By John Ballard
The details are too obscure to be appreciated, but this is a post I must write to get it out of my system. Today's arrest of Ratko Mladic marks an official closure to a war crime that took place sixteen years ago toward the end of the war in Bosnia, an ethnic conflict secondary to the breakup of Yugoslavia.The interested reader can brush up on the details at a few Wikipedia links and watch this excellent BBC video.
Better yet, listen to this three minute account by NPR's Scott Simon.
My purpose here is not to tell about all that but to fit together a few obscure details of US electoral politics that will otherwise never be noticed and aside from my own strange viewing angle are not particularly interesting anyway to anyone but me. Nevertheless here is the story.
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During the last presidential campaign the contest between Obama and Hillary Clinton took most of the headlines with events abroad getting hardly a not. As the candidates made obligatory trips outside the country to look presidential the reports were mostly written through a domestic filter. Obama's appearances were bigger than the norm but that was dismissed by most people as ostentatious grand-standing rather than what it was: the guy captured the imaginations of many non-Americans as no other US politician has done in living memory. He did so deliberately and he has followed up.
The formation of a new Serbian government early in July, 2008, prompted candidate Obama to note the creation of that new government immediately.
US Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama has congratulated Serbian president Boris Tadic and prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic on the formation of the country's new government.
In a statement on his website, Obama said that he wished the new government in Belgrade "success in tackling the problems that have for too long kept Serbia from achieving its great potential".
Late on July 7, Serbia got a cabinet after two months of hard coalition bargaining. A total of 127 members of parliament of the 250-seat Serbian assembly approved the government composition that Cvetkovic had proposed earlier in the day along with the cabinet programme, after which the new ministers were sworn in.
In the statement, issued on July 8, Obama said that "Serbs have moved through several painful chapters in their long and proud history".
Citizens of Serbia are eager for progress, democratic development and economic growth, Obama said.
"In May, voters expressed their desire for a European future, a vision that has been confirmed by the Serbian political leadership through the formation of a government that shares these aspirations. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union provides the foundation upon which the new government can build. A Serbian government that devotes its energies to this hopeful vision can count on my full support."
Obama said that "real progress of course requires positive and responsible relationships with all of Serbia's neighbours, including Kosovo. Relegating inflammatory rhetoric and provocative actions to the past is essential to achieving this. An Obama administration together with our European partners, will work to ensure that all regional actors adhere to such standards".
"All Serbs in the region, no matter where they reside, can see their lives improve by active participation in legitimate political institutions at all levels.
"Rest assured that, as President, I will work with all international and local actors in Kosovo to realise the full array of protections for Serbs there, including enhanced competencies for Serb municipalities, unfettered and undisturbed access and operation of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the right of return and restoration of property for all refugees and displaced persons."
Obama said that building a better future also required honouring obligations from the past.
"The recent arrest of Stojan Zupljanin was an important step in this direction. I call on the new government in Belgrade to exert maximum efforts to apprehend the remaining fugitives wanted for war crimes, including General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic."
This is more than a pro forma press release. Pay particular attention to the details mentioned, particularly urging the newly formed gobvernment take immediate measures to apprehend and bring to justice some of the country's most popular war heros. He recognizes the apprehension of one war criminal but goes on the urge the same for two more.
Less than two weeks later Serbian authorities did, in fact, take Karadzic into custody where he remains to this day to be tried for war crimes. Ratko Mladic, however, remained at large until he was taken into custody this week. This BBC video from 2008 summarizes those events.
But this post is about Mladic, not Karadzic.
This one remained at large "in plain sight" as they say, awaiting what one of the commentators here called the "political will" to bring him to justice as well.
NPR has done comprehensive reporting on this story, digging into the reasons it took so long to take Ratko Mladic out of circulation.
[MICHELLE] NORRIS: He was especially popular, as I understand, with many Serbs. Why was he so popular with them?
[TOM] GJELTEN: Well, one of the things about the Serb passions that drove their aggression against Bosnian Muslims was their deep sense of historical grievance - absurdly deep, it could even be said. For many Serb nationalists, the Bosnian Muslims had it coming to them because of what their ancestors had done to Serbs 200 or more years earlier during the period of Turkish rule. And Ratko Mladic was especially adept at linking the war to those Serb struggles of the past. He called the Bosnian Muslims Turks.
And I remember that when his troops captured Srebrenica, for example, Mladic actually referred back to a slaughter of Serb peasants in that area in 1804. And he said, I remember this, the time has finally come to take revenge on the Turks in this region. You know, it may sound crazy holding the Muslims responsible for something that happened 200 years earlier, but it was that linkage that he was able to make that made Mladic a hero to Serb nationalists.
