LETTERS
An enemy writes
Sir: Can I classify myself as an enemy of yours? (Leader, 4 November) I certainly disliked your attitude towards the former Yugoslavia, when you were on the Sunday Telegraph. Over the years I found it flip, cynical, ignorant and not very brave.
Bosnia was not, as you used to suggest, just a matter of various Balkan bandits whose surnames all ended in '-itch', and Douglas Hurd had done extremely badly there. There were clear differences of prin- ciple at stake.
Today, in Sarajevo, the Orthodox and Catholic cathedrals and the synagogue are open for their usual functions together with the mosques. But Bacya Luka, which used to be a mixed town with 16 mosques, is now almost entirely Serbian, and all the mosques have been demolished. One of them, the Ferhad Dzamija mosque, was a scheduled ancient monument which was built in 1583.
I think you should take a line through Grand Opera. I know next to nothing on the subject, being a Gilbert and Sullivan man. I readily concede that you might know more about it than I do. In return, I hope that you concede that I might know a bit more about the Balkans than you do, hav- ing a degree in South-east European Regional Studies (Balkan history).
I found it rather ominous that both Alan Clark and Edward Pearce appeared in your first Spectator. Both are well-known to the Bosnia Solidarity campaign as a couple of the worst sado-pacifists in England. Both appeared on a late-night programme on BBC2 at the end of March to slag off Michael Foot's film Two Hours from Lon- don.
We know that Alan Clark was very 'eco- nomical' with the actuate. He said so dur- ing the Matrix Churchill case. He was also an advocate of a compromise peace with Hitler in 1941. 'Nuff said.
As for Edward Pearce, he combines the elfin good looks of Walter Ulbricht with the moral outlook of Enid Savandra. And he seems to think that just because he has read one book by Ivor Andric and gone on one holiday in Yugoslavia he is a Balkan expert. His attitude to Croatia is downright racist. Reading his stuff, anyone would think that all Croats were Fascists — even Tito.
I think Pearce should stick to Henrik Ibsen. He knows more about him than I do.
Tom Carter
16 New Cross, Somerton, Somerset
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