Mind Game

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Among the most attuned citizens, there is a nagging sense that all is not right in this uniform Serbian message. But with few outside reference points to rely on, they can fight that battle for the truth only in their minds, where rationality and emotions throw equal weight. For most Serbs, their rational side is used up getting through the day--battling price rises and shortages of fuel and cigarettes and looking after the health of their families.

In Belgrade residents live with the prospect of years of dreariness and anxiety. "Of course I'm worried," says Mirjana. "I'm worried that I will lose my job, that my husband will be drafted by the army and that my children will have no future in a devastated country." The psychological scars of war--and of the propaganda--are most pronounced on the next generation of Serbs. Mirjana's two children, a son, 11, and a daughter, 7, have developed chillingly precocious antipathies. Her son spends most of his time watching state television or playing war with his friends; hide-and-seek is called "catch the pilot." Fiddling with a new chemistry set recently, Mirjana's daughter vowed to cook up a bomb "to blow NATO away."