Bombs and missiles fell on the city on all but three days of the 78-day NATO campaign. Fourteen people were killed and 400 families were left homeless. NATO graphite bombs knocked out the power supply and plunged the city into darkness. In Serbia, most is the word for bridge. People say they simply cannot understand why a city so removed from the war and so hostile to Mr. Milosevic was hit so hard.
Residents are just as confused about the sanctions.
Western governments have placed an economic cordon around Yugoslavia, and they refuse either to lift it or to help Yugoslavia repair its war damage while Mr. Milosevic remains in power. Part of the strategy seems to be to make Yugoslavs so miserable that they will turn against the internationally reviled Serb leader. That makes no sense to Mr. Vrbaski, the mayor. Novi Sad opposition leader Nenad Canak, president of the League of Social Democrats, said the sanctions have actually made Mr. Milosevic stronger by giving him a foreign enemy. Just as Cuba's Fidel Castro blames the U.S. embargo for Cuba's economic troubles, Mr. Milosevic can blame the West for Yugoslavia's economic stagnation.