Letters ALL Edition

• Published in: The Christian Science monitor (1983)
• Main Author: Tom DiStefano, Eric A. Witte, and Mary Williams
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, Mass The Christian Science Publishing Society (d/b/a "The Christian Science Monitor"), trusteeship under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 29.05.1998
• ISSN: 0882-7729; 2166-3262

The article "Embattled Milosevic Opens Another Front" (May 21) on Slobodan Milosevic's latest machinations in Montenegro contains statements that require correction. The Kosovo crisis is interpreted as a threat to Milosevic's authority in Serbia-Montenegro, though it was Milosevic who fomented the crisis in Kosovo in the first place. By stripping Kosovo of its autonomy in 1989 and denying the rights of the 90 percent ethnic-Albanian majority of the province, Milosevic is the driving force behind the desire of Kosovars to separate from Serbia. Milosevic used Kosovo as a vehicle for his rise to power in the late 1980s, stoking Serbian nationalist feelings that subsequently tore Yugoslavia apart. The latest crackdown by Serbian police and Army units in Kosovo has served to re-ignite these nationalist passions in Serbia. Milosevic is successfully using Kosovo to distract Serbs from their international isolation and economic misery and to discredit domestic opposition to his authoritarian rule. National crisis, especially in Kosovo, is essential to Milosevic's grip on power.