RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 154, 99-08-11

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 154, 11 August 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ALLY OF ARMENIAN PREMIER APPOINTED YEREVAN

[02] ARMENTEL CASE MAY BE SETTLED OUT OF COURT

[03] U.S. CONGRESSMEN ADVOCATE DIRECT TALKS BETWEEN

[04] RUSSIA TO INVESTIGATE GEORGIAN BOMBING

[05] IMF URGES KAZAKHSTAN TO SPEED UP REFORMS

[06] KAZAKHSTAN ELECTION OFFICIAL FAILS TO CLARIFY

[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S COSSACKS AT ODDS OVER EMIGRATION

[08] KYRGYZ AUTHORITIES CONTINUE TALKS WITH

[09] TAJIKISTAN EXTENDS DEMILITARIZATION PROCESS

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] UCK'S CEKU SAYS SERBIAN PARAMILITARIES STILL

[11] ...DENIES ORGANIZING MITROVICA PROTESTS

[12] RICHARD VISITS MITROVICA

[13] UN POLICE KEEPS NEPALESE, BANGLADESHI POLICEMEN

[14] RECONSTRUCTION OF GJAKOVA'S BAZAAR BEGINS

[15] NEW NATO FORCE FOR ALBANIA

[16] SERBIAN CHURCH LIMITS SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION

[17] ARTEMIJE: RALLY IS 'NO PLACE' FOR SERBIAN

[18] SERBIAN BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR CLINTON?

[19] PROTESTERS RALLY IN PIROT

[20] LESKOVAC TELEVISION SUSPENDS NOVKOVIC

[21] HAGUE TRIBUNAL TO EXPAND INDICTMENT OF

[22] SREBRENICA VICTIMS FOUND IN MASS GRAVE

[23] CROATIA UNLIKELY TO EXTRADITE 'TUTA' TO HAGUE

[24] ITALIAN STAR TENOR TO OUTSHINE ECLIPSE IN

[25] ROMANIAN MENINGITIS EPIDEMIC CONTINUES TO SPREAD

[26] MOLDOVAN POLITICIANS REACT TO STEPASHIN'S

[27] BULGARIA SEEKS LIBYAN REPLY ON DETAINED

[C] END NOTE

[28] IMPULSE 99: LOOKING AHEAD OR GLANCING BEHIND?

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ALLY OF ARMENIAN PREMIER APPOINTED YEREVAN

President Robert Kocharian has named deputy

parliamentary speaker Albert Bazeyan mayor of Yerevan,

Noyan Tapan reported on 11 August. Bazeyan, who is 43,

was a prominent member of the Yerkrapah Union, which was

founded in 1993 by then Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsian

and whose members are primarily veterans of the Karabakh

war. Also on 11 August, Noyan Tapan reported that Eduard

Yegorian, a former leading member of the Armenian Pan-

National Movement who quit that party in 1997 to form the

Hairenik parliamentary faction, died suddenly the previous

day. Yegorian was one of the authors of the Armenian

Constitution. LF

[02] ARMENTEL CASE MAY BE SETTLED OUT OF COURT

Yerevan court has postponed until 20 September

consideration of the case brought by the Armenian

government against Greece's state-controlled OTE and the

U.S.-registered Trans-World Telecom, which owned a 49

percent stake in Armenia's telecommunications monopoly

ArmenTel before the latter's acquisition by OTE in 1998,

RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 10 August. The

Armenian government claims that the Trans-World Telecom

owes some $8 million in profit tax on the proceeds of the

sale of its stake to OTE. The delay is intended to give the

three parties the opportunity to settle the dispute out of

court. LF

[03] U.S. CONGRESSMEN ADVOCATE DIRECT TALKS BETWEEN

Meeting in Stepanakert on 10 August

with Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a visiting delegation of five U.S.

