While luring foreigners to help rebuild the economy, Serbia's execs are also working to replace Milosevic. Even Milosevic's cronies, whose loyalty was assured with important licenses and monopolies, are faltering. With the economy in bad shape, there are few such plums to be given. Factory directors at NIS have urged employees to strike, while in Belgrade, economists and businesspeople help organize demonstrations. With Serbia broke, Milosevic is eager to sell, even though foreign investment might weaken him by making executives less dependent on his handouts.
Investors face other problems, including the threat of anarchy.
Belgrade seethes with resentment. Many Serbs believe it would take only a few agitators to ignite the popular anger. Indeed, at the Belgrade Zoo, Dragan Vasiljkovic, a retired paramilitary leader known by his nom de guerre, Captain Dragan, tosses apples to his favorite bears and says he's waiting for the next war. By then, some Serbs will be gone. We must try to get out of the country.