In response to a letter to the Slobodna Dalmacija in March, from Frank Brozovich, President of the Croatian American Association, Rudolf Arapovic said on the internet: 
 
“I had this idea about Vis--NATO base long ago, in the early nineties. But I changed my mind about it. It would pollute the Adriatic and bring along more damage to Croatia than benefit. It would pollute the air, the water, and the soul of the people and the country. Imagine the scare of the monster aircrafts in the air over the Adriatic, the sound/noise of it. It would scare and frighten tourists. Being a country of 4 1/5 million people, Croatia would be better off without NATO on Vis. Questionable is also the strategic location of Vis’s position in (almost) closed waters. And it's against the "market" principle of offer and demand; if an offer runs ahead of demand, it loses its value.” 
In support of Rudolf Arapovic’s comment I would add that I grew up in Hong Kong in the 1950s - on the top floor of a large building right on the edge of the waterfront in the city centre, looking out over what was then an absolutely beautiful harbour - the pearl of the orient (Hong Kong means “fragrant harbour” - now totally polluted) - and I remember clearly, as if it were yesterday, looking down on the huge American aircraft carriers and flotilla of ships coming into port. The hundreds, thousands of American sailors and military personnel pouring on to the streets - overbearing, noisy - often drunken morons, beautiful Chinese girls swarming amongst them, hanging on their arms. It was the daily scene the total time the ships remained in the harbour. I walked amongst them in the streets, groups of them were everywhere, you had to circle around them - loud and obnoxious. Even though I was then only a young girl the memory remains vivid. 
For several reasons there has to be considerable consternation in viewing the island of Vis as a location for a Nato base. The aircraft carriers which are huge floating cities, and the accompanying smaller ships, will all pour their effluent and waste into the narrow confines of the Adriatic sea (particularly around Vis), polluting the beautiful waters of Croatia’s precious coast the LAST remaining unpolluted coast of Europe - Croatia’s biggest asset, Croatia’s absolute goldmine! The realisation of this potential, which can very feasibly be extended into a booming six month tourist period but has never been properly marketed, goes far beyond the dubious “greatest asset [of] the potential of Croatia’s educated populace” - one could well ask what “well-educated and skilled populace” when so many of them flee the country?! 
Not only will Croatia’s sea be polluted, but as Rudolf Arapovic says, so also will be its skies with the shrieking of jets that neither tourists nor the local residents will easily tolerate - and worst of all the vast majority of the thousands of foreign military personnel, far from home, will be without wives or families to keep them in line and will pollute the region as one huge bar-room - there for their pleasure. They will spill over into all the surrounding area, destroying the beauty of Croatia’s coast and its tourist dollars. The financial and cultural cost of their intrusion on Croatia will far outweigh any benefit accrued. Let the other, more powerful and affluent countries of Europe and the Mediterranean, bear this costly imposition as they already do - you can be sure, if America needs to use a Croatian base at any time it will do so when the need arises - Nato membership or not! 
Add to that, the fact that as a pre-requisite for EU entry the borders are due to be opened between all the former Yugo states (except Slovenia but including Albania) as per the Stabilisation & Association Agreement signed by Racan in October last year (with Sanader even saying he will continue with this good work that Racan initiated! ) and girls from all around the Balkan region will flock to the area looking for a fast buck. As will those prepared to work as servants for the wealthy foreigners that are being enticed by the Racan government to buy-up big on the Dalmatian coast "the last remaining cheap land in Europe" is what they have been advertising in the countries of the European Union - and the phones have rung red hot! 
The Serbs too will flood back with even bigger egos than they had before to over-rule everything again in the knowledge that they have been guaranteed by Mesic even more "rights" than Croats - with the blessings of the Hague and the UN. So not only will Croatia’s coast be polluted but as the bread-basket of the SOUTH-EAST European Union all the Croatian profits from its meagre industry will go to maintain its poor Balkan neighbours (because with globalization the profits from the bulk of Croatia’s industry will be going of course into foreign hands). The ultra rich and the haute bourgeoisie from countries of the WESTERN European Union, and America, will be indulging and profiting from their prime Croatian real-estate with their investments secured in Croatia's FOREIGN banks and being invested of course in their own countries outside of Croatia. 
