Word: kosovo
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Once again, June 28--the feast of St. Vitus in the Christian Orthodox calendar--had written itself into the history of the Balkans. On St. Vitus day in 1389, Serbs were defeated by the Turks at the battle of Kosovo Polje, the event that launched Serbian claims to eternal victimhood. On the same day in 1914, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip killed Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo, plunging Europe into World War I. And on the same day in 1989, Milosevic--speaking at Kosovo Polje--launched his career as the defender of Serbian nationalism. Twelve years later, he finds himself imprisoned...
...Balkan wars, Milosevic can expect a fair trial. This week he is expected to plead not guilty to charges ranging from crimes against humanity to violations of the laws or customs of war. Specifically, prosecutors intend to link him through the chain of command to atrocities committed in Kosovo in 1999, including the murder of more than 600 civilians by Serbian security forces. Prosecutors are also looking to expand the charges to cover other crimes, including ones committed from 1991 to 1995, during the Croatian and Bosnian wars. Though U.N. lawyers will not discuss details of the indictment...
...Milosevic was tried anywhere, it should be in Belgrade, for corruption. But U.S. and European officials consistently linked their financial aid to cooperation with the court. And over the past two months, the Interior Ministry has revealed the existence of three mass graves filled with victims of the Kosovo war. The latest, uncovered the day Milosevic was arrested, contained the bodies of nine children. For Serbs, who had been sheltered from reports of such atrocities, the news hit home. "I don't care if he stole money, and I don't care if he was abusing power," said Vojin Savic...
...NATO's reluctance to put its foot down in Macedonia is understandable: Confronting Albanian extremism - which the alliance itself appears has identified as the primary source of the current violence there - potentially exposes alliance troops to risks of a backlash both in Macedonia and in Kosovo. And there is no doubt that the Macedonian military's tendency to rain down bombs and shells on villages occupied by the guerrillas will drive many Macedonian Albanians into the arms of the rebels. Yet the absence of any strong disincentive for the guerrillas to continue fighting may be the fatal flaw of NATO...
...region's ethnic conflicts, it actually sends the message that nothing succeeds quite as well as resorting to arms - and that creates an incentive for nationalist extremists to keep on fighting to redraw Balkan borders. The Macedonian insurgency began with small groups of men infiltrated from NATO-controlled Kosovo, who then launched attacks on security force personnel. And despite some verbal wrist-slapping from NATO, the reward for that strategy may turn out to be a place at the negotiating table to determine Macedonia's future. The failure of the alliance to act on its harsh criticisms of the rebels...