More news from Bosnia

Apr 2 20:39 UTC 1993

Speech given by Mr. Andras Riedlmayer in Boston on 3/20/93:
 
 
My name is Andras Riedlmayer.  I am a librarian at Harvard's Fine Arts 
Library and I would like to explain why I came to be here today. 
 
When the bloodshed started in Bosnia a little less than a year ago, I 
stood by and watched--like the rest of the world--as an urbane, 
civilized community in the heart of Europe began to be torn to shreds 
in front of millions of television viewers. I may have been following 
events more closely than some, because I have a personal connection--
having travelled and done research in that part of the world.  Since 
my work involves the documentation of historic art and architecture, I 
also felt a special sense of loss when I saw the first pictures of 
medieval buildings in Sarajevo and other Bosnian towns reduced to 
rubble by Serbian artillery fire.  Still, it somehow did not seem 
right to grieve for bricks and stones when human beings were suffering 
and dying. 
 
Then, in early