ZAGREB, Croatia--With the recent revival of mad cow disease hysteria in Europe, Croatia wasted no time in presenting itself as a country devoid of the problems plaguing the rest of the continent--a country that could turn an ecologically clean cheek to its neighbors and even offer up a non-contaminated slab of veal.
As a part of the former Yugoslavia that has existed for decades somewhere between communism and capitalism, today's Croatia is proud of the fact that it has remained, in many respects, a kind of ecological oasis. That is party true, as the country evaded the worst type of socialist industrialization that ignored ecological standards and showed no respect for natural resources. Neither was Croatia ever a waste dump for industrial byproducts that were either forbidden from production in the West or were simply too expensive to dispose of.
There's no doubt that the former Yugoslavia's orientation toward tourism also helped, since Croatia played the most important role in that respect. And it is exactly that role that the country intends to build on today. In fact, it is planning to base a significant amount of its future development on revenues from tourism. For that reason, ecological questions are paramount.
But when it advertises its ecological advantages today, Croatia seems to have forgotten that it survived a war, and that for almost a decade it was either part of that war or at the edge of conflicts in the Balkans and Southeastern Europe.
That ignorance came to the foreground only very recently when Europe was shaken by a new ecological scandal--"Balkan syndrome"--a little-researched threat involving depleted uranium, which has, it seems, been spread over the territory of the former Yugoslavia during NATO airstrikes. The problem is said to be most acute in Kosovo but is also present in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Although Croatian media have from the beginning extensively reported stories of NATO soldiers being taken ill by Balkan syndrome, it is almost flabbergasting that nearly no one has asked what that might mean for Croatia and its people. At the onset, it seemed that Balkan syndrome was as far away from Croatia as mad cow disease--perhaps even farther.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
The number of affected European soldiers who have been serving in the region has begun to rapidly multiply. Among them are those who served in Croatia. As more and more scientific explanations appear, it seems that depleted uranium's effects are not only immediate, but can travel far and wide (allegedly as far as 300 kilometers). Scientists have also said that it could be a few years before all the negative consequences of this ecological war are fully revealed. For Croatia, it has posed many questions and fears that have until now been completely ignored.
Interest in the subject first arose when NATO planes flew across the Adriatic Sea on the way back to their base in Aviano, Italy, several times dropping unused bombs into the sea in order to secure a safe landing. Although NATO denied that any of the bombs dropped in the Adriatic contained depleted uranium, many have cynically noted that when NATO soldiers started to show signs of cancer-related illnesses, the issue was suddenly not so easy to sweep under the rug.
Furthermore, with the outbreak of Balkan syndrome, the public became aware that depleted uranium was just one of many long-term consequences of heavy bombardment, and that the systematic destruction of various industrial plants containing toxic chemicals also posed high risks. They understood, finally, that the ecological consequences of that destruction are still being felt, and that it's not over yet. It became clear that the most endangered people, potentially in the long term, won't necessarily be the soldiers, but rather the citizens of Croatia.
Many unpleasant facts have finally come to light. For Croatia--in the middle of a region with a high concentration of military equipment and intense conflicts--it means that contamination could be enormous in some areas. It has also been revealed that Croatian soldiers are experiencing increased cases of leukemia and other cancerous diseases. In most of those cases, weapons and equipment of doubtful origins were used.
In addition, the public has begun to direct some questions toward NATO. Why, people have asked, have NATO and American troops used Croatian military testing grounds for their exercises, and what could some of the potential consequences be? The government has been forced to initiate various types of research, such as measuring the level of soil contamination in areas where military exercises were held and forming special health committees to determine the extent of Balkan syndrome among Croatian soldiers and the local populace.
But why Croatia ignored these topics from the beginning remains unanswered. Some favor the simplistic explanation: Croatia wants NATO membership, and politicians aren't willing to rock the boat by asking unpleasant questions. And then there's the little matter of the weak and flailing Croatian economy. The income derived from renting out its military grounds to Western countries is quite lucrative, and any future such deals would be difficult if ecological questions are raised too extensively with the public.
In any case, Balkan syndrome has confirmed the existence of a dangerous tradition in Croatia: the reluctance of the government to face the consequences of war on its territory. The long-term effects of conflict and the socio-psychological, cultural, demographic, economic, ecological, and political issues that will impact the country's development have been completely ignored. Unfortunately, Balkan syndrome could serve as a final alarm bell for the government and Croatians to start addressing those topics. And perhaps facing the music could serve as a welcome education in the prevention of war for nations that are--as has been shown in the past decade--all too easily inclined to solve many of their problems on the battlefield without blinking an eye.
Stojan Obradovic is editor in chief for Croatia's independent news agency, Stina--a TOL partner.