shiping the god who protected fishermen,rnand smoke from incense sticks waftedrnmessages to heaven. After nightfall,rnthe skyscrapers along Hong Kong harborrnwere brilliantly illuminated by the annualrnfireworks display controlled by computers.rnCommunist China “guaranteed” thatrnthe government and economy of HongrnKong would remain the same after theyrntook control of the colony. But most ofrnthe Hong Kong money was safely depositedrnin foreign banks. It is certainly inrnChina’s interest to reap the benefits ofrneconomic prosperity, but how couldrnHong Kong remain capitalistic andrndemocratic when the rest of the countryrnis totalitarian? Tibet has certainly not retainedrnits freedom, culture, and religionrnunder Chinese rule. And dictatorshipsrnhave not always followed self-interest.rnBoth Stalin and Hitler destroyed their political,rnmilitary, and professional elite inrnthe 1930’s. Singapore, and even Shanghai,rnare eagerly waiting to replace HongrnKong as the commercial and tourist capitalrnof Asia. When the crisis comes in thernnext decade, the people of Hong Konglikernthe citizens of a country underrnsiege—may remove their portable assetsrnand flee before the hostile invaders.rnJeffrey Meyers will publish, this fall, a lifernof George Orwell (Norton), PrivilegedrnMoments; Encounters with Writersrn(Wisconsin), and Hemingway: Life intornArt (Cooper Square).rnLetter From Belgradernby Miodrag ZarkovicrnWhodunit?rnTaxi drivers in Belgrade, like their counterpartsrneverywhere, know almost everythingrnabout almost everything. However,rnthey do not know who murdered the controversialrncommander of the SerbianrnVolunteer Guard (SDG), Seljko RaznatovicrnArkan; Yugoslav defense ministerrnPavle Bulatovic; and several other publicrnpersons and big gangsters this past spring,rnbut they know exactly who did not.rnThey are convinced that the organizersrn(or organizer) were not foreigners: notrnthe CIA, MIS, the U.S. State Department,rnAlbanian terrorists, the Pentagon,rnNATO, or any Western intelligence orrnmilitary service.rn”Rubbish,” says Milorad D —, a cabrndriver in his early 50’s, whose face showsrnhe did not have an easy life. He does notrnbuy the “evidence” publicized in the Serbianrnmedia that the order to kill Arkanrncame from abroad. The western powersrncouldn’t capture him when he was on hisrnhoneymoon in Brazil three years ago.rnThey couldn’t even scratch his empire.rnHe played with them for years; he made arnmockery of their efforts to arrest him.rnEven their bombs couldn’t destroy him.rnHow could they suddenly find a way tornkill him? No, it was someone from here,rnsomeone much closer to Arkan.rnEvery taxi driver shares Milorad’s opinionrnabout Belgrade’s most popular subject.rnIt is very easy to conduct a thoroughrnsurvey of taxi drivers, since public transportationrnin the Serbian capital has notrnfrmctioned properly for a very long time.rn(Blame it on oil sanctions.)rnMost Belgraders are convinced thatrnthe killers’ nationality is the same as thernvictims’. Young “wise guys” who stillrnidolize Arkan, old ladies who were obsessedrnwith his marriage to top folk starrnSveriana Ceca Velickovic, fans of his soccerrnclub “Obilic” and fans of rival clubsrnZvezda and Partizan, businessmen whornwere amazed at his fortune and power,rnpolice and army officers who served ministerrnBulatovic . . . all agree with therndrivers.rn”Maybe they killed Escobar, but Arkanrnwasn’t such an easy target,” jokes DejanrnS —, a 28-year-old computer engineerrnfrom Belgrade.rnIt seems nothing can change publicrnopinion. Italian businessman GiovannirnDe Steffano (a close friend of Arkan’srnwho is currently serving a sentence in anrnItalian jail) claimed in a letter to the Belgradernmedia that the British governmentrnorganized Arkan’s murder because itrnwanted to destabilize Yugoslavia andrnPresident Slobodan Milosevic. SerbianrnDeputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj,rnin a recent press conference, accusedrnNATO countries of killing Minister Bulatovic.rnBut these statements are notrnenough to make Serbs reconsider.rnArkan was murdered in Belgrade’srnelite hotel, in the early evening of Januaryrn15, in front of many eyewitnesses,rnfrom close range, with deadly precision,rnin a way that leaves no doubt that therncrime was organized, paid for, and managedrnby very experienced professionals.rnBelgrade police arrested at least threernkillers and two other men suspected to bernaccomplices, but there is no clue as tornwho ordered and organized everything.rnMinister Bulatovic was killed threernweeks later, in a restaurant, also in thernearly evening, from a distance, probablyrnfrom a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, in arnway that also leaves no doubt that it wasrndone by professionals. In the Bulatovicrncase, no one has been arrested.rnThe first victim was believed to be thernmost powerful man in Serbia’s underground;rncertainly he was one of the mostrnpowerful men in Serbia. (He had hisrnown private army.) The second victimrnwas the state’s defense minister. Bothrnhad to be familiar with any danger tornthem from inside the country. Couldrnthey really be so careless as to let somebodyrnplan and organize their murders? Itrnis possible that the assassins escaped theirrnattention, but maybe the assassins did notrnhave to escape their attention —not ifrnthey came from outside.rnWestern intelligence and militar)’ servicesrnhad an interest in killing Arkan andrnBulatovic. Serbs know that. But they dornnot want to believe that some Americanrnor British or Albanian bigshot was able torneliminate Arkan and Bulatovic. Theyrnprefer to believe that their compatriotsrnare responsible for that: perhaps PresidentrnMilosevic, an opposing mafia clan,rnor even the opposition parties.rnThe reason is simple. Serbs know thatrnthe answer to the question, “Wlio killedrnArkan and Bulatovic?” is also the answerrnto the most important question in thernBalkans: “Who is in charge of Serbia?”rnAnd Serbs, like any other people, do notrnlike it when someone else is in charge.rnWestern diplomats did not hurryrnto blame President Milosevic for killingrnArkan and Bulatovic, as they havernblamed him for almost every other crimernthat happened in the Balkans in thern1990’s. Instead, Robin Cook and MadeleinernAlbright made announcements inrnwhich they did not mention Milosevic’srninvolvement at all. (Both said somethingrnlike “Arkan got what he deserved.”) Whyrndo they want the world to think Milosevicrnis guilty of mass killings all over the formerrnYugoslavia, but not responsible forrncrimes that happened a few miles fromrnhis residence?rnMiodrag Zarkovic is a journalist whornwrites from Belgrade.rn40/CHRONICLESrnrnrn