ZURICH, SWITZERLAND-There is nothing more wasteful or dismal than a lost war. So it's no surprise many angry Serbs are calling for the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic who led them into four disastrous wars.

The wily Milosevic has repeatedly shown a remarkable gift for surviving defeats and confounding his many internal and external enemies. This time, however, his nine lives may be running low. Serbia lies in ruins; its economy is moribund; its morale at rock bottom. The Serb Orthodox Church, whose clergy formerly blessed Milosevic's ethnic cleansing as a "new holy crusade," has turned against its erstwhile champion and denounced his crimes in Kosovo.

As U.N. police investigators in Kosovo uncover mass graves filled with the remains of murdered women and children, even the staunchest former defenders of Serbia have fallen silent (Eric Margolis, July 18, 1999).