Ivica Dacic – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Unwavering Threat To Croatia From Serbia

July 31, 2016 by inavukic 35 Comments

Croatia’s President
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
Photo: Reuters/ Kacper Pempel

The first Yugoslavia (1919-1941) was created in Versailles for Serbs and dominated by the Serbs, under a Serbian royal family. The Serb ideology led to centralist government policies and a dictatorship after 1929, which provoked greater resistance from other national groups – Croats, Slovenes, Bosniaks, Macedonians… However, in April 1941, the Axis powers bombed Belgrade and invaded Yugoslavia. The Germans proceeded to dismantle the Versailles division of territory by returning much of Vojvodina to Hungary and Macedonia to Bulgaria, while attaching Bosnia and Herzegovina to a newly proclaimed “Independent State of Croatia,” known as the NDH after its Croatian name: Nezavisna Dražava Hrvatska under the control of a Croatian nationalist party, the Ustashe and their leader Ante Pavelic. Despite Croatia’s claim to be independent, Germany and Italy divided Croatia into zones of influence, in which each stationed troops. The Germans occupied Serbia and the nationalist Serbian government headed by Milan Nedic administered the Nazi policies and politics.

The Allies won WWII and Yugoslavia’s communists were on that side and Allies utterly ignored the pre-WWII plights for independence from Serb-controlled Kingdom of Yugoslavia by Croats and Slovenes in particular, thus strengthening the installation of communist Yugoslavia. Communist Yugoslavia set up headquarters in Serbia and was dominated by Serbs in all key positions of political and economic power. The forty-five years of communist Yugoslavia (1945-1991) did not produce the politically desired “brotherhood and unity” between its constituent nationalities/ethnic groups (Serb, Croat, Macedonian, Slovene, Bosnian and Herzegovinian). Instead, amidst blatant discrimination against non-Serb nationalities and oppression, the country gradually fragmented again into increasing pursuits in various states (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) towards independence and secession from communist Yugoslavia. The early 1990’s freedom and secession from communist Yugoslavia pursuits succeeded in all states of Yugoslavia bar Serbia and Montenegro, who united as self-proclaimed the natural heir to Yugoslavia.

Serbia contested and protested the right of the Yugoslav republics to self-determination. To them, the Croats could have their Croatia, but not within its sovereign and internationally recognized borders and, according to Serbs it could not include areas with large numbers of Serbs. Similarly, if the Muslims and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted an independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, it could not include regions with large numbers of Serbs. Hence, a most murderous and criminal clearing (ethnic cleansing via genocide, mass murder, forced deportations …) of non-Serbs ensued in 1991 in Croatia and 1992 in Bosnia. Military Operation Storm in August 1995 in Croatia liberated most of the Croatian Serb-occupied territory while later in the same year the Dayton Peace Agreement ended the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 5 August Croatia celebrates its 1995 Operation Storm victory over the Serb aggressor and Serbs, including Serbian leadership have still not accepted anything from that aggression as their responsibility; heck, they keep denying it and keep supporting the evil myth that hundreds of thousands of Serbs were forcefully deported from Croatia in 1995 after the Operation Storm when in fact even the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague way back in November 2012 (in the case of Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac) found that there had been no forced deportations of Serbs by Croats or Croatian forces.

Ever since the Croatian court quashed the communist Yugoslavia verdict against the Blessed Alysius (Alojzije) Stepinac on 22 July 2016, Serbia’s government leadership and President (Prime Minster Aleksandar Vucic, Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic and President Tomislav Nikolic) have been escalating their hateful rhetoric against Croatia, alleging that this quashing of the verdict signals that Croatia is rehabilitating the WWII Ustashe regime and fascism! What a load of hateful stuff.

Relations between Croatia and Serbia have plunged deep in recent days to the level where one must ask why Croatia even bothers relating at all to its aggressor who has not even acknowledged its murderous ways let alone offered any decent podium for true reconciliation. Inflammatory protest notes and harsh statements have been flung across the border from Serbia that in effect constitute Serbia’s meddling in Croatia’s internal affairs. Impermissible!

