[Nettime-bold] Re: RT: The Milosevic Tapes

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

Croatia's Globus is beating dead horses. The leaked transcripts of 
Clinton-Milosevic conversations are obviously a media sensation. 
But - Milosevic is in jail, Clinton's administration is out, and  
diplomatic conversations are always cordial. Why doesn't Globus 
rather investigate how did Enron manage to take over Croatia's 
power distribution and who in Croatia bears responsibility for that 
brilliant idea? 
ivo

Date sent:      	Thu, 7 Feb 2002 09:08:00 -0500
From:           	"Tim Slater > TranSlater" <TRANSLATER@compuserve.com>
Subject:        	RT: The Milosevic Tapes
To:             	Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com

----Forwarded Message(s)----

Milosevic Tapes Show Cordial Clinton, Goofy Family

RTos 06/02/2002 10:41 


Copyright 2002 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole 
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.
 
    By Douglas Hamilton
     BELGRADE (Reuters) - Slobodan Milosevic had cordial relations with Bill 
Clinton and was apoplectic when the daily meant to be his mouthpiece savaged 
the then U.S. president in a bungled editorial, according to transcripts of 
his phone calls.
     The leaked transcripts, published by the Croatian weekly Globus, are the 
current media sensation in the Balkans.
     Croatian defense ministry sources told Reuters in Zagreb on Wednesday 
they were authentic excerpts from wiretaps of hundreds of calls recorded by 
the Croatian military intelligence service, but there has been no comment 
from Serbia or Milosevic himself.
     In parts, the scripts read like an afternoon TV soap opera, with the dry 
wit, fatherly wisdom and weary political woes of the Serbian strongman in the 
leading role.
   Milosevic, far from being a bug-eyed, mad dictator, says he is "sick and 
tired" of seeing himself on television. He is also exasperated by the 
hill-billy antics of the Bosnian Serbs and fondly sarcastic with members of 
his dysfunctional family.
     Newspapers say "the Americans are furious" at the intelligence leak, 
especially the Clinton quotes. But since the two men had recently shaken 
hands at the signing of the peace deal for Bosnia, the civilized exchange 
hardly seems unusual.
     Milosevic, however, is due to go on trial next week before the U.N. 
tribunal at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide. 
Speculation is mounting that Clinton and other major Western political 
figures will be called to testify.
 
     UP TO A POINT, SLOBODAN
     "It's nice to hear your voice," Clinton tells Milosevic in one taped 
call from Air Force One at the end of a New Year's visit to U.S. troops newly 
installed in Bosnia in January 1996.
     The Serbian leader has previously admitted to a top aide he is jealous 
of Clinton's planned stopover at Zagreb airport to meet Croatian President 
Franjo Tudjman but has been unable to persuade Clinton to also visit Belgrade.
     "We support normalization of relations and I know it cannot go ahead 
without you," the U.S. president stresses during their brief conversation 
about implementing the Dayton peace accords, which Milosevic helped clinch to 
end the war in Bosnia.
     "He spoke really nicely," a gratified Milosevic later tells his sidekick 
Milan Milutinovic, an indicted co-conspirator who is still at large and 
serving as president of Serbia.
     Milutinovic, also known disparagingly to U.S. negotiators as "Tunafish," 
quips that Clinton must have hid in the plane's toilet to make the call, so 
as not to be overheard by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, whom he 
calls "a real bitch."
     The next day, Milosevic is stunned to see Politika, the leading 
pro-government daily in Belgrade, denouncing Clinton as a scandal-tainted 
draft dodger looking for photo opportunities.
     When he rings up to blow a fuse, the editor, Dragan Hadzi Antic, has not 
even read his own paper. In a scene reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh's media 
satire "Scoop," Milosevic lets rip in street language as Antic cowers.
     "For Christ's sake! You can't let them do as they please. Politika is 
considered the mouthpiece of the government and there you go and slag off 
Clinton!" Milosevic complains.
     Correcting course drastically, Politika prints an extremely positive 
editorial about the U.S. president on the following day, a volte face 
remarked on at the time by opposition media.
     The previous month, Milosevic saw his triumphant appearance in Paris for 
the Dayton signing ceremony put at risk by Bosnian Serbs who were defiantly 
holding two French pilots downed during NATO strikes in the autumn.
     He complains to army chief of staff Momcilo Perisic that the Bosnian 
Serbs had always put Belgrade in a terrible negotiating position with their 
actions.
     "What the (expletive) do they need these two pilots for? And now they 
are jerking us around with this. Let them find where the pilots are!"
 
     THE SOPRANOS OF SERBIA
     Records of his domestic phone calls are by turns tender and hilarious, 
as Milosevic, sounding like the harassed Mafia don played by James Gandolfini 
in the TV hit "The Sopranos," deals with the overdeveloped egos of his wife, 
son and daughter.
     Son Marko, a nightclub owner who has now fled to Central Asia, emerges 
as a Narcissus obsessed about his jug ears -- which he is going to have 
surgically corrected -- and his teeth -- which he is going to have replaced.
     He also plans to buy sets of colored contact lenses to match his clothes.
     "You're awfully skinny, every guy your age looks that way," Milosevic 
tells his son in an attempt to head off the ear surgery. "As soon as you fill 
out everything will fall into place. I looked even worse when I was thin."
     In January 1997, Marko has a new house with a swimming pool, which he 
keeps heated to 38 degrees Celsius.
     "You're a fool, man. That's not healthy," says Milosevic, quickly giving 
up the argument and passing the phone to "mummy."
     Daughter Marija, mostly complaining about business problems at her 
television station, has a new puppy so smart it can almost talk. But 
Milosevic has other concerns.
     "Please tell (Serbian TV) to get me off the news bulletin, for 
chrissakes. I am sick and tired of seeing myself...tell them it's enough...I 
think God and the people are sick and tired of me. I am too."
 
 

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