free-market liberals —the sort who willrnimpose free-market solutions beforernthere is a market—and ex-communistsrnlooking for jobs in economic administration.rnThe theory satisfies the bureaucraticrnneed for an orthodoxy.rnThe Yugoslav economy was ruinedrnlong before 1991. It was in shamblesrnwhen Tito died. But the invocation ofrnEurope is simply implausible. Europernnever really wanted to deal with Yugoslaviarn—and it still doesn’t. It did notrnimpose defeat on Serbia—Milosevic didrnthat —and it did not try to overthrowrnMilosevic. It left the Albanian problemrnto the Americans. The only Europeanrnpolicy decision was to let German dislikernof Yugoslavia take its course. There is nornEuropean reconstruction policy today.rnMuch of the money that is available is intendedrnto help Balkan countries pay therninterest on their loans and condnue publishingrnglossy material about free markets.rnWhat Serbia needs is economic disciplinernfor the managerial class as severe asrnthat long imposed on ordinary workingrnpeople. Just as Britain was ruined as anrnindustrial power after 1945 by large softrnloans that permitted middle-class life tornerode sweetly for two decades whilernBritain’s industrial base was eliminatedrnby an overvalued currency, Balkan statesrnthat depend on global or E.U. financialrninstitutions will never flourish. BrankornHorvat has warned Croatia that the EuropeanrnUnion will not admit the Balkanrnstates in the foreseeable future. The Austro-rnGerman borderland —Slovenia, thernCzech Republic, and Poland —may getrnin soon, but even the admission of Hungaryrnis doubtful. The rest will get littlernmoney and less attention. The onlyrnchance for impoverished Eastern Europernis regional cooperation and the creationrnof new, internal sources of finance.rnThe Vidovdan abduction represents arngenuflection to great powers whose longtermrnbehavior it will not influence. Unfortunately,rnit explodes the self-respectrnand patriotic solidarity that is indispensablernfor slow, self-financed economic revival.rnThe miserable condition of thernpeople calls out for redress, and if the Serbianrnpeople had demanded extradition,rnno one would have blamed them. But itrnwas not the common people—the sufferersrn—who demanded the fire sale of theirrndignity to secure U.S. aid.rnModern states need a doctrine of government;rnthey cannot be managed on thernbasis of pragmatism alone —unless theyrnare to be dependencies. Serbia is committedrnto the quest for dependency. Therngoverning instinct in Belgrade is to lookrngood to the powerful, to sing their song.rnA period as the valued client of Germany,rnor even America, might makernsense, but is it possible? There is little evidencernyet that Milosevic’s abduction isrneven the preamble to such an arrangement.rnBut the taste of Western flattery isrnundoubtedly sweet.rn— Michael StentonrnA M O S PERLMUTTER, R.I.P. Asarnman and scholar, Amos Perlmutterrn(1931-2001) stood out for his intellectualrnhonesty, although rectitude in this casernwas wedded to a jovial personality and anrnunfailing wit. Having emigrated as arnchild alongside his parents and sisterrnfrom Europe to Israel, Amos served hisrnadopted country as a military officer. Byrnall accounts, he had served in three Arab-rnIsraeli wars, though he treated his militaryrnexperiences in an offhanded way,rnwithout dwelling on the risks to life hernhad incurred. He came to the UnitedrnStates to complete his education, receivingrna doctorate in political science atrnHarvard and subsequenfly teaching therernand at American University. Among hisrn16 books and multitudinous articles arernstudies on authoritarian government andrnon the building of the Israeli armedrnforces, a biography of Menachem Begin,rnand an exploration of the troubled relationsrnbetween FDR and Stalin (publishedrnin 1994 by the University of MissourirnPress).rnIn all of his major work, Amos was neverrnshy about expressing unfashionablernviews. In accordance with his stated reverencernfor George C. Patton, he displayedrna martial disregard for the socialrnimplications of what he said and published.rnDespite his longtime associationrnwith the right in both Israel and the UnitedrnStates, Amos published a highly criticalrnshidy of Israeli Premier Begin, whomrnhe showed to be a whiny, inept successorrnof the earlier right-wing Jewish nationalistrnZeev Jabotinsky. Having been commissionedrnby Policy Review to discussrnwhat some thought to be a flattering biography,rnI saw my piece killed when Irndiscovered that Amos had not producedrnthe desired puffery. When I asked whyrnhe had written such a biography given hisrnlikely markets, he explained quite simply:rn”That’s where the research took me!”rn(To my misfortime, Amos wrote a professionalrnrecommendation for me thatrnstressed our shared quality of speakingrnour minds, which, he went on to observe,rnwere explosively conservative.)rnHis death in June came as unexpectedrnnews. Although we had seen little ofrneach other since I left suburban Washington,rnI continued to read Amos’s publicationsrnand looked forward to meetingrnhim at professional gatherings. His distasternfor p.c. moralizing was vocal andrnwidely known; it was pure delight tornwatch him lash out in anger after listeningrnto some annoying windbag who hadrncornered him at a meeting or lecture.rn(Feminists were his special betes noires.)rnA few days before his death from intestinalrncancer (a condition he had keptrnhidden from his friends), Amos did anrnunforgettable kindness, faxing to myrnprospective publisher a letter full of highrn(and perhaps excessive) praise for a bookrnthat is now at press. It pains me to thinkrnof the discomfort to a very sick manrncaused by this act, but it is gratifyingrnnonetheless to recall this final kindnessrnfrom a generous and honorable spirit.rn-Paul GottfriedrnO B I T E R D I C T A : We’re pleased tornannounce the first of three new quarterlyrncolumns, which will alternate on p. 13.rnIn Breaking Glass, Chronicles contributingrneditor Philip Jenkins will wield hisrnacerbic wit to expose the truth about thern”smelly little orthodoxies” of our time.rnYou will find Dr. Jenkins’ column in thernMarch, June, September, and Decemberrnissues.rnOur poet this month is Donald Carlsonrnof Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Carlsonrnteaches English at a private school in FortrnWorth and, on occasion, at the Collegernof St. Thomas More. His poetry has alsornappeared in Poem and the Pawn Review.rnChronicles is illustrated this month byrnSt. Petersburg native Anatol Woolf, who,rnin addition to freelance work, has designedrnsets for theaters in Russia and providedrnillustrations for St. Petersburg TextbookrnPublishers. Since coming tornAmerica in 1987, Mr. Woolf has been arnfrequent contiibuting artist to Chronicles,rnas well as to the Washington Post, thernWashington Times, Policy Review, NationalrnGeographic Traveler, Legal Times,rnand Cricket. Mr. Woolf works with a varietyrnof materials, from watercolors tornpencil to acrylic. Further samples of hisrnwork are available on his Web page;rnwww. netcom. coml~a.woolfl.rnSEPTEMBER 2001/9rnrnrn