War crime suspect joins Serb regime

IN SERBIA, just when you think things are as bad as they can get, they always get a little bit worse. Thus it has been this week. The Albanian majority Serb province of Kosovo is rumbling steadily towards full scale war, while the rest of the world wrings its hands in despair. Meanwhile, in Belgrade, the government has taken on an even more nationalist tinge than at any time during the Balkan wars of the past seven years.

After months of wrangling about the formation of a new government, Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party (formerly the Communists) has joined hands with the far-right Radical Party, whose leader, Vojislav Seselj, was widely linked with war crimes in former Yugoslavia.

Mr Seselj - a historian whose paramilitary forces earned notoriety in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia - is to be the new deputy prime minister. One of Mr Seselj's leading aides, Alexandar Vucic, is the new information minister, responsible for selling Serbia's policies to the rest of the world.

Mr Seselj's fierce ultra-nationalism makes even Mr Milosevic seem moderate. The union is a useful way for Mr Milosevic to bolster his own position. His title, federal president of Yugoslavia, is less important than his unchanging position of ultimate power. Huge opposition protests in winter 1996 briefly threatened that power. But Mr Milosevic hung on and successfully consolidated his position. Many Serbs who became disillusioned with the policies of Mr Milosevic (strong on national rhetoric, less strong on the economic reality) have performed a simple back flip, from supporting Mr Milosevic on the nationalist left to Mr Seselj on the far right.

After last year's demonstrations, the democratic opposition quickly fell apart in constant squabbling. Its best known leader, Vuk Draskovic, returned to the nationalism he had appeared to disavow. Mr Seselj, by contrast, who likes to portray himself as the outsider, offered simple prescriptions which promised a newly strengthened Serbia and wealth for all. Mr Draskovic, who hoped to form part of the new government, has been one of the main losers this week. Mr Milosevic has in the past been sharply at odds with Mr Seselj - and he will no doubt fall out with him again. For the moment, however, both sides seem content. The Serb prime minister, Mirko Marjanovic, has little power of his own, so that Mr Milosevic and Mr Seselj remain the two key players.

Belgrade is pleased, meanwhile, that the West does not seem ready to pile on undue pressure over Kosovo. The contact group on Yugoslavia made noises on Wednesday about possible sanctions if Serbia does not clean up its act. But a headline in the pro-government Serbian daily Politika yesterday noted with satisfaction: "The contact group has not succumbed to a hard line."