<nettime> Report from Belgrade

[Slobodan Markovic <twiddle@EUnet.yu>]

        Well, good morning, people! It's 06:13 am here in Belgrade and
        few minutes earlier sirens announced the end of tonight's
        air-raid. I don't know how will charming anchors on CNN and BBC
        present what happened here, but here's what I experianced...

        I was sleeping until around 02:20 am, when ROARING sound of
        airplane flying over woke me up! It was just like in the film:

        ssssshhhhhiiiiiooooossssshhhhh... [small silence] BOOOOOOOOOM!

        That moment I jumped from my bed and felt that whole building
        was shaking (like it's at least 5 Richter scale earthquake).
        After that explosion I could see only a dense cloud of white
        smoke growing some 3 kms from my house. I found out later that
        I was wrong - it was only about 1 km far from my building and
        guess what was hit?

        One whole civilian block of houses on a crossing between
        Maksima Gorkog and Maruliceva street was TOTALLY DEVASTATED!
        I live in this part of Belgrade more than 12 years and trust
        me: THERE ARE NO MILITARY OBJECTS IN A CIRCLE OF AT LEAST
        4 kms FROM THAT PLACE!

        There are no reports on casualties yet, but it's hard to believe
        that there were no people at the time of strike in the buildings.

        Couple minutes later I heard another plane flying over. Again
        that shwoosh-boom sound and again and again. This time the
        Army HQ in Kneza Milosa street (which is situated in Belgrade's
        very center) was hit. So far, three people were killed on the spot
        in that attack: one policeman working as a night guard of the
        building of Serbian Government (accross the street) and two young
        guys in a car waiting on a semaphore in front Army HQ building.

        BTW, that building was always used for administrative army
        purposes and was completely empty since this war started. In
        the time of attack, it was surely not some kind of active
        command center...

        Around 03:10 am both radio and TV Studio B went off the air.
        Later I heard a news that NATO hit the transmitter of this TV,
        totally independent from Milosevic's power structure. In fact,
        that was the only news station Belgraders could somehow trust.
        Luckily, Studio B has more than one transmitter and it's alive
        again... how long it will last - I don't know...

        Just before the dawn, when I thought that party was finally over
        for tonight, Belgrade survived GODDAMNED earthquake! No joke!
        According to radio news it was a 5.5 Richter scale earthquake!

        GODDAMNIT, is there anything else that can strike on us?!?
        Maybe a vulcano eruption or tsunami or some bloody Godzila?!?

        So, I while I'm writing this mail by the open window, breathing
        air smelling like wood burning, I'm hearing a news on a radio
        about USA sending here some 10 more B-52s NOT equipped with cruise
        missile launching system. That means - A BLOODY CARPET BOMBING
        like in WW2 or in Vietnam!

        Oh boy, it WILL be a MAY-day soon!

        Over and out,

               Slobodan Markovic   | http://solair.eunet.yu/~twiddle
               Internodium Project | http://www.internodium.org.yu



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