Radovan Karadzic's bad hair day

Hugh Griffiths RSS / 22.07.2008. u 02:15

Ah Radovan, heading for the Hague at last.

Many of us never thought we would see this day come, that the unholy trinity of  the secret police, the criminals and the priests who protected you would ensure an enduring freedom until your dying day.But luckily for us, even pessimists are wrong, at least some of the time. And so finally it looks like you may be going to face some of your victims in nice room with blue chairs and cameras in a northern European city by the sea.

Having spent some time a few years back investigating your absence from the Hague, your presence or lack thereof became a bit of an obsession with me. I knew your house, your old office, the roads you used to drive, your old bodyguards, your partners-in-crime, assorted rapists and murderers who tried to cut a deal and turn you in, the incompetence of the internationals who said they were trying to catch you, your unattractive wife and daughter ("in hiding" from your womenfolk certainly had its benefits!).

Joking aside, I also got to see your victims and listen to their stories. Again. Six years after the time before and two years after the time before that. Many times. And while the ruined buildings and dark valleys of Srebrenica, Visegrad and a hundred other Bosnian towns and villages remain testament to your banal cowardice and greed, it was the victims' dignity that made your continuing liberty so upsetting.

That you were arrested is surprising, that you were in Belgrade is not. We knew of your presence there as late as 2004, but the government of now retired Balkan cat lover, V.Kostunica was not so keen on expediting your arrest back then.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that one of Kostunica's best mates and co-authors was one of your most vocal supporters. Who knows, perhaps Rade Bulatovic and Voja were just too busy getting high on cat pee to notice you moving round Belgrade in assorted Peugeots and SUVs.

It's not only pseudo-intellectual legalists with severe cases of erectile dysfunction who supported you over the years. Pretty much all the scum I ever came across in the Balkans had  done some kind of bizness with your scumbags. It was sans frontieres, baby, no ethnic divides there.US private security companies, British UN monitors, greek demining organisations, orthodox priests (lots of them) Greek orthodox priests (lots of them), Russian poets, French generals, Japanese diplomats, they all shook your hand and shared out slivo and coin with either you or your goons.I could be charitable and say that you may have started out like many of us, Radovan, a bit top-heavy on the ambition, bouffant hair-dos and shape-shifting, but otherwise you might have had the same dreams as any one of more than 150000  first generation city dwellers escaping rural poverty back in 1960s Yugoslavia.

Except there were a couple of things that made you different from the beginning. Your father was a convicted rapist and murderer for one, while the village from which you hailed was known for the kind of rabid political ideas still popular with many Serbian Radical Party supporters to this day. (Radical and DSS supporters, this was a bad hair day for y'all btw)

But back to Greater Serbia and Bosnia, or Radovan and Sarajevo as it was back then. The city treated you pretty well, with its easy inclusiveness and if you'd stuck to informing for the secret police, bribery, chickanery and theft with fellow partner-in-crime M.Krajisnik, then who knows? Perhaps there'd just be a nice chicken farm in Pale, rather than all those new blood-money buildings and mean, suspicious faces.

So I am thinking of Sarajevo when I write this, Radovan, and of Bosnians scattered all over the world thanks in part to you n' Ratko M.  I am thinking of how they will be pleasantly surprised tonight.

I am also thinking of a brave group of women who live with the experience of being repeatedly raped and abused by all your 'heroes", who struggle on the pittance paid out by a struggling state on the fringes of Sarajevo and how they will feel tonight.

But I am also thinking of my friends in Belgrade, and how finally, it may be possible that they just might have got a government which will give them a shot of EUland with the rest of us by arresting some more outstanding scumbags now that Mr. Cat Pee has left the stage.

Ratko should be next and while I'm not holding my breath, Radovan, today was a bad hair day for you and a rather better one for Sarajevo.

 



Komentari (38)

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nsarski nsarski 02:39 22.07.2008

Radovan Karadzic's bad hair day

Come to think about it, like Donald Trump, he never did have a good hair day.



stellarossa1991 stellarossa1991 03:12 22.07.2008

Re: Radovan Karadzic's bad hair day

nsarski
Come to think about it, like Donald Trump, he never did have a good hair day.





Well, at least Donald has a hotter wife :)
nsarski nsarski 03:32 22.07.2008

Re: Radovan Karadzic's bad hair day

Well, at least Donald has a hotter wife :)

Maybe, but I don't fall for high maintentenace chicks.
Bili Piton Bili Piton 02:42 22.07.2008

Much as I would...

...agree with the overall sentiment of your article, I'd also say that penile dysfunction and getting high on cat piss belong to the "fishing for cheap laughs" category and as such are best avoided, if you don't mind me saying so.

