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Adam, Don't you remember when the Yugoslavs would go abroad to work and identify themselves as Yugoslavs? I remember that and the lack of hint of background resentment to being lumped together in one group with the other tribes who composed the Yugoslavs. These were als the impressions left by people with the fredom to come and go from their country, earn their money and return to build their dream life. Maybe tehmemories of the atrocities committen on one another during the way was enough to convince life was good enough without the need to slaughter the neighbor. Then again, Tito killing the opposition also had a calming effect - but the people did return to the country of their own free will.

Yes Adam, I tend to overlook the killing of Indians as we were pretty well done with that over a hundred years ago. To try to argue against your points, however, seems groundless. To think of it, we seem to display all the weaknesses the Euros do. The only advantage at the moment is that we ahve the might and the will to go out and spread murder and mayhem in foreign countries & Europe is in a resting phase - well, with a few hotspots! (Former Yugoslavia is as savage a corner of the world as there is).

It seems America is working on its racial problems and we are better now than we were 30 years ago, but by human nature it will never be eliminated. Look at the "unified Germans" and the feelings between the Preiss and the Bayer that still hang on. Then on top of that it seems we are getting into having a very exclusive super-rich layer and a poorer common people social layer, everything measured in dollars.

It is still amusing to watch the Wild White Tribes of Europe go at one another!

Kai

To add one more voice, here is a quotation from Kim il-Jong of North Korea, from the current Al Jazeera front page.

�U.S. emerged as a result of genocide�- Kim Jong-il
9/23/2005 9:05:00 AM
�The U.S. is the world's biggest human rights abuser as has profited from centuries of slavery and trafficking in flesh�.

You see, Kai, I'm not that sure if the 'Yugoslavs' have identified ThEMSELVES this way or just identified the country they have come from. BTW - the civil war by Tito killed circa 1 000 000 lives out of a 15 000 000 country - no wonder Tito had no opponents at all, but that doesn't necceserily mean that a new identity was forged, does it? AFAIK at least Croats and Serbs remained rather hostile towards each other throughout the existance of Tito's Yugoslavia. And the abrupt ending of that coubtry and the way it all went on rather suggests that even if some common identity existed it was very shallow and most non-Serbs felt overwhelmed by the Serbs. Or am I wrong?