Correspondents' Correspondence Tito on the Road

...Tito remains convinced that Yugoslavia's destiny is inseparable from larger world events, for this small Balkan country lies at a major intersection of big-power political traffic Since World War II, its survival as an independent nation has depended on skillful negotiation between the Western and Soviet blocs...

...Certainly Yugoslavia rests easier today than, say, three years ago, when Warsaw Pact -armies poured into Czechoslovakia None of the Balkan nations, however, have yet to share in any authentic feeling of security They are too aware of the possibility that Rumania's maverick, Nicolae Ceausescu, might provoke the Soviets into conceited political, if not military action Furthermore, the USSR's seemingly irreversible involvement in the Middle East gives the peninsula a strategic importance that it lacked before Finally, no one doubts that Tito's eventual death will tempt the big powers, most of all the Soviet Union, to pressure Belgrade for new concessions Hence, realizing that he does not have much time left, Tito has set out on the international circuit again, now as the elder statesman instead of the daring Communist heretic, trying to negotiate insurance tor Yugoslavia's survival ??Mark Hopkins...

...To demonstrate its determination on this point, last month Yugoslavia staged the largest military maneuvers in its postwar history, code-named "Freedom '71 " Participating with the 40,000 regular Army troops in the war games were innumerable soldier-civilians of the nation's territorial forces, formed after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia An attack on Yugoslavia will be resisted, according to present contingency plans, by its entire able-bodied population For all of its ominous rumblings earlier this year, Moscow is not currently threatening Belgrade Indeed, during his visit here two months ago Leonid Brezhnev sought to reassure the Yugoslavs that, in his words, "The people of our two countries are on the same side of the barricades " The Soviet Party chief also signed a declaration reaffirming a policy of mutual respect and noninterference...

...Yugoslavia does not want to get lost in the grand political shuffle In his talks with foreign leaders, Tito has been seeking guarantees of his country's independence...

...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Tito on the Road Belgrade ??In the past two months, Josip Broz Tito has journeyed to India, Egypt, Iran, the U S , Canada, and Great Britain Everyone who comes into contact with him is awed by his physical stamina and mental agility At 79, Yugoslavia's President remains a contemporary man, absorbed more with the present and future than with the past, obviously unready to retire to leisurely, pensioned reflection Nor does he allow his people much respite, he prods and pleads, commands and cajoles Yet the vision he holds out of a prosperous, democratic state is larger than most of his 21 million countrymen can really comprehend, and possibly beyond their present capacities In fact, Yugoslavia seems plagued by perpetual confusion and crisis It buys more goods abroad than it sells, thus incurring hard currency debts that it has trouble paying The domestic economy suffers from inflation and a lack of investment capital And appalling poverty still afflicts great masses of Yugoslavs, especially the peasants The country is embarking on a broad governmental reform that will give its six republics and two autonomous regions more authority, and a collective Presidency has been created to maintain continuity after the marshal leaves the scene But the Party leadership suffers from factionalism, despite Tito's constant challenge to the League of Communists to provide a model of unified purposefulness...

...Through his talents as a statesman, Tito has nurtured a coalition of nonaligned nations and assured Yugoslavia a chair at the international tables Now that a reordering of power relationships is under way--as evidenced by President Nixon's forthcoming trips to Peking and Moscow, the Soviet regime's global peace offensive," China's thrust into international diplomacy, and the emerging European detente...