By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
) is the main center-right political party in Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003 to 2010. The party is an associate member of the European People's Party (EPP). - Source: Wikipedia
Voters kicked out Croatia's conservative government and elected a center-left coalition Sunday, days before the economically troubled Balkan country is to sign a treaty to join the economically troubled European Union.
Croatia is on the verge of national surrender. This small Balkan nation is poised to follow the disastrous path of Greece - dramatically affecting European and U.S. taxpayers. On Dec. 4, Croatians will hold parliamentary elections. The ruling Croatian Democratic Union, known by its acronym HDZ, is expected to lose - and rightly so.
Mr. Boljkovac is the first major official from Tito's regime to be tried for human rights abuses after the violent breakup of Yugoslavia. In 1945, Tito's victorious Partisan army erected a totalitarian police state. The half-Croatian, half-Slovene dictator was an ideological Marxist, who sought to wipe out his opponents, such as nationalist Serbs, Slovenes and Albanians.
Croatia may be on the verge of a seismic political earthquake. A new patriotic-populist movement is being born. If it comes to power, it will transform the country - reverberating across the region and impacting the European Union.
The Arab freedom wave has now hit the shores of Europe and in the most unlikely of places: the Balkans. Croatia, an Adriatic nation that straddles the civilizational fault line between Central Europe and the Balkans, has been seething with public unrest and protests.
Croatia is at a crossroads. The former Yugoslav republic is on the verge of entering the European Union. Accession talks have begun, and many Croatians hope the nation will join the EU by next year.
