A BRIEF LOOK AT CROATIAN PRESS ON WEDNESDAY

ZAGREB, May 10 (Hina) - Today's VECERNJI LIST devotes the front page to the antifascist victory celebration in Moscow. "Tudjman and Croatia Get a Place of Honour," proclaims a bold two-inch headline, accompanied by a large photo of the procession of heads of state under the walls of the Kremlin. The article stresses the fact that only 20 heads of state and government attended the Moscow celebration because of the Russian intervention in Chechnya. The paper exhaustively covers yesterday's ceremonial session of the Croatian Parliament and Speaker Mihanovic's oration headlined "Against Every Totalitarianism." A comment piece by Visnja Staresina, headlined "Truth Designed by Gunness" analyses the UN spokesman's comments on the Croatian police and military action in western Slavonia. "Many still remember the British intervention in the Malvines. They remember how Britain ordered a shipment of international 'akashi-type' envoys from the UN, and set them in the place of honour next to Commander Sir Michael Rose. It is true that they did not order a single 'gunnes-type' spokesman to design the truth (...). But this is only because Britain is a great exporter of gunnes-type spokesmen and so there is no demand for such articles at home," the comment piece reads, in part. An interview with Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic, who doubles as chief Croatian negotiator with Serbs in the Pakrac area, proclaims that "The Return of Displaced Croats May Begin." Today's VJESNIK also covers the ceremonial session of the Croatian Parliament and the Speaker's oration, marking the 50th anniversary of the victory over fascism in Europe, in which the Croatian resistance movement played a capital role. "The majority of the Croatian people equally abhorred the criminal notturno of fascism, with its radical nationalist and racist ideology, and the daemonic ideological spectre of the political tyranny of Communism," Mihanovic stressed. A comment piece by Branko Podgornik, headlined "In the Shadow of Celebrations," reads, in part: "Croatia, as one of the first victims of the wreck of the cold-war world order, is an example which shows that pretensions to dominate other nations, aggression and human evil - whatever ideological labels one puts on them - have not disappeared. Evil is still rife all over the world, from Chechnya to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda. It even hides in the shadow of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the victory over fascism." A comment piece by Maja Freundlich, headlined "UN's Ghost Mandates," mulls over the question whether Croatia can trust the UN peace-keepers, "hysterically partial to the Serbs," to fulfill their new mandate. The same subject is addressed by Zeljko Luburevic in a comment piece headlined "Evidence Is on the Croatian Side." (hina) jn as 101203 MET may 95