Congressmen said they will urge Azerbaijan's President

Heidar Aliev to engage in direct talks with the Karabakh

leadership on resolving the conflict over the enclave's status,

Interfax reported. The congressmen also met with Karabakh

Premier Anushavan Danielyan, who echoed Ghukasian's

expression of thanks for U.S. direct aid to the enclave. But

Danielyan added that humanitarian programs should be

replaced by mutually beneficial economic cooperation, noting

that Nagorno-Karabakh has created a beneficial climate for

foreign investment. LF

[04] RUSSIA TO INVESTIGATE GEORGIAN BOMBING

Georgian Foreign Ministry addressed a diplomatic note to

Russia on 10 August protesting the bombing of a Georgian

border village by Russian aircraft and demanding an

investigation of the incident, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 10 August 1999). Spokesmen for the Russian

Foreign and Defense Ministries told Interfax that Moscow is

prepared to send experts to Georgia to conduct an

investigation. LF

[05] IMF URGES KAZAKHSTAN TO SPEED UP REFORMS

document released on 9 August summarizing its annual

review of the Kazakh economy, IMF directors expressed

regret that the fund has been unable to reach an agreement

with Kazakhstan's government on measures that would

enable the country to qualify for further Extended Fund

Facility loans, Reuters and Interfax reported. The fund had

urged the Kazakh leadership to speed up reforms, cut

budget spending, improve tax collection, keep interest rates

high, and remove import controls in order to curb inflation. It

had also stressed the importance of timely payments of

wages and pensions. LF

[06] KAZAKHSTAN ELECTION OFFICIAL FAILS TO CLARIFY

Kazakhstan's

Central Electoral Commission chairwomen Zaghipa Balieva met

with editors of Kazakh periodicals in Almaty on 10 August,

RFE/RL's correspondent in the former capital reported.

Balieva was unable to say whether the new Kazakh election

law places any restrictions on the use by political parties and

individual candidates of independent media outlets to

publicize their election programs. The law gives candidates

the right to 15 minutes free access on state TV and 10

minutes on state radio, plus two articles in the state-run

press. But under cost-cutting measures announced last

week, the number of state-run newspapers that receive

government funding has been reduced to three (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 5 August 1999). Journalists at the press

conference argued that the reduction in the number of state-

run newspapers may deprive some candidates of free access

to the print media. LF

[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S COSSACKS AT ODDS OVER EMIGRATION

press conference in Almaty on 10 August that he disagrees

with the assertion by rival Cossack leader Vladimir

Ovsyannikov that the Semirechie Cossacks are planning to

leave Kazakhstan if the country's leadership continues its

policy of discrimination toward them, Interfax reported (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 5 August 1999). Belyaev further took

issue with Ovsyannikov's claim that some 150,000 Semirechie

Cossacks wish to leave Kazakhstan. According to Belyaev,

Ovsyannikov's Semirechie Cossack Union has no more than

60,000 members, while his own Semirechie Cossack

Community numbers 250,000. The community's press

secretary, Fedor Miroglov, said at a press conference that

the community plans to picket President Nursultan

Nazarbaev's Almaty residence on 14 August to protest the

Kazakh authorities' refusal to register the organization. LF

[08] KYRGYZ AUTHORITIES CONTINUE TALKS WITH

The Kyrgyz authorities on 10 August continued

negotiations with the 21 Uzbek guerrillas who have taken up

positions in southern Kyrgyzstan's Batken district and are

holding four Kyrgyz officials hostage there, RFE/RL's Bishkek

bureau reported. Presidential administration official Bolot

Dzhanuzakov told AP that the Kyrgyz leadership does not

want to use force against the guerrillas. Interfax reported

that the Kyrgyz authorities are maintaining contact with the

governments of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The guerrillas

were based in Tajikistan but are demanding free passage to

Uzbekistan. Meanwhile some 1,000 civilians have been

evacuated from Batken and 200 police sent to the region. LF

[09] TAJIKISTAN EXTENDS DEMILITARIZATION PROCESS

Tajik government and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO)

agreed on the creation of joint working groups charged with

disarming maverick groups that are not subordinate to the

UTO, Interfax and AP-Blitz reported. President Imomali

Rakhmonov decreed on 4 August that no criminal

proceedings will be brought against fighters who surrender

their weapons by 24 August. Also on 10 August, OSCE

Chairman-in-Office Knut Vollebaek issued a statement

welcoming the completion of the disarmament of UTO armed

formations. Vollebaek also urged the government to lift the

existing bans on opposition political parties and media outlets

and speed up preparations both for the 26 September

referendum on amendments to the country's constitution and

for the subsequent presidential and parliamentary elections.

LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] UCK'S CEKU SAYS SERBIAN PARAMILITARIES STILL

General Agim Ceku, who is chief of the

General Staff of the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK), told

RFE/RL's South Slavic Service on 10 August that the Serbian

government has secret service agents and paramilitary

forces in Kosova "in order to create an unstable and insecure

situation." "The UCK has guaranteed all citizens of Kosova

peace and security," he noted. "We are concerned about any

incident that takes place because there are many people

who blame every incident on the UCK. The UCK is therefore

very interested in catching those who commit the crimes." He

stressed that "there were accusations recently that [some]

UCK commanders do not have their people under control, but

I can assure you that we do have control over the army. The

military hierarchy is functioning." FS

[11] ...DENIES ORGANIZING MITROVICA PROTESTS

also denied recent charges by French KFOR officials that

the UCK organized the recent Mitrovica protests (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 9 August 1999). "This is not true," he

said, adding that "the UCK commander of that region has

done very much to ease the tensions there." Ceku

stressed that "we want to solve every problem in

Kosova in cooperation with KFOR. It is the obligation of

KFOR [however] to deal with the situation in Mitrovica."

He added that his group will not agree to a partition of

Kosova. "KFOR is supposed to create security on the

ground," he commented. "We do agree to that but have

to say that [their efforts have] been insufficient so far.

In our history, someone else has always held our fate in

his hands.... KFOR is not always going to be here and we

wish to build our own security system...to make sure

that everybody...can return to Kosova." FS

[12] RICHARD VISITS MITROVICA

Richard and Kosovar leaders Hashim Thaci and Ibrahim Rugova

agreed in Prishtina on 10 August that all ethnic groups in

Mitrovica must be able to live there in security, Reuters

reported. They failed to agree, however, on how to reach

that goal. Richard said that "this has to take time... We know

that to achieve [a safe environment] in Mitrovica is fairly

difficult." He added that "several hundred" persons have been

able to cross between northern and southern Mitrovica

freely in the recent past, but he warned that allowing large

crowds of ethnic Albanians to cross into the north will trigger

fighting with Serbs there. He argued that only a political

accord between the two sides can open the way for

reunification. Richard predicted that "the efforts made by

French troops there will be successful in the end." FS

[13] UN POLICE KEEPS NEPALESE, BANGLADESHI POLICEMEN

Swedish Colonel Michael Jorsback, who is the

chief of staff of the UN police in Kosova, told AP on 10

August that he has put the deployment of 50 policemen from

Nepal and 36 from Bangladesh "on hold" because they are

poorly qualified. He said that the Nepalese arrived without

handguns and that the Bangladeshi policemen are

administrative personnel who lack the training as "street

cops." Jorsback said the men failed to meet "UN standards."

Another group of 13 Bangladeshi police will be deployed in

the force, however. FS

[14] RECONSTRUCTION OF GJAKOVA'S BAZAAR BEGINS

Albanian workers began clearing away the rubble of Gjakova's

medieval Ottoman bazaar on 10 August, launching a U.S.-

funded project to rebuild it, Reuters reported. Serbian forces

firebombed the Old Town of Gjakova on 25 March, razing it to

the ground. The bazaar boasted more than 700 businesses

and 200 homes. The reconstruction project, named "Gjakova

2000," is funded by the U.S. Agency for International

Development. About 1,500 residents of Gjakova were killed

by Serbian forces or remain unaccounted for. FS

[15] NEW NATO FORCE FOR ALBANIA

Eriksen told Reuters in Tirana on 10 August that NATO plans

to deploy a new force of some 2,500 troops--codenamed

AFOR-2--in Albania in September. That force will provide

logistical support to KFOR and will be led by KFOR commander

General Sir Mike Jackson. AFOR-2 will replace the outgoing

AFOR, which provided humanitarian assistance during the

Kosova war and still has some 4,500 troops in Albania. AFOR

will end its operations by the end of August. Eriksen said that

AFOR-2 will continue to carry out infrastructure work,

including repairs to the road linking Durres and Kukes. FS

[16] SERBIAN CHURCH LIMITS SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION

bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church from Serbia,

Montenegro, and the Republika Srpska decided on 10 August

not to take part in the opposition-led demonstration slated

for 19 August in Belgrade. The Church leaders nonetheless

appealed in a statement to Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic and Serbian President Milan Milutinovic to resign.