Croats will have no choice but to immigrate once more. Leaving their land, once again, to be raped by their enemies. Without a bullet Croatia will be conquered - it will surrender itself - its dignity, its integrity and ultimately its sovereignty. So - as I said in my article of November last year "Is Croatia Destined to be the Harlot of Europe?" This title was to draw awareness to the article from concerned readers, and apparently it caused some to jump with indignation simply because they did not properly read my statements or try to comprehend what the article was saying. But though it is good that they cringed from the notion of Croatia becoming the harlot of Europe, only by fully knowing and understanding all that is impacting on Croatia will they realise the possibilities of such a worst scenario arising. Given all the right ingredients, and the lack of foresight or action by sufficient caring Croats, this could easily become the destiny, the future, of Croatia. 
It is well that Croatia, given it history of bad decisions, is last on the list of Nato’s candidates for entry - that at least gives time for a far more serious consideration, and time for comparison, of the negative and positive effects, on similar post-communist countries in the region who have already joined Nato. 
   
(H) Otok Vis i hrvatska kampanja uclanjivanja u NATO 
Opinions 
Suzanne Brooks-Pincevic 
Apr 4, 2002 
N 
 
U odgovoru na pismo Frank-a Brozovich-a, Predsjednika Udruge americkih Hrvata, u Slobodnoj Dalmaciji, Rudolf Arapovic je rekao: 
"Tu ideju o Visu kao NATO bazi imao sam davno, ranih devedesetih godina. Ali promijenio sam misljenje o tome. To bi zagadilo Jadran i Hrvatskoj donijelo vise stete nego koristi. Zagadilo bi zrak, vodu i dusu ljudi i zemlje. Zamislite zastrasujuci prospekt monstrouznih aviona u zraku iznad Jadrana, njihovu buku. To bi zastrasilo turiste. Kao zemlji od 4 1/5 milijuna stanovnika, Hrvatskoj bi bilo bolje bez NATO-a na Visu. Upitna je i strateska lokacija Visa u (prakticki) zatvorenim vodama. To je i protiv trzisnog principa ponude i potraznje; kada ponuda ide isprijed potraznje, gubi svoju vrijednost." 
Kao prodrsku ovoj primjedbi Rudolfa Arapovica, dodala bih to da sam odrasla u Hong Kong-u pedesetih godina - na najvisem katu jedne velike zgrade na samom rubu obale u centru grada, s pogledom na onda stvarno prekrasnu luku, perlu istoka (Hong Kong znaci "mirisava obala", sada potpuno zagadjena). Sasvim se jasno sjecam, kao da je to bilo jucer, kako sam gledala dolje na ogromne americke nosace aviona i flotile brodova koje su dolazile u luku. Stotine, tisuce americkih mornara i vojnog osoblja izlijevalo se na ulice: drske, glasne, cesto pijane budale, lijepe kineske djevojke medju njima, pod ruku s njima. To je bio svakodnevni prizor tokom cijelog vremena dok su brodovi bili u luci. Hodala sam medju njima po ulicama, grupe njih glasnih i neugodnih posvukuda, moralo ih se zaobilaziti. Makar sam onda bila samo mlada djevojka, sjecanje na to ostalo je svjeze. 
Konsternacija oko gledanja na otok Vis kao lokaciju za Nato bazu treba, iz vise razloga, biti poprilicna. Nosaci aviona, koji su zapravo ogromni ploveci gradovi te prateci manji brodovi, ispustati ce svoje smece i kanalizacije u uski prostor jadranskog mora (narocito oko Visa) i time zagaditi prekrasne hrvatske vode i dragcijenu obalu, ZADNJU koja je jos nezagadjena u Europi, te glavni hrvatski posjed, pravi rudnik zlata za Hrvatsku! Ostvarenje tog potencijala, koji se vrlo vjerojatno moze produljiti u izvrsnu sest-mjesecnu sezonu, ali koji se jos nije nikada pravilno trzio, ide dalje od upitnog "potencijala hrvatskog obrazovanog naroda" - kojeg to dobro obrazovanog i strucnog naroda, kad toliko njih bjezi iz zemlje?! 
