Milorad Trbic Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Srebrenica Genocide

Great news; the wheels of international justice haven't completely stopped moving. Milorad Trbic has been sentenced to 30 years for his rule in the Srebrenica Genocide. See this post from Srebrenica Genocide Blog for more details and links. This is real victory, even though of course the sentence will always pale in comparison to the scale of the crime in a genocide trial. But what is important is the 'guilty' verdict itself. An international body has spoken for all of us, and condemned evil in our name.

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There are people who argue that we in the international community need to "move on", either to heal or to let the past stay past, and so on. It helps to be reminded (painful as it may be) that the war over the meaning of the Balkan wars (and the larger issues involved) is hardly over. Oliver Kamm shines a bright light on one of the many dingy little corners of Srebrenica denial/Balkan revisionism in this article. Regular readers of this blog--especially those of you who stuck with my through the epic "Fools' Crusade" blow-by-blow review--will have little difficulty guessing whether or not I side with Kamm on the "ignore their poisonous nonsense, or call them out on their distortion of the historical record" debate.

The Wheels of International Justice Move Slowly, But They Move.

On vacation or not, this story is too important to not acknowledge:

Serb cousins guilty of burning Muslims alive (from CNN)

Bosnia is no longer a sexy story for the broadcast media. Cynics and appeasers and ersatz "progressives" all wish to rewrite history, or devalue the historical record, or simply to convince the general public that "it's time to move on."

Fortunately, some people out there are still paying attention.

Sudan leader faces Darfur war-crimes charges

Story here.

I will keep an eye on this story; hopefully this is the beginning of the long-overdue end to the nightmare in Darfur.

Karadzic Arrested

I assume that just about anyone reading this blog already knows the big news. There are many reports on the arrest, and as to be expected Shaina at Bosnia Vault has already collected a good number of them here; I encourage you to go to her site for some of the initial coverage.

Here is a story from today with slightly more information, as well as a recent photo--indeed, I would never have recognized the man myself.

As a postscript, we should note that it was the Serbian government which ultimately arrested him. Hopefully, this is a sign that Tadic is still committed to turning his back on the nationalist past. The Balkans will be a better place for all when Serbia joins the rest of Europe.

Sobering Editorial on The Hague Tribunal

I don't have time at the moment to write any sort of consideration of the issues and questions this Op-Ed from Sunday's Washington Post raises, but I thought I should get it posted while it is still current:

"Perfect Villains, Flawed Tribunal" by Dejan Anastasijevic

I confess that I don't know much about Anastasijevic, but he seems to be person of integrity and courage. If he is correct and the tribunal has indeed failed in Bosnia, then it is imperitive that the international community salvage some good from this process and learn hard lessons for the benefit of the future. Considering that the recent--and positive, I would like to think although now I have my doubts--indictment of Sudan's thuggish President was the impetus for this editorial, time is not a luxury we should indulge in.