On Sat, 1 Mar 2008 05:42:42 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:

On Feb 29, 10:43*pm, BAR wrote:


Still he was a butcher.

Balkan "politics" is rough. A Serb started WWI, so to speak.
Here in Chicago there were assassinations of Serb and Croat
politicians as late as the '80's. Maybe it's still happening.
Rex Stout always talked a bit about Balkan internecine warfare in his
Nero Wolfe novels, Wolfe having Macedonian ancestry.
When the wall came down, the first thing I thought was "The Russians
better get some troops in Yugoslavia." That wasn't in their plan.
I never looked into how much role Muslims played in the long scope of
it, but the religious differences certainly are at the fore now.
When Tito died, I was somewhat surprised that Yugoslavia didn't blow
up, but I guess the soviets kept things in check.

--Vic