Tension is expected to escalate even more in coming days as Croatia gears up for the annual anniversary celebration of its victorious 1995 military operation, Oluja, (Storm), on August 5, marking the day when the Croatian military quashed a Serb occupation and power-hold in south-west Krajina region.

Some naïve political analysts have said “despite the angry rhetoric from politicians in both countries, the escalation in tensions between Croatia and Serbia is not expected to have long-term consequences for their relations or for regional security. Nor is it expected to be a setback for Serbia’s progress towards EU accession. Overall, this is a re-raising of tensions, which are always present.” Such a light outlook on such a serious matter is most damaging because the Croatian people continue to suffer vilification and fear a resurgence of Serb aggression within their own country, and which fear had not been removed by the victory of Operation Storm in 1995.

The absolute need for Croatia to block the closing of Chapter 23 in Serbia’s path to EU membership unless Serbia changes, does away with its laws through which it, Serbia, gives itself the right to prosecute people across the territory of former Yugoslavia for crimes committed anywhere on that territory during the 1990’s war of aggression, in which Serbs were the aggressors, must be pursued by Croatian authorities. According to its current law, Serbia has universal jurisdiction over war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and can prosecute all crimes, no matter where they took place or who were the perpetrators. This potentially and actually means that a British, Irish, French, German, US, Canadian, Australian or Middle East national could also be prosecuted by Serbia as individuals from those countries did join the fight for freedom against Serb aggression in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina etc.

Trumped up charges are no strangers to Serbia in its quest to clear its name as aggressor using denial and false assertions.

Furthermore, that which corroborates the fact that Croats justifiably fear Serb aggression to this day is found a reported Open letter to the President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, reportedly written on 25 July 2016 by a bunch of thugs living in Serbia who call themselves “The Government of the Serbian Republic of Krajina (RSK) in Exile” – the thugs and criminal their associates who ethnically cleansed of non-Serbs one third of Croatian territory (Krajina) and occupied it between 1991 and 1995! The letter reportedly includes the following demands:

1. That she express remorse and apology to Serbs who were expelled from the RSK and Croatia. (Now, the facts are that Serbs, after having ethnically cleansed and destroyed much og Krajina fled voluntarily, fearing any possible repercussions to their murderous deeds in Croatia, as Croat forces regained the occupied territory in 1995 and ICTY in the Hague ruled there had been no expulsions/forceful deportations of Serbs in Croatia).

2. Stop the Ustashe events on 5th August in Knin (Operation Storm celebrations). Stop gloating and pour salt over our painful wound of early August, because you have not defeated anyone, except the elderly women and children you killed in their homes. Moral nations are ashamed of such victories. Milosevic’s officers had pulled the Krajina army out, probably fearing threats from your NATO patrons, not your defence forces. (While being a demand of florid lunacy, in here the Serbs admit they pulled their army out of Croatia [who by the way took the Serb civilians with them] and yet in the demand above they say Serbs were expelled.)

3. Return to us Serbs our stolen land Serbian Republic of Krajina (This corroborates the pathetic and dangerous belief that Serbs maintain regarding owning part of Croatia’s sovereign territory. This territory had always been Croatian despite the fact that under the Austro-Hungarian Empire Serbs from Serbia were centuries ago permitted to settle on Croatian land.)

4.Return our to us our property in the same condition as we had left it when we fled and that you had destroyed. You destroyed property, you fix it. (Well now, while Croatia has done a great deal in ensuring housing etc for those Serbs who had returned to live in Croatia after the war, Serbia and Serbs have done absolutely nothing in paying for damages to properties belonging to non-Serbs they had destroyed in Croatia. It’s time Croatia does more on this with view to demanding compensation from Serbs.)

5.Return the Serbs into the Constitution of R. Croatia, as an equal and constitutional people. (Well Croatia has never been populated in such a way that would justify this. Furthermore, majority Serbs in Croatia had never been loyal to Croatia as their hiomeland but always looked to Serbia as their only homeland and wanted to annexe part of Croatia for Serbia.) … etc to 14 demands.

