] The Yugoslav parliament has voted itself out of
] existence, dissolving the Yugoslav federation after
] nearly 74 years.
] From now on it will be called just Serbia and Montenegro
] - the two remaining republics joined in a loose union.
] Yugoslavia lost its other four republics in the bloody
] wars of independence in the 1990s, as Croatia, Slovenia,
] Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia broke away.

As two of my grandparents were born in Croatia, I definitely count part of my heritage as Yugoslav. I spent a year there as a child, and was emotionally devastated when war broke out several years ago. I would lie awake at night, horrified to think that bombs were falling on places where I had played as a child.

Though I've come to an acceptance that the union forged by Tito would eventually completely dissolve, the news today that Yugoslavia is no more, fills me with sadness, like hearing that a childhood home I once lived in has been bulldozed over.

I console myself with the knowledge that some of the separate states are now better off with their own independence. And my hope, of course, is that once the final old bonds have been removed, that the entire area will have the freedom to grow even more, with honor, and peace.

Elonka