Elsewhere, I share your excitement.
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 07:56 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

free country an' all that. Bill, but I think we need a few cheap laughs after having to listen to Voja whine about injustice to Serbs while indicted war criminals roamed free as Kosta ranting on about what a great hero Radovan was. If you read there speeches, the denial of genocide etc. I think you'll find what is truly obscene.
Jelena Pavlović Jelena Pavlović 13:38 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Hugh Griffiths
free country an' all that. Bill, but I think we need a few cheap laughs after having to listen to Voja whine about injustice to Serbs while indicted war criminals roamed free as Kosta ranting on about what a great hero Radovan was. If you read there speeches, the denial of genocide etc. I think you'll find what is truly obscene.


This particular war criminal practiced alternative medicine in Belgrade. I must say that the man had a very thick skin. Does it mean that one can simply decide to call oneself whatever and everyone will believe? And what about Dr. Dabice's friends? Who are they?
vladimir petrovic vladimir petrovic 14:14 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Hugh Griffiths
... but I think we need a few cheap laughs after having to listen to Voja

Dr Vojislav Kostunica is not Voja for you, feebleminded Griffiths.
Hugh Griffiths
... the unholy trinity of the secret police, the criminals and the priests who protected you would ensure an enduring freedom until your dying day

I feel sorry for your lack of the ordinary politness of a civilized man.
Enjoy yourself in your pettiness, your comments are not welcome.
Because you don't try to be an objective observer on the Serbian scene, you try to bemean everything Serbian. That's why nobody believes you...

Nota bene: I'm far from being a Karadzic's fan, I am happy that he is not at large anylonger. I'd be happy also to see gen. Ratko Mladic in the Haagues. But I am not happy at all with the way you see things. My advice: Hugh, keep silent! Or you want me to say the words the Spanish king to President Huga Chavez? ("El Rey Don Juan Carlos a Hugo Chávez: "¿Por qué no te callas?"". )

¿Por qué no te callas? Hugh Griffiths????????
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 15:00 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Dear Vladimir,

I am enjoying myself today and the sun is shining.

You, on the other hand, appear to be having a bad hair day.

Voja probably is as well.

He and Karadzic are two sides of the same coin. Primitive nationalism wrapped around a cold serving of European fascism circa 1944. Granted, Voja just waved a Kalash in Kosovo and "supported" Karadzic's acts in the 90s, viewing the bombardment of Sarajevo through binoculars. Radovan, on the other hand, dressed up in army uniform and gave the orders resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of children, women and men.

If Kostunica and Karadzic are "everything Serbian", then you are in deep do-do, but as the last elections showed, they seem to represent a vocal minority and hopefully, soon, just the lunatic fringe. In the meantime, all the best in your quest for civility.

Sofroniye Sofroniye 16:10 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Hugh Griffiths
Dear Vladimir,

I am enjoying myself today and the sun is shining.

You, on the other hand, appear to be having a bad hair day.

Voja probably is as well.

He and Karadzic are two sides of the same coin. Primitive nationalism wrapped around a cold serving of European fascism circa 1944. Granted, Voja just waved a Kalash in Kosovo and "supported" Karadzic's acts in the 90s, viewing the bombardment of Sarajevo through binoculars. Radovan, on the other hand, dressed up in army uniform and gave the orders resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of children, women and men.

If Kostunica and Karadzic are "everything Serbian", then you are in deep do-do, but as the last elections showed, they seem to represent a vocal minority and hopefully, soon, just the lunatic fringe. In the meantime, all the best in your quest for civility.



What civility are you actually referring to ? Civility of British Empire ? British civility as you see it is "reserved" only for Brits and for nobody else. All the other civilizations are put down as something of lesser value. I know that British like to think of themselves as "honest Englishmen" as one of my colleagues called himself, unfortunately the rest of the world does not see you like that. One of Indian MPs said "British are people who will trip you and then say sorry ol' chap". So please go say to Great Britain and lecture there on how they should be more welcoming to other civilizations and appreciate more other cultures.

And just out of curiosity. I asked you this once before and didn't get an answer. What is your educational / professional background ? You have a tendency to put down people all the time so I was wondering what is the foundation for such an arrogance or you are just an arrogant ****ole.
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 16:53 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Dear Sofroniye,


I'm referring to general civilisation based on such classics as the Declaration of Independence (hardly a pro-British document :), more notable texts surrounding 1789, the universal declaration of human rights, the Genocide Convention, that kind of civilisation.

I'll bear in mind your kind words about the British when lecturing, and promise only to put down the kind of people who excuse mass-murder or preach the kind of chauvinistic ethno-nationalism that appears so contrary to the values of our European Union.
aleksandar_racic aleksandar_racic 18:05 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...


