STRANGER THAN PULP FICTION: THE RETURN OF RADOVAN KARADZIC

I followed the events in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990's with a sort of appalled fascination. My people are from that part of the world and the savagery inflicted upon the Bosnian Muslims by the Serbs made a big impact on me. The conflict reinforced my dislike for those who mix religion and politics, which, alas, is not shared by enough of my fellow Americans.  As a Greek-American my horror over the situation was augmented by the Greek government's support for the Orthodox "Christian" Serbs on religious grounds.  

The phrase "ethnic cleansing" entered the language and one of its primary advocates and practitioners was the evil shitbag Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Kardadzic. Karadzic loved the teevee cameras and lying to reporters about the genocide being committed in his name. For such a demonic war criminal, Karadzic looked benign enough with his pompadour and shiny suits. In fact, he reminded me of the guy who played the comically villainous mad scientist, Dr. Praetorius, in Bride Of Frankenstein.

But Karadzic wasn't funny and until recently he was the most wanted man in Europe. Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade this week and it turned out he'd been hiding in plain sight; his sole disguise a long beard. Here's a before and after picture:

The most interesting thing I've read about Karadzic since his arrest was by the Guardian's Julian Borger who wrote about the war criminal's local pub, the Madhouse. Here's the opening of Borger's piece:

"Everyone at the Luda Kuca bar remembers Dragan David Dabic. The white-whiskered doctor lived in a block of flats around the corner and the local kids called him "Santa Claus".

The man unmasked on Monday as Europe's most wanted fugitive, Radovan Karadzic, was a regular at the bar. He would stop in every few days for a glass of red wine and pass a couple of hours reading and writing.

In retrospect, it is hardly surprising it was his favourite pub. The walls and bar of the Luda Kuca (the name means madhouse) are adorned with the Serb pantheon - Slobodan Milosevic, Vojislav Seselj, Ratko Mladic and of course, Radovan Karadzic - each one a nationalist hero. For the hardline clientele, the fact that they also shared the distinction of having been charged by The Hague war crimes tribunal only enhanced their status as warriors."

It's depressing that *anyone* would consider genocidal scum like Milosevic, Mladic and Karadzic to be "nationalist heroes" but it's heartening that he's been arrested and will have to face the music in the Hague.

I'll let Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson have the last "word." This grisly cartoon sums up my feelings very well indeed:

©2008 by Martin Rowson. 

tags: war  crime  balkans  politics  media  history  europe  

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