It
took a second dictatorship - Tito's - to hold it together for
another 40 years.
The Balkan as a whole - from Hungary, through Romania and down to
Bulgaria - was prone to authoritarianism and an atavistic, bloody
form of racist, "peasant or native fascism". A primitive region of
destitute farmers and vile politicians, it was exposed to world gaze
by the collapse of communism. There are encouraging signs of
awakening, of change and adaptation. There are dark omens of
reactionary forces, of violence and wrath. It is a battle fought in
the unconscious of humanity itself. It is a tug of war between
memories and primordial drives repressed and the vitality of those
still close to nature.
The outcome of this fight is crucial to the world. Both world wars
started in central eastern and south-eastern Europe. Globalization
is no guarantee against a third one. The world was more globalized
than it is today at the beginning of the century - but it took only
one shot in Sarajevo to make this the most sanguineous century of
all.
An added problem is the simple-mindedness, abrasiveness and sheer
historical ignorance of America, the current superpower. A nation of
soundbites and black or white stereotypes, it is ill-suited to deal
with the nuanced, multilayered and interactive mayhem that is the
Balkan.
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