It's Lonely At the Top

When he defeated Slobodan Milosevic at the polls in September 2000 — and then kicked the Serb strongman out of office some days later — Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica became an instant hero among his fellow Serbs and observers in the West. After he appeared on the balcony of Belgrade's City Hall and addressed the crowd with the words, "Dear liberated Serbia," the foreign press began referring to him as "the dragon slayer." Alas for Kostunica, his dragon-slaying days are over and the promised rewards for his heroism — in the fairy tale, half the kingdom and the princess' hand in...