I guess my views may be tainted by Cyprus and/or Croatia. I'm not comparing the two cases, but it seems that peaceful coexistence was possible in both countries but certain outside factors threatened that possibility. I don't want to get into the history of the regions, all that the Croats did to the Serbs, and vice versa, all that the Greeks did to the Turks, and vice versa. I'm only talking about recent events. In both cases, there would have been peaceful and unified governments had the Western world simply insisted on Democratic norms. Had the EU acquis communitaire been offered as a model for multicultural citizenship, then both countries would have entered the Western system as multicultural nations with a good deal of harmony and peace among citizens.

Citizens take up arms when they feel threatened and when they feel incited to violence. I tend to resent the fact that sometimes democratic principles are swept under the rug when principles of self-determination are espoused, and that's precisely one of the triggers for violence. And I'm also disappointed when organs and entities such as the EU look askance at those very same principles when they have every right to apply them, as they should have in Cyprus before the referendum.

Cyprus and Croatia are in my mind nations where two sets of peoples could have easily co-existed in one unified nation, had the west simply insisted on the adoption of democratic principles. I believe the Serbs would have no cause for separation in the Krajina had the West simply insisted that the Croats repeal the discriminatory laws they passed on the birth of the new republic.