Word: balkanizing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Milosevic's departure, even if it is followed shortly by the extradition of Karadzic, Mladic and others on the wanted list, doesn't quite close the brutal chapter of Balkan history that might be termed the Milosevic era. While Serbs have become increasingly comfortable with blaming Milosevic and his henchmen for many of the crimes against humanity that occurred in the Balkan wars of the past decade, Serbian society has only just begun to pose the more uncomfortable questions about collective culpability. But the trial will be a challenge to the international community, too. It was relatively uncontroversial...
There is more than a little irony in the fact that Macedonia came apart at the seams in the same week that Yugoslavia moved to send Slobodan Milosevic for trial in the Hague. Milosevic may be history, but Macedonia now appears irrevocably bound to repeat the horrors of the Balkan wars of the last decade. Milosevic, of course, has had no hand in the Macedonian tragedy. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for NATO...
...Western security alliance's overriding concern throughout its tenure as the Balkan constabulary has been the safety of its own personnel. And in a mean frontier town, a sheriff whose priority is keeping out of harm's way is always in danger of being ineffective - or worse. NATO feared that aggressive peacekeeping and enforcement would provoke attacks on its troops not only in Macedonia but back in Kosovo; by dithering - and legitimizing the rebels by pushing the Macedonian government reluctantly into cease-fire agreements - it has all but ensured the territorial divisions it desperately wanted to prevent...
...existing authority, and (replace it with a new ruling authority). There is plenty of significance in the rebels calling themselves the National Liberation Army, not least because the acronym, in Albanian, is UCK - the same as the KLA. NATO's firm opposition to any further redrawing of Balkan borders prompted the NLA to hurriedly proclaim itself a civil rights movement, but its strategy and tactics - even its negotiating positions - make clear that the objective is to divide Macedonia on ethnic lines...
...What Bela recalls most about his interrogation, however, was an oddly philosophical exchange. Asked for his views of the four-month-old crisis facing the tiny Balkan nation, he answered, "In my opinion, wars could be short or they could be long. But they almost always end at the (negotiating) table." Behind his back, a police interrogator cut him off. "This is one war, " said the gruff voice, "that won't end at the table...