The bishops stressed that the time has come for new

leaders to take Serbia out of its isolation and deal with its

myriad domestic problems. The bishops called on the

international community to end sanctions against Serbia and

to protect Serbs and their holy places in Kosova. PM

[17] ARTEMIJE: RALLY IS 'NO PLACE' FOR SERBIAN

Serbian Orthodox Archbishop Artemije said in

Belgrade on 11 August that the bishops decided that a

political rally is "not the place" for Patriarch Pavle to appear.

Artemije stressed that the bishops' statement "is a sufficient

message for those who want to listen." Artemije is Kosova's

leading Orthodox cleric and frequently speaks at political

gatherings. Observers note that the bishops' decision to limit

their political role to moral support for the opposition stems

partly from a reluctance to become identified too closely with

any individual opposition leaders (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10

August 1999). Furthermore, several bishops support the

regime and may have forced pro-opposition bishops to agree

to a compromise. Pro-government media have recently

criticized the Church for "taking the same position and using

the same vocabulary as the opposition." PM

[18] SERBIAN BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR CLINTON?

Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj's Radical Party charged

in a statement on 10 August that the opposition has slated

its rally for 19 August "because that is U.S. President Bill

Clinton's birthday." PM

[19] PROTESTERS RALLY IN PIROT

attended an anti-Milosevic protest in Pirot, which is in eastern

Serbia, on 10 August. Demonstrations attended by several

hundred people also took place in both Leskovac and

Kragujevac. PM

[20] LESKOVAC TELEVISION SUSPENDS NOVKOVIC

management of Leskovac Television has decided to lay off

technician Ivan Novkovic, who recently completed a 30-day

sentence for broadcasting a call for an anti-Milosevic

demonstration (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 August 1999). The

management said in a statement that Novkovic remains

suspended until an investigation against him for "violating

work rules" is finished. The statement added that

management "seriously doubts" that Novkovic acted alone.

The Belgrade daily "Danas" of 11 August points out that the

management statement is dated 22 July but that the director

who signed it quit his job on 15 July. PM

[21] HAGUE TRIBUNAL TO EXPAND INDICTMENT OF

A spokesman for the Hague-based war crimes

tribunal said on 10 August that the court may expand its

indictment of Milosevic to include charges of genocide and

forced expulsion, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported.

New evidence linking Milosevic to those crimes has recently

come to light in Kosova, the spokesman added. In May, the

tribunal indicted Milosevic on three counts of crimes against

humanity and one count of violating the laws or customs of

war (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 May 1999). PM

[22] SREBRENICA VICTIMS FOUND IN MASS GRAVE

spokeswoman said in Sarajevo on 10 August that UN forensic

experts have confirmed that a mass grave in northeastern

Bosnia contains the remains of about 250 victims of the

Srebrenica massacre. She described area near the grave as

an "execution site" and noted that many of the victims had

their hands tied behind their backs. The spokeswoman

stressed that the UN appeals to Bosnian Serb authorities to

arrest indicted war criminals still at large. Some 7,414 people-

-mainly Muslim males--are still officially classified as "missing"

from Srebrenica, which fell to Bosnian Serb forces in July

1995. PM

[23] CROATIA UNLIKELY TO EXTRADITE 'TUTA' TO HAGUE

Zagreb district judge said on 10 August that Mladen "Tuta"

Naletilic is seriously ill with tuberculosis and a heart condition

and hence is unable to stand trial, "Vjesnik" reported.