Hugh Griffiths
I'll bear in mind your kind words about the British when lecturing, and promise only to put down the kind of people who excuse mass-murder or preach the kind of chauvinistic ethno-nationalism that appears so contrary to the values of our European Union.


Just who exactly is "excusing mass murder?" Nobody is opposing the notion that those responsible for heinous crimes should be held accountable, the issue is the SELECTIVITY of accountability and the convenient amnesia of certain cultures about their not-so-proud histories.

War crimes and crimes against humanity are universal evils but accountability should not be determined by boundaries, nationality and the relevant political agenda of the time.

Out of point of interest and as far as I am aware, the Genocide Convention that you quote was brought into force as a response to chauvinistic ethno-nationalism that emanated from the very heart of "civilised Europe" not that long ago in history...


Sofroniye Sofroniye 21:47 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Hugh Griffiths
Dear Sofroniye,


I'm referring to general civilisation based on such classics as the Declaration of Independence (hardly a pro-British document :), more notable texts surrounding 1789, the universal declaration of human rights, the Genocide Convention, that kind of civilisation.

I'll bear in mind your kind words about the British when lecturing, and promise only to put down the kind of people who excuse mass-murder or preach the kind of chauvinistic ethno-nationalism that appears so contrary to the values of our European Union.


Let's see, did those who signed the Declaration of Independence commit a genocide or not ? More precisely, did United States commit genocide ? In my opinion they did. The only thing that I can conclude is that declaration was applicable to white caucasian population of the United States of America. Next, did those who signed all of these conventions (Geneva, Genocide, yaddayadda) commit genocide during their colonial rule in many parts of the world ? In my opinion they did. So what does that tell me ? That depending on circumstances those "civilized" societies are not civilized at all. How about treatment of Japanese civilians during WWII ? How about treatment of Chinese immigrants in B.C., Canada? How about treatment of Indians by UK ? How about British genocide against Tasmanian people ? Oh yes, some of them were signed AFTER (not the Declaration of Independence though) once those "civilized" countries got what they needed from their colonies.

But let us have a closer look into that Declaration of Independence. That declaration was adopted in 1776. And what did we have in 1892 Mr. Griffiths? Jonhnson County war.... is that the civilization you are preaching about ? Do you need more examples of those "civilized" societies and countries ? There are other examples but I like this one because it shows difference in how the law was applied when it came to Eastern European immigrants.

And finally, the biggest ethno-nationalist chauvinist are British, American, French, and Germans. So please use some of your jovial enlightening skills on them. And while you are at it, ask them why did they, "so civilized", keep selling weapons to all the sides? Well I guess making a buck has nothing to do with civilization ? Right? They couldn't care less if pure slobs in Sudan kill each other but when it is too close to Europe we can let them kill each other a little bit and then we go in to buy out everything (read resources) at lowest possible prices. Now that is NOT a genocide, that is CIVILIZATION.

Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 22:47 22.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Dear Sofroniye,

I am sure that within your historical analysis there are many valid points. However, the fact that I hold a UK passport does not mean I support all the policies and actions of the British empire in the 18th and 19th centuries, just as I am sure you don't support the widespread massacres in Sandzak, Kosovo and eastern Bosnia by the Serbian army/extremists in the 19th/early 20th centuries.

Let's hope that Karadzic's arrest and trial helps transform the genocide in Bosnia into history, rather than a living remainder of the injustice, pain and suffering of all those who lost so much, irrespective of whatever religion they were born into.

Peace,
Hugh


Sofroniye Sofroniye 00:44 23.07.2008

Re: Much as I would...

Hugh Griffiths
Dear Sofroniye,

I am sure that within your historical analysis there are many valid points. However, the fact that I hold a UK passport does not mean I support all the policies and actions of the British empire in the 18th and 19th centuries, just as I am sure you don't support the widespread massacres in Sandzak, Kosovo and eastern Bosnia by the Serbian army/extremists in the 19th/early 20th centuries.

Let's hope that Karadzic's arrest and trial helps transform the genocide in Bosnia into history, rather than a living remainder of the injustice, pain and suffering of all those who lost so much, irrespective of whatever religion they were born into.

Peace,
Hugh




Of course I do not support war crimes committed against civilians or anybody for that matter. My point is that if those countries that you call "civilized" REALLY supported peace and prosperity and "evolution" of all the nations they would not keep doing what they are doing. Couple of points to be taken into account

1) ICTY is BIASED. As an example, the fact that some of Albanian leaders were defended by law offices of Tony Blair's wife raised a red flag with me? How about you? I will go into debating about some sentences in the 2nd point.

