Re-Electing The Past

IN ANY NORMAL ELECTION, THE ODDS WOULD PROBAbly have been against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. The U.S. had publicly charged him with war crimes, the international community was tightening economic sanctions on his country, and the inflation rate was running at 20,000% annually. But none of that mattered. Milosevic, the virulent nationalist, was re-elected with 55% of the vote in the race for the Serbian presidency.

Monitors from other European states said the campaign had been "tainted by shameless propaganda in the state-run media," which labeled Milosevic's opponent, the Serbian-born American businessman Milan Panic, a spy and a traitor. The poll...