and the relatively well-off, regardless ofrntheir party allegiance, both told me thernsame thing: “In our turbulent history, inrnour fight for freedom, we went throughrneven worse times and survived with honor;rnthe truth will finally prevail. Duringrnthe war in 1914-18, more than 25 percentrnof our nation was exterminated byrnGerman and Austro-Hungarian Kulturtrdgerrn(bearers of culture)—and wernare still here!”rnWhat they find most disturbing isrnthat their former friends and allies—thernFrench, the British, the Americans—arernthe ones spreading the lies, destroyingrntheir economy—and their health. Anrnold friend of mine, a truck driver namedrnJovica G., put it this way: “We fought asrntheir staunch allies during the last twornbig wars. The Serbs were on the list ofrnthose who suffered most, like Jews andrnRussians, during the last war. And thosernwho killed us quite recently by the thousandsrnare now the alleged protectors ofrnjustice and democracy and are makingrndecisions about our destiny. With fewrnexceptions, we did not change, we stillrnhave our traditional values. But a lot ofrnpeople in the West have become venal.rnThey would sell and write almost anythingrnabout us. Their media have lostrnany sense of integrity and honor, the professionalrnethic. Their traditional valuesrnthat we used to esteem have disappearedrncompletely.”rnI visited a few hospitals and medicalrninstitutions, and I was appalled by whatrnI saw. In the prestigious EndocrinologicalrnInstitute in Belgrade, in the famousrnMilitary Medical Academy (VMA), thernmost common drug for the treatment ofrnGraves’ disease of the thyroid (carbimazol)rnwas not available. “If the patientrngets the drug somewhere from somebodyrnwho just returned from abroad andrnpays him in Deutsch marks or in U.S.rndollars, he could be treated,” said thernrespected professor of endocrinologyrnDragan M. There were virtually no anestheticsrn(elective surgery had decreasedrntremendously), analgesics, tuberculostatics,rnanti-tumor drugs, geriatrics; therernwas a severe shortage of antibiotics, insulin,rnetc. Some psychiatric patientsrnwere being treated with shocks, as patientsrnwere 50 years ago, because psychotropicrndrugs were scarce. In psychiatry,rnthe situation was tragic. There alsornwas a severe shortage of vaccines for infants,rnand the food in many hospitalsrnwas often inadequate.rnSpare parts for various medical instrumentsrnand for sophisticated diagnosticrnmachines were not allowed to enter thernFRY, even if they had been paid forrnmuch earlier. The well-known instituternfor diseases of the thyroid gland and forrntreatment of obesity on Zlatibor was inrnneed of many instruments—various hormonalrnlevels could no longer be measuredrnthere, proper treatments could notrnbe followed. There is a modern and expandedrnpharmaceutical industry in thernFRY, which needs various raw materialsrnfor its production, but they are all prohibitedrnto enter the country by the SanctionsrnCommittee of the United Nations,rnwhose bureaucracy causes incredible delaysrneven in the shipment of drugs andrnfood. And if the finished drugs are allowedrnto enter the FRY, they are muchrnmore expensive than the drugs producedrndomestically. In the latter case, domesticrndrug production could create manyrnmuch-needed new jobs. To make mattersrnworse, Yugoslav foreign assets werernfrozen abroad. Who could pay for a sufficientrnsupply of the imported drugs, vaccines,rnmedical instruments? The Serbsrnand Montenegrins who work or livernabroad could not do so, and, as a consequence,rnthe infant mortality rate increasedrntremendously, tuberculosisrnspread, the chronically ill died muchrnmore frequently, and there were norndrugs at all for the aged.rnThe whole situation deteriorated dramaticallyrnafter Security Council Resolutionrn820 was passed in April 1993 andrnafter the FRY was effectively removedrnfrom the World Health Organizationrn(WHO) the next month. People oncernthought the WHO was a humanitarianrnand not a political organization, but thernAmerican, Austrian, Dutch, English,rnFrench, German, and Muslim representatives,rntogether with many client governments,rnexpelled Yugoslavia and convertedrnthe WHO into an instrument ofrnpolitical blackmail. Only a few votedrnagainst them or abstained, namely China,rnIndia, Russia, and Zimbabwe.rnI discussed the health problems of thernBosnian Serb Republic with its foreignrnsecretary. “In our republic,” he said, “wernlack about 70 percent of the medicinesrnneeded. The people suffering fromrnchronic diseases, the elderly who are ill,rnare actually doomed to death. The infantrnmortality rate has increased tremendously.rnDental care is practically nonexistent.rnAlmost no humanitarian convoysrnLearn Why WernMust RecapturernOur Constitutionrnfrom a SupremernCourt That HasrnLost Its Way…rn”Presser makes a compelling casernthat the original understanding ofrnthe Constitution was that religion,rnmorality, and law wererninextricably connected, and thatrntheir separation by the Supreme Court, legalrntheorists, and liberals in recent years is the root cause ofrnAmerica’s social decay Required reading for all who care aboutrnthe fate of the republic.”rn—Forrest McDonald, Distinguished University Professor, University of AlabamarnAvailable at your local bookstore or by calling _.rn1-800-462-6420 Hrn<;9A QC; nine 5^ flfl dilnninrr onrl hr,nAV,nn ^ • T ^HrnREGNERYrnPUBUSHING, INC.rnAn Eagle Publishing Company $24.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handlingrnCH1294 Regnery Publishing, Inc • 422 First Street, S.E. • Washington, D.C. 2000.irnDECEMBER 1994/39rnrnrn