Through the 1950s and 1960s, army coups as far afield as Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Iraq all produced regimes that sacrificed freedoms on the altar of progress, stabilityand Arab unity.
Politicians of all stripes initially appeared to have taken the message on board: the prime minister, Janez Jansa, said on February 17th that it was too early to say when Slovenia would recognise Kosovo, and stressed the importance of "guaranteeing stability in the region and maximum EU unity".