EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDl’l (WrnTheodore PappasrnSENllOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChihon Williamson, ]r.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBU TING EDITORSrnHarold O.j. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, Ceorge Garrett,rnChristine llaynes, E. Christian Kopff,rnJ.O. Tate, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rn]acob Neusner, John Shelton Reed.rnMomcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL. SECRETARYrnLeann DohhsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPtIBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODI iCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULAFION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publientidn of The Rt)ckIord Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn934 North Main Street. Rockford, IL 61103,rnEditorial Phone: (815) %4-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5813.rnSubscription Department: P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris. 11,61054. Call 1-800-877-5459,rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution b’ Eastern NewsrnDistributors, Inc., 1130 Cle’eland Road,rnSandusk’, OH 44870.rnGop right © 1996 by The Rockford Institute.rnAll rights resered.rnChromvles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publkshedrnnronthU for $39.00 per car by The RockfordrnInstitute, 934 Nortli Main Street. Rockford,rnIL 61103-7061. Second-class postage paidrnat Rockford, IL and additional mailing offices.rnPOSlAIASTk’.R: Send address changes tornChmmvks, P.O. Box 800, Mount Morris,rnII. 61054.rnThe ie\s expressed in i^hronkles are thernauthors’ alone and do not nceessarilv reflectrnthe ‘ie\’s of The Rockford Institute or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreturned unless aeeonipanietl b’ a self-addressedrnstainpetl envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol 2(1. No -6 August 19%rnPriiital ill HiL United Shltl,•^ of AiiicMr.irnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn the BalkansrnSol Scliindlcr’s review of Susan Woodward’srnBalkan Tragedy (“The Politics ofrnCausation,” March 1996) gives us a goodrngeneral picture of Yugoslavia’s breakup,rnbut it deserves to be supplemented withrnsome specifics. It is by all odds the mostrnthorough and most lucid of all t h e booksrndealing with that subject. Why have thernmajor American nevspapers, notably thernpolitically correct New York Times, VashingtonrnPost, and Los Angeles Times, givenrnit the silent treatment? The short answerrnis that it knocks into a cocked hat theirrncampaign of the past few years to blamernthe Serbs as the main destroyers of Yugoslavia.rnInitially, Woodward presents a detailedrnpicture of the nature of the economicrncrises confronting the country,rnand the inability of the political systemrnto find solutions, largely because of arndeadlock brought on b the wealthierrnand more Western regions (Slovenia andrnCroatia), which had political and economicrnprivileges to protect. She pointsrnout that Slovenia and Croatia were “unalterablyrnopposed to reforms that wouldrnmake it possible to create a democraticrnsstem at the federal leel,” and Sloxeniarn”continued to veto an- countrywide expressionrnof preferences, from a proposedrnfederal referendum on the constitutionalrnamendments at the end of 1988 to a referendumrnon the fate of the countryrnscheduled m 1990.”rnMoreover, Slovene and Croat officialsrnillegalh’ purchased sophisticatedrnweapons abroad, armed their localrnmilitias, and rejected the federal government’srnrequest to disarm them. In addition,rnSlovene and Croat officials, whilernstill part of Yugoslaia’s governing system,rnconspired with officials in Bonn andrnVienna to destroy the state. Also, Croatiarndid little to protect its Serbian citizensrn”from vicious outbursts of anti-Serbrnterror in some mixed communities,” andrnthe Croatian government in various waysrndiscriminated against the Serbs, fuelingrnSerb fears that there would be a repeat ofrnthe vast massacres of Serbs by Croats andrnMuslims that had taken place in thernNazi-satellite Croatian state duringrnWorld War II.rnA large part of the book is a devastatingrncommentary on the role of WesternrnEurope and the United States in the destructionrnof the Yugoslav state. ThernWest’s hasty recognition of the secessionistrnrepublics aided and abetted themrnin the violation of the Helsinki Accords’rnproiso against the use of force in changingrnthe boundaries of an internationallyrnrecognized state. Moreover, the UnitedrnStates (the executive branch and Congress)rnin effect told the Yugoslav Army,rnsix months prior to the secessions, thatrnits constitutional prerogative to defendrnYugoslavia’s borders from internalrnthreats would be considered illegitimate.rnThere is page after page of documentationrnof actions by the Western powersrnthat insured war.rnThe author concludes that the UnitedrnStates bears “a heavy responsibility in thernYugoslav tragedy,” pointing out thatrnwhenever “developments toward the Yugoslavrnconflict seemed to challenge thernUnited States leadership in Europe, itrnstepped in.” And when it did, it scuttledrntwo European-sponsored peace plans,rnone accepted by all three parties and thernother by both the Bosnian Serbs andrnCroats. The Muslims, she says, “had nornincentive to negotiate any compromise,rnwhen the United States offered air strikesrnagainst the Serbs.”rnThe author is also critical of the mediarnfor their biased reporting of Serb actionsrnwithout mentioning acfs that provokedrnthem. “The Croatian government . . .rnplaced sharpshooters on the walls ofrnDubrovnik,” and Croats and Muslimsrn”placed mortars and artillery batteriesrnwithin the walls of hospitals . . . drawingrnfire from Serb gunners to gain internationalrnreaction.”rnThere are some historical errors, butrnthe most substantive failing of this studyrnis the absence of a discussion of thernMuslim president’s book, The IslamicrnDeclaration, particularly its antipluralistrnrhetoric. This fact does not, however,rndiminish the book’s contribution as anrnexcellent source for serious students interestedrnin the causes of Yugoslavia’s disintegration,rnas well as the miserable andrnmisguided attempts of the internationalrncommunity to manage the Yugoslavrncrisis.rn—Alex N. DragnichrnBowie, MDrn4/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn