FAVOURITE WAR CRIMINAL!
amigocabal
Why do Serbs still regard Milosevic and his cronies as national
heroes?
By Petar Lukovic in Belgrade (BCR No. 254, 8-Jun-01)
One of the favourite jokes doing the rounds in Belgrade is that Serbs
have undergone a radical transformation since October 5 last year.
Apparently, people here have finally discovered the wholesome delights
of democracy in all its untouched, primordial beauty.
Serbs are a tolerant, peace-loving people, they say, who have cast off
all their old misconceptions, ditching Slobodan Milosevic and
everything he stood for. 'We never liked him, in any case," goes the
cry. We might have voted for him for over a decade but, hey, we just
did this out of spite.
The new, improved Serbia wants to woo Europe, wants Europe to embrace
this newly reformed country which has waved its goodbyes to the past
and set its designer, rose-tinted spectacles on a bright, fresh
future.
But a recent opinion poll has cast a bit of a pall over this future
idyll. It all started when the Belgrade advertising agency Strategic
Marketing decided to ask people about their heroes.
It seemed a fairly innocuous question for cosmopolitan Serbs, and they
had no problem answering the pollsters. First choice was Ratko Mladic,
second Radovan Karazdic and third Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan" - who just
tipped Slobodan Milosevic.
One quality shared by all of the nation's favourite heroes is that
they all happen to be war criminals - one of them is dead, another in
prison and two are on the run.
What does this say about the mentality of the country - that it's
suffering from collective memory loss or psychosis?
But give us a chance. That wasn't the only question. Number two on the
pollster's forms was "Who was to blame for the wars in the former
Yugoslavia?" And the results: most guilty war mongerer, the late
Franjo Tudjman, followed by Alija Izetbegovic and Milosevic.
The highly self-critical populus steeled themselves to answer the
third question. "What were the main causes of the wars of the early
Nineties?" Respondents felt 'Croatian nationalism' lit the pyre, 'US
interests' fuelled it and sparks were added by the 'disintegration of
the USSR' as well by 'Alija Izetbegovic's Islamists'.
No one mentioned ideologue novelist Dobrica Cosic, the Serbian Academy
of Arts and Sciences, the Serbian Orthodox Church, Yugoslav People's
Army generals nor Vojislav Seselj. Not even massacres or genocide.
Nothing to do with us!
Another interesting nugget which cropped up in the poll was that just
ten per cent of Serbs know anything about war crimes which their
people may or may not have committed. Yet 85 per cent were fully aware
that crimes had been committed against them.
Well, I don't want to bore you with the Serbian victim/criminal
complex. What I'm trying to point out is that precious little has
changed in this country. What changes can we talk about when we are
all under the shadow of General Mladic? How can we go about preaching
tolerance when Radovan Karazdic is our spokesman?
Serbia today is pretending that it has actually learned something from
its past tragedies. Somehow, through its fogged-up spectacles it still
manages to see some phantom idea of a Greater Serbia.
You can almost hear the anguished, woe-filled cries for Serbia's
heroes, ancient lands ... Yes, our insanity is not a passing phase,
it's a permanent condition.
But in case we get carried away, we still have that Damocles' sword of
the international community suspended over our dreaming heads. And it
promises to fall if we don't cooperate with The Hague. If we don't
hand over Milosevic, aid will be cut off, the money tap will be turned
off and Serbia in effect will dry up.
Never mind! We can deal with that one too. The Belgrade daily Politika
has been at pains for months to explain to its readers why hero number
four - Slobodan Milosevic - should not be sent to The Hague and it's
corralled a number of local experts to explain why.
These experts explain that sending him to The Hague is tantamount to
destroying our very identity, that tribunal lawyers don't have an
ounce of evidence to support their case. And anyway, The Hague is just
some jumped up anti- Serb kangaroo court.
I want to single out the invaluable contribution of Momcilo Perisic,
Yugoslav army chief of staff during the Bosnian War and now leader of
a tiny party belonging to the ruling Serbian Democratic Opposition,
DOS, coalition.
Perisic says that Milosevic should not be sent to The Hague because,
he believes, it would drop all the charges against him. Why? Everyone
knows Milosevic has been collaborating with US intelligence agencies
for years. The old general lobs his ideas around the same way he threw
shells into Mostar.
Therefore, I suggest we should organise a competition for a 'Lunatic
Hero'. I promptly nominate General Perisic! Because, in or out of
uniform, this man's credentials go unchallenged.
Petar Lukovic, a leading Serbian commentator, is IWPR project editor
in Belgrade
Mark Brooks
Belorussia and Serbia are all pretty much going nowhere.
Serbia was/is a clone of Nazi Germany as it was during the 1930's. Albanians
and so on are Serbia's Jews. They are no doubt many Germans who still regard
Hitler as a great hero just as many (majority?) of Serbs still consider
Arkan to have been a wonderful fellow.
Serbia reminds me of an old Monty Python skit where the knight keeps getting
his limbs hacked off one by one. After all his legs and arms are chopped
off, the knight is defiant proclaiming the wounds are simply superficial
flesh wounds. Serbia doesn't have many limbs left for amputation save for
Montenegro.
Oh well. Like good ol' Abe used to say...One should not help those who won't
help themselves.
"amigocabal" <par...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:a410e8b8.01061...@posting.google.com...
danko
What could be easier than speculate having got but a superficial
observations for basis. Ever tried to study the subject? :):):)
Danko
amigocabal
> What could be easier than speculate having got but a superficial
> observations for basis. Ever tried to study the subject? :):):)
>
> Danko
And what subject is that, Danko? Sadism? Mass murder? genocide?
destruction of homes? or just plain Serbian terrorism at its best?
danko
--
"amigocabal" <par...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:a410e8b8.01061...@posting.google.com...
How and when did Albanians came to Kosovo?
What role did Albanians play in the WWII?
What kind of regime did Albania have until recently?
Etc.., etc..
Danko
amigocabal
> --
>
> "amigocabal" <par...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
> news:a410e8b8.01061...@posting.google.com...
> > "danko" <ex...@eircom.net> wrote in message
> news:<TBqV6.7383$Fk7....@news.indigo.ie>...
> > > What could be easier than speculate having got but a superficial
> > > observations for basis. Ever tried to study the subject? :):):)
> > >
> > > Danko
> >
> > And what subject is that, Danko? Sadism? Mass murder? genocide?
> > destruction of homes? or just plain Serbian terrorism at its best?
>
> How and when did Albanians came to Kosovo?
LATEST IMMIGRANTS TO THE BALKANS HAVING COME THERE AFTER THE RULE OF
jUSTINIAN SOMETIMES IN THE 8TH OR 9TH CENTURY. ALBANIANS ARE MENTIONED
IN PAX ROMANA AS BEING THE CITIZENS OF THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE.
>
> What role did Albanians play in the WWII?
country to free themselves of the nazis without anybody's help. And
just like Serbs they also had their nazi traitors!
>
> What kind of regime did Albania have until recently?
Comunist same as Zloboslavia
>
> Etc.., etc..
>
> Danko
Goran
wrote:
Hmmm look like Mark Brooks are in eny kind of subject here great
specialist to tell all peopoles how things work.
Well Brooky let me tell you fiew things you sonds "VERY BRITISH"
Hmmmm watch out about that.....whene ever England and USA give to eny
country democration and help of eny kind we ahve a war so pleas estop
HELP US!
I wish that day will come when Sadam Husein would crash you in golf
some hpw one old lady who was student of camridge meny years a go vork
on very light biological weapon and that when big BUM happen that woul
dbe END of NATO and europe would breath again freely.
Hmm smohow you mentioned Hitler and other bad bad guys from history
but never mentioned Heroshima and NAgasaki such thing never happend
you may be say thet was NOT ON OUR NEWS that was movie like Gozzila.
Soon or latter it would happened as song says "...all we need is just
a little patience........."
amigocabal
I did not that Hiroshima and nagasaki were in Serbia!!!