Archives for March 22nd, 2005

The last JNA soldiers leave Koper, Slovenia. (October 25, 1991)

Although Slovakia.org is primarily dedicated to Slovakia, their FAQ has some rather interesting remarks about Slovenia. While explaining the difference between the two countries, they note that while Slovakia won independence peacefully:

"The nation-state of Slovenia… did experience the ravages of war in 1991 when it tried to break away from Yugoslavia."

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to use the word "ravage" (to bring heavy destruction on; devastate) when describing Slovenia’s independence war. It lasted ten days, killed 19 Slovenes and wounded 182. That’s roughly what happens when Croatia and Serbia play a handball match these days. No, no, I’m exaggerating, of course.

But here’s a fact: five times as many people died during a Great White rock concert in Rhode Island two years ago than Slovenes died during the entire war of independence. Even if you include JNA casualties (44) you won’t get more deaths than the so-called Station nightclub fire. I’m not saying this to diminish Slovenia’s efforts. It took balls of steel to stand up to the JNA in 1991, and Slovenes had them in abundance. But it’s ridiculous to say that the country was somehow demolished or ravaged by war.

Slovakia.org continues:

"Slovenia and Slavonia, unlike Slovakia, are part of the Balkans and have experienced violence and atrocities related to the recent wars in this region."

Atrocities? (n. An act of unusual or illegal cruelty inflicted by an armed force on civilians or prisoners?) Good Lord. For the record, there were no mass killings, no mass graves, and no concentration camps in Slovenia. There was no ethnic cleansing and no war crimes. It was a tense, ten-day stand-off with isolated incidents between Slovenes and JNA soldiers. So they’re either thinking of someplace else, or they just love hyperbole. I wonder how they would describe the recent Roma riots in eastern Slovakia? An annihilation?

U.S.-based Carniolan AZ2SI (who kindly pointed this site out to me) wrote to the authors to point out their exaggerations and was rebuffed. They refused to change the FAQ because, according to them, everything was "technically true" and it is the duty of Slovenes to live and deal with this horrible "stigma" (??) from their past. So much for clearing things up.

(Thanks AZ2SI!)