“As far as we, the representatives of the people of Krajina, are concerned we are ready for talks and negotiations on all the points of our demands. If anyone considers that we will give up Krajina they are terribly fooled. Throughout the history Serbs have been coming in and out of Krajina but they had always returned to it! We also will return. It’s only a matter of time and worldly circumstances… In Belgrade, 25 July 2016, Rajko Lezaic, president of RSK Assembly.”
Can anyone believe this appalling state of affairs? Croatia’s president Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic should ignore this letter if it reaches her office abut she should not discard its implications. It constitutes an important part of the threat that has been incessantly, with increasing force, coming from Serbia into Croatia. It should form a part of firm and resolute policie in dealing with these threats and vilification against the Croatian people for the good of peace and piece of mind. The inflammatory diplomatic notes, the distressing statements and claims Serbia and Serbs are making against Croatia currently may tone down after the 11 September 2016 general elections in Croatia but they will never tone out unless Croatia’s leadership shows some teeth in Serbia’s direction and rejects publicly, so the whole world can hear, all such vilifying rhetoric from Serbia and Serbs against Croatia. In order to prove EU still desirable after Brexit the EU may regretfully show a lighter hand in its requirements for Serbia to become an EU member state, but that does not mean Croatia must accept those lighter standards. No way! Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Aleksandar Vucic, Croatia, Croatian Homeland War, diplomatic relations, Ivica Dacic, Kolonda Grabar Kitarovic, Operation Storm, Rajko Lezaic, reconciliation, self-proclaimed Serbian Republic of Krajina, Serb aggression, Serbia, Threat to Croatia from Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic

Vienna Summit and Alpback Forum Fall Short In Solving Europe’s Refugees Crisis

September 6, 2015 by inavukic 39 Comments

Left to right: Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanovic,
Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, German chancellor Angela Merkel
and Austrian president Heinz Fischer
at the Western Balkans summit in Vienna on 27 August 2015.
‘Finding an EU-wide solution
to the greatest movement of peoples
since the second world war
is an urgent priority.’
Photo: Georg Hochmuth/EPA

I’m aware it was high-Summer hot weather on 27 August 2015 when the highest representatives of the Western Balkan countries met with some high EU officials and high representatives of some EU member countries, such as Austria, Croatia, Germany, Italy and Slovenia at the Vienna summit. Given the boiling refugee and illegal migrant crisis taking place in Europe at the same time one would have thought, despite the hot and lazy Summer weather, the grand, air-conditioned, opulence of the Viennese Hofburg would have set conditions conducive to clear and decisive thinking on solving some of the logistical issues of the refugee crisis, at least.
But, ‘nah’ – while almost all leaders, come high representatives, spoke of the crisis, mentioned it, Western Balkans countries spoke mostly of infrastructure and money.

