ously called a “Marxist specimen” and arn”second Goebbels”) entertained me withrnsimilar ideas of world unification. (Callrnit “globalization” if you wish.) And howrnabout New Age, or the Reverend Moon’srnmass wedding across the planet?rnSrdja Trifkovic mentioned in thernMarch issue that communism was not arnsnowy import from the Russian steppes,rnbut a pure European product, containingrnverities and falsehoods, intellectualrnerrors, mass-illusions. Yes, but so wasrnHitlerism: not a breakup of history but arnpart of it, with some respectable roots,rnand many poisonous consequences.rnLike Athens organizing the DelianrnLeague, like the Crusades, like Napoleonrnin Eg}’pt and in Russia —it is allrnhuman handiwork. One cannot outlawrnhistory or any of its chapters.rn—Thomas MolnarrnRidgewood, N]rnOn Nazism, Past andrnPresentrnIn “The Crime of History” (March),rnTomislav Sunic was correct that in bothrnthe East and the West the vilification ofrnNazism far exceeded any criticism ofrncommunism. This is evident even in ourrnnational politics, where the most damningrninvective that can be used against anrnopponent is to accuse him of being anotherrnHitler or (even worse) Joe McCarthy.rnHowever, Mr. Sunic goes too farrnby suggesting that “fear of the possible revivalrnof fascism” may “pave the way forrnthe renaissance of’real’ fascism.” Such arnstatement from someone who (howeverrnwell-intentioned he may be personally)rnrepresents Franjo Tudjman’s neo-fascistrnstate of Croatia would be almost amusingrnif it weren’t so tragic.rnWere the Serbian people just “paranoid”rnwhen (with American aid andrntechnology and the assistance of 15 retiredrnU.S. Army mercenary generals)rnSerbian men, women, and childrenrnwere driven from their ancestral lands inrnthe Krajina, thus reviving the independentrnstate of Croatia, first established inrn1941 by Adolf Hitler? Was it Serbianrnparanoia when, in Croatia’s 1995 “OperationrnStorm,” over 200,000 Serbs wererndriven from their homes, the largest exodusrnof refugees in Europe since WorldrnWar II? Was it paranoia when 5,000rnSerbs were murdered, and those too oldrnor infirm to escape the carnage had theirrnthroats slit or were shot in the back of thernhead or burned alive in their houses?rnEven when Croatian jets strafed fleeingrnrefugees, there was no condemnationrnfrom the “civilized” world whose attentionrnwas successfully distracted by stillrnunproven claims of genocide at Srebrenica,rnwhile the real genocide was takingrnplace against the Serbian people.rnThis is the same Croatia that greetedrnGerman troops early last year with thernstiff-armed fascist Sieg Heil salute (seernNewsweek, Jan. 6, 1997) without onernword of protest from the media or Congress.rnThe Nazi salute is now executed atrnofficial and non-official functionsrn(“Croahan Nazi salute sounded at funeral,”rnThe Times of London, August 8,rn1991).rnReuters News Service reported onrnFebruary 23 that a Croat rally againstrnSerbs turned ugly “when a group of 100rnCroats made fascist salutes, burnt Serbrnsymbols and blocked traffic at a rally intendedrnto intimidate Serb refugees inrneastern Croatia. . . . The latest gatheringrnwas in front of the Serb OrthodoxrnChurch in Baranjsko Petrovo Selo Sunday.rn. . . Participants built a large fire andrnburned objects with Serb symbols orrnwriting on them. Wliile standing aroundrnthe fire, drinking and singing, many participantsrngave fascist salutes. . . . The rallyrncame a day after unidentified attackersrnraked with bullets and threw grenades atrna Serb house in another village, woundingrna 70-year old Hungarian woman in arnhouse nearby.” Jewish leader, scholar,rnand historian Dr. Klara Mandich wroternin the London Independent, “What worriesrnus, is that those in power in Croatiarnare largely the same as in the Nazi era.rnIn some cases, they are exactly the samernpeople, now in their seventies and backrnfrom exile under Communists. In otherrncases, they are children of the Ustashi.”rnI certainly would not suggest that Mr.rnSunic is in sympathy with this undeniablerntendency in today’s Croatia; indeed,rnI would hope and expect that he is motivatedrnby a general hoshlity toward totalitarianismrnof any stripe: red, brown, orrnwhatever we might call what Clintonrnand Company are peddling today. Norrndo I mean to suggest that others in thernnew Balkan wars are innocent of similarrntendencies, whether we refer to the Islamicrnregime of Alija Izetbegovic inrnSarajevo or the Clinton-supported communistrnregime of Slobodan Milosevic inrnBelgrade. But it is at best the height ofrnnaivete —and at worst misrepresentationrn—to suggest that today’s regime inrnZagreb is anything less than the ideologicalrnheir of the “Independent State ofrnCroatia” of Ante Pavelic and his hench-rn- George ]atTasrnSterling, VArnOn the IRArnPatrick Walsh’s letter to the editor in thernApril issue of Chronicles resurrects arnlong-discredited lie about the “left-wingrnMarxist” IRA. For 15 years, that smearrnkept many Americans, including me,rnfrom supporting democracy for the occupiedrnIrish. Then, on July 5, 1987, thernLondon Observer reported that the liernhad been fabricated in the 1970’s byrnthen British Army Information CaptainrnColin Wallace. The Brihsh news mediarnpromptly and permanently ceased to referrnto the “Marxist IRA,” but the morernbrazen Chicago news editors, to whomrnwe had provided the Observer’s story,rncontinued to refer to the “Marxist IRA”rnuntil 1989, when they stopped withoutrnexplanation. Wallace later describedrnhow he and MI6 had succeeded in turningrnAmerica against the IRA by gettingrnU.S. news editors to believe his lie.rnWallace paid dearly for his recantationrnand his refusal to participate in staternterrorism: his bosses framed him for arnmurder, and he served some six years beforernhe was completely exonerated andrnfreed.rnWere Wallace’s Big Lie not so destructivernof democracy, it would be comicalrnto see Mr. Walsh attempt to revive itrna decade after a stake was driven throughrnits heart.rn—Mary O’SullivanrnChicago, ILrnOn Sling BladernSince I had emerged from the theater inrnFoley, Alabama, somewhat sickened afterrnwatching Sling Blade, imagine mvrnsurprise when I found Clyde Wilson endorsingrnthe film in Chronicles (CulturalrnRevolutions, November 1997). BecausernI’ve met Dr. Wilson and respect himrngreatly, I figured I must have been a shallowrnrube the first time I saw the film, andrnso I recently rented the video of the filmrnto see what I had missed.rnHowever, a second viewing only confirmedrnmy first impressions. The clue tornJUNE 1998/5rnrnrn