Pictures from Blic
Superb news this morning that Radovan Karadzic has been captured by Serbian authorities and being prepared for hand-over to the Hague.
I have been holding off on a big post about Mladic and Karadzic that I started after I read the a superb article from the BBC on why Mladic and Karadzic were still free.
Karadzic’s arrest is all the more startling in the light of what that article reveals, which is that they were both under the protection of the trans-Balkan mega mafia which includes elements of the Serbian Secret Service and the then government (a kakistocracy1 if ever there was one).
Radovan Karadzic was drinking coffee at a remote restaurant on the Foca to Gacko road in southern Bosnia.
It was April 2005.
A short while later, a nervous looking Karadzic and his female companion got up suddenly and left in a red Mercedes.
Placing the interests of justice before those of his own fame and fortune, the journalist contacted the International War Crimes Tribunal.
…After that, the journalist felt it was time to write his own story, under another name.
But first he made contact with Dutch military intelligence, to find out if there had been any follow-up to his information.
"Don’t write about it, if you value your life," he was told, to his amazement.
"Several of our agents visited the restaurant. On their return to the Netherlands, they needed protection."
Such is the power, allegedly, of the mafia ring which protects the former Bosnian Serb leader.
…Radomir Ceranic, a senior employee of the Bosnian secret service, OSA, described the alleged murder of two CIA agents by Karadzic’s men when they got too close to him.
Their car and the tracking equipment they used was discovered.
The bodies of the CIA men, both US citizens, were never found.
Ceranic had just been fired from his job, so he may have borne a grudge. Whatever the truth, it is another hint of the power and ruthlessness of Karadzic’s network.
Ever since Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was murdered, Serbian politicians have been very aware that they are at the mercy of the regional mafias. Here is Serbia handing over Mladic and Karadzic was not considered to be political suicide for the politicians who order it, but literal suicide.
The joke in corridors of my office today is that new Minister of Police (and leader of the Socialist Party) Ivica Dacic has been set up. He fought hard to get that ministry and now he is being credited/blamed with the arrest itself. There is something poetic about this in the eyes of many because the Socialists are widely believed to be involved in murder of Djindjic. Now its expected that he is in the sights of the mafia revenge squad. Some ministries have gone so far as to deny any involvement2.
People are also wondering just what the hell he was doing on a public bus in the suburbs of Belgrade. His disguise was pretty good though (see photos above). Serbian newspapers are joking that he looks like Santa Clause or Getafix [image] from the Asterix comics.
The global consensus seems to be that this is superb news and just about everyone here that I have spoken to is delighted.
This arrest also seems to indicate that the Secret Service is under control. In “What’s Wrong With Serbia?” analyst Dejan Anastasijevic explored the massive power of the renegade elements within the Serbian Secret Service.
Reproduced below is Stratfor’s assessment of the implications of the arrest3 . Note the comments on Kostunica.
Summary
The arrest of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic has major implications for Serbia.
Analysis
Radovan Karadzic, alleged to have committed war crimes during the Bosnian portion of the Yugoslav wars, was arrested July 21, according to the National Security Council of Serbia and the Serbian president’s office. Initial reports indicate he was arrested in Serbia, not Bosnia. Karadzic has been in hiding since the Dayton Accords, which ended the Bosnia war, were signed in 1995.
Karadzic has been able to remain at large thanks to the intelligence and security forces of Serbia, which have continually turned a blind eye his way. Many of a nationalist bent in Serbia disagree with the conventional wisdom that most of the violence in the Yugoslav wars was carried out by their co-ethnics, and many of the remainder feel that Serbs were treated unfairly. Regardless of where the blame does, should or will fall, the bottom line is that many were willing to provide Karadzic shelter despite a continental manhunt seeking to place him before a war crimes tribunal.
That all changed two weeks ago with the installation of a new government in Belgrade. Until recently, the BIA — Serbia’s internal intelligence agency — was directed by the former prime minister of the country, the mild nationalist Vojislav Kostunica. Kostunica and his party are no longer in the government. Also, the Socialist Party of Serbia — the party once run by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic — has essentially sold itself to the highest bidder in an effort to rebill itself as a "modern, European" party. The BIA’s change of hands and the Socialists change of mind enabled Karadzic to be arrested. His transfer to the tribunal in The Hague will likely happen within days.
