Ratko Mladic Captured!

I swear, if they get Gaddafi or some other Odious Figure (tm) before the end of this month, I hearby declare May the Month the Bad Guys Got Theirs.

...maybe I'll do it anyway.

Congrats to those who suffered Mladic's evil. Hopefully justice will be served. As for the Serbs, I understand where they're coming from, but it is best to pick and choose their fights. And they shouldn't choose this one.

Personally I think if Mladic is guilty then he'll get what he deserves. But as I said, many if not most Serbs regard him as a hero since the consensus is without him that there would be no Republika Srpska. This combined with the fact that the Hague is heavily biased against Serbs, that it takes endlessly long to convict someone and the belief that the Serbian government was "blackmailed" by the EU into extracting Mladic makes the uproar understandable, no matter what you think of the General. As for his atrocities and victims, they either tend to be denied, downplayed or met with the "why should we care about them when they were just as happy to slaughter us"-attitude. This applies to all sides, just remember the uproar in Croatia when Gotovina was arrested.

If you think Warhammer 40K was bad then just look the Yugoslav Wars.

I'm generally pro-Serb, but Mladic loses any sympathy he might have had.

Look, being harsh on the Croats is, well, y'know, par for the course. They're not nice towards Serbs either. War Is Hell'n'all.

But going all genocidal on the Bosnians? What did they do wrong?

I myself am not a fan of him and try to be as neutral as possible.

As for the Bosniaks, they had the "wrong" ethnicity and religion which was more then enough reason to be killed unfortunately. It was that kind of war. :(

But what's the grudge towards Bosniaks?

I mean, Serbs and Croats have a miles-long list of grudges, real or imagined, against each other. Them killing each other is still tragic, but not unexpected.

But going after, say, the Bosniaks (Serbs AND Croats are guilty of that one) is not just petty revanchism: It's ruthless, cold, calculated ethnic cleansing to perform a blatant land grab. It's more disturbing than the usual Serb-on-Croat and Croat-on-Serb violence.

A (bloody, brutal) feud is not excusable, but revanchism is easy to understand... An unprovoked, cold-blooded campaign of ethnic cleansing is a different beast (and if my data is correct, both Serbs and Croats slaughtered Bosniaks en masse.

edited 27th May '11 3:53:37 AM by SavageHeathen

In 1992, after the Siege of Sarajevo, a column of retreating, disarmed JNA soldiers was attacked by Bosniaks, killing 42 and wounding 73 soldiers, mostly young men around 20 years old (this is known as the Dobrovoljacka Street Massacre). The Serbian public was shocked, and many yearned for some kind of revenge. Mladic himself was adamant on not letting that atrocity happen again, no matter which side comitted it, and promised to punish any soldier in his ranks who would dare to do such a thing.

Unfortunately, his daughter died of an unknown reason (probably drug overdose) while he was fighting on the front, which led him into despair, then insanity. He was sure that she was killed as a part of a Bosnian conspiracy, and wanted to take revenge. Soon after, he became a complete loose cannon, culminating in capturing the officials sent to check on him, and sending them on a week of slave labor on his pig farm. Unfortunately, he was the most popular figure among the Serbs in Bosnia, and the masses, as gullible as ever, followed all of his crazy ideas. Then Srebrenica happened...

edited 27th May '11 4:04:47 AM by MilosStefanovic

So Mladic was a decent guy who became completely nuts, and nobody was able to relieve him of command?

Then it's a textbook example of why each and every time a commanding officer suffers some kind of serious personal tragedy, counseling and extra oversight should be standard procedure.

The grudges against the Bosniaks is relatively old. During the war they were basically regarded as Turks and Mladic himself even said before commiting the massacre of Srebrenica that this will be the "revenge of 500 years of Turkish occupation". Until 1974 the Bosniaks were regarded as Muslim Croats/Serbs or officially as "Yugoslavs" before the Muslims became an official ethnic group.

The main reason though was that Yugoslavia was dead and everyone tried to get what they could from Bosnia. Everyone's homeland was part of someone else's.

As for Mladic himself I found this interview.

edited 27th May '11 4:49:15 AM by AdeptusAlpharius

I can see why he would be very popular amongst Serbs.

That whole war was just something that brought out the inner evil in people.

That. But as I already said, he is regarded as the one who defended the Serbs from the Croats and Bosniaks and the consensus is that it was thanks to him the Republika Srpska was created.

Come to think of it, he has financially secured his family so that they can live peacefully and with no worries, he is regarded as a national hero amongst the Serb population and since he is quite old he will spend the few years that are left to him in Hotel Hague (these are more hotels then actual prisons), if they manage to convict him in the first place. From one point you can almost say he won. :|

edited 2nd Jun '11 1:33:09 PM by LoneWolfEburg

didn't his daughter shoot herself after learning about what he did at Srebrenica?

No, it happened earlier. Where did you hear that?

And even if, for her it would by far be no reason to commit suicide. This war was about "us versus them" or "why giving a damn about them when they are just as happy to slaughter us?".

I think they will release Šešelj, Karadžić will be convicted and Mladić will die of old age before anything happens if he isn't convicted too. These are my bets.

edited 4th Jun '11 8:10:50 AM by AdeptusAlpharius

I agree for the last two. They will probably convict Seselj, though - if he is released, he has the right to sue the court. Losing the lawsuit would strip the court of more money than they can afford.

Though it would be a brilliant troll move against the Hague. Seriously, the Hague might be biased against Serbs, but even they can't lock him up if he isn't guilty.

It might be a bit off-topic but I watched the trial of Šešelj when he was questioning the witnesses. For the most epic lulz you should watch the episode with the witness Gušalic.

Šešelj: The police caught you drunk behind the wheel.
Gušalić: Of course.

Sometimes I think the witnesses are more dubious than Šešelj.

edited 4th Jun '11 8:39:10 AM by AdeptusAlpharius

Anyway, Seselj is the embodiment of Crazy Awesome. The way he screws with the court is epic.

And this Gusalic guy is obnoxious.

edited 4th Jun '11 9:21:26 AM by MilosStefanovic

And this morning, Goran Hadzic, the last Serbian fugitive, was caught. The end.

Really now. Any news articles?

Here.

Since the first reportsof Mladic's capture, I read the book Why Not Kill Them All, which studies various genosides and the prevention of them.

From it, I think the fact that the fugitives were caught and took to Hague are a good thing. Even if they might not be convicted to the full extent, the knowledge that there are rules to war, and that they are enforced is a good message to get out.

edited 20th Jul '11 6:50:42 AM by JethroQWalrustitty

Cool. Yet another one sent to Hotel Hague.