We Slovenes can be justly proud of the events that took place ten years ago. The decision of the people, expressed at the referendum, was protected by arms by the members of the Territorial Defence and the police. We fulfilled the fundamental task of defence forces, which is to protect the inviolability of a country's territory. The war was forced on us, we won and the defeated army was forced to withdraw from our territory. In Slovenia, we gave early warnings of the reasons for the political crisis in our former common state. Unfortunately, our assessments were not accepted for a long time by those foreign countries that had decisive influence in that time. There would have been significantly fewer dead, wounded, displaced persons and refugees in the region of the former common state. Only recently, particularly during the period of our membership of the UN Security Council, did the majority of world politicians learn the real reasons behind the Balkan wars at the turn of the millennium. This is Slovenia's great international and political success and - alongside the fact that as a young country we are aware of our shared responsibility for world peace and we contribute forces and funds to peace-keeping operations - also a reason for satisfaction and self-confidence.