Observers note that if a panel of legal experts upholds the

court's ruling, "Tuta" is unlikely to complete his current trial

and will remain in hospital. Chances would then be slim that

the Zagreb authorities will extradite him to The Hague, where

the international war crimes tribunal wants to try him for

atrocities committed against Muslims during the 1993-1994

Croatian-Muslim conflict. Croatian authorities placed Vinko

"Stela" Martinovic, who was a colleague of "Tuta" in Bosnia, on

a flight bound for The Hague on 9 August. PM

[24] ITALIAN STAR TENOR TO OUTSHINE ECLIPSE IN

Luciano Pavaroti is the main attraction of the solar

eclipse in Bucharest, the only European capital from which the

phenomenon could be watched in its full magnitude. The

Italian tenor will sing in the evening of 11 August on

Bucharest's Constitution Square. With tickets costing $200 a

piece, it is highly unlikely that many Romanians will be able to

attend the concert. Foreign tourists besieged Ramnicu

Valcea, a mountainous resort 150 kilometers northwest of

Bucharest, where the full eclipse was of the longest duration.

The town's church bells rang during the eclipse to scare

away evil spirits, in line with Romanian folklore. Meanwhile in

neighboring Bulgaria, Communist Party leader Vladimir Spasov

on 10 August told Reuters that the phenomenon heralds the

collapse of capitalism: "The world will be covered with

darkness and then the sun will rise again, to bring back to life

the ideal of communism, the most humane system," he said.

MS

[25] ROMANIAN MENINGITIS EPIDEMIC CONTINUES TO SPREAD

people have been affected by the current meningitis

epidemic, with the largest number of cases, 381, registered

in Iasi County. It said the postponement of the school year is

being considered since most of those who have contracted

the illness are young people, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau

reported. So far, no deaths from the illness have been

registered in this latest epidemic. MS

[26] MOLDOVAN POLITICIANS REACT TO STEPASHIN'S

Prime Minister Ion Sturza told journalists in

Chisinau on 9 August that he was "shocked" to learn about

the dismissal of his Russian counterpart, Sergei Stepashin.

Sturza said he had " very good personal contacts" with both

Stepashin and the latter's predecessor, Yevgenii Primakov.

He said he expects Stepashin's dismissal to have "a negative

impact on Moldova" because it will "nullify all Moldovan-Russian

agreements on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the

Transdniester." And he added that it will negatively impact on

Moldovan exports to Russia. Party of Democratic Forces

leader Valeriu Matei said on 10 August that the main lesson

to be learned is "to beware that political system in which the

head of state does as he pleases." He said this may happen

in Moldova, too, if a presidential system is introduced. MS

[27] BULGARIA SEEKS LIBYAN REPLY ON DETAINED

The Foreign Ministry on 10 August said it is

seeking an official reply from Libya on the fate of six

Bulgarian citizens held in detention for more than six months,

Reuters reported. In early February, 19 Bulgarian medical

personnel were detained in connection with an investigation

by Libyan authorities into how children in a Benghazi hospital

became infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Thirteen

were later freed, but five doctors and a nurse remain in

custody. Officials in Sofia said the six were questioned as

witnesses, not as suspected criminals. "Now that the

investigation has been completed we expect Libyan

authorities to inform us over its results," a senior Foreign

Ministry official told the agency. MS

[C] END NOTE

[28] IMPULSE 99: LOOKING AHEAD OR GLANCING BEHIND?

On 23 July, a heterogeneous group of Czech

intellectuals issued an invitation "to all members of society" to

discuss where the Czech polity is headed 10 years after the

"velvet revolution." Cutting across party lines as well as social

strata, the group unites people with backgrounds as

different as those of Prague Archbishop Cardinal Miloslav Vlk

and trade union leader and Social Democratic Party (CSSD)

Senator Richard Falbr.

What obviously brought together these individuals is

disappointment. One year after coming to power, Milos

Zeman's minority government has seemingly reached a dead-

end, and an alternative to it is unlikely to emerge owing to

the so-called "opposition agreement" signed by the CSSD and

the main opposition formation, the Civic Democratic Party

(ODS). Faced with that state of affairs, the group, which calls

itself Impulse 99, is hoping to compel politicians to face up to

their responsibilities by inviting the country's citizens to

enter a dialogue among themselves and with the country's

political class. In such a case, the intellectuals hope, an

"impulse" would be given to move the political chariot out of

the mud it is seemingly stuck in.

