Do the Balkans want a War?

Tags: Balkans, Hague Tribunal , World, Commentary, Politics

Igor Siletsky

Apr 26, 2011 16:02 Moscow Time

Ante Gotovina. Photo: EPA

The Balkans are on the verge of a new war, Western political observers and analysts have been saying. They believe that a precedent for the worsening of the situation was given to the countries of the Former Yugoslavia by the international community, when it sentenced Croatian General Ante Gotovina. For their part, Russian political analysts who see no prerequisites for a new conflict, say that a new outbreak of tensions is beneficial for the West.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY or The Hague Tribunal) delivered a verdict for three Croatian generals on April 15th. All of them were accused of committing crimes against the Serbs during Operation Storm 1995. According to the court ruling, Ante Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years in prison, Mladen Markac – to 18 years, and the third defendant Ivan Cermac – was acquitted.

So why has the verdict triggered such stormy emotions not only among the Croats but also in the Western countries. The point is that throughout the history of the existence of The Hague Tribunal the key defendant for the UN court, who was often referred to as “Doctor Evil” was Yugoslavia’s last president Milosevic and of course, his supporters and Serbia itself. There even appeared people in some countries in Europe and in the USA who started saying that the justice of The Hague was one-sided. This postulate needed no proofs for either Russia or the other countries, which were not involved in the “anti-Yugoslav coalition”. However, judging by the facts, those in The Hague have decided to improve their image and to put into life the principle that was declared by the tribunal itself, that is, that “all sides are to blame for the atrocities and that no nation was more responsible than the other”. As a result, the Croatian generals, who were accused of ousting 100,000 peaceful civilians and of murdering hundreds of Serbs, were jailed. As it might seem, justice was obtained. And the fact that the Croats have got angry is simply an expected “side effect”.

However, what followed was that the angry “progressive public”- meaning the leading Western media - has undertaken to conduct an investigation of its own. “The Washington Times”, “The Wall Street Journal”, Newsweek, and “The Jerusalem Post”, after studying Storm Operation 1995, came to the conclusion that Ante Gotovina had committed no crimes at all. Moreover, the general is a real Croatian patriot and hero, and that his campaign had not only restored Croatia’s territorial integrity but had also destroyed the dream of the deceased Serb ruler Slobodan Milosevic about “Greater Serbia”. Besides, the Western editions said that by its irresponsible verdicts The Hague Tribunal is stirring up a new war.

The first thought that comes to mind after reading all these “journalist investigations” is that the West wants to preserve the status quo in the Balkans, which suits it. In this system Belgrade acts as a “guilty child”, who is still under punishment. And all the other parts of the Former Yugoslavia act as sufferers, whose sufferings are linked on the violent “senior” and who receive small presents and bonuses in consolation. Thus, Kosovo has obtained independence, and Croatia is only one step away from the accession into the European Union (EU). By the way, the Croats themselves are not looking forward to this.

However, there’re other reasons as well. Should The Hague Tribunal start conducting an unbiased investigation, many influential persons will be surely hurt. And not only in the Balkans. Suffice it to mention here the information concerning the current Kosovo authorities that was made public by the former ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte - that Pristina was involved in the trafficking of human organs. And that not only the Croats also killed the Serbs and not only vice versa. That is why it is necessary to continue studying the latest Balkan crisis, the Head of the Centre For the Study of the Modern Balkan Crisis under the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yelena Guskova says:

"The new data about the human organ trafficking and about the atrocities, committed by the Croats , offer proof that it is necessary to study the Balkan crisis and that it is necessary to be objective while doing this. Of course, there’re many conflicts in the world. But if we start analyzing how all the other countries developed in the 90s and what occurred to the Balkans and to the post-Balkan space, we’ll undoubtedly arrive at the conclusion that the Serbs, the Croats and the Muslims have already suffered too much. They have no potential to take up arms again. Thus, to say that a new war will break out in the Balkans soon is no good."

Thus, instead of intimidating the Balkan nations by saying that a new war will break out, it is necessary to afford the UN court an opportunity to go on with its investigations. And the Croats, the Serbs, the Albanians, and the Bosnians will decide themselves how they should coexist together. One thing is certain though: they not start fighting because they had enough of it.