[mark502inf]

have you looked at the "ethnic makeup" of the political and military elite

Not my point, panta. It was Milosevic coming to power and the rise of Serb nationalism that precipitated the break, regardless of who filled which block in the organizational charts of the old Yugoslavia.

[Pantagruel]

>>Not my point, panta. It was Milosevic coming to power and the rise of Serb nationalism that precipitated the break, regardless of who filled which block in the organizational charts of the old Yugoslavia.<<

Mark, all I can say to you is that you shouldn't believe everything you see and hear on TV. The mainstream media has been peddling this BS claim for a very long time, without a shred of evidence. But if you are willing to dig a little deeper, you can find a fair amount of information that sheds a totally different light on this subject (supported by FACTS, not some pseudo - rationalistic analyses and unsubstantiated musings that the mustream media feeds us). As Jane pointed out, for example, the Croats were working very hard to destroy Yugoslavia long before SM's time, Kosovo Albanians too. Search the Net and you will find. It's all there at your fingertips, all you need is a little time and effort. (I'll even make it easier for you: just google avramov, rolovic and prepare to be surprised)

[kosta50]

Your naive (and erroneous) theory that all these people who wanted to leave Yugoslavia could not be wrong, ergo the Serbs must be, only shows your ignorance of the subject at hand. Your insistence that Miloshevich somehow twisted the Slovenian hand and "forced" Slovenia into secession is just plain dumb. You have read it in the media and you are simply parroting it.

Miloshevich had no power outside of Serbia. The Yugoslav federation at that point was a bunch of disjointed sovereign states with a weak and barely functioning federal government. The sovereignty of the states went so far as to have ministers of foreign affairs and negotiating international agreements. How could Miloshevich, in Serbia, influence Slovenia or threaten it?

The non-Serb states habitually voted against Serbia (it was even known was the 'unprincipled coalition') and the consensual requirements (which the secessionists used to their advantage as long as it suited their agenda) for all decisions made federal government all but lame. The presidency was made up of individual representative states and two provinces in Serbia. Even when Miloshevich established a pro-Serb-voting block, with 'yogurt revolutions' in Montenegro, and Voyvodina, and political manipulation in Kosovo, it gave Serbia four votes -- Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia constituted the other four votes. So, at no time was Serbia in a position to dictate anything in SFRY under the 1974 Constitution.

Miloshevich was only an excuse for the other nationalists, primarily Croatians, to justify their own nationalist and secessionists goals. In fact, in the late 1960's Tito came down hard on the Croatian nationalists within his own communist ranks -- the period known as the "Croatian spring." That never ended; it was merely subdued. So, Miloshevich was a convenient excuse to rekindle it. Slovenes objected to Kosovo because they did not want their funds to go to Kosovo relief. Kosovo was always impoverished because Albanians were too busy making babies and living off federal aid. They simply thought Kosovo was not their problem. The reasons for secessions among these states take on a completely different meaning when you dig past what you read in the media and some well choreographed "official truths."

[montyspython]

Boy you just got in way over your head on this thread son, your butt was just handed to you on a platinum plater. I suggest you take whatever is left of your posterior and hope that there is enough flesh left over to be even remotely recognizable as an ass.

Not even Hoplite can save you on this one boy.