Word: serb
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...international law but to the power of the U.S. The indictment that the Hague tribunal issued two years ago would be a dead letter today--and "international justice" an empty phrase--were it not for American power. It was the NATO bombing of Kosovo--overwhelmingly American--that expelled Serb forces, devastated Serbia and utterly discredited Milosevic...
...snaring of Milosevic was a triumph for the eight-year-old court and its chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, who spent months barnstorming through Western capitals demanding his transfer. The tribunal has gone after Serb, Croat and Muslim suspects and successfully prosecuted 19 defendants, but until now has yet to bring to dock the supreme commanders of the Balkan wars. American officials who pressed the Yugoslav government to give Milosevic up, conditioning aid on his handover to the U.N., also claimed vindication. "Today's unfolding events demonstrate the wisdom of our position," crowed Joseph Biden, the chairman of the Senate...
...Most Serbs knew the West had all but bribed the government into delivering Milosevic, but few cared. "He's a war criminal, so he belongs in the Hague," says Jelena Ivancevic, 23, a technology student in Belgrade. "And if we get some money on top for sending him there, that's even better." Part of Djindjic's strategy was to prime the public for Milosevic's transfer by releasing reports of police discoveries of mass graves within Serbia containing bodies of Kosovar civilians executed by Serb soldiers during the nato air war. Most shocking was the revelation that security forces...
Milosevic's swift transfer may have the perverse effect of forestalling a moral catharsis within Serb society. The Serbian government's dash to deliver its former leader in time to procure international aid has made the country's compliance with the war-crimes tribunal seem a matter of economic self-interest rather than collective responsibility. "The war-crimes issue has turned into a financial issue in this country," says Latinka Perovic, a Belgrade historian. "We have a moral duty to do away with the history of crimes, but I've heard precious little about these in recent weeks...
...Today's Serb leaders, however, aren't the only politicians who are a little uncomfortable with the proceedings unfolding in The Hague. A number of Western leaders had to deal with the strongman over the past decade, reaching deals and accommodations in efforts to stabilize the increasingly imperfect world of the simmering Balkans. Richard Holbrooke, Lords Carrington and Owen and other senior Western officials spent hours behind closed doors on Milosevic's sofa without even the presence of translators (the strongman had been a banker before he became president, and prides himself on his command of English). His performance...