April 28, 1999 | SKOPJE, Macedonia -- If NATO bombing was meant to wear people out, it has succeeded. Belgrade residents describe a feeling of weariness, a struggle to simply endure, after 34 days of NATO bomb attacks, which usually come at 8 p.m., right after supper.

So it was with relief when Sunday evening, they heard something that sounded refreshingly true to ears weary of the spirit-boosting propaganda that the Milosevic regime has been serving up: The Serbs are losing their battle with NATO.

"The people should be told the truth: We are on our own," said Vuk Draskovic, the dark-bearded Yugoslav deputy prime minister, who, as an opposition party politician, led massive street protests against the Milosevic regime in 1996-97 before joining the government earlier this year. Draskovic was speaking in an interview on Studio B, a Belgrade television channel controlled by his political party, the Serbian Renewal Movement. "Our destiny is in the hands of leaders who invoke World War III and who are lying to the people, saying that Russia would be involved," in supporting the Serbs, he said.

At this point, Serbia's main national interest, Draskovic continued, is "understanding and realizing reality."

It may seem strange that Serbs would be buoyed by the news that their country is losing a war. And Draskovic merely stated what is obvious to the rest of the world. But from inside Yugoslavia, where Milosevic has imposed tight controls on the media and on internal dissent -- Belgrade journalist Slavko Curuvija paid for speaking the truth with his life -- the truth has been invigorating, like learning a long-suspected family secret.

Draskovic told television listeners that Serbia should consider yielding to one of NATO's key demands -- accepting an international military force for Kosovo, under the auspices of the United Nations. "Now we should declare our opinion as to an adequate force which can guarantee the return of refugees. Can it be a civilian force? [Russian special envoy to Yugoslavia Viktor] Chernomyrdin says no."

But Draskovic adds, "The U.N. flag is not alien to Yugoslavia. U.N. troops are not considered an occupying force in any country of the world."

To Western diplomats and NATO leaders, the words sounded like the possibility of a climb-down by the Yugoslav government, and an opening for potential negotiations on a resolution to the Kosovo conflict. "The statements [Draskovic] made show that there are senior members of the Yugoslav government that are beginning to recognize the reality of the situation Yugoslavia is in," NATO spokesman Jamie Shea told journalists at a press conference Monday. But to Belgrade listeners, Draskovic's statement sounded like the common sense ordinary people have been afraid to voice since the bombing began, and Milosevic cracked down on those it accused of damaging Serbian morale.

"What Draskovic did was really good," says Bratislav Grubacic, a Belgrade political analyst and editor of VIP news, by telephone Tuesday. "He made such mental relief for the population. We are so tired of all this propaganda: 'NATO is losing, we are winning. Clinton and [British prime minister Tony] Blair are devils.' Draskovic basically said, You know what? We are really alone. The whole world is against us. And NATO isn't going to lose."

Though Grubacic, a weathered Serbian newsman and analyst with great contacts inside the Serbian regime, admires Draskovic's typically nutty courage in saying -- on TV no less -- that the Serbs are losing in their confrontation with the greatest military alliance on earth, Grubacic doesn't think Draskovic will succeed in positioning himself as a successor to the Milosevic regime.

"More likely than not, Draskovic will fail in his plan to establish an alternative to the [Milosevic] regime," Grubacic writes in VIP, his newsletter. "But he has opened cracks in what has so far been a monolithic political structure in Serbia, which has allowed Milosevic to claim that his policy in Kosovo is supported by [everyone]."

"On the other hand," Grubacic continues, "[Serbian] public opinion largely agrees with Draskovic."

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