The worst of both worlds: poverty and politics in the Balkans.

Poverly andl Politics in the bove this hem of fertility [Al round the shore olive groves _J and almond orchards rose in terraces to bluffs naked except for a little scrub, on which rested a plateau with more olives and almonds and a scattered blackness of cypresses and some villages and churches. Above this were the naked peaks, reflecting the noonlight like a mirror." Thtis, writing on the eve of World War II, British atithor Rebecca West described a scene on the Dalmatian coast in what is now Croatia in the Balkan Peninsula. As West observed, the region is one of the loveliest in Europe, yet the term "Balkan" carries with it a negative connotation-a result of the centuries of conflict that have taken place in the region, which has spent utchl of its history as a buffer zone between more powerful neighbors. Today, with the collapse of the communist system, the region appears to have lapsed once more into an unstable political and economic position. The environment of the region suffers the same legacy. Historically, the countries of the Balkan region obeyed the imperatives to develop heavy industry, factory farming, aind militarization, all of wvhich have led to pollution of the region's air, water, and soil by heavy metals, radioactivity, pesti cides, and fertilizers. Yet the benefits of modernization and technological development , such as a higher standard of living and progressive health care, have largely passed the region by. In this sense, the cotintries of the Balkan region experience the worst of both worlds: they must suffer the diseases of both indiustrialization and rural povertr.