There are four main implications of this decision. First, it greatly discredits Kostunica and his allies in the eyes of the West. Many Western governments already disliked Kostunica’s kingmaker role, as he used it to extract endless concessions out of the European Union. Now, most will believe that Kostunica’s allies knew Karadzic’s whereabouts all along, and most will be unwilling to so much as entertain any proposals Kostunica may have.
Second, the arrest and transfer will provide the perfect launch for Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union. War crimes cooperation has long been a sticking point with many of Europe’s more moral-minded members — especially the Netherlands. Serbia now may be able to leverage that to push itself closer to Europe. Serbia used to be an economic hub, enjoying good infrastructure and an excellent location on the Danube. It now has an excellent chance to be that hub again.
Third, the Serbian leadership — specifically President Boris Tadic — has demonstrated remarkable political acumen. For the past three years, Tadic routinely has outsmarted and outmaneuvered Kostunica. But beginning just a few weeks ago, Tadic began turning the tables. Now that Kostunica is out of government, Tadic’s allies are firmly in charge. Tadic commands the most unified government Serbia has known in years, and he is breaking with long-standing policy. Serbia’s road is far from easy, but its leader is proving to the world that he has the right mix of skill and stubbornness to chart a bold path.
Finally, Serbia is overcoming its past 20 years stuck between Europe and Russia, and is sliding toward the former. The biggest criticism of Serbia — many Europeans have long held — is that Belgrade has been unwilling to come to terms with its recent past and the role played in the Yugoslav wars. If the new government is willing to do this, it has already done the hard part. After all, coming to terms with one’s past is far easier than negotiating with Brussels’ bureaucrats.
- kakistocracy: Government under the control of a nation’s worst or least-qualified citizens ↩
- http://blic.co.yu/infocus.php?id=2565 ↩
- http://www.stratfor.com/memberships/120257 – Members only section ↩
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
So when can we can we expect George W Bush and Tony Blair be sitting in the Hague to account for their crimes for the illegal bombing of YU in ’99 and the subsequent illegal invasion of Iraq which has cost over a million Iraqi lives as well as the numerous human rights abuses that have and are continuing to go on in numerous secret CIA camps in Iraq and beyond.
If we are to have any semblance of justice, let those on all sides who have committed heinous crimes be held accountable, Karadzic, Mladic, Haradinaj and Thaci included.
And what else do you expect from a Serbian government that would make the Nazi sympathizers look good. I mean, Serbia is pretty much run by those who do what the Americans tell them to do. They’ve sold Kosovo, and they’ve sold Karadzic. It’s amusing how the man from the Tribunal says the victim’s families are going to get justice. What about all those Serbian victims whose organs were harvested by the Albanians and sold to people across the world? I guess those victims don’t deserve the same respect. The Tribunal is OBVIOUSLY anti-Serbian and biased, and yet, the Serbs just handed off a war time hero to an illegal kangaroo court. Serbia has sold its soul when it elected Tadic and company.
However, take heart, there is no point in arguing with destiny. The trial of this defender of Serbs promises to bring to light the role of al Qaeda in Bosnia, the Muslim government’s willing sacrifice of its youth for fanatical Islam, the U.S. support for the same international terrorists it blames for the 9-11 attacks, and the true root of the recent Bosnian conflict in the absolutely real genocide perpetrated against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies during World War Two. The holocaust visited upon them by their Croat and Muslim neighbours will finally come to light and the entire world will have the chance to weigh on the scales of justice the over 700,000 victims of the Croatian and Muslim butchers against the alleged 7,000 Muslim fighting-age males who fell with Srebrenica. Soon, the public will be seeing the photos of the thousands of Serbian civilians slaughtered by Muslim death squads striking out from within that so-called “safe area” that was nothing more than a staging ground for mass murder against the Serbs.
After this arrest it will become increasingly difficult for the Muslims and Croats to keep playing their false role as innocent lambs.
Radovan Karadzic never fled justice, he merely refused to submit to the biased court of victor’s injustice disguised in a Kangaroo suit at the Hague.
