Balkan betrayal

The Times (London, UK, Britain) ^ | 04MAY06 | The Times (London, UK, Britain)

[familyop]

Serbia must choose between its past and its present

How hard can it be to arrest a man recognised wherever he goes, in a country roughly the size of Scotland? Vojislav Kostunica, the Serbian Prime Minister, has asked the international community to believe that if the man in question does not want to be found, the answer is, effectively, “impossible”.

This answer is not acceptable. It is entirely appropriate that Belgrade’s failure to surrender Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal as promised led yesterday to the suspension of talks with the EU on possible Serbian membership. Mr Kostunica claimed that his Government had done its utmost to seize Mr Mladic, the alleged architect of the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

But the EU was right to call his bluff, both in principle and from the point of view of what should have been possible: The Prime Minister’s own deputy promptly resigned, accusing Serbia’s security services of seeking Mr Mladic “everywhere except where he was hiding”. Wherever that is, the former general and his diehard loyalists now have the satisfaction of knowing they have jeopardised what international standing Serbia has earned since surrendering Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague, weakened Mr Kostunica’s minority coalition and postponed indefinitely the start of Serbian EU accession talks — which polls indicate 60 per cent of Serbs want.

The challenge facing Mr Kostunica should not be underestimated. He is dependent on the support of Socialists still loyal to the memory of Mr Milo-sevic. He is also constantly threatened by the spectre of resurgent nationalism. Surrendering Mr Mladic is not the only test of Belgrade’s good intentions, but, like the imminent prospect of independence for Montenegro and, possibly, Kosovo, it is guaranteed to inflame that nationalist tendency.

This is why the decision taken yesterday by Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, was never going to be simple. It was nonetheless correct. Unlike Croatia in comparable circumstances last year, Serbia has produced little hard evidence of genuine effort to track down or isolate those of its indicted war crime suspects who remain at large. Yet it seems clear that the security services know where they are. Meanwhile, insisting on Mr Mladic’s surrender is by far the EU’s most powerful lever in its dealings with Belgrade. To surrender that lever would be to surrender what credibility the enlargement process retains in the wearier capitals of “Old Europe”.

What should Mr Rehn do next? Rather than shatter progressive Serbians’ hopes of eventual EU membership, he should keep that hope explicitly alive, subject to full co-operation in the hunt for Mr Mladic and a mature acceptance by Belgrade of Montenegrin independence should the referendum due this month demand it. Above all, he must persuade the foot-draggers in Paris and Berlin that enlargement remains the EU’s noblest cause. Steady progress towards membership for Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo and then Serbia itself is the best long-term prescription for Balkan prosperity and, yes, peace.

[familyop]

...British opinion on Serbia/Yugoslavia.

[Cacique]

The Serbs know Muslims well. So who do we prosecute? Clinton's little war will be seen in history as the begining of the Muslim conquest and expansion in Europe. Bosnia and Kosovo are merely footholds to operate from. Europeans fear Muslims more than they ever did the soviets. The Soviets needed to invade western europe to gain a foothold, the muslims are already there.

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[Lion in Winter]

GREAT POST!!!

[Lion in Winter]

Personally, I think the so-called war criminal is in China.

I read on an internet site about business expansion into Serbia. In fact, many Chinese have moved into Belgrade the article stated and started business'.

So, perhaps they have helped the W.C. guy or the other W.C. guys get out. After all, NATO bombed their Embassy in Belgrade back in 1999... A WAR CRIME, BY THE WAY!!

On way to get back at the WEST and NATO... harbor an enemy of the WEST AND NATO.

[GSlob]

It's only in VERY bad crime novels the murder is committed by the prosecuting assistant DA.

[Lion in Winter]

In light of the recent decision by the EU to make all EU member countries "RECOGNISE GAY MARRIAGE" AND HONOR THEM LEGALLY ... I wonder if Serbia REALLY wants to be a part of the EU???

Poland has been ordered to honor the marriages and they are none too happy about it.

Seeing that Poland, like Serbia has a strong Chrisitian Church and population, perhaps being in the EU is NOT such a GREAT idea for them.

Lay down with the EU, and "get down and dirty" with the gay pervs!!

[Lion in Winter]

Oh, in reality though, I remember years and years ago when a district attorney killed somebody... well, he may have just winged him... LOL!!

[FormerLib]

And these are the sort of foreign entanglements that are attempting to split Montenegro from Serbia. I guess the EU types think the Muhammedans need more areas to infest.