NO MORE COMMUNIST COUPS: THE WEST MUST DO FOR CROATIA WHAT THE EC JUST DID FOR THE BALTICS

(Washington, D.C.): The European
Community distinguished itself this week
by filling the vacuum in leadership
created by the Bush Administration’s
continuing refusal to recognize the
independence of Lithuania, Latvia and
Estonia. In doing so, the EC took
one of the most important — and tangible
— steps imaginable to rebuff the
communist perpetrators of last week’s
Soviet coup and to align itself squarely
with those committed to democracy and
free enterprise in the unravelling USSR.

Unfortunately, EC foreign ministers
meeting yesterday in Brussels could not
quite bring themselves to extend the same
support to another victim of a communist
coup — the breakaway Yugoslav
republic of Croatia. Instead,
the ministers issued a communique
threatening sanctions against Serbia if
federal and guerilla forces loyal to the
Serbian despot, Slobodan Milosevic, who
are engaged in bloody aggression against
Croatia, do not observe an EC-monitored
cease-fire by Sunday. They declined to
adopt a German plan for immediate
recognition of Croatia and neighboring
Slovenia on the grounds that it would
(inexplicably) “limit” their
options in the event Serbia begins a
large-scale assault on the breakaway
republics.

While the European Community’s
timidity has probably helped to ensure
that Serbian-sponsored violence against
the Croats will intensify, by contrast
with the United States’ performance in
this crisis, that of the EC seems like a profile
in courage. Just as the Bush
Administration has been seen as favoring communist
central authorities in Moscow over
Baltic independence — and hence has
lagged deplorably behind most Western
nations in extending recognition — the
U.S. government has steadfastly declined
to cross the communist central
authorities in Belgrade by actively
supporting democratic governments in
Croatia and Slovenia.

Fortunately, an opportunity to
strengthen the West’s position on
Yugoslavia is at hand. Senior officials
representing leading members of the
European Community will meet tomorrow
with their opposite numbers from the
U.S., Japan and Canada at a meeting of
the G-7 “sherpas.” While the
question of Soviet aid is expected to
dominate these discussions, the Center
for Security Policy strongly believes
that the Yugoslav situation deserves
urgent attention as well. The
Center urges the G-7 to intervene
immediately on behalf of Croatia by
offering recognition, political and
economic assistance — if not by the
dispatch of a contingent of armed
peace-keepers. At the same time,
these nations should threaten to render
“Greater Serbia” a pariah state
in terms of its standing as a member of
the community of nations and with respect
to access to Western resources (e.g.,
aid, trade and technology).

The Center also believes that a
very powerful signal could be sent by
Boris Yeltsin — showing the genuine
“New Thinking” his Russian
Republic is prepared to bring to
international affairs —
were he also to recognize Croatia and
Slovenia. Coming from a man who
has done so much to thwart the repressive
designs of Milosevic’s kindred spirits in
the USSR, such a message would greatly
hearten democratic forces in the
breakaway Yugoslav republics. It would
also immeasurably reinforce the deterrent
signal the West must now send to those in
Belgrade who hope to succeed with their
coup where the Soviet plotters failed.