The Viennese Hofburg

This year’s Vienna summit is part of the Berlin Process, a five-year process marked by yearly summits in order to underline the commitment to EU-enlargement towards the Western Balkans region. The focus of the initiative is on those countries of the Western Balkans that are not yet EU-members: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The EU-participants at the Summit are those countries, which have committed themselves to organise summit meetings: in addition to last year’s and this year’s organisers Germany and Austria, these are France and Italy. The process is also strongly supported by Slovenia and Croatia. Last year’s summit took place in Berlin on 28 August 2014 and gave important impulses for progress in the areas of regional cooperation, economy and the rule of law.
The refugee and illegal migrant crisis has through this Summit also demonstrated that the notion of EU enlargement is alive, as is regional cooperation. Although, the signal for the latter was quite weak because one could not but notice that in an enormous humanitarian crisis such as the one evolving and brewing in Europe it’s “every ‘man’ (country) for himself”!
Nevertheless, the refugee and illegal migrants crisis seems to have paved the way for the intensification of regional cooperation even if it is clear that EU enlargement is going nowhere for the foreseeable future. But even this “intensified” regional cooperation driven by the refugee crisis has its shaky foundations in mixed and confusing messages from different countries suggesting priorities are still individualised and far away from a collaborative, solidarity-filled, unified milieu in which one inevitably finds a certain consensus as to how to move forward.
Serbian Prime Minister Vucic said that he did not consider the EU to be like an ATM (to milk money from) but rather as an organisation with which Serbia shared common values. Alas, Vucic made sure he placed Serbia at a higher value to EU countries because of the “praiseworthy” (he said) way Serbia is treating the refugees! He said (almost repulsively alluding to Hungary) Serbia would not be building fences to keep refugees out.
No, Serbia isn’t building walls and fences to keep refugees out, it simply fails to deliver its international obligation as a sovereign country in ensuring that refugees and illegal migrants do not head, stampede on perilous journeys towards Schengen countries without firstly being processed. Serbia contributes nothing to the refugee and illegal migrant crisis, it panders to their destination preferences even though majority have not been processed nor identified as being entitled to refugee status.
Unlike Serbia’s Aleksnadar Vucic, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama suggested that it is money from the EU he is after and consequently funds are on the way for the building of highway linking Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. Either way, both Prime Ministers emphasised the need to support infrastructure but I am not convinced that it’s EU that should bear the brunt and the costs of this refugee and illegal migrant crisis just because the refugees say the words to this effect: “we are going to EU, to Germany and will get there one way or another”! Clearly, the UN as the worldwide organization has failed by doing nothing much so far to bring order to this situation dangerously running amuck. Politics are taking centre stage while people in need of help suffer.

The burning issue of refugee and illegal migrants dominated the Vienna Summit. This is the problem the EU and the Balkan leaders face. Tens of thousands of people crossing the border from EU member Greece and entering Macedonia, which is not a member of EU. They’re taken to Serbia’s border and swiftly cross Serbia to the Hungarian border with the help of Serbia’s authorities. Then they reach Hungary, which is busy building a fence on the border with Serbia and, inside, busy refusing or slowing down the process for refugees moving towards the border with Austria. At the Vienna Summit Serbia’s foreign minister Ivica Dacic told the EU it was making “unrealistic demands”. “EU, you have a problem and you’re asking us, Serbia, to come up with an action plan for migrants. You should come up with an action plan first and then ask us to come up with our plan. I have to be completely open with you on this issue because we are friends”, said Dacic.

Trust a Serb foreign minister to say EU has a problem because the refugees already in Serbia say they want to go to EU! To my way of seeing things, Serbia has a problem and it’s politically twisting the issue to suit its agenda. I had always thought that the central matter for refugees is reaching safety! Choice of where that safety shall occur is a minor issue. Serbia is safe for them, so why does Serbia – and Macedonia – for that matter, not act as “grown-ups” and turn to the UN for solutions and problems rather than the EU? The EU countries are showing differing levels of willingness to help but they too, like the refugees, have a right of seeking safety and that safety, in this case, can only come by processing those who say they are refugees but, really, one doesn’t know that until checks are made. In the meantime food, shelter, health care, roof over the head, clothing are priorities for all. The likelihood is that great majority are legitimate refugees from war areas so one must tread with utmost sensitivity and humanity.

EU leaders agreed in Vienna that a new policy is needed. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank Walter-Steinmeier, noted that some EU member states refused to take more migrants. “You all know that there is a number of EU members who are against it. But I’m sure that without a fair distribution we risk the acceptance in those countries which are currently having to take in the majority of the migrants…“ Germany’s Angela Merkel has opened the doors for the refugees without limiting numbers; she says Germany can cope.
Macedonia’s foreign minister Nikola Popovski expressed the hope that the Vienna conference will lead to what he called a European solution to the problem. Many of the observers, says Deutsche Welle, are pessimistic that these talks will produce a breakthrough.

