From: malenovi@plains.NoDak.edu (Nikola V. Malenovic )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Scandals (VREME NDA 6.Apr 1992)
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:02:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.16479
Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo


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     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                       No. 28, April 6 1992.
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    Scandals
    --------


                                OPERA IN ZEMUN


           How  the  con  men  founded  their  own  "Mickey  Mouse"
           airlines  with somebody  else's planes,  fooled the  Air
           Force  and got  caught, which  made everybody  feel very
                                  embarrassed

    Operation "Opera Orientis",  a scandal which has for  weeks been shaking
    the Airforce  Centre in Zemun (Belgrade),  was conceived sometime during
    the panic after the war in Slovenia.

    During  the chaotic  retreat from  the western  republic last  summer, a
    group  of "experts"  for propaganda  warfare suddenly  turned up  at the
    Airforce Command. Today, no one can - or wants to - remember who brought
    them. Anyway, the  "Opera" plan was officially introduced  as "a new and
    modern approach" in public relations.  The "Opera" group soon managed to
    impose its style on the Airforce Public Relations Department: censorship
    and   discipline.  The   aim  of   the  group   was  best  described  by
    Lieutenant-Colonel Ziherl, the coordinator of the "Opera" team, who said
    that  the  purpose  was  accomplished  since  "the  crowd  is hungry for
    information".

    After  having  censored  everything,  the  big  experts in psychological
    warfare  turned  to  more  practical  things.  The  team  was founded in
    September as a sub-department of the Airforce "morale department", under
    a cover  name,  but  it  soon  got  to  business.  One  of  the team was
    registered as owner  of the "Opera Orientis", a "Radio  & TV and Trading
    Co.".  Instead of  these activities,  the company  goes into the airline
    business by  opening the Batajnica-Udbina-Batajnica  line using military
    cargo aircrafts (one way ticket - 4,400  din). Thus a serious gap in the
    domestic  air traffic  was bridged:  since Bosnia  became risky for land
    traffic, and Krajina  bosses began to fly by  "Learjets", someone had to
    move  the  military,  refugees,  diverse  paramilitary  units  and their
    specific cargo back and forth.  Thus the Yugoslav Airforce finally lived
    to see its own version of a Vietnam War phenomenon: the so-called Mickey
    Mouse airline as a side activity.

    "Opera"  rented its  premises at  the Airforce  Centre in  Zemun to  two
    lawyers; soon some twenty  other employees appeared, although officially
    there were none:  they were all on the Airforce  payroll in the capacity
    of permanent  employees or as  "reservists - volunteers".  In a "special
    task" atmosphere  and consequent secrecy, the  "Opera" has gained access
    to Airforce Security Department funds and  documents, which it was by no
    means  entitled  to,  and  also  to  vehicles  seized  during  war  with
    counterfeit papers.

    All went  smoothly and everybody was  happy, except the people  who lost
    their  jobs  in  the  Information  and  Financial  Control  Departments.
    However,  they  were  easily  dealt  with  under  the  guise of "special
    warfare" secrecy.

    While the  war was going on,  everything went smoothly; with  an aura of
    "refugee heroes"  the "Opera" artists  from Zemun did  their thing in  a
    "conspirative"  atmosphere over  "Krajina affairs",  an atmosphere which
    has already taken  roots in Belgrade, and which has  been (and still is)
    used  as a  pretext for  many machinations.  The people  at the Airforce
    Command are claiming that the Command  "is ready to force the issue into
    the  open, no  matter how  many people  are involved"  and regardless of
    their position.
                                                                 Milos Vasic


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     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                       No. 28, April 6 1992.
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