Turmoil in Yugoslavia

As an American of Slovenian descent, the lives of my cousins in Slovenia are in peril, both in the capital of Ljubljana and in skirmishing on the border. I am angered that they must face this risk to life and limb, all because of our government’s dimwitted support of the communist central Yugoslav regime and its patently illegal use of force against Slovenia.

The violent actions of the federal army, which left scores of civilians dead, certainly resulted from Bush’s and Baker’s failure to immediately recognize the new democratic, Western-leaning states of Slovenia and Croatia. That we would risk American lives and spend billions of dollars to restore the non-democratic nation of Kuwait, but shirk from embracing the 1,000-year-old nation-states of Slovenia and Croatia, whose citizens have overwhelmingly voted for democracy and independence, is a contradiction that demands correction.

Stability in the Balkans is ultimately enhanced and then preserved by the growth and proliferation of democracy in the region. Slovenia and Croatia add to the democratic tradition of its neighbors Italy, Austria and Greece. I would laugh at the specious proposition that keeping Yugoslavia together--albeit under the Stalinist central regime--would avoid bloodshed, if we were not already witness to the brutality visited upon the Slovene people. Now I cry at the announcement of the Yugoslav military leadership that they will use the full force of arms to crush Slovene and Croatian aspirations for independence.

MARK RYAVEC, Venice