Hello. Did you forget about Kosovo? lol
Don't worry, I just wanted to make sure that I was not pissing you off.
Go ahead and ask me any questions you want. I just haven't responded to your Kosovo question mostly because I forgot about it, and have been out of the house for most of the day at a BBQ drinking and eating. :P It's late here so I'll respond to it sometime tomorrow.
Sorry if I am asking too many questions that might get you mad. I just want to learn more about Yugoslavia first-hand (in this specific case, not really first-hand, since you were born in 1990). I know that you are not a nationalist, so it is not like I am angering you when I talk about ethnic conflicts, right?
In the end, politicians and private interests drove our nation into the ground with the use of nationalism. Now all our companies are either closed or have been privatized by foreign firms. We don't have shit anymore, any of our republics. Tito told us this: "Individually each of our republics is nothing, we are only strong as one."
We had lower pay, but at the same time we had higher living standards. The problems arose when the IMF began demanding their money back on loans which were in reality miniscule and imposing measures that we can return this money. With this came shortages in the late eighties and thus first unrest. The nationalism was not a problem until the politicians began using it as a way to gain votes. With nationalism on the rise, the groups began blaming each other for the problems. The Croats said the Serbs were taking all of their money, the Slovenes began speaking about how they work the hardest, and Bosnian Muslims began talking about Serbian hegemony. While Serbs began talking about how the Croats were becoming all Ustasha again, and the Muslims are acting like Turks and want to slaughter Serbs.
That's a very interesting way to look at history. So, Yugoslavia was like a Western nation when it came to living standards? Well, I know that it was, but did it feel like it? Also, were there ethnic tensions already brewing up even before Yugoslavia broke apart? Tito's Yugoslavia (especially after he died) was a federation of very independent states, so what happened?
Tito was a revisionist no doubt. I am not a Titoist in the sense that I believe what he did was socialism, or that it mus the repeated. I am a Titoist in that I believe his politics were the best for that time in history, in the situation that Yugoslavia was in. We had to avoid being the pawns of anyone, East or West. He had to make sure that our people lived comfortably, or else we would go to war, since we are a savage bunch. As much as I like Stalin in some ways, I don't like him in others. All I can say is while the Eastern block lived hard, we in Yugoslavs lived beautifully. So I am not a Titoist, I just like him and put it as a tendency to piss people off. Yes, I was born in Sarajevo but left with my family at the age of 5 when the war broke out and lived in Montenegro for the remainder of the fighting. I lived in the US for 13 years, but now I am back and living in Serbia. Yes, the chairs were a nice touch, but sadly nationalism is still brewing from all sides.
What made you become a Titoist? I find Titoism extremely interesting, even though I follow your mortal enemies: Stalin and Hoxha! Also, are you not from the former Yugoslavia? From where (like, which country)? I heard they put millions of red chairs on the streets of Sarajevo yesterday in honor of those who died during the conflicts of the 1990's.
