The evil that men do lives after them Shakespeare
The death of Milosevic puts the Serbian people at a crossroads. They can chose to put behind them the dishonour and approbrium of the rest of the world that the racist rantings of Milosevic and his rabid nationalists earned them in the closing decade of the last century. For that they need to finally face up to these errors and for their government to take control of the military and their client militias. The remaining indictees must be handed over to the International Tribunal. Now. They have a deadline from the EU of the first week in April. That must be stuck to.
(Cross-posted from European Tribune and Daily Kos)
The Foreign ministers on the Council (of Ministers in the EU) must make it clear that failure will not mean delay in the negotiations for Serbia to join the EU, they will be abandoned. Without the full acceptance that violence based on myths of tribal, ethnic or national superiority must play no part in the mainstream politics of a member, they are unfit to negotiate let alone join. Facing the truth behind the Serbian army’s involvement in ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and their state’s sponsorship of those who committed mass murder is the first step. Many have taken that step but there remains an important and influential element, notably within the Army, that preserves the sort of myth of being betrayed and oppressed by the west.
Milosevic was not the only leader in the former Yugoslavia who promoted war crimes and these were not the sole preserve of the Serbs. Croatia has recognised that and has handed over their indictiees for trial and conviction. The final decision on Kosovo is very likely to be independence. That will be difficult for Serbian nationalists to accept. I believe that the vast majority of Serbians want to regain their proper place in the European family. There is an alternative on offer which they might take but which will leave them in the impoverished, embattled mind set that the nationalists promote. They can take up the Milosevic doctrine of pan-slavic co-operation. They can become the second satellite of Putin’s new Russian empire alongside Belarus. That country has a land border with “mother Russia”, can Serbia seriously have a future as a Slavic island surrounded by the EU?
These are stark alternatives. I hope the Serbians can make the right decision and come home to the rest of the continent that is wanting to welcome them.
