ZeeZooZum said:
Sorry folks, but it's a huge reduction to say Milosevic started it all. As someone who studies the region I can tell you that Yugoslavia, which made up of six republics and two regions in Serbia (one of them being Kosovo), was in serious decline throughout the 80's. By the time Slobodan rose to power in the late 80's, the internal political situation was already doomed. The Croatian leader, for example, was no better than Slobodan. Both were corrupt pigs. By the time Croatia and Slovenia left the federation, war was bound to happen, especially since the Americans and Europeans couldn't really offer much in the way of negoation
And to say that people suffered more in Bosnia and Kosovo is slightly off. Remember, the war in Bosnia didn't really end until Croatia, aided by the US and NAT0 (read Holbrooke's book where this is admitted), essentially "cleansed" Croatia and the connecting parts of Bosnia of its large Serbian minority, thus "tipping the balance" against Serbs on the ground.
So, just as many Serbs where expelled from their homes, especially now in Kosovo. Remember, too, that some of the worst fighting in Bosnia happened during the Croatian/ Muslim conflict in areas near Mostar. Of course, much of that wasn't reported because you couldn't work in Slobodan directly.....
This is short, condensed version of it. Some other day I get to Tito..........
As someone who was born and lived in former Yugoslavia from 1979 until 1995, I can affirm beyond all doubt that it was Milosevic who "started it all". Sure, the political situation started deteriorating after Tito's death in 1980. Milosevic rode the wave of surging nationalism by flinging fuel to the fire with now legendary quotes which were more or less based on same ones used by any state leader seeking to demonize his opponents. Croatian leader Tudjman had pretensions towards parts of Bosnia as well but, he did not have the JNA (Yugoslav national army) at his disposal in every single republic and 2 autonom provinces like Milosevic had.
As for the suffering, there are facts and mutliple proofs such as mass graves (Srebrenica), concentration camps, mass rapes of bosnian (read: muslim) women by Serbian and JNA troops. Things like these haven't happened in so big a scale in Croatia and Kosovo.
And now to the part where I mostly disagree with you:
Quote: "So, just as many Serbs where expelled from their homes, especially now in Kosovo. Remember, too, that some of the worst fighting in Bosnia happened during the Croatian/ Muslim conflict in areas near Mostar. Of course, much of that wasn't reported because you couldn't work in Slobodan directly....."
First of all, saying there were Serbs in Croatia is like saying there were Californians living in Nevada. The case is rather people that you refer to as "serbs" comprise croatians, bosnians or serbs (from Serbia!) of orthodox faith. People always make the same mistake when talking about this conflict: Bosnian is a nationality - a person who was born or lives in Bosnia. As a Bosnian you can be of Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox, Jewish, Buddhist, Taoist or whatever faith you want to be.
of course, there were Serbs expelled from their homes. As for Croatia, the orthodox people in those regions invaded parts of croatia and made for their own independent republic. Were the croats gonna stand for it? Of course not! Were there huge exodus of people from the so-called independent republic of Krajina? to a much lesser extent than it was made to be by the serbian propaganda.
As for some of the worst fighting in Bosnia, while it's true that muslims and catholics fought around Mostar, you should also tell about the terrible fighting where the JNA, and serb and bosnian orthodox paramilitaries attacked civilians (many instances: Sarajevo, Zepa, Srebrenica, Bratunac, Visegrad, Gorazde, etc.) as well as the fights in the north to maintain "the corridor" arround the city of Brcko, which was the heaviest front in Bosnia and of biggest importance after Sarajevo.
There it goes. A big fucking post about a totally Anthrax unrelated topic but whatcha gonna do... I feel strongly about the subject having lost most of my youth in the war and having seen the Goebbelsian serbian propaganda directed against Bosnia and me and my people (for the record, I'm a bosnian catholic).
Cheers. John Bush rules. I'm a reunion basher.
Bye!
