1.  The Croatian government declared that these events represented an armed uprising against the Croatian state.

2.  But they have also been abandoned by the Croatian government, whose policies continue to reflect a desire to have an ethnically pure Croatian state.

3.  Herceg-Bosna, the Croatian state, has become a center for lucrative Mafia-style rackets, Western officials say.

4.  It is instead praised for seeking to build an independent Croatian state and for its battle against communism.

5.  The de facto expansion of the Croatian state is concentrated in Herzegovina, the southwestern stretch of the country.

6.  The photograph of Ante Pavelic, leader of the wartime, pro-Nazi Croatian state, is proudly displayed in the home of two Catholic priests.

7.  The Tudjman government has sought to rehabilitate the Ustashe regime as the founder of the modern, independent Croatian state.

8.  They ridicule the frenzied Croatian nationalists who gather in the center of the city waving Croatian flags, chanting slogans and calling for an independent Croatian state.

9.  Under the authoritarian leadership of Tudjman, moreover, many Croats are recasting the pro-Nazi Ustashe as patriots and founding fathers of the modern Croatian state.

10.  Tudjman is motivated by a centuries-old nationalist dream to create a free Croatian state.