The Wolf of Sarajevo Read Online Free Page B

meeting.
    â€œWhat do you know about Zoran Dimitrović?” she asked Eric.
    â€œNot enough,” he admitted. “He’s been on the political scene for some time, but up until recently, only in a decidedly minor-league role as the head of a marginal right-wing political party called the National Party. Then, about eighteen months ago, the RS government fell and there were new elections. The National Party took off. Dimitrović all of a sudden had money and that bought him new friends in the media, the police, and the business community.”
    â€œWhere did the money come from?”
    â€œThat’s the thing. Nobody seems to know. But Dimitrović and the National Party went from polling near the 5 percent threshold for making it into parliament to almost 40 percent. And it happened in the political equivalent of overnight. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’d be lying if I said I understood how it happened.”
    â€œI suspect that your ambassador would be able to offer an explanation,” she suggested slyly.
    â€œSure. Just not one based on evidence. I could tell you that Dimitrović is really an alien overlord from another galaxy sent here to enslave us all, starting with Banja Luka. It’s an explanation, but not an especially likely one.”
    Annika laughed.
    â€œI like you, Eric,” she said.
    â€œThank you, Madam High Representative.”
    â€œOh, please don’t call me that. I hate it when people have to stop and take a breath before that god-awful title. Annika is fine.”
    â€œIt does make it easier,” Eric agreed. “In truth, I appreciate the opportunity to work with you on this. What you’re doing . . . what we’re doing . . . is tremendously important.”
    â€œYou see the same thing coming as I do, don’t you?”
    â€œWar.”
    â€œYes. What happened when Dimitrović came to power?”
    â€œNow the story gets really quite odd. Dimitrović was a nationalist, remember, a hard-liner. But he comes to power in the RS and almost immediately adopts a pro-Western agenda. He wants Bosnia in the EU and NATO. He scales back ties with Serbia. He works to strengthen the central government, even when that means agreeing to transfer some powers from the entity level to Sarajevo. That’s something we’ve been pushing for unsuccessfully for years. And this is all from a guy who’s rumored to have the Serbian cross tattooed on his behind.”
    â€œSo it’s a Nixon-to-China story? The hard-liner looks to open up to the world, and because his nationalist credentials are unimpeachable, he’s inoculated against charges of being a sellout.”
    â€œThat’s the way it looked to us,” Eric agreed. “For a while.”
    â€œThen what happened?”
    â€œFor about ten months or so, Dimitrović was a dream partner for us. We were getting everything we needed out of the relationship. Then, about seven or eight months ago, something changed. Something important. And I’m sorry to be vague on this point. It’s just that we don’t entirely understand what happened. But the Dimitrović administration suddenly began to backtrack on all ofits commitments. The RS pulled out of the joint institutions and stopped paying taxes into the central coffers. Police liaisons were withdrawn; the Serbs who had been working in various international organizations active in Bosnia quit in response to threats against their families; and trade ties were cut. And most worrisome, the paramilitaries reappeared like the dead coming back to life in some zombie movie.”
    â€œThe same groups that were active during the war?” Sondergaard asked.
    â€œMany of them, yes. Not the Tigers, thank god. But the Yellow Wasps, the Scorpions, the Green Dragons. They’re all back and they’re playing a major role in the RS. It’s scary.”
    â€œWhat about the new