In this digital age of viral tweets and snapchats, war crimes committed in Europe during the 1990s are no more present in public consciousness than war crimes committed in Europe during the 1940s.
The decision resolved claims and counter-claims Croatia and Serbia had been hurling against each other for almost two decades:
Croatia claimed that Serbia perpetrated a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991. Serbia counter-claimed that Croatia perpetrated the same in the then self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina in 1995.
Incidentally, all that was left was for Bosnia-Herzegovina to file similar claims against both Croatia and Serbia, triggering counter-claims in kind; and for Kosovo to file similar claims against Serbia, triggering counter-claims in kind….
In any event, here is how I commented eight years ago on all claims and counter-claims, which stemmed from the Balkan Wars (1991-95):
It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the truly balkanized nature of this territorial fight. Because the only thing most people know about Kosovo, or this entire region for that matter, was probably gleaned from TV-news reports about ethnic cleansing, in which Serbs were invariably portrayed as neo-Nazis trying to exterminate Muslims (and Catholics).
But this is not the forum, nor am I qualified, to reconcile the competing versions of history the polyglot of ethnic and religious groups proffer to rationalize how they arrived at the current state of affairs in the Balkans. Nevertheless, I believe it’s fair to assert that the victims of ethnic cleansing were too often perpetrators and/or beneficiaries of ethnic cleansing themselves. Indeed, the only reason Serbs are fleeing Kosovo today is that they reasonably fear the atrocities ethnic Albanians have been committing against them since 1999 – right under the eyes of UN protection forces – will only worsen once de facto independence is conferred.
(“Kosovo: Wither Serbia’s Alamo,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 4, 2007)
In other words, a plague on all your houses!
Now, here is how the ICJ affirmed my take in rendering final judgment:
The UN’s highest court on Tuesday rejected rival claims of genocide by Croatia and Serbia in landmark rulings over the 1991-1995 war, as both former foes reluctantly accepted the verdict and pledged to turn the page on their bloody history.
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said he hoped the judgement would help the two Balkans neighbours to find ‘lasting peace,’ while his Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic called on politicians to work together to build good relationships.
(Agence France-Presse, February 3, 2015)
Not quite Solomonic, but close enough. Here’s to lasting peace.
Related commentaries:
Kosovo…