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TOUGH TALK
TO
THE SOVIETS
from two powerful Eastern leaders: Romania 's Ceausescu, left, asserted at last fall's
European Security Conference that al/ European nations had the right to be " fui/y
masters
of their own destinies and to
build their own future as they wish, without any outside interference." President Tito of Yugoslavia, right, taking a strol/
at the Helsinki meeting, told delegates (but again with
Russia
clearly in mind): " We demand unconditional respect fo r
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country. "
Collective Presidency
To carry on the ship of state a fter–
wards, Tito · has created an eight–
man collective state presidency. The
eight a re to represent Yugoslav ia 's
six republics and two autonomous
regions.
Since no national - truly Yugo–
stav as opposed to regional - figure
has eme rged to pick up Tito's
ma ntl e, the collective coocept is the
way he has chosen to deal with the
centrifuga! force of regional oation–
alism, which a lways lies just below
th e surface of Yugoslav politics.
Four years ago, fo r example, Ti'to
fe lt compelled to crack down hard
on sepa ra tism in his own native
Croat ia which he felt , if left un–
checked, would have threa tened the
whole federal system.
A flare-up of separatism wou ld
play straight into th e ha nds o f th e
greates t fea red threat of al! - direct
Soviet intervcnlion Lo forceably re–
turn Yugoslavia to its fo rmer place
in the Eastern bloc. By playing off
one oationality against another and
heati ng up a national crisis, rival,
clandestine, pro-Moscow Commu–
nists woul d be a l! too wiLHn g to issue
th e invitation to the Red Army to
" restorc o rder. " And that wou ld be
The
PLAIN TRUTH
June
1976
the end o f
Y
ugoslavia 's twenty-eight
yea rs o f independence.
"AII-Nation Defense"
No t that Yugoslavi a would be
that easy a mark. Her army, relying
heavily on tactics success fully devel–
oped in the rugged mountain war–
fare days of World War II, is tough
and well-equipped. To stay that
way, Belgrade is con sidering t he re–
sumption of American a rms pur–
chases. A new jet fighter is being
built in conjunction with neighbor–
ing Roma nia .
And beginning last fa ll , a course
in "all-nation defense" against fu–
ture a ttack was begun in selec ted
universi ti es to provide graduales
who will teach the s ubject in aU
schools - from elementary to uni–
versity LeveL
"The involvement o f women a nd
yo ungsters is in itself a calcula ted
de terrent to a n invade r who might
not waot to risk the international
opprobrium thatthe sla ughter of
in–
nocent women and children would
bring," a Weste rn military specialist
sa id. "The a ll-na tion defense idea
would essen tia lly be a holding op–
era tion to allow the military to o rga–
nize fu ll-scale resista nce."
O ne thi ng is for ce rtai n. If Yugo–
slavia
were
ever brought back into
the Moscow-dominated East Euro–
pean bloc, the ramifications would
be immed iate and disas trous for the
West. NATO simply could not sur–
vive with a Yugoslavia in the War–
saw Pact - one reasoo be ing that
t he Sovie t navy would be able to use
Yugoslav ports on the Adriatic j ust
across fr om polit ica lly .u ns table
Ita ly.
There is an o ld saying that when
something moves in the Balkans,
Europe quivers. Th is is why the
post-Tito era looms so la rge fo r all
of Europe.
Romania's "Tito"
No two neighboring countries could
be more diss imila r in so many re–
spects than Yugoslavia and Ro–
manía - t he next step on our trip.
Yet the two sha re one very impor–
ta nt common factor: a powerfu l po–
litical personality at the helm.
What Tito has been to Yugoslavia
for many yea rs, Nicolae Ceausescu
since 1965 has been to Romania .
Critics in other East bloc countries
claim that a "cu lt of personal ity"
has been constructed around the 58
year old leader. And not without
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