Mladic and ICC Hypocrisy

Mladic is undoubtedly a criminal. Personally I think all combat commanders are, but even by the twisted standards of 'legal' or 'just' war, the Serbian general was guilty of wanton slaughter.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-warcrimes-mladic/ex-bosnian-serb-commander-mladic-convicted-of-genocide-gets-life-in-prison-idUSKBN1DL2WK

And yet the story has always been about the Serbs and there's a reason for this. They were vilified during the Bosnian War and even though Belgrade wasn't directly involved, everyone knew that Karadzic's Republika Srpska was backed by Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian dominated Yugoslav government.

The Serbs were resisting NATO and EU expansion and as a historic Russian ally they all but had to be subjugated in the years immediately following the collapse of the USSR. Serbia was utterly defeated in the 1999 Kosovo War and by 2000 Milosevic was gone. It was a major victory for the West, and just in time as Russia would begin a recovery process under Vladimir Putin.

If you study the history of the Balkans it is both fascinating and complicated. Just as Western Europe was emerging from the Middle Ages and witnessing the dawn of the Renaissance and Reformation, Eastern Europe and in particular the Balkans was falling under Turkish domination. Not even a decade after Luther nailed the 95 Theses, the Turks had swept across Hungary and would occupy most of the Magyar Kingdom for the next century and a half. By 1529 they were at the gates of Vienna. Virtually all of the Balkans had by this time fallen under their domination and would remain under the Ottomans until the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

These nations would emerge from centuries of captivity and oppression and find themselves in a rapidly accelerating world. In addition to the Industrial Revolution which had hardly touched their lands they were also affected by many ideas, nationalism and Romanticism and many of these pent up passions were channeled and encouraged by Western educated thinkers, strategists and romantics. Irredentism was the order of the day as every resurgent nation sought to reconstitute their lost kingdoms from centuries before.

The Ottoman years also produced great bitterness. Not only had some of the Balkan peoples converted to Islam but also there was distrust and hatred between Orthodox and Catholics and many hated both the Jews and the Roma Gypsies. Even among the Orthodox there were bitter divisions as many had collaborated with the Turks and were viewed as traitors.

Out of this cauldron the Balkans emerged into the 20^th century and then the Balkan and World Wars (1912-45) happened. It was a time of suffering, revenge and bitter combat. And yet when it was all done nationalist aspirations were once again subdued under the Soviet shadow. Yugoslavia was a creation meant to unify divers peoples and to find strength in that unity. Instead it merely allowed passions to simmer and became a tool of suppressing nationalist aspirations. Tito sought to liberate Yugoslavia from Moscow and there were reasons for optimism as the Cold War drew to an end. But then everything reverted, it was as if someone released the 'pause' button and for the various peoples of Yugoslavia and much of the Balkans, the animosities of the World Wars and the Ottoman centuries were once more unleashed.

These conflicts were so complicated as to almost defy description. A host of 'hack' histories and explanations flooded the market during those years... all serving Western interests. The truth is, unless you spend quite a bit of time on the Balkans you're not even going to begin to understand it. And as someone who has invested significant time I can also attest that Balkan history is difficult. Why? For most of us in the West, the history, geography and culture are pretty unfamiliar. And in terms of narrative and interpretation it's of a wholly different character than the common progressive histories of the West. Intellectually and culturally the region is different.

Anyone knowing the history should have seen trouble coming by the 1980's, and a few people did. History is not something distant to the people of that region. It's very much alive. You must understand this if you wish to grasp their passion and determination.

Were the Serbs more vicious than the Bosnians or Croats? Maybe, but such comparisons begin to break down. I think it's hard for us to get into their heads and understand (from their vantage point) just what was at stake.  

The war spiraled out of control and turned especially hideous. There were atrocities on all sides. And this is true of both the Bosnian and Kosovo Wars, and the years in-between.

It would be one thing if we were seeing a host of people on trial and indeed there are other trials at the ICC. But, all the media attention is lavished on the Serbs... Karadzic, Milosevic, and Mladic. They alone of the various war criminals get all the attention. The Croats, Bosnians and Albanians have not and instead some of the men whose hands all but drip with blood have done very well for themselves.

The ICC is not an instrument of justice. It's a political weapon and a clumsy one at that. It goes after weak leaders from the Third World and Western enemies. The ICC is a tool in the hands of Western politicians who use it to browbeat their narratives. Clearly the court is collaborative. In many convenient instances the court is silent and fails to issue indictments.

Why are Western allies never brought up on charges? Where are the Croats and Albanians? Yes, there are some pending indictments and trials but these receive little attention. Sometimes charges have been known to be dropped.

What about Middle Eastern leaders? Not just Assad, what about the Saudis? What about Mubarak? What about the Israelis? What about men like Indonesia's Suharto, men of blood and butchery who also could be accused of genocide? Well, Suharto was a close American ally, so he had no cause to fear.

Of course additionally when one probes the behind-the-scenes machinations on the part of the US, the UK and Germany the criminality and culpability with regard to the Balkan Wars is left looking pretty murky.

I shed no tears for Mladic. For my part I directly handled some of the bombs the US dropped on his troops. Were they deserving? Were US actions heroic?

These are the wrong questions. The US had no business being involved and I as a Christian didn't either. The purveyors of wicked deeds were being bombed by those also plotting and committing wicked deeds. And I was their hack.

Of course just a few years later I was a civilian. As I sat in church on Sunday morning and heard Western whitewashed and self-serving accounts of what was happening in Kosovo I was a little dubious. Let's just say my heart was not fully engaged or in harmony with the prayers uttered that spring, even while the US dropped thousands of bombs on civilian targets, bombing infrastructure and utilities that would if perpetrated by others be labeled as war crimes. Then of course I also knew about depleted uranium and even to this day there are attempts to cover up the monstrosity and horror which result from its weaponised use, something the US continues to do on a regular basis, everywhere it drops bombs.

Mladic will rot in prison and congratulations will be given accompanied by handshakes and pats on the back and not a few raised glasses of champagne. But truth and justice are not to be found. It's merely the victors celebrating and hiding their own crimes by means of a charade and little more than a dog and pony show performed by men in suits.

For more reading on the ICC:

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-icc-and-lack-of-credibility.html

Additional articles regarding the Balkan Wars:

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/02/buried-secrets-of-balkan-wars.html

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-simmering-balkans.html

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/02/balkan-tensions-generation-after-wars.html