Wolfram Alpha reduces Croatia

It is clear now: the Brits have started a war against Croatia. After negative reports and articles, the Brit Stephen Wolfram (the guy behind search engine Wolfram Alpha) tries to rewrite Croatian history and enlarge Slovenia at the expense of Croatia. Take a look at Wolfram's map of Croatia.
You will notice that Slovenia gained the northern part of Istria and in that way secured its access to international waters. And who was president of Croatia in 1994? Franjo, sorry, dr. Franjo Tuđman, you would say. But no! It's Milan Martić, according to Wolfram. A četnik! (says Večernji list).
To stop Wolfram from further tarnishing Croatia, I invite you to report any (deliberate? malicious?) mistakes and any information that might reveal this Great British-Slovenian-Serbian-German conspiracy. German? Yes. Look at the far East of Croatia and find out that some Croatian territory (around Ilok) was rendered to Serbia. The village of Nijemci was always safely in Croatian territory, but it now dangerously close to the Serbian border. Nijemci is Croatian for "Germans". And guess what? Stephen Wolfram's parents were German Jews. I expect the village will soon be spelled "Nemci".

Tito: what's left and what's right?

Josip Broz Tito
born May 7, 1892, Kumrovec, near Zagreb, Croatia, Austria-Hungary [now in Croatia]
died May 4, 1980, Ljubljana, Yugos. [now in Slovenia]
Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman

That is how the Encyclopedia Britannica starts its entry on Tito, who died today 29 years ago. Today's TV Kalendar featured a short item about Tito, otherwise I would have completely forgotten about it. Except for older generations (35+), no one in Croatia seems to pay much attention to the 4th of May, which does not mean that Tito and his legacy are forgotten all together. He, his partisan army, and their ustaše opponents regularly dominate the news. Last week's commemoration at the site of concentration camp Jasenovac led to the usual bickering between Croatian president Mesić, the catholic church, Croats with (too much) love for the homeland and historians. Mesić, referring to mass graves filled with bodies of victims of the partisans, said that Tito was no criminal and that his rule was not criminal.
What followed was the usual outcry. If murdering people is a crime, then those responsible for it are criminals, said the head of the Helsinki Committee. I can see the logic of that, but I would first like to know who the "victims" of the partisans are. Are these innocent, homeland-loving Croats who wanted to save their country from communism, or are these "victims" the very same people who tried to purify Croatia from Serbs, Jews and gypsies in the Second World War and set up Jasenovac?
Back to Tito. I accidentally visited Kumrovec last week, Tito's birthplace. Kumrovec has been turned into an ethno-village, with the humble dwellings of blacksmiths, farmers, craftsmen and so on. I was surprised to see that Tito's house was rather big.
And popular with tourists, who can also buy appropriate souvenirs.

Marshal Tito was a great friend of younger generations, so don't hesitate to bring you teenage boys and girls.
If you are in the region anyway, you could also visit the birthplace of Antun Augustinčić, the sculptor best known for his statue of Tito. Augustinčić was born on 4 May 1900 in Klanjec, at a stone's throw from Kumrovec. Guess who's the mayor of Klanjec? Žarko Broz.
Drive another twenty kilometers through the charming landscape of Zagorje and you will pass by Veliko Trgovišće, the birthplace of Franjo Tuđman, who was once proud to be a partisan but who also rounded down the number of victims of Jasenovac.

Croatia at the helm

Croatia is enjoying its 15 minutes of fame as it presides this month over the UN Security Council. The honour of leading the most powerful (officially) and most divided (obviously) council in the world has sparked a lively debate here about the topics that Croatia should put on the Council's agenda. I suspect the same debate kept Costa Rica busy when it took the presidency last November.
Croatia's president Stipe Mesić addressed the Council today. He said that the world in the 1990s had failed to understand how dangerous Milošević's politics were and warned the world now ignores the danger that comes from Milorad Dodik. Dodik is Prime Minister of the Republika Sprska, one of the two entities that make up Bosnia. Mesić accused Dodik, not for the first time, of destroying Bosnia.
It must be said that Mesić has always defended the unity of Bosnia, not only against Dodik but also against former Croatian president Tuđman, who would have been most happy to cut out a part of Bosnia and add it to Croatia. I don't know, on the other hand, whether keeping people in one state against their will is a smart strategy for the long term.
Even if Bosnia will get back on the UN Security Council's agenda, I doubt that will do much to easy tensions. After all, Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence left the Council as devided as Bosnia is already.