into three parts, Voivodina in the north, Kosovo in the south,rnand Serbia proper in the middle. Greater Serbia was a mythrnthat Tito was well able to keep under his control. In turn, however,rnTito rewarded the Serbs with leverage in the two most importantrnnerves of the Yugoslav government: high diplomacyrnand the Yugoslav army.rnThe targets of Serb rage are not just the proverbial CroatrnNazis and Muslim fundamentalists. All other neighboringrnnations, ethnic groups, and minorities are being put in the categoryrnof fascist world conspirators. Ironically, Croats and Serbsrnprobably hate each other most because they resemble eachrnother. Is it not true that racism is always directed at the Other,rnwho psychologically and morphologically always representsrnthe travesty of the Same? One does not discriminate againstrnbeasts; one discriminates against his likes. Following the logicrnof the cursed Other, a great number of Serbs, both in Serbiarnand Bosnia, are deeply convinced that ethnic cleansing is thernrightful way to pursue a noble struggle against Croatian fascismrnand Muslim fundamentalism, for which all military meansrnand tools are morally justifiable. The destruction of CroatianrnCatholic churches and Muslim mosques, the killing of thousandsrnof non-Serbs, bears witness to the never-ending logic ofrnthe worse. Tomorrow, times may change and political constellationsrnmay alter. Who will prevent tomorrow’s Albaniansrnor nearby Hungarians from similar mythical aggrandizementsrnThe Browningsrn(For Katherine McAlpine)rnby Richard MoorernMetaphysical dreadrnmade their spirits so restive!rnConfined to her bed . . .rnhe found that suggestive.rnBut her father loathed art.rnSo—cleverly, wittily—rnthey out-foxed the old fartrnand eloped to Italy.rnTo accomplish these ends,rnthey had many to thank—rntheir servants, their friendsrnand their pounds in the bank.rnTaint art with no penny!rnNo, ‘taint; but for the truernand the beautiful, anyrnold trust fund will do.rnand ethnic cleansing of Serbs? Permanent peace has neverrnmeant much in Europe; peace has always been seen by thernOther as punitive. Alas, European laws of the tragic are timeless,rnand their meaning lies only in the bowels of wild geese, orrnin the rhymes of the Greek chorus.. .rnThe Serbian government does not deserve all the blame forrnthe carnage in the Balkans. Western governments, particularlyrnthe United States and France, preached for decades thern”unity and integrity” of Yugoslavia, as if Yugoslavia could bernheld together by some French decree or State Departmentrnukase. The U.S. State Department (and especially its year-longrnchief apparatchik Lawrence Eagleburger), with its decadeslongrnsupport of “Yugoslavia’s integrity,” gave a decent alibi tornSerbia’s war of aggression. Hybrid Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia,rntwo virulently anti-German countries, fit geopoliticallyrninto the NATO doctrine of “double containment”: on the onernhand, they contained the Red Bear in the East; on the other,rnthey contained the mythical and unpredictable German in thernWest. Small wonder, therefore, that nobody in Washington orrnat Quai d’Orsay was ecstatic with the sudden unification ofrnGermany; nobody was too ecstatic with the sudden disintegrationrnof Yugoslavia, either. In the supreme irony of history,rnthis time around it is not the proverbial “ugly German” who isrndestroying the Versailles architecture. This time, the Versaillesrnarchitecture is falling apart due to its surreal Potemkin Hollywood-rnlike facade. Woodrow Wilson and his progeny have sufferedrna serious defeat in Europe.rnThe whole holy story of the Balkans has just begun to unravel.rnThe Serbian leadership in Belgrade shows great concernrnfor Serbs living in Croatia and Bosnia, but ignores the rights ofrnthe swelling tide of Albanians within its own house. Albaniansrnin Serbia, like the Palestinians, have perfectly learned an ancientrnwisdom, which Christian Europe forgot long ago: demographyrnis the continuation of politics by other, more enjoyablernmeans. Any cohabitation in the Balkans, any brand ofrnfederalism or “power-sharing,” which Western pundits preachrnuntil their dying breath, is out of the question. Endless warsrnseem to be the only answer. At some point, some outsider fromrna distant galaxy may reassemble bits and pieces of the scatteredrnBedin Wall and fence off different versions of the ethnic truthrnhere. Multiethnic countries are like prisons, in which citizeninmatesrncommunicate with the Other only after each is grantedrnhis own territorial imperative. Crammed into one promiscuousrncell, all hell breaks loose. Short of a giant mine fieldrnseparating Serbs and Croatians today, or Poles and Russians tomorrow,rnEurope will be entering another chapter of the HundredrnYears War. When different historical destinies clash,rnwhen different national mythologies collide, and when differentrngeopolitical tectonic plates start rattling under Eurasia,rnthen the myth of a united Europe will sound like a titanic joke.rnToday it is the turn of ex-Yugoslavs to live the violent beautyrnof their congested multiethnic laboratory. Tomorrow itrnmay be the turn of multiracial Marseilles, Frankfurt, or Brussels.rnThe West is moving full-speed ahead into its own Yugoslavrnpathology. Last year’s events in sunny Los Angeles have shownrnthat no paradigm, no academic model, no formula, and no singlerntruth can supply an answer for our multicultural future.rnThe multicultural daydream functions nicely in soft, sunny,rn”cool,” consumer society; with the first heavy clouds it spellsrnchaos of unbelievable proportions. Emile Cioran was rightrnwhen he wrote that if we knew what the future holds for us, wernwould immediately strangle our children. rn24/CHRONICLESrnrnrn