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Seaver, you are in error about the Soviet angle. Tito was the glue that heald the country together until his death. As a mater of fact, Yugoslavs did not consider themselves 'communists" but rather "socialists", and Tito was adept at playing off East vs. West to get the greatest benefit for Yugoslavia. As a a matter fact, after WW2 when the Soviets were consolidating their power, Tito told them to take a hike, and that he was in charge. They were not even members of the Eastern Bloc (a military structure created by treaty to counterbalance NATO). At their height, they had the most advanced and vibrant economy of all of the Central/Eastern European nations.
Unfortunately, Yugoslavia was an artificial construct which could not be held together without a personality as strong as Tito's. The 7 ethnically-based republics which made up Yugoslavia were not ready to accept Serb dominance, and the country disintegrated, with some going their way more peacably than others.
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