The hedonism comes as the political opposition self-destructs with infighting after Mr. Milosevic, formerly the President of Serbia and now the President of Yugoslavia, has reasserted control. Adding to the pressures, Serbs are also trying to cope with mounting violence by the ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo region of Serbia, who want independence. And in Montenegro, which along with Serbia makes up all that remains of Yugoslavia, separatist forces are building under a new government critical of President Milosevic. The effects of the social collapse have been devastating. Domestic violence, often by men who are out of work or have not received their small salaries for months, appears to be widespread, sociologists say.
Crime is endemic.
The sanctions and the war created a much richer and uglier underworld. They are our carpetbaggers who buy up the property of the Belgrade elite, even the old Communist nomenklatura. We have descended into barbarity, into the crudest forms of life. The trend that Dr. Korac referred to began with the collapse of Communism, which saw a rupture of the social contract in Eastern Europe and the discarding of longtime political and social values. Pornography, along with crime, have been embraced along with the emerging liberties to engage in trade, publish freely or build opposition parties.