A bleeding infant unattended

By Patrick Buchanan
The Washington Times, November 11, 1991

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;”
the
poet John Donne observed almost four centuries ago, “if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were.”

As the leaders of Europe conclude their NATO summit and move on to Maastricht in the
Netherlands to chat up political union, a bleeding part of Europe remains unattended. The infant
nation of Croatia is being stabbed to death in full public view by a Stalinist dictator, Slobodan
Milosevic.

For three months, since Slovenia broke free of Mr. Milosevic’s gang in Belgrade, Croatia has
been under assault. Disguised at first as an insurgency by volunteers to guarantee the rights of a
Serb minority (12 percent), the war against Croatia has been exposed for what it always was: a
war of annexation and terror — to murder freedom, liberty and democracy. Croatia is a Western
nation that is being pillaged and sacked, her cathedrals and churches, monuments and museums,
destroyed by communist barbarians, for wishing to be free.

Mr. Milosevic’s henchmen are transparent frauds when they claim to support ethnic
self-determination. Theses same thugs are denying majority rule to the 90 percent Albanian
population of Kosovo. Air attacks on cities where no Serbs live give the lie to Belgrade’s claim
to be defending minority rights. Croats are all fighting on their own soil.

Watching the Europeans pull down the shades, to avert the sight of the rape of Croatia, one is
reminded of the neighbors of Kitty Genovese. What kind of people did we defend all those years?

For two generations we put our own cities at risk to protect Berlin, Paris and Rome. Yet,
they
are willing to risk nothing, to do nothing, to prevent a neighbor from being butchered on their
own back steps. Can’t break up the big board meeting in Brussels.

Croatia is not some faraway desert emirate. It is a “piece of the continent, a part of the main,”
a
Western republic that belonged to the Hapsburg Empire and was for centuries first line of defense
of Christian Europe. For their ceaseless resistance to the Ottoman Turks, Croatia was proclaimed
by Pope Leo X to be the “Antemurale Christiantatis,” the bulwark of Christianity. But the New
Europe is about money not faith, and she has turned her back on the pope’s plea to come to the
aid of her persecuted brethren.

Where are the Germans? Are they so paralyzed by guilt over Adolf Hitler’s crimes they
cannot
order up a couple of divisions to chase Mr. Milosevic’s army back to Belgrade? Would it not be a
triumph for the West and freedom if a German army were seen driving to the rescue and liberation
of a beleaguered Balkan people, as French and Italian warships broke the Dubrovnik blockade?
After decades of tutelage and probation, it is time Germany assumed the duties that come with
being the greatest free nation in Europe.

And the Americans?

Was it only a year ago that our “democratists” were crying that the liberation of Kuwait,
neither
Western nor democratic, called for a U.S. Army to be sent halfway around the world? Croatia is
only 200 miles from Bavaria and the U.S. Army. Why is the liberation of autocratic Kuwait more
important to the West than the liberation of democratic Croatia from Stalinism? Was it just all
about oil?

What are we still in Europe for? To defend the Europeans for all time from impoverished
Russians so they can sit on their duffs in Maastricht and do currency reform?

For decades, it has been a knock on the Americans that “all they care about is the bottom
line”;
“the Americans will do anything for the ‘almighty dollar.'” What idealists we appear — alongside
these cynical Europeans.

Is no one considering the message that callous indifference to this butchery is sending the
revanchists in Moscow? They now know that when the time comes to settle accounts with the
Balts, they can rely on the Europeans to not even glance up from their stock market tapes. What
does a New World Order, a Pax Universalis, mean if, in the heart of Europe, communist
massacres can still take place with only pathetic diplomatic protests?

This is first and foremost a crisis of Europe. But, if no one else will, America should take the
diplomatic lead. (President Bush has at least announced economic sanctions.)

First, recognize Slovenia and Croatia, now, and don’t wait to be 37th in line as we were with
Lithuania. Continued U.S. refusal to recognize their independence is a de facto American tilt
toward Belgrade. Second, lift the arms embargo on Croatia, so her patriots can at least go down
fighting. Third, call in Belgrade’s loans, cut off her credit, and put the regimes in default. Fourth,
demand access to Croatia’s towns for human rights groups to investigate reports of atrocities and
massacres. Fifth, warn Belgrade that, if necessary, the United States will break relations and
support a German or German-French army of liberation. Sixth, invite the French and Italian fleets
— to join the 6th Fleet — in breaking the siege of Dubrovnik.

When the 13 Colonies first declared their independence, the first republic that proved brave
enough to extend diplomatic recognition to the men who had stood up to the mighty British
Empire was the tiny Croatian city-state of Raguso — now known as Dubrovnik. Why not have
the 6th Fleet return the favor and show Old Glory in the harbor?

All the Croatians want is what we once wanted — to be free.

Patrick Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist.