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As Belgrade diplomats see it, the Soviet leadership has embarked on a policy of subjugation of the independent-minded parties in Eastern Europe to Moscow's will—a sort of one-empire, one-creed idea. Rumania is the touch stone of Yugoslav fears. In the event that the Soviets succeed in holding maneuvers this fall in Rumania and permanently garrisoning troops there, the Yugoslavs worry that the Soviet leaders might then be tempted to strike at the home of heresy. Belgrade diplomats also feel that the Soviets covet Yugoslavia's Adriatic ports as places to repair and supply their growing Mediterranean fleet.
Whatever the outcome, Yugoslavia has already been hurt. For years, the country's economy, which is a successful mix of capitalism and Communism, has been growing at a 5% rate, bringing to Yugoslavs a wave of autos, TV sets and foreign luxury goods that are far more readily obtainable than in any other Communist nation. Tourism largely provided the funds for this upward surge. This year looked especially promising, as the inflow of foreign visitors to Yugoslavia rose 15% above 1967. But now, unnerved by Soviet threats, foreign tourists are cutting short their vacations. Others are staying away. A prolonged crisis atmosphere would seriously impair Yugoslavia's economic wellbeing. That was probably a byproduct of which the Soviets were happily aware.