Ahead of the Summit, the European Commission released an additional €1.5 million in humanitarian funding to assist refugees and migrants in Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The aid will support humanitarian partners in helping with the provision of basic emergency services such as drinking water, hygiene, health care, shelter, and protection for refugees and migrants, improvement of the reception centres, and coordination and reporting on migration issues in the region. Christos Stylianides, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, said: “The Western Balkans are dealing with an unprecedented number of transiting refugees and migrants. The EU is stepping up its humanitarian aid to provide them with urgently needed relief. This is European solidarity at its core”.
The European Commission has previously granted over €90 000 in EU humanitarian assistance to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (on July 31 2015) and €150 000 to Serbia (on August 20, 2015) in response to this emergency situation. The funding went directly to the national Red Cross Societies of the two countries. Overall EU humanitarian aid to support vulnerable refugees and migrants in Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia now amounts to €1.74 million. And Serbia’s foreign minister Dacic still complaints while his Prime Minister Vucic ascribes all the “accolades” for refugee care to Serbia even if EU funds it! Very unfair!

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said that Croatia would gladly take its share of refugees as suggested by the EU distribution policy being developed. However, an action plan for this isn’t yet visible from Croatian government even though there are some buildings being prepared for that from EU funds. On the other hand, Croatia’s president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic believes that refugee quotas for countries to take in should not be “imposed by Brussels but indicated by countries themselves”.

I would also say that Brussels shouldn’t bear the burden but neither should individual countries – it should be UN at the helm and all countries to fall in with help.

From left: Austria president Heinz Fischer
Sloveina president Borut Pahor and
Croatia president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
at European Alpback Forum end of August 2015

Croatian President’s surprising statement at the Europe Alpback Forum in Austria (around the same time as the holding of the Western Balkan Vienna Summit) suggesting that EU should cooperate with Russia on solving the Syria issue raised quite a few uneasy eyebrows around the Globe. The West is considering bombing Islamic State strongholds in Syria and for a while has wanted to rid Syria of Bashar al-Assad believing that would bring stability to the country, Russia has dug its heels in and one simply does not expect Vladimir Putin will give up his allegiance to and alliance with al-Assad that easily. Furthermore, instead of offering assistance with refugees and illegal migrants flooding Europe from Syria, Russia is announcing the building of its military bases in al-Assad’s heartland! Al-Assad can certainly not serve as a partner in fight against terrorism and, hence, indications are – neither can his ally Putin. Perhaps Croatia’s President thinks there’s ‘westward’ hope yet when it comes to Russia’s intentions in the Middle East? We live and learn, often with great unease. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Albania, Aleksandar Vucic, Angela Merkel, Croatia, Edi Rama, EU Enlargement, European Alpback Forum 2015, Frank Walter-Steinmeier, Germany, Ivica Dacic, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Macedonia, REfugee crisis in Europe, Serbia, Syria crisis, Western Balkan Vienna Summit 2015, Zoran Milanovic

Croatia: Benghazy Scrubber Scrubs Western Balkans

July 16, 2014 by inavukic 42 Comments

Lately, Victoria Nuland, US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, is best known, or, rather, notorious, for her role in objecting to the initial set of the Benghazi attack talking points when she reportedly asked that references to al Qaeda and previous CIA warnings about threats posed to U.S. diplomats in Libya be scrubbed from the document. I.e., she is said to have demanded that (accurate) assessments of terrorist involvement be scrubbed, along with references to (accurate) intelligence warnings about the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi leading up to the 9/11/2012 attack on US diplomatic compound in which four Americans were murdered. Nuland’s role provided the closest thing to smoking-gun evidence of a cover up.

Then I assume all of us remember when in January/February of this year on YouTube, there was uploaded an audio recording of a confidential telephone conversation between Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine – Jeffrey Payette. Offended by the indecision of European Union leaders in the fight against Moscow’s “evil intentions” in Ukraine, the cheeky high-ranking American did not hesitate to use dirty words towards the European Union (“Fuck the EU”).

Episodes like these draw attention to the type of people who are deciding the destinies of the world – trying to teach others.

Victoria Nuland,
AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski

And on Friday 11 July 2014 Nuland attended in Dubrovnik the 9th “Croatia Forum” held around issues of EU enlargement into the Western Balkans region. She called for struggle against corruption and for democratic recourse to preserve the values of transatlantic community. She sent a serious message to the corrupt Balkan politicians that the United States know for their corrupt practices and their undemocratic rule.

