sign that Kosovo Albanians have opted for peace and stability and largely rejected the thuggery of some of the people who assumed power after last year's war. Votes were still being counted through the day, and official results were not expected until today.

THE WORLD is off to a good start in recognizing the change in Yugoslavia. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have made overtures to Belgrade to rejoin. Most nations are lifting sanctions. The most urgent need is fuel and food to get the Serbian people through the Balkan winter. Fallen dictator Slobodan Milosevic left food warehouses, oil reserves and national bank accounts empty.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - For someone who is about to go out of business, Bane Andjelic seems awfully happy. When he voted for Vojislav Kostunica for president, he knew he was killing his food distribution business here because it was aimed at circumventing the economic sanctions that the European Union has lifted and that the United States says it will lift in return for Kostunica ousting Slobodan Milosevic's autocratic regime. But Andjelic, who runs a computer consulting firm in Boston and splits his time there and in Belgrade, did so willingly, figuring the reforms that would follow would create even more business opportunities in a new democratic Yugoslavia with a free market economy.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - Like a mob boss shoved into the shadows of forced retirement, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic reputedly remains behind the massive gates of his villa along Tolstoy Street, a leafy lane so peaceful that the one cop on guard duty dozes where he sits. Yet beneath the calm, Milosevic's empire crumbles by the day as Yugoslavia emerges from a decade of thug rule and makes a tentative grasp at democracy. Long-buried financial secrets are being revealed, detailing the plunder of the economy by the Milosevic regime through a rigged banking system and corrupt state-run businesses that enriched the rulers and those close to them.

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush may not know the names of Yugoslavia's new leaders; if he does, he most likely cannot pronounce them. But Mr. Bush's instincts are right. His view is that Washington should not get involved in micromanaging events in the Balkans and that the Europeans should take the lead in matters in their own back yard. Galvanized by the recent bloodless revolution against Slobodan Milosevic's rule, the Europeans have indeed acted vigorously. The European Union (EU) has pledged $2 billion in aid over the next seven years to rebuild Yugoslavia's shattered economy.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - From government offices to factory floors, politicians and plutocrats associated with Slobodan Milosevic's ousted regime moved yesterday to cling to power in Yugoslavia. Serbian parliament leaders said they would keep control of the Interior Ministry and its 100,000-member police force. The Yugoslav army warned against trying to discredit individuals in the military, and at least one internationally blacklisted industry boss loyal to Milosevic tried to take his job back.