NORRIS: Did the popularity with the Serbs account for him being able to escape arrest for so long?
GJELTEN: It did in a couple of ways, Michele. First of all, any Serbian government that had moved against Mladic would have faced some kind of popular backlash because he was so popular. And then, within the Serbian army, because of his long experience there, he had many, many close friends and protectors, made it very difficult for both political and security reasons to move against him for many years.
NORRIS: Any indication what led to his arrest after all these years?
GJELTEN: Well, as the years went by, the circle of people that were determined to protect him got smaller and smaller. His political counterpart, Radovan Karadzic, was arrested three years ago. And meanwhile, the political argument for arresting him became more and more compelling. The Serbian government is anxious to join the European Union.
It's been very clear from the beginning that the primary condition would be to move against Mladic and that is what, I think, finally led to this political decision. It's not like Osama bin Laden here. This arrest is not the culmination of some great investigation. This was a political decision by the Serbian government finally to go after him.
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And this post is also about Barack Obama. Say what you want, this president may be the sharpest person who has occupied the White House in our lifetimes. As a candidate he had little to gain politically from a press release congratulating Serbia on a new government.
But like most people I was unaware until the Karadzic affair that Obama's global impact was as large as it was. Take a look at a few of the messages left at the campaign website from young people in Serbia.
?Milojko's Blog: March 2
Serbian students addressing Barrack Obama in order to support his new policy towards dialogue and tolerance has imposed a nonviolent action in Belgrade, Less than ten days since US embassy in Belgrade is stormed, another face of Serbia has addressed to US public - supporting Barrack Obama. Kosovo instability in Serbia is widely recognized as Clinton Dynasty failure, by most of the Serbs, bringing unrest, riots and instability in Balkans, the region which has developed towards democracy in last 8 years, after a series of Civil wars, and NATO military intervention, led by Bill` Clinton`s administration in 1999. Spatial envoy for Balkans at troubled 90ties was Richard Holbrook, widely recognized as "arrogant cowboy", Serbian immigrants in US, settled largely in Chicago IL are very supportive of Barrack Obama, including few superdelegates. Only seven days after mobsters has burned US embassy in Belgrade, with 1 protester dead, young Serbs has put the Obama next to Kennedy, widely recognized as friend of this part of the world. Young Serbian Student Leader Simon Simonovic has stated to media covering this public action that "after announcing new political course, including new policy Towards Cuba, Barack Obama gives hope to Serbs that US will treat us with more common sense and less arrogance" . We think that Obama should be aware of this support, and thinking about the re-building friendship with Serbia!
?Post from More Peace Corps - Less Defence Dept:
Serbia arrested one of the most notorious war criminal yesterday. He was indicted twice by the U.N. tribunal on genocide charges stemming from his alleged crimes against Bosnia's Muslims and Croats. Former high ranking US State Department official, Richard Holbrooke estimated that Radavan Karadzic is responsible for the deaths of 300,000 people in former Yugoslavia. Without him there probably would not have been a war or genocide in Bosnia. He is in custody now, leaving only about 5 indictees, including Ratko Mladic remaining at large. [...] The EU presidency (currently held by France) was quick to comment that this arrest is "an important step on the path to the rapprochement of Serbia with the European Union". Reconstruction in all of former Yugoslavian countries that were most affected by the 1992-95 war (Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia) has been slowly poking along. This arrest may prove quite helpful to Serbia to push along reconstruction efforts. Bosnia and Serbia are definitely countries that could use Peace Corps Volunteers that have a business profile and background. There are tons of jobs for American entrepreneurs.
?At last ! By Nesic Mladjan - Jan 7th, 2008
We belive in you Obama. Because Serbia and America have a great democratic future, if you winn. We pray for you, and we need support of your country. We still believe that our country is able to survive. Please, help us Obama. America is our new hope !!!Everybody are talking about Europe, but i would say there is a new era, a new hope for living in peace. Just a little more understanding needed Obama. Just a little more help to democratic Serbia. Democratic Serbia need your support. We are giving you all our heart to winn. God bless America, God bless Barack Obama and his family.
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At the time of these events I was tracking every move.
Here is a link to my old blog to a rambling patchwork of a narrative I put up at the time.
Months after I put up the post I received a comment (see the comments thread) from the young man who's remarks I linked.
And now, as the Arab Spring and events in Madrid echo around the world, I recall the tremors of excitement of Obama's election.
He may not be the principal stimulus, but he has had one helluva lot more to do with uprisings of young people in Africa and Europe than anyone else on this side of two oceans.
Now you know why I had to get this post out of my system.
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