Ratko Mladic arrested Ratko Mladic, who was responsible for the Srbenica massacre, was caught today outside Belgrade. He's been clearly living with some support from some members in the Serbian power structure. His capture is a major step to Serbia rejoining the community of European nations.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested Good news, especially for the victims of his barbaric doings. Serbia's status will heavily elevate after this. Really bad though that he is practically accused ''just'' for the Sarajevo siege and the Srebrenica massacre. Croatia's government must do something more about that. In the western media, from what I read, there is nothing about his war crimes in Škabrnja (Croatia) in 1991 and heavy excessively artillery attacks and bombardments of Croatian towns Zadar and Šibenik during the Homeland war which caused a lot of destruction. I repeat, no accusements about that. When the Croats are victims in their territory, that's ok. Is that the message the world is sending perhaps?
Thank you, Serbia. This is how you treat war criminals. Shame it took so long, but this is fantastic news.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested I don't think the world is saying anything he did is okay. The fact that he is arrested and facing trial is in fact a strong message that no matter who you are you cannot get away with these sorts of actions against civilians. It doesn't matter whether the victims are Croats, Bosnians, Serb or whoever eventually you will be caught. This a great day for all of Yugoslavia (former) and we should really welcome Serbia's efforts to face it's history and return to the fold of responsible nations. All countries should support them and reflect on their own misdeeds as well.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested If the Croats can provide the International Court with evidence, he'll be surely charged for these crimes as well (even though it won't change the verdict's outcome). Anyway, great news that he finally can't hide anymore! Took the Serbs pretty long, though.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested Yes, but with talking just about two of his major crimes he committed, while the others are ignored and not even accused for them by the Haague Tribunal, then you'll know something is wrong. He started his ''war career'' in Croatia where what he did is not mentioned anywhere today, before becoming the VRS commander. Here you have a list of procedures Croatia had taken until now against Mladić for the crimes against civilians and cities on Croatia's territory (for some he was even sentenced in absentia): http://www.dorh.hr/DrzavnoOdvjetnistvoRepublikeHrvatskePriopcenje01 You can translate it with google if you want. Brammertz said today though, if the source isn't wrong, that he will expand tha accusation. Strongly hope that will be done.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested Btw, here is the picture of this war criminal of today: http://www.blic.rs/data/images/2011-05-27/145614_01mlacic-najnovija_f.jpg?ver=1306448807 The man is in a bad state. Old and poor. He'll most probably die in a few years or so. Like Milošević, he will die before being sentenced.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested Often times it's easier to focus on one charge because it still serves the purpose of putting them behind bars. Srbenica is what the media will focus on in the US and elsewhere because it is a household name that ordinary people recognize. Even if Mladic dies behind bars, it still serves the purpose that he was not allowed to live out his life in comfort and really isn't as important that he hears guilty as that he is no longer free.
Is there a Serbian military garrison nearby? Perhaps if the Pakistani authorities had acted in a similar fashion, bin Laden would be under arrest, instead of fish food.
The Serb nationalists are pissed off, of course, because Mladic is a 'war hero'. Talk in the Netherlands is about how this will impact Serbia's chances of EU membership. The Netherlands has been the only country opposing Serbian EU membership, pretty much, precisely because of the Serb's unwillingness to arrest Mladic.
See, we need to start sending the seals in more often. How much is this trial going to cost? Cheaper to send in a seal team, even if we lose another helicopter. How about 1. Dude from Sudan. 2. Dude from North Korea 3. Dude in Libya. 4. How about the Generals in Burma? 5. The crazy guy that keeps predicting the end of the world.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested I don't think we should applaud Serbia for this arrest. It took them too long. And when taking into account that Mladić after Dayton enjoyed great support by the Serb government and that the arrest happened these days when Serbia is awaiting Brammertz's mark on their collaboration with the Tribunal in Haague (which would give them the EU candidate status), someone could easily say that they knew all the time where was he. They just waited for the best possible moment and when the accused got old. They are sure he will die before being sentenced, and just like with Milošević, Serbia's role in Croatia and Bosnia will not be sanctioned rightly. I don't want to go off-topic (sorry for that), but I really cannot understand the mind of those supporting him. Supporting someone who ordered Škabrnja and Srebrenica massacres is unexplainable. Those people call him ''hero'', but he was in reality a great general only against civilians and a poorly armed army (under the embargo in 1991 and 1992). Whenever he was confronted against a well armed and trained army (like the HV 1993-1995), he was regularly losing. He was a ***** against Gotovina's forces, which stopped him from doing more crimes and atrocities (Bihać for instance) and made his troops ran like rabbits during the successful 1995 operation cycle.
Re: Ratko Mladic arrested I can agree with this. Really sad though that those ordinary people are not better informed on some other atrocities he is responsible for.
Pakistan isn't in the middle of a big push to get into the EU. I'm willing to bet that slimy bastard Tadic has known where Mladic was ever since he took office three years ago. I doubt it's merely coincidental that this arrest is extremely politically opportune. Had to lol at Nikolic's carefully worded statement reacting to it - that he was 'surprised' at the arrest. Poor fool is stuck between his racist supporters and the international community.
I wonder if it will take the EU 16 years to approve Serbia for membership. "Sorry Serbia we can't seem to find the application at this moment."