“Europe can’t be whole when kleptocrats treat states as a bonanza of spoils for themselves and their cronies. And it can’t be free when elections are rigged, independent media is silenced and minorities are vilified. And it can’t be at peace when corrupt officials use political, economic and judicial intimidation to stifle opposition and rip off their own citizens,” Nuland said to the participants of the forum and continued:
“Corruption also threatens national sovereignty because every dirty politician in our midst, every dirty non-transparent contract that we allow, creates another wormhole of vulnerability and an opportunity for mischief by outside forces. From the Balkans to the Baltic to the Black Sea, we must understand, as those on the Maidan did, that corruption is not just a democracy killer, it’s another grey tool in the arsenal of autocrats and kleptocrats who seek to extend their influence, weaken our democracies and enrich themselves at the expense of our citizens”.

Nuland said the gas price dispute, Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and fighting in eastern Ukraine underlined the energy security threat facing Europe. Europe’s energy security needs much work and “building up diverse flow capabilities and capacities and building up deeper networks throughout the continent,” was what was needed. “Croatia has an essential role to play, as an energy security hub for the 21st century… You (Croatia) have spectacular assets to do that so long you as you make smart choices as you are going forward,” Nuland said.

Nuland did not spell out what choices she considers “smart” but given that Croatia is already an EU member perhaps she was using the Croatian platform to address the non-EU members at the forum such as Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania… Perhaps it her address was not about energy security but about gaining anti-Russia support and in doing so all sorts of compromises, scrubbing of war crimes etc., could emerge to fast-track some of these countries into EU membership as a matter of harnessing might for the looming cold war against Russia.

According to Croatian news agency HINA, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov said in Dubrovnik on Saturday 12 July that the European Union should not use Western Balkan countries’ desire of joining the bloc to force them to choose between Europe and Russia.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said for Croatian Radio that Jean-Claude Juncker’s (European Commission President-designate) statement, that there will be no new EU members in next five years, may be true but sends a wrong message because without enlargement, there will be no security and thus the credibility of the EU is at risk, while Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that every EU member state should undergo an assessment every ten years and that he is certain that many would not pass on the criteria test that Serbia is now expected to pass.

Carl Bildt, who was one of the architects of the abysmally failed Dayton agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina, should truly stay out of this exercise of contemplating EU extension into Western Balkans. He has nothing to offer for any real peaceful solution.

The likelihood that Croatia’s leaders will swallow head-and-shoulders Nuland’s glowing compliments to Croatia as a country that “could become a regional energy hub” is very, very high. The carrot is likely to become even more attractive now that Germany’s Angela Merkel said 15 July in Dubrovnik at a meeting of eight Western Balkans heads of state that her country would support the “region’s” future in the EU.

Croatian current leadership of communist extraction will do everything and anything to intercept and set back any processes dealing with post WWII communist crimes and there are two such cases in German courts at this very moment. One wonders whether justice in these will be compromised for a goal of uniting Western Balkans against Russia. Perhaps Nuland’s “smart choices” include a scenario where Croatia should stop pursuing justice for its own victims of communist crimes and of 1990’s war crimes.

While I completely agree with Nuland on the points of corruption and kleptocrats I find it extremely unsettling that it was she who points to the wrongs of it. If I consider the definition of corruption as a moral impurity or deviation from the ideal then her Benghazy scrub would certainly brush at least some corruption against her character. One wonders how much scrubbing of corrupt individuals’ tracks may occur in the process of making Croatia the energy hub of Europe. One wonders what the price the people will pay if their leaders take up the “offer” to lead the way in that region in a cold war against Russia. The huge numbers of unemployed, hungry and poor are not interested in any cold or hot war; their prime concern is how to bring food to the family table.

Certainly, it would be welcome if Croatia picked up on investments necessary to make it that hub, but I fear the biggest beneficiaries of such an exercise will not the Croatian people or workers. I gladly wait to be proven wrong on this. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps.(Syd)