I had the pleasure of being present in person when President Karadzic very convincingly explained the Bosnian Serb position of self-defence against insurgent illegal secessionists and their agressive foreign weapons suppliers. I look forward to seeing him tell the entire world what the Western media has tried to suppress and misrepresent ever since the fall of Srebrenica. I also look forward to seeing the U.S. government face the fact that it not only gave the Muslims the carte blanche that started the Bosnian war, but then also invited the Iranians to arm its local pawns in a twisted Clintonian repeat of Iran-Contra that proves that the difference between America’s Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum political parties is nothing more than the minor variations in the way that they pursued their common criminal foreign policy in the Balkans.
Radovan Karadzic will cut through the lies about Bosnia at the Hague and show the world why the Serbian national anthem calls on the “God of Justice” to protect the Serbs. The real guilty parties will then become obvious to all fair-minded people, no matter what undeserved demonization and tortures the U.S.-EU lynch mob inflicts on Karadzic and, by extension, the entire Serbian nation.
So, the evil sheriff and his lackeys have brought our Robin Hood to trial… but the truth will now condemn them, and make him (Karadzic) the Dreyfus of this era.
With a pro-American coalition elected in Serbia and shaky at that decided to arrest a man who will more than likely be sent to the Kangaroo court in the Hague. Slobodan Milosevic was found guity of no international crime, the same fate awaits Karadzic who will never get a fair trial. The shame is the Serbian leaders who continue to foresake Serbia under tremendous international pressure from some members of the EU and the United States.
If there is justice, than Karadjic should be tried at the ICJ (International Court of Justice) where the US is not signatory, not the show trail called the Hague Tribunal. Most Serbs are more than willing to accept guilt if there is a proper trial-this didn’t happen with Slobodan Milosevic trial.
He [Radovan Karadzic] isn’t going to get a fair trial. He will suffer ‘heart failure’ in prison before he can spill the beans in my opinion.
Worst mistake the west ever made was allowing islamic break away states to form within the borders of eastern europe. That the USA bombed serbia to support islamic terrorists just shows how warped their ideals are in the US.
“Bosnian muffti speaks out” http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/455
The above is a muslim ‘leader’ from bosnia.
Bosnia and Iran / Saudi terror teams
BOSNIA: TERRORISM’S LOGISTICAL BASE
Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, October 2004 [Terrorism – Staff report]
Saudis and Iranians Work Together Through a Bosnian Terrorist Group to Support the Conflict in Chechnya
INFORMATION OBTAINED BY Defense & Foreign Affairs from a secret Wahabbi terrorist organization based in Bosnia shows how the Saudi and Iranian governments are working together to support combat operations against the Russian Government in Chechnya, and are building a base of future operations in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. Moreover, during 2004 the organization they support has expanded dramatically in terms of operations and funding, and has opened a string of new offices and facilities around Bosnia and into Southern Serbia’s Raška (Sandzhak) Muslim area.
The organization, Kvadrat (Quadrant), a nominally Sunni Wahabbi order, whose members practice “Islam from the roots,” was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 and uses as its cadres children orphaned during the Bosnia-Herzegovina civil war, indoctrinating and training them in the Wahabbist ideology and in terrorist and guerilla warfare tactics.
Kvadrat sends its trained personnel through the “green transversal”- the Islamist and narco-trafficking safe-haven line – from Bosnia and, through Turkey and Georgia, to Chechnya, where they join al-Qaida-supported Chechen Islamist terrorist and guerilla operations against the Russian Government and the local population.”
And then this. A 150 page Pdf about combating islamic terror cells in Bosnia.
Bosnia terror
http://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/luge01.pdf
Now I 100% agree that killing innocent women and children is a terrible crime, and those found guilty should be jailed or sentenced to the severity of their crimes.
However, by making a safe haven for islamic terror at the very fringe of Europe, the USA created a very dangerous precedent. Over the right of a soverign nation to prevent a break up pof their lands they bombed a country into submission and created a state for the breeding of islamic terror at our very borders.
What next? will they bomb London or paris if the islamic factions want independance ala Bosnia?
A dirt war it was, but we in Europe should of fought tooth and nail against the islamic armies gathered from around the globe to steal a soverign nations land.
One thing I have noted is that their isn’t a rush to capture the muslim terrorists who killed women and children….. wonder why?