Word: yugoslavia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...civil war in Yugoslavia is more than just a tragedy for the people of one country. It is also the first test of whether the custodians of European security are up to the task of redefining their interests and obligations now that the old communist enemy is history. So far, they've flunked...
...lining. "For all its risks and uncertainties," he said, "the cold war was characterized by a remarkably stable and predictable set of relationships among the great powers." He foresaw the "danger that the change in the East will prove too destabilizing to be sustained." He was thinking particularly about Yugoslavia, where he began his diplomatic career. He knew what ancient demons lurked in the Balkans, waiting, along with decent folk, to be liberated from communism...
There's only the minor problem--that we're beginning to look less like Sweden and more like a well-mannered Yugoslavia with excellent beer. It's not just the restless Quebecois, but also the West, the Maritimes, and even the Newfies (but of more ethnic/regional jokes than there are buttheads to tell them) are bickering...
...while the dismantling of the old structure is irreversible, it need not -- indeed, must not -- be precipitous. Imagine a civil war like the one in Yugoslavia, only played out across 11 time zones, with the Russians in the role of the Serbs and nuclear weapons in the background. Yeltsin can help avert such a horror by reassuring Russia's neighbors both inside and outside the old U.S.S.R. that independence won't unleash the forces of tribalism and irredentism...
...young President is determined not to be diverted from his political priorities, even if each step forward is followed by multiple steps backward. "Democracy is the only way to unify the country," he insists. And if ethnic or economic problems overwhelm this unorthodox venture, sending Ethiopia the way of Yugoslavia? Then that too will be an exercise in democracy. For if the grand experiment fails, it will be the choice -- and fault -- of all Ethiopians...