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A View From Serbia: What if George W. Bush Was Slobodan Milosevic's Son?
Published on Thursday, November 30, 2000
A View From Serbia:
What if George W. Bush Was Slobodan Milosevic's Son?
by Jeremy Scahill in Belgrade
 
Even here in Belgrade it is hard to escape the ongoing saga of "The Stand-off in Florida" "The Countdown to the Recount" "The Florida Vote" or whatever CNN is deciding to call it today. It's on TV. It's in the papers. And flipping around the satellite, I hear about it in German, Spanish and a half dozen other languages. Now that Slobodan Milosevic is gone from the political scene here for the time being, things have gotten a little boring. So I admit I have had a bit too much time on my hands. But just this morning I was thinking: What if George W. Bush was Slobodan Milosevic's son?

Imagine if the media in the US covered this whole saga the way they handled Slobo. Here's how it looks through the lens the corporate media reserve for those "undemocratic" places like Serbia...

George W. Bush comes from a powerful, ruling elite family. His father was a ruthless leader, former head of the "brutal and feared" (We like that phrase for people like Milosevic) CIA. As President of the US and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he "mercilessly" bombed Iraq back to the stone age and kicked into process the ethnic cleansing of more than a million Iraqi's. He was voted out of office and can't really run for president again, so he has sonny sit in. But the "clever maneuverer" (We like that phrase for people like Milosevic) he is, Bush Sr. places all of his old war buddies around sonny. W's new "cronies"--his "inner circle" are like a reunion of the war crimes tribunal that never was. Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, James Baker. It seemed the Bushes were heading back to the White House to pick up where they left off. They would "regain their grip on power." (We like that phrase for people like Milosevic).

But then comes election day. Bush loses by 300,000 votes. For Milosevic, that would definitely have been the end. I mean, the constitution in Yugoslavia says Slobo's presidential term didn't end until next summer. But oh nooo! Slobo was not going to be permitted to use a dirty trick like the law to "maintain his grip on power." Bill Clinton, Madeline Albright, Tony Blair and other international figures made that clear. No, Slobo -- the people have spoken. You must go.

But things are a little different in the capital of democracy. W didn't like the outcome, so he is using this outdated, archaic electoral college thing (which quite frankly sounds Milosevicesque) to disregard "the will of the people" (we like that phrase for people like Milosevic). Can you imagine if Milosevic tried this crap? Bombs away!

Anyway, I know this analogy isn't exactly the same, Bush didn't create the electoral college, Gore would do the same thing etc., etc., but it would be great if the corporate media handled this circus in Florida the way they handle other corrupt systems around the world. That would definitely be worth watching. Especially from Serbia.

Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist based in Belgrade. He reported live daily for Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! during the 1999 NATO war and was one of the few foreign journalists in Belgrade to witness the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in October. He can be reached at jeremys@EUnet.yu

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