I’.nnoRrnThomas FlemingrnIsXI’.CUTlVK KDFI’ORrnScntt P. RichertrnSl-NIOK KDI’IOR. BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnASSISTAN r EDIIORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DlRKCrORrnH. Ward SterettrnI:)KSK:;NI’,RrnMelanie AndersonrnCOMRIBUIING KniTORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhihh Jenkins, J.O. ‘Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRKSPONDINO EDriORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFILM KDI’IORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFORI’.IGN-AFFAIRS FOnORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLI’XiAL-AFFAIRS EDrrORrnStephen B. PresserrnRl’JJGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnCIRCUIA’I’ION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISIIFRrnThe Rockford InstituternA ]3ii1)lication of I’lic Rockford Institute.rnI’.tlitorial ;in(I AcKcrtising Offices:rny^S North Main .Street. Rockford, IE 61!(Ji.rn\ ebsite: \AA.chronielcsinaga/iiic.orgrnF.clitorial Phone: (81 5) 964-S(l54.rnAdvertising Plione: (815) y64-58n.rnSuhseription Department: P.O. Box 8()(),rnMonirl Morns. 11.611154. Gall 1-800-877-5459.rnGop right (<3 201)1 InThe Rockford Instihite.rn.]| rights resercd.rnClirniuchs: A Magazine of American Culturern(ISSN 0887-5751) is published nionlhly for $59.00rn(foreign snbscripHons add SI 2 for surface deliven’,rn$4S for ,Air Mail) |3er Near bv lire Rockford Institritc.rn928 North .Main Street, Roektord, IL 61105-7061.rnPreferred pcriodieal ]X)stagc jxtid at Rockford, IErn:ind ailditional mailing offices. POS’IMAS’I’F’.R:rnSend address changes to GVironrc/es, P.(). Bos .800.rnMountMorris, IE 61054.rnI be icvs epres.scd in Chronicler are thernauthors’ alone and do not nceessarik’ reflectrnthe slews of I’lie Rockford Instihite or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreliirncd unless accom]sanied b a self-addressedrnslanijx’d eiuelope.rnChroniclesrnVol. 2S, No. 7 )iiK ZOOlrnCrimuiiiitiK-CiiiticlStatonf” iiiuKMrnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn the American InterestrnSrdja Trifkovic’s twin contributions tornthe April 2001 issue (Cultural Revolutionsrnand “Sharon’s Victor)’ and U.S. Policyrnin the Middle East,” The American Interest)rnreveal the two sides of the samernsadly debased coinage of mindset whichrnhas led the Serbs into their present morass.rnHe writes that Yugoslav PresidentrnVojislav Kostunica “is a moral man . . .rnloathe to make compromises on an issuernof principle” (namely, whether to handrnSlobodan Milosevic over to The Hague’srnwar-crimes tribunal), whereas ArielrnSharon is a “19th-centur}’-st)’le nationalist”rnprime minister of an Israel that thernUnited States must support less ardentiyrn”in favor of cool evenhandedness” so thatrn”resingent Islam . . . a major threat tornglobal securit}'” will somehow becomernless of a threat.rnWhile everybody knows that EuropeanrnJews experienced cruel mass exterminationrnin World War II at the hands ofrnGerman forces and local groups workingrnon their behalf, virtually nobody knows,rneven today, that the same thing can bernsaid of the Serbs, hundreds of thousandsrnof whom perished in Croatian Vstashirnconcentration camps with the Nazis’rnblessing. This disparit)’ in public awarenessrnstems from the different opportunitiesrnto make and act on moral choicesrnthat presented themselves to the posKvarrnleadership of tlie two groups.rnThe Jewish leadership that emerged inrnthe West after World War II, and later inrnthe state of Israel, saw past their pain andrnanger and ruled out revenge as a strategyrnfor comeback and survival. Instead,rnbacked by the sympathy of the U.S.-rnaligned West, they knocked on everyrndoor with the message that the holocaustrnwas as much the product of the cool indifferencernof the world powers as it was ofrnreligious intolerance and tiie evil ideolog’rnof one government. They made supportrnfor Israel a moral issue throughrnwhich people could confront the enormit)’rnof all that wanton death, the detailsrnof which they have made sure are endlesslyrnkept in the public consciousness.rnDuring the Vietnam War, the UnitedrnStates began to back Israel not ouK- to satisfyrnthe U.S. public, which had becomernpro-Israel largely because of this informationrncampaign, but to align itself with thernindependent militarv winner that Israelrnhad unexpectedly become. News that Israelirnpilots were shooting down RussianpilotedrnMIGs over Egyptian airspace duringrnthe 1971 War of Attrition clinchedrnthe Pentagon’s high appraisal of the U.S.-rnIsrael militaiy alliance.rnBy contrast, after World War II, mostrnsurvi’ing Serbs were locked away in thernYugoslavia of Tito, whom the UnitedrnStates took to be an enemy of our enemy,rnbecause he appeared to def’ the Soviets asrnthey swallowed up Eastern Europe. In thern19S0’s, Tito’s own government, seeking tornsmother interethnic strife, successftilly demandedrnthat the United Nations withdrawrnpublications documenting the Serbianrnholocaust, the memory of whichrnsoon dropped out of public consciousness.rnTheir captivity under the communistsrnthrottled any public outcry over WorldrnWar II atrocities against the Serbs, as man)’rnSerbs rightfully feared retribution in Tito’srntorture chambers. Instead, among not justrnSerbs but virhially all of Yugoslavia’s otherrnethnic groups, an abiding, extremist “I9thcentury-rnstyle nationalism” won out as therndominant way of private thinking aboutrnwhat would eventually have to happen.rnWhen communist dontinion collapsed,rnwhat greeted the eyes of the world was notrna Serbian-led dri’c to bring old war crimiitalsrnto justice within an independent staternbased on the rule of law, but a ghastly nev’rnarchipelago of Serbian-run death campsrnorganized for no purpose save to resurrectrnthe horrors of World War II —only thisrntime randomly against non-Serbs, insteadrnof Serbs. Perhaps Yugoslav (read: Serbian)rnPresident Ko.stunica is a “moral manrn. . . loathe to make compromises on an issuernof principle,” but since we never heardrnof hini until after the aerial bombardmentrnstopped, we don’t know hov’ loudly hernhad denounced the ongoing atrocities, ifrnindeed he ever did.rnSuch people as passed for Serbianrnleaders after the communist collapsernchose revenge over reliance on moralrnsuasion and lawful behavior, and thernSerbs still suffer for it. Israel thrives, b’rncontrast, for having attracted friends byrneschewing blood revenge in favor ofrnmoral image-biulding. In the light of thernrecent spy-plane incident off the coastrnof China, Dr. Trifkovic ought to droprnthe pretentious “cool evenhandedness”rn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn