[Kenny Bunk]

Actually Kenny, I think that the break between Stalin and Tito was more about egos. Stalin wanted Tito as a worker-bee for greater Russian commuinsm and Tito wanted to be "the Stalin of the Balkans".

Babe, IMHO, this image of competition between Stalin and Tito... a contrived image ... was the root of the disinformation campaign. Yugoslavia can be attributed to Tito's failed plans for spreading communism throughout the Balkans

Tito, with Soviet backing, was definitely the man who held Yugoslavia together in the postwar period. Tito's opposition to the Soviet union was largely a charade. However, I won't deny the man had a giant ego ... of Bill Clinton or Ceaucescu proportions, at least.

[Bokababe]

"Tito's opposition to the Soviet union was largely a charade."

If by "charade", you mean that Tito was "no less a communist than Stalin", I would agree. But I honestly think that Tito divorced himself from the Soviet Union so that he could (and eventually did) play both sides (the Soviet Union and the US) against the middle.

As much as I hated his guts, I will give Tito credit for one thing -- he turned Yugoslavia into "a player", rather than "the played".