1.   Both republics have sizable Serbian minorities.

2.   He said the republic now had an inalienable right to self-determination.

3.   They stressed, however, that the republics would have to continue payments on debts as a precondition for maintaining credit-worthiness and for further financial assistance.

4.   After being cut off from resources or markets in Russia, the republics have had little choice but to turn to the West for new opportunities.

5.   But having helped invent the welfare state, the Scandanavian republic is now having a hard time making its transition to whatever comes next.

6.   Every presidential campaign revives speculation about when the republic will have its first female or minority chief executive.

7.   Even with a slump in crude oil prices, all three former Soviet republics will probably have more than enough money to guarantee most citizens a comfortable life.

8.   Most other republics have a starkly different view of their independence.

9.   Reading them serially leaves a warm feeling that, no matter what else happens, the republic has continuity.

10.   This republic would have a state-dominated, protectionist economy incorporating a large private sector, but banks, roads and telecommunications would be nationalized.