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'My Buddy Drojti Was Stationed At The Stream Tunnel That Connects To Our Hydroelectric Power Station When The Serbs Came Through It,' Said Our Host, Ante.
While the U. S. marks ten years after the attacks in N. Y that led straight to 2 wars and fundamental changes in how Northern Americans view their security, Croatia solemnly recollects the 1991 incursion of Serbian troops and shelling of one of their most loved cities, Dubrovnik. That started a 2 year war on their own soil.
"My friend Drojti was stationed at the stream tunnel that connects to our hydroelectric power station when the Serbs came through it," said our host, Ante. "He ran down the hill, jumped into the ocean and swam the twenty kilometers to the old town.
"The folks who could not leave Dubrovnik went into the old city because they suspected that the Serbs would never attack it," Ante continued, with bitterness in his voice. "But over 2,000 shells struck the city, and 68 percent of the buildings had damage, some completely gutted by fire."
As Cheri and I walked through the ancient town, over stone streets that were laid centuries gone, it was tough to fantasize the annihilation. Just when we saw the Serbian television photographs did the reality sink in. Now, lovingly and exactly rebuilt, Dubrovnik is once more a fabulous illustration of medieval life. And families still live there, doing the majority of the same stuff they did long ago. Only now, the Universal Teen can be found even here. While Ante gave us a personal history lesson, a group of younger people strolled noisily by, dressed pretty much the same as in the US, earbuds connected into their smartphones, giggling at us tourists.
"What's the economy like now?" I asked Ante.
"Not so good," he answered. "After the war, we had to reconstruct our industry, but lots of our folks had sold their property and left to the U.S, to New Zealand, England and other places. Many homes were deserted. After ten years, things started to enhance because Continentals started to build houses here, start companies, and tourists returned. Then in 2008, the global business recession just put everything into reverse. Tourism is just starting to improve. But we need other sources of industry."
I was thinking about the population emigrating, making a guess that most of them would be younger people, people who had not started a family. Having a look at the striking natural sweetness of the Dalmatian coast, I could see it's a place of great nourishment for the adult soul and really dull for children.
Ante confirmed that this was indeed the case.
"Our youth are not staying in enough numbers to create our future growth," he said. "Many of them are getting degrees in economics and business, but there aren't many growing industries here to use them."
This same story was repeated by Samoj (he liked to be called "Sam"), a person we shared drinks and a table with in Korcula, another walled town on an island of the same name further north. Sam is a Slovenian, trained as a solicitor and historian, working for a research institute in his home country of about 3,000,000 folks. We were fortunate to have such a convincing source of info, and we made use of it.
"So, Sam, what was the civil war about?" I asked. "It was portrayed by our media as an ethnic war, that so-called ethnic 'cleansing ' was what the Serbians were after."
Sam explained, "Well, actually , Serbs, Slovenians, Croats and Bosnians are ethnically identical. We share similar ancient roots going back to the time of the Illyrians who formed the 1st regional identity beyond small tribes about 3,000 years ago. The conflict goes back to when the Roman Empire broke up and was split between an eastern area and a western one. When that occurred, Catholicism under a Roman pope ruled the western empire, while the Eastern Orthodox Church was predominant in what came to be called the Byzantine Empire. The orthodox religion does not recognise the pope as the illustration of Jesus ' church, the priests can marry, and the sacraments are different, among many other things. Slovenia and Croatia are on the west side of the dividing line. The Serbian aggression was actually about religious 'cleansing, ' and of course, it was about money."
"How did economics play into the war?" I asked.
"Under Tito, when we were all one country, there was often equality across the larger nation," Sam said. "But the region of Slovenia was the economic powerhouse. We had a tiny fraction of the total population, but we were the source of thirty % of Yugoslavia's G. D. P. Croatia had the beautiful coast and many beautiful islands where ancient towns still prospered. Croatia was the holiday maker mecca for Yugoslavians and many EU states on either side of the Iron Curtain. Ever since Yugoslavia was first made after World War I, the Serbians, who were the most in number, wished to exercise the greatest influence over the course of the country. When Tito died, Serbian ambitions re-emerged, and their wish to control the two wealthiest regions of the old Yugoslavia drove them to invade when Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence."
It occurred to me as I listened to Sam that Jesus would find it tragic if he knew that in the name of saying sole rights to his legacy, envious folks would attempt to take away what others had out of envy and greediness. Perhaps he does know as reported tagza.com.
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