Ne samo da ce se zagaditi more, nego kako Rudolf Arapovic kaze, isto ce biti i i s vasim nebom zvizdanjem mlaznjaka kojega ni turisti ni lokalni stanovnici nece moci jednostavno podnositi. Jos najgore, tisuce stranih vojnika, daleko od kuce i bez svojih zena ili obitelji koji bi ih drzali u redu, pretvoriti ce to podrucje u jedan ogroman bar koji postoji samo za njihov uzitak. Oni ce se upravo prosuti po okolnom terenu, unistavajuci ljepotu vase obale i dolare vasih turista. Novcani i kulturalni trosak tog njihovog upada u Hrvatsku uvelike ce nadmasiti ikakavu zadobivenu korist. Pustite da druge, snaznije i bogatije zemlje u Europi i Mediteranu snose taj skupi namet, kao sto to vec i cine. Mozete biti sigurni da ako Amerika zatreba upotrebu hrvatske baze u bilo koje doba, ona ce to ostvariti kad bude potrebno s clanstvom NATO-a ili bez njega! 
K tome dodajte cinjenicu da kao prerekvizit ulaska u EU, otvoriti ce se granice izmedju svih bivsih Yugo drazava (osim Slovenije, ali ukljucujuci Albaniju) kao sto je predvidjeno Paktom za Stabilizaciju, kojega je Racan potpisao proslog Listopada (s time da Sanader cak govori da ce on nastaviti taj dobar rad koji je Racan zapoceo!) i djevojke iz cijele Balkanske regije nahrupiti ce u potrazi za lakom zaradom. Isto tako i oni koji su spremni raditi kao sluge za bogate strance koje je Racanova vlada namamila da mahom pokupuju dalmatinsku obalu. "Posljednja jeftina zemlja u Europi" reklama je koja se vidi po zemljama europske Unije i telefoni nisu prestali zvoniti! 
Srbi ce takodjer nahrupiti natrag sa jos vecim egoima nego ranije, da bi ponovno preuzeli sve znajuci da im je Mesic garantirano vise "prava" nego Hrvatima, uz blagoslov Haaga i UN-a. Tako ne samo da ce Hrvatska biti zagadjena, nego ce kao hraniteljica jugoistocne europske Unije, sav profit iz svoje slabasne industrije davati na odrzavanje svojih siromasnih balkanskih susjeda (profit od vecine hrvatske industrije ce globalizacijom otici, naravno, u strane ruke). Ultra bogatasi i visoka burzuazija iz zemalja ZAPADNE europske unije i Amerike, uzivati ce i profitirati od svojih prvoklasnih hrvatskih posjeda, njihove investicije osigurane u hrvatskim STRANIM bankama i naravno, investirane izvan Hrvatske u njihovim drzavama. 
Hrvati nece imati izbora nego se jos jednom iseliti. Napustiti svoju zemlju da jos jednom bude silovana od njihovih neprijatelja. Bez pucnja ce Hrvatska biti osvojena: ona ce se predati, sebe i svoje dostojanstvo, svoju cast i na kraju, svoju suverenost. Bas kao sto sam proslog studenog rekla u mojem clanku "Da li je hrvatskoj namjenjeno da bude europska drolja?" Taj je naslov trebao privuci paznju citaoca i izgleda da su neki ozlojedjeno poskocili zato sto nisu pravilno procitali moje izjave ili pokusali shvatiti sto je clanak htio reci. Iako je dobro da su se skutili pred tom predodzbom, samo potpunin znanjem i razumijevanjem svega sto prijeti Hrvatskoj mogu se shvatiti mogucnosti da do takvog krajnje loseg scenarija stvarno i dodje. Uz prave cimbenike, te pomanjkanje vidovitosti od strane onih Hrvata kojima je stalo, ovo bi lako mogla postati sudbina i buducnost Hrvatske. 
Dobro je da je Hrvatska, uz svoju povijest pogresnih odluka, zadnja na listi kandidata za clanstvo u NATO-u. To barem daje vremena za mnogo ozbiljnije razmisljanje, vremena za usporedbu negativnih i pozitivnih ucinaka u slicnim post-komunistikim zemljana u ovoj regiji koje su vec uclanjenje u Nato. 
 
 
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