Ethnic Passion: Milosevic backers wonder, why the fuss?,
Protests in capital stir disdain in countryside
GROCKA, Yugoslavia -- In the heart of Slobodan Milosevic country, people bargain for live chickens, haul firewood and try to figure out just what gives with those demonstrators in the nearby capital of Belgrade. While the daily marches against Milosevic in urban areas have garnered world attention, the Serbian president still seems to have the affection of supporters in rural pockets such as Grocka, 20 miles southeast of Belgrade's city center.Milosevic's supporters...
Ethnic Passion: OHIO SENATE RESOLUTION BACKS ISRAEL,
SOME LAWMAKERS SAY STATE SHOULDN'T BE TAKING SIDES IN MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
The Ohio Senate yesterday passed a resolution pledging its support for Israel in the fight against terrorism, despite the objections of some members who said the state was taking sides in the matter and should stay out. The Senate passed the resolution, sponsored by Republican Sen. David Goodman of Bexley, on a 28-4 vote.The resolution states that the Senate, "on behalf of the citizens of Ohio supports the State of Israel and her citizens in the campaign against terror and in...
Ethnic Passion: SOME WORKERS OF THE WORLD REFUSE THE OLD CALL TO UNITE
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Rallies in Slovenia. Marches in Serbia. Tension in Kosovo. Protests in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Flight from Romania's Transylvania. Riots in Azerbaijan.The fires of nationalism are being rekindled this year in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Balkans and east to the Caspian Sea. The sparks carry a defiant message for the communist governments."Simple," says Milovan Djilas, the most prominent dissident in...
Ethnic Passion: Nagorno-Karabakh remains trouble spot for Gorbachev
Moscow retains only titular control of Asian region plagued by unrest
BADARA, U.S.S.R. -- From the windows of her living room, Galya Israelyan can look down over the rooftops of this Armenian village, out to the green and gold mountains and the clearing where a few days ago her husband, Ruben, was shot dead.He was 32, and the father of five, including a newborn daughter, when he became a casualty in the Soviet Union's bloodiest and most intractable nationalist feud in recent years. Although the police say their investigation is unfinished, the...
Ethnic Passion: GOOD OLD REPRESSION DISTORTED MEMORY DEBILITATES THE IMPETUS TO PLUNGE AHEAD
As a tourist enters the 700-year-old Matthias Church, she is jostled in the crowd; moments later, she reaches into her pocket and cries, "My wallet is gone!" At the police station, she meets two couples, Dutch and German, also victims of pickpockets in the same place on the same afternoon.The policemen sympathize: Gypsies, they explain. Or a Bulgarian gang. It becomes apparent that the feeble authorities will do nothing to stop the systematic rip-off. This is not an...