Yugoslavia The fourth party to the Balkan Entente, Yugoslavia, is
equally threatened by Italy's action. A captive in the Adriatic, she is exposed to attack on the north and the south, though, like Greece, she has received emphatic assurances that Italy's intentions are wholly pacific. It is even believed that Italy wishes to maintain her intact as a buffer against Germany. Yugoslavia's exposed position, however, has pre- vented her from taking any diplomatic initiative ; her own precautions have been confined to mobilising two annual classes of reserves, manning her frontiers, and attempting to ensure that she can face the crisis without danger of in- ternal disunity. The meeting on Monday between the Croat deputy-leader, Dr. Kosutitch, a son-in-law of the murdered Stepan Raditch, and leaders of the Serb opposition, con- tinued the negotiations which took place before Easter between the Croat leader, Dr. Matchek, and the Yugoslav Prime Minster, M. Tsetkovitch. They have been so far successful that it is now hoped that a solution of the Croat question will be found in the near future ; the grant of home rule to the Croats would deprive the Axis Powers of a valuable instrument for disrupting the Yugoslav State. But Yugo- slavia is in so difficult a position, with one Axis Power on her northern frontier and another on her southern, that she can hardly be expected to do more than play for neutrality.
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