Prologue

40

Hundreds of thousands of copies, 9,600 pages, over 21,000 columns and 10,000 photographs, about 1,000 sections, over one million kilometers on wheels, more than 800 author’s fees, reaching four continents.
Before us is the 40th edition of SERBIA – National Review. If numbers can be trusted, and these days one should be careful with trust and statistics, an entire long history has been packed in these 80 editions – 40 in Serbian, 40 in English. At least one entire life fit into these seven years. (And I wonder if tomorrow someone would know “that I was here too and am gone”?)
All important principles on which National Review is founded, including Ten Principles of “Princip Pres”, have been tested and confirmed in reality. After the editorial in the 20th edition, nobody is asking us whether we are sane, whether we know where we live and what kind of newspapers “sell” today. Only after seeing National Review through the eyes of well-intentioned foreigners, as is the case with provincial mentalities, some people in Serbia understood its meaning and significance.
As of this year National Review has been published in Srpska, under the auspices of President of the Republic, and in Australia. We are currently considering the possibility to launch editions in Russian and Chinese. TV edition of National Review has been broadcast on the public service of Srpska under the title Apple Made of Gold.
We are always skipping the “everyday grievances”. We are aware of everything, our heads are not buried in sand, every day of ours is in the sign of what Dučić wrote about origin and wounds, but it is ours to do everything that is up to us. “If every one of us does their job with such dedication and responsibility as if the fate of Serbia depends on them, then there is hope for us.” When you read these lines, we will be well in the preparations of the 41st edition. “Everything we have done thus far depends on what we do now”.