Balkans

CETINJE, Montenegro -- In the arid mountains of this tiny Yugoslav republic, where myths seem to spring to life in the smoky cafes, men and women still believe in heroes.They believe in Njegos, the great 18th-century poet and king, who drove many of his people to their deaths fighting the Turks. They believe in King Nicholas; in the early 1900s, surrounded by the Hapsburg empire on three borders, he refused to be dominated by a foreign power.And now, it seems, they have found a new hero in their new pro-Western president, Milo Djukanovic -- a former Communist insider dubbed "The Penknife" for his sharp criticism of opponents.

A couple of black-and-white stick figures and a dead body: after 22 years in Baltimore, Dr. Paramjit Joshi had come to expect drawings like this from children traumatized by violence. Then she went to the Balkans. There she met children who had seen fathers and brothers lined up and shot, homes and churches burned to rubble. These children drew in color and detail. In their pictures, people had flesh on their bodies and hair on their heads. Landscapes had trees, grass, butterflies and sun, along with warplanes, bombs, sirens and house fires.

WASHINGTON -- Greece is the birthplace of democracy, tragedy and comedy, and all three are elements in the political struggle now under way to replace the country's ailing prime minister, Andreas Papandreou.Hospitalized with failing lungs and kidneys nearly a month ago, Mr. Papandreou, 76, remains critically ill and with little hope of resuming his duties. But his hold on his party and, in a sense, on the country remains so strong that no one has made a decisive move to oust him; the inevitable transition to new leadership has stalled.

FROM Robert Kaplan's "Reader's Guide to the Balkans," in a recent issue of the New York Times Book Review:"History, like hate, is the product of memory, and memory is composed of unforgettable detail -- sights, smells, sounds, exalted emotions, grim statistics and cruel ironies. A memory is not subject to condensation. Made to fit inside the narrow strictures of a television sound bite or a newspaper column, it loses all meaning. It becomes just another lifeless fact that can never convey how people have come to think and behave as they do."

Be a 4Kids DectectiveVisit these Web sites to find the answers, then go to http://www.4Kids.org/detectives/1. In 1921, which kingdom was established in the Balkans?2. What does EPA stand for?Turn Down the HeatHow serious are changes in the world's climate? They'rexpected to affect our forests, crop yields and water supplies. Global warming could also threaten human health. At the EPA's Global Warming Web site, you'll get all of the information you need. Go green at http://www.epa.gov/oppeoee1/ and discover what you can do to put a lid on the greenhouse gas emissions wreaking havoc on our atmosphere.

WASHINGTON - Then-President George H.W. Bush warned Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic in December 1992 that the United States will take steps to prevent violence spreading into Macedonia and Kosovo. This statement was repeated in February 1993 by then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher at the outset of the Clinton administration. Such a ringing and unequivocal statement is needed again. While U.S. support and involvement have played an important role in Macedonia's remaining peaceful and stable for nearly 10 years, a strong U.S. commitment is necessary today to ensure the peace.

Bismarck was right about the BalkansWhen confronted by the eternal problems of the Balkan peoples, Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of pre-World War I Germany, wisely stated that the whole of the Balkans "was not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier."Unfortunately for the German people and all the peoples of Europe, the irresponsible Kaiser Wilhelm sacked Bismarck.The kaiser disregarded Bismarck's wise Balkan policy. When the Sarajevo mess of 1914 occurred, the emperor backed up the Austro-Hungarians with tens of thousands of grenadiers and the world quickly slid into World War I.Nothing has changed in this festering quadrant of Europe since Bismarck's time.

DESPERATE to save the Bosnian peace process, Western powers are putting enormous emphasis on elections due to take place by mid-September. The results could lack credibility and even add to ethnic tensions. But the U.S. and its allies fear that if the election is postponed, international intervention in the Balkans will fail.In meetings this past weekend with Serb, Croat and Muslim leaders, Secretary of State Warren Christopher was reduced to frustration and fulmination. He reiterated demands for the arrest of accused Serb war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, but said the election would go on even if they are still at liberty.

BRCKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright completed a two-day visit yesterday to the Balkans that brought few immediate results but appeared to inject a new sense of urgency into the uphill process of rebuilding the war-ravaged region.After meeting in Sarajevo with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and walking through some of the most damaged parts of the capital, Albright traveled to this northern Bosnian town to celebrate a modest but important achievement of her visit -- the reopening of a one-lane bridge across the Sava River connecting northern Bosnia-Herzegovina to Croatia and the rest of Europe.

President Clinton's only real diplomatic business during his largely ceremonial D-Day trip to Europe focused predictably on Bosnia, where U.S. policy has been moving away from the interventionism urged by Americans who see the civil war as a genocidal campaign by Serbs against Muslims. When Mr. Clinton spoke before the French General Assembly, the Balkans were very much on his agenda -- as they were when Woodrow Wilson was accorded the same honor on Feb. 3, 1919.At that time, U.S. allies in World War I were carving up the map of Europe, a process that included formation of the new state of Yugoslavia.