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'Freedom in, NATO out': Slovene view of alliance sours LJUBLJANA (AP) -- It's been a Slovene political mantra for more than a decade: the ultimate goal is to join NATO. Now, just when membership seems like a sure thing, Slovenes are no longer certain they want to tie their future to the alliance. "Freedom in, NATO out!" says fresh graffiti in the capital Ljubljana. Slovene news media have begun openly questioning the benefits of NATO membership and anti-NATO activists are regularly being given a say in public debates and television shows. For the first time, support for NATO membership has dropped below 50 per cent, said a government-financed survey last month. It's all happening just six months before the former Yugoslav republic may finally be invited to join the alliance at a November summit on NATO expansion in Prague. Up to 10 Baltic and East European countries are expected to join the alliance, which took in Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic in 1999. Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel calls the sudden shift a "striking paradox." "We are one of the top candidates for entry, yet we seem to have the least public support for this goal," he said recently. Ever since gaining independence in 1991, Slovenia's pro-western leadership has worked hard to make the country of two million people, bordered by Italy, Hungary and Croatia, a part of the European Union and NATO. For Balkan and southern European countries, the EU and NATO long have been seen as a ticket to wealth, success -- and the West. Slovenia's first victory came with associate membership in the EU in 1996; the first blow with NATO rejection a year later. Since then, Slovenia has initiated a flurry of measures and diplomatic efforts in hopes of making sure an invitation to join is a sure thing in November. The last thing the government needed -- or expected -- was to see public support erode. Rupel acknowledged anti-NATO activists have created a "noise that's heard far away." "NATO's member states and its leadership are now asking us whether we really want to become a member," he said. Opponents of NATO membership are not well-organized. There are some students and professors and several prominent journalists and sociologists. They haven't staged a single demonstration -- but they're speaking up and the mainstream media have given them a stage. But opponents of membership insist it's too expensive because the government will have to spend money on weaponry and military reorganization and they contend tiny Slovenia will never be heard among the big NATO players. Others wonder: what's the point? Slovenia enjoys peaceful relations with its neighbours, they argue and not even NATO could thwart the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Miso Alkalaj an anti-NATO activist, said the attacks on the United States, a mighty NATO force, showed "there was no real defence against terrorism, the No. 1 threat of today's world." In many ways, Slovenia already belongs to the West. It has a vigorous economy and a stable government. Support for the EU, which unlike NATO promises concrete economic benefits, remains high. Even so, the government has realized it must fight to ensure NATO membership doesn't slip from its grasp. Rupel has publicly urged President Milan Kucan to engage opponents. Government officials are preaching the benefits of membership at every opportunity. The NATO question dominates TV talk shows and a special phone line has been set up to give Slovenes more information about the alliance. "We haven't used all our ammunition yet," Rupel said. --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