2) The arrest and extradition of Dr. Karadzic combined with release of Naser Oric and Ramus Haradinaj serves only one purpose to keep frustration and nationalism in Serbia at high levels. I ask myself why? And I have two answers, in order to justify ILLEGAL bombing of Serbia by NATO forces (I am not sure about legality of bombing RS) all of these people have to be sentenced. In my eyes the prosecutor did not make his case against Milosevic. They never proved the chain of command since they didn't show he KNEW and DIDN"T DO ANYTHING which as far as I know are necessary that someone can be found guilty. However, Serbia has to be found guilty so that the bombing is justified. So I am looking forward to this trial and waiting to see any proof of Mr. Karadzic taking orders from Mr. Milosevic. And do not fool yourself that this is about individual responsibility. One of the tasks of ICTY is to "embed" an idea of collective responsibility. Another interesting point (and I would honestly want to be wrong on this one), I think that USA and EU want Serbia to be UNSTABLE. In their minds country is 50-50 split between pro-Western and pro-Eastern (read Russia) forces as it has been since XIX century. I think that Serbia will NEVER join EU and I think that all of this "frustration fueling" is an attempt to make Serbia more unstable. But I pray God that I am wrong on this.

3) Finally, if they REALLY wanted to help Serbia they could have done more in the last 8 years. It doesn't matter that Kostunica was the president/prime minister/whatever. The only way to fight fear/prejudice/bias is to be OPEN not to ISOLATE. You need to show possibilities and NOT TO BLACKMAIL/FORCE/THREAT etc.

Anyway, the time will tell. My fear is that with arrests of Karadzic and, more than likely, Mladic and Hadzic, nothing will change. Even if Serbia signs the agreement the economy will still suck, the politicians will still steal, EU will not do a squat and in 4 years if not sooner we will have more radical forces in power.

The best thing for Serbia was that Karadzic's trial was in SERBIA and that he was sentenced in Serbia if found guilty. As well as Milosevic, Mladic and all the others. And keep in mind that the fact that Tudjman and Izetbegovic were never accused has a tremendous weight.

Anyway I will stop hear and I will watch closely what Dr. Karadzic has to say during the trial.
drtimaut drtimaut 00:42 06.09.2008

Re: Much as I would...

dude you are retard
Inner Party Inner Party 02:55 22.07.2008

Oh, man...

... it's not just your fact-checking abilities!
It's your writing style that sucks too...

Agonizing!!!
stellarossa1991 stellarossa1991 03:21 22.07.2008

F-ed in the A....again

I was just watching the BBC report on the arrest, and to be entirely honest, after seeing all the shit spewed out by the 'world's foremost broadcasting corporation', and its more than biased 'experts' on the subject, I can only expect things to get worse, especially for Serbs traveling abroad - public image wise anyway (hopefully they'll lift the visa ban after this).

Don't get me wrong - if I had it my way, the two would've been executed a long time ago, but the overly emotional reports are only going to remind people of the atrocities committed by a handful, and yet again we're gonna be branded as bloodthirsty genocidal maniacs. I'd better go get my AK, wouldn't want to disappoint anyone :)
Colin_bgd Colin_bgd 09:10 22.07.2008

Re: F-ed in the A....again

Don't get me wrong - if I had it my way, the two would've been executed a long time ago, but the overly emotional reports are only going to remind people of the atrocities committed by a handful, and yet again we're gonna be branded as bloodthirsty genocidal maniacs. I'd better go get my AK, wouldn't want to disappoint anyone :)

In the same sentence you managed to put absolutely everything that IS wrong with us in Serbia... Although I somehow do not think that it was actually your intention...
Bili Piton Bili Piton 14:33 22.07.2008

Re: F-ed in the A....again

stellarossa1991
but the overly emotional reports are only going to remind people of the atrocities committed by a handful, and yet again we're gonna be branded as bloodthirsty genocidal maniacs.



Frankly I doubt it. There will be a media storm in a night pot - for a little while - and then it'll subside to the usual indifference, probably when he is dispatched to the Hague (provided our Voja doesn't throw himself under the wheels of the plane or something).

As for the Serbian image abroad, well it's been almost permanently tarnished for ages now, you learn to live with it. Yet psychologically I think this will be seen (and already is) as a major step ahead for the country, so it's not all bad. What's (remotely) encouraging for me is Holbrooke's acknowledgment about Karadzic being the most important of the two fugitives, he seems to be aware of priorities...
Jelena Pavlović Jelena Pavlović 14:43 22.07.2008

Re: F-ed in the A....again

stellarossa1991
I was just watching the BBC report on the arrest, and to be entirely honest, after seeing all the shit spewed out by the 'world's foremost broadcasting corporation', and its more than biased 'experts' on the subject, I can only expect things to get worse, especially for Serbs traveling abroad - public image wise anyway (hopefully they'll lift the visa ban after this).

