The standard of living, high for Eastern Europe during the Communist period, continues to drop. The local currency, the dinar, buys little, and most transactions must be made in German marks anyway. Health care services are strained. The transportation system, marked specifically for improvement by the young reformers who briefly occupied Belgrade's City Hall in the immediate aftermath of the protest movement, groans with aging stock and non-investment in infrastructure.
Buildings carry a run-down, sooty look, the result of too much neglect, and too much air pollution.
The sidewalks might be full, by day at least, but the cafes and restaurants, the centers of a once-active nightlife, are not. Everyone around nods to acknowledge that the answer is yes. Much as he might crave the attention, he is in an even bigger fight this time than he was when, along with fellow peace guarantors Franjo Tudjman of Croatia and Alija Izetbegovic of the Bosnian Muslim faction, were waging a war that shocked the West for its ruthlessness. This time, the West has said over and over again, it will come in with troops if the situation gets too far out of hand. Whether he is inviting that intervention, or trying to stave it off, no one seems to know.