The 200 initial signatories to Impulse 99 make no secret

of their critical views. "Our republic," they say in the group's

manifesto, "is headed in a direction that may stifle the hope

for rapid integration into European structures and lead to a

further decline in the economic, legal, social, and moral

spheres." The public, according to the intellectuals, has shied

away from political participation, leaving the arena under the

sole control of political parties, which "are primarily

preoccupied with internal party politics and with increasing

their power." This situation has led many to "lose faith in

political parties and in democratic institutions." Moreover,

"politics and economics have become hindered by a lack of

transparency."

Professing themselves to be "disturbed by the inability

and unwillingness of politicians to communicate with society

and to heed critical voices," the signatories "challenge

politicians to finally begin to concern themselves with the real

problems of our country and not merely with power games."

They declare themselves to be "tired of the eternal bickering

of politicians and of populist attempts to cull public opinion."

Not surprisingly, Impulse 99 has met with criticism from

those it criticizes. With the notable exception of CSSD deputy

chairwoman Petra Buzkova, Czech politicians claimed that the

criticism is unfounded or sought to "uncover" who is behind

Impulse 99 and what personal or group interests it serves.

Zeman responded that the initiative is just an "empty

declaration" and argued that one only had take a look at the

names of the signatories to know what they were up to.

That statement was doubtless alluding to Jiri Pehe, one

of the spokespersons of the initiative, who in summer 1997

was appointed adviser to President Vaclav Havel. That

Impulse 99 is permeated with the "Havelian spirit," none of its

supporters is likely to deny. On 2 August, presidential

spokesman Ladislav Spacek told journalists that Havel is

"honored that whenever something sensible and interesting

appears in society, he is seen as being behind the initiative."

But Spacek stressed that the president was "not the moving

force" behind Impulse 99.

This makes the document even more suspect in the

eyes of its opponents, who wonder whose personal interests

a "collective Havel" serves. Jan Sula, the leader of the minor

Czech National Social Party, maintained that Impulse 99 was

launched as an electoral platform for Tomas Halik, a former

dissident, a sociologist, and a Catholic priest who is a

signatory to the initiative. That assertion, however, has been

denied by the signatories.

The Impulse 99 group has also denied that it intends to

form a political party. Critics, for their part, have reproached

the group for seeking to avoid the "ultimate trial" of politics--

namely, elections--by refusing to turn into such a party.

According to ODS deputy Jan Zahradil, that refusal makes

Impulse 99 an "embarrassing affair." Impulse 99, however,

argues that if a new party came into being each time a critical

voice is heard, the deterioration of the public sphere would

be expedited, rather than halted.

Yet the road chosen by the group gives pause for

thought. Both Czech and foreign observers have drawn

parallels between Charter 77 or the short lived Civic Forum of

1989, on the one hand, and Impulse 99, on the other. The

new group would probably agree that their inspiration comes

from the country's civic roots, which they would like

resuscitated in a post-communist context as a kind of new

"anti-politics" (to quote Gyorgy Konrad).

While no one would deny the tremendous role played by

civic "parallel politics"--as the late dissident Vaclav Benda put

it--in the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and (to

much lesser extent) elsewhere, the post-communist context

is different. It is no longer--or should no longer be--about

"freeing" the public sphere but about "filling it with democratic

content." In other words, today's political game is, by

definition, one of "compromise."

In their manifesto, the Impulse 99 initiators twice

mention "moral values" as an ultimate aim. But how can

compromise be reached on moral values? Unless they come

up with an answer, these intellectuals risk transforming

themselves into either one more irrelevant actor on the post-

communist scene or, worse, into a frustrated collective

Savonarola. As Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan showed in their

seminal work on transitions worldwide, this danger is often

faced by civic groupings that would rather remember a grand

past than face a gray present.

11-08-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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