Don't get me wrong - if I had it my way, the two would've been executed a long time ago, but the overly emotional reports are only going to remind people of the atrocities committed by a handful, and yet again we're gonna be branded as bloodthirsty genocidal maniacs. I'd better go get my AK, wouldn't want to disappoint anyone :)


This possible bad image of the Serbs traveling abroadf do to Mr Karadzice's, alias Dr. Dabice's, arrest, simply doesn't stand. We are representing ourselves wherever we go. Don't worry Stellarosa1991, there is no harm done in reminding dozed off people of the things they may have forgotten or placed to a back burner.
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 15:03 22.07.2008

Re: Oh, man...

doesn't sound like there is much of an inner party going on today!

Woke up with bad hair this morning, would be my guess.

Cheer up, it's not the end of the world!
LemonPie LemonPie 09:37 22.07.2008

HGriffiths



your unattractive wife and daughter ("in hiding" from your womenfolk certainly had its benefits!).


pseudo-intellectual legalists with severe cases of erectile dysfunction


perhaps Rade Bulatovic and Voja were just too busy getting high on cat pee


what a stupid way to write about the most important thing that happened in Serbia for years!

Tine i Radojka Tine i Radojka 19:41 22.07.2008

just an arrogant asshole

jel
a kojaje ova vrancuska frizerka
uh
al je razjapila radnju
dzibri dovde
aleksandar_racic aleksandar_racic 12:17 22.07.2008

"International Law" and "Justice"

Watching the BBC last night and this morning I squirmed as all of the retired "experts" of the 1990's (some still half frozen and visibly thawing from their cryogenic sleep) were wheeled out and began spouting their inaccuracies and contradictions as they had done during the 1990's. The failed politicians, diplomats and negotiators, the "academics" and "journalists" all appeared from their dormant slumber for the class reunion of "Serb-bashing class of 1995" (better make the most of it cos there will probably only be one more left!!)

A great day for "Justice" and for upholding "International Law" they all proclaimed! The irony of these selectively applied concepts lost in this orgy of self-congratulation. The BBC was at its best once again!!!

Now don't get me wrong, there is no doubt that "justice" should prevail and that Serbia must confront what was done in the 1990's. However, ALL THOSE responsible for war crimes in the Balkans (Serb, Croat, Muslim, Albanian) should be held to account and be brought to "justice" but the cases of Haradinaj and Oric show that "justice" is strangely enigmatic for some.

Serbia has missed a trick. In fact it has missed 8 years of tricks. 8 years in which to stand up and be counted instead of political infighting and pandering to corruption by useless politicians and "leaders". The fall of Milosevic should have heralded a complete program of self-examination and reform enabling the trials IN BEOGRAD of all those that have so disgraced the Serbian name and image with their thuggery (Milosevic included). Instead it has shipped off the clowns to the circus that is the ICTY. Out of sight, out of mind, issue not dealt with.

Letting other people solve their problems is unfortunately a predominant theme in Serbia "EVROPA!! The British and the Germans will sort this mess out once we join", you'd be surprised how many times I have heard this in Serbia.

The upholding of "International Law" though?! Hilarious!!! In fact, Im still laughing from watching the British Foreign Minister David Milliband MP go an about the importance of International Law and then include Kosovo in the same sentence!! Brilliant!! David, would you like to borrow my International Law textbooks as it appears yours have a few chapters missing? (The laws of Secession, "Humanitarian Intervention", The Laws of War and Occupation, The UN Charter, The Helsinki Acts etc, etc)

And lets not forget EU foreign policy guru Javier Solana (in fact the list is endless). Now remind me Javier, what job did you have in 1999? International Law?! Justice?!

Let me know when someone finds them....

Domazet Domazet 18:01 22.07.2008

Re: "International Law" and "Justice"

aleksandar_racic

.
.
.
Serbia has missed a trick. In fact it has missed 8 years of tricks. 8 years in which to stand up and be counted instead of political infighting and pandering to corruption by useless politicians and "leaders". The fall of Milosevic should have heralded a complete program of self-examination and reform enabling the trials IN BEOGRAD of all those that have so disgraced the Serbian name and image with their thuggery (Milosevic included). Instead it has shipped off the clowns to the circus that is the ICTY. Out of sight, out of mind, issue not dealt with.

Letting other people solve their problems is unfortunately a predominant theme in Serbia "EVROPA!! The British and the Germans will sort this mess out once we join", you'd be surprised how many times I have heard this in Serbia.
.
.
.


Svaka cast! Posten i hrabar tekst. Na zalost, van mogucnosti spoznaje od strane tipicnog posetioca ovog bloga.
Domazet Domazet 15:44 22.07.2008

I just wonder if our friend Huey was...

completely honest with us? Something
your unattractive wife and daughter ("in hiding" from your womenfolk certainly had its benefits!).

and
It's not only pseudo-intellectual legalists with severe cases of erectile dysfunction who supported you over the years.

tells me that he was expelled from UK. Either that or I was wrong assuming that UK belongs to Civilized World.

And one question for the editorial team of the Blog, why do we have the joy of reading the musings of this Colonial Dragoon wannabie? Is he one of your principal shareholders?
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 16:54 22.07.2008

Re: I just wonder if our friend Huey was...

hmm, another bad hair day sufferer?
Domazet Domazet 17:56 22.07.2008

No...

Hugh Griffiths
hmm, another bad hair day sufferer?


…not really. I just follow Harry Truman’s thoughts on bastards. And since I do not consider you my bastard I don’t see why should I tolerate your primitive scrawl.
Milan M. Ćirković Milan M. Ćirković 01:58 30.07.2008

Re: No...

Domazet

…not really. I just follow Harry Truman’s thoughts on bastards. And since I do not consider you my bastard I don’t see why should I tolerate your primitive scrawl.

Pretty stupid tribalistic response, Domazet. At the very same moment you try to elevate yourself above your own previous chauvinistic agenda, you, to paraphrase a famous literary hero, put your foot into your mouth...
Domazet Domazet 05:17 31.07.2008

Stvarno...

...i pored najbolje volje, ne znam sta da ti odgovorim na ovo gore. Nije zgodno cak ni za najobicniju zahebanciju.

Nego, kad smo ve kod mojih nedoumica, da te priupitam za neku od referenci na my own previous chauvinistic agenda. Kao coveku naucniku to ne bi trebalo da ti bude tesko...
loader loader 20:32 22.07.2008

made in 03. 07. 2004.



soylentgreen soylentgreen 02:21 23.07.2008

the point of confusion

There seems to be one basic misunderstanding around prosecution of war criminals - namely, that justice is universal. It is not. It's a subject to point of view.

Does it really matter?

No.

Let me illustrate:

The prerequisite to being a "war criminal" is losing the war. Winners are not war criminals, losers are. If Third Reich managed to prevail, or if Serbs managed to quietly and inconspicuously get rid of non-serbs, they would be in the similar position as winning forces of the two world wars or as USA is today - the victims would be terrorist rogue nations, and millions starved and dismembered would be unfortunate victims of the otherwise justified war.

The pro-domestic-war-criminals folks' argument always hinges on the above.

But that has nothing to do with the issue at hand. While nothing can be done about winners, Serbia has been given a chance that only 'losers' enjoy - to get rid of own thugs. Germany has been given the same chance in 1945 and they used it well.

War losers are the only ones given a rare priviledge to cull own monstrums. Throughout human history the idea of justice was kept alive and evolved via vehicle of war losers. That is the only moment when powerful thugs must face their victims.

And Serbia must exploit this priviledge.

Vladimir Maričić Vladimir Maričić 18:55 23.07.2008

The World According to Nato

Balkan Backdrop

"The current Balkan crisis, and America's role in it, offers an opportunity to indulge this curiosity. However, any examination of a subject as complex as the Balkans must necessarily be preceded by a brief historical review of the region: the Roman/Orthodox split in the Christian church and the subsequent five centuries of Muslim Ottoman rule ensured that the Yugoslavia that was to be formed in 1918 would be a land simmering with religious discord - a situation not eased by the earlier incursions of the Habsburgs in the north and the Bulgars in the east. The setting up of the Catholic State of Croatia under the fascist Ustase in the wake of the German massacres of Orthodox Serbs - and jews, muslims and gypsies on a lesser scale. Another area of discord during the war was the split between the ultra-Serbian royalist Chetniks under Mihailovich and the more ethnically-mixed communist/republican Partisans under Tito, a Coat (it is strange that this historical aspect has not been taken into account by any publicised analysis of the current crisis: after all, the 'Bosnian Serbs' are self-proclaimed Chetniks, a minority group among Serbs as a whole, and to imply that they - the Chetniks - reflect the aspirations of all Serbs is therefore misleading, and smacks of duplicity).

At this point it is necessary to recall that at the end of World War 2, America emerged with three-quarters of the world's invested capital and two-thirds of the world's industrial capacity - Russia with its infrastructure decimated. The distribution of American aid that followed was significant in the choice of countries so aided, and the relative amounts involved. Russia was denied aid, and the reason given by the US for this denial (which, incidentally, circumvented UN agreements) was that, at the critical Moscow Conference which started on the 10th March 1947, the Russians had spurned America's gestures of compromise - conveniently disregarding the fact that on the 12th March 1947 (just two days into the conference) Truman had dropped his bombshell of a speech to Congress - his 'Doctrine', which was, in effect, an ultimatum to Stalin: you're either with us - or against us! The Marshall Plan was announced three months later. Between 1946 and 1961 the US distributed $8.7 billion of economic aid and $7.9 billion of military aid to the five dictatorships of Turkey, Greece, South Korea, South Vietnam and Formosa (Taiwan). This was more aid than Europe - with a greater population - received over the same period. Furthermore, of the economic aid received by Europe, fascist Spain received $1 billion ($2.5 billion for her Indo-Chinese war); and Spain, $500 million.

George Kennan, who was head of the US State Department Planning Staff in the late '40s (and protégé of James Forrestal), supplied the official rationale that lay behind the above facts concisely in articles he wrote at the time under the pseudonym of 'Mr. X'. He stated "The United States has it in its power to increase enormously the strains under which Soviet policy must operate - and to promote tendencies which eventually find their outlet in either the break-up or the gradual mellowing of Soviet power".

These irreconcilable ideological differences between Russia on the one hand, and Britain and America on the other, meant that their wartime alliance had been an alliance of convenience, of pragmatism (e.g. contrary to America's assurance to Russia in May '42 that a 'second front' would be opened up later that year, this, in fact, did not occur until June '44 - when it became clear to the Western Allies that the Russians were advancing inexorably westwards). Thus, at war's end in 1945, the Western Allies, for their part, immediately reverted to their pre-war anticommunist strategy. This entitled the recruitment of key Nazis - such as the chief of Intelligence on the Eastern Front, General Reinhard Gehlen (who, with the assistance of the CIA, formed the West German Intelligence agency, the BND), and the channeling of many others - such as wanted war criminals like Eichmann, Barbie, Mengele et al - to sanctuary in the West (primarily South America). This channel ran through Italy, and understandably, due to its geographic proximity and its close relationship with the Vatican, many of the escapees were Croatian Ustase (including the Poglavnik, Croatian Fuehrer, Ante Pavelic, a wanted war criminal). This escape channel was a Vatican-controlled operation run by a Croatian priest, Fr. Kronoslav Draganovich, Secretary of the Confraternity of San Girolamo in Rome, member of Interarium, and a man, moreover, who co-operated with Reinhard Gehlen, whose brother was a secretary to the SMOM (see below) in Rome. American intelligence (OSS at that time), under the command of Allen Dulles in Bern, co-operated with this operation, naming it RATLINES after their own escape route for downed Air Force crews in Europe in the war. And with Tito now in power, over the next few years bands of Krizari (Crusaders) were recruited by WEstern Intelligence from the Ustase who had fled into Austria and Italy - and sent into Yugoslavia on destabilising missions.

A significant post-war event that was to play a crucial role in both the 'Cold War' and Yugoslavia's future was the Greek civil war. The popular communist-led party, EAM - with its military wing, ELAS - would have assumed power in Greece in 1944 had not the British intervened militarily with two divisions, as a result of the (then) secret deal Churchill had made with Stalin in October '44: in effect, allowing the British a free hand in Greece in return for Russia having a freehand in Bulgaria and Romania. The subsequent guerrilla war waged by ELAS, with Tito's assistance, was held up as the 'bête noire' by Truman in his 'Doctrine Speech' in '47, calling for the West to rally to his crusade against the "un-American, communist way of life". In the following year, 1948, two crucial events occurred in Yugoslavia - now understandably in a parlous economic state: 1) Tito broke off relations with Stalin, and 2) America loaned Yugoslavia $1 billion. Disregarding any question of a causal line here (inasmuch as the chronology of the two events is not to hand), the consequences were that Tito stopped assisting the Greek rebellion - which collapsed as a result - and embarked on a debt-ridden course which eventually left to the dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation. And America had now replaced Britain as the broker in the region.

Roman Gladiators

Furthermore, any historical review of the region would be inadequate if it did not include the role that religion in general, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, has played in it - but in view of the schism that exists in the Church between the oligarchic 'Integralists' and the liberal 'Base Communities', it should be noted here that any reference/s to 'the church' is/are directed towards the former: the autocrats in the Vatican. The involvement of the church in the region was inevitable, given its geographical juxtaposition tom and historical association with Slovenia and Croatia - long regarded by the Church as a bastion against both the Orthodox Serbs (since Pope John 10th's crowning of Tomislav as King of Croatia in 925 AD) and later, the Muslim Ottomans.

One significant aspect of the Vatican/Yugoslav relationship during the early post-war period was that, whereas the polish government (a Russian satellite) had intervened far more in the internal affairs of the church than had Yugoslavia (which had broken off relations with Russia) the Vatican had adopted a far more intransigent attitude towards the latter (as exemplified by their opposition to Tito's agrarian reform, their stance over the Istria confrontation, and their ban on priests joining the long-established Priests' Associations) than towards the former. This could only have been a case of political opportunism aimed at Tito's comparative weakness. It was certainly not a case of religious principle.

Given their common, fervent anti-communist bias, it was also inevitable that there would be cooperation between Corporate America and the Vatican (as already referred to). Perhaps the most active Catholic group which so co-operated was the Venerable Sovereign Military & Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, better known s the Knights of Malta (SMOM for short), an Order which, like the Vatican itself, is based in Rome and enjoys sovereign status, issuing its own passports and stamps. One of the SMOM's functions in the RATLINES operation was, in fact, the supplying of false passports to the Nazis on their way to sanctuary. Other examples of this co-operation in the post-war period were the setting up of the anti-communist propaganda radio station, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, joint ventures of the CIA (for funding) and SMOM members J. Peter Grace (W. R. Grace Corp.) and frank Shakespeare (CBS-TV, RIO and US Information Agency) - among others. Although membership of the Order was opened to Americans only in 1927, it is a measure of that country's influential standing that by the 1940s the American Cardinal Spellman held the post of 'Grand Protector' within the Order, whereas King Leopold of Belgium and Queen Wilhelmina of Holland were mere 'protectors' within their respective countries! To name but a few of its members, past and present, is to reveal its élitism and power. Juan Péron, CIA directors John McCone and William Casey, King Juan Carlos, ex-NATO Commander and ex-Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Joseph Kennedy - and Nazi Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, who negotiated the Hitler/Vatican Concordat of 1933.

This Concordat was an agreement that meant, in effect, that a government with an ostensibly strong anti-religious bias had taken the seemingly extraordinary step of imposing a church tithe on its populace! To understand this apparent paradox it is necessary to recall the ties that bound Germany to Rome for some eight centuries (926-1806) under the aegis of the Holy Roman Empire, with its succession of German kings. The unavoidable conclusion to be drawn here is that these ties were still alive in 1933, and the setting up of the puppet states of Slovenia and Croatia in 1941 are thus comprehensible. That these ties still exist today is attested to by the facts that 1) the Concordat is still in effect, and 2) since World War 2 the German political scene has been dominated by Christian Democratic (Catholic) parties. Indeed there can be no other rational explanation for Germany's extraordinary action on the 15th January 1992 when, contrary to the advice and warnings given them by the UN, EEC and Bosnia itself (Itzebegovic had even gone to Bonn in a vain attempt to dissuade them from taking this step) they recognised the independence of Slovenia and Croatia, thereby sanctioning the violent outbursts of nationalism that had occurred as a result of the earlier Declarations of Independence by those two autonomous members of the Yugoslav Federation. It was inevitable that the German action would lead to the Bosnian débacle - and it is difficult to believe that Germany was not aware of this. " by Alfred Mendes (2000)


Ivan Marović Ivan Marović 22:07 23.07.2008

Doctor Hugh

Hugh Griffiths
... just too busy getting high on cat pee... pseudo-intellectual legalists with severe cases of erectile dysfunction...
Let me guess, Hugh Griffiths is just a pseudonym, your real name is Petar Lukovic?
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 22:33 23.07.2008

Re: Doctor Hugh

Ivan, you have me, I am unmasked! Time to shave the beard and cut the hair....

Posing as foreigner on the internet (with a sideline in alternative medicine and mystical energies) I am in fact a well known Belgrade journalist, who has worked for the indefatigable Vreme throughout the good old, bad old years of crippling sanctions, smuggled marlboro lights & home made slivo. :)
Ivan Marović Ivan Marović 22:58 23.07.2008

Re: Doctor Hugh

Hugh Griffiths
Ivan, you have me, I am unmasked!
I knew it! Only Petar Lukovic could type a sentence about Kostunica's wet dreams without vomiting on the keyboard and falling off the chair.
AidaPalestine AidaPalestine 09:55 24.07.2008

Karadzic's arrest

Pop the cork, ol' mate, the SOB is behind bars... the hundred thousand can now rest in peace, the thousands of raped women and girls can breathe a sigh of relief, Sarajevans can celebrate again the end of siege and the millions who lost childhoods and every-day routines can put a smile on their faces and hope that the last of them will also be caught!

I'm happy he's arrested... It makes the loss of my own childhood a bit easier!

Cheers!
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 19:13 24.07.2008

Re: Karadzic's arrest

Happy holiday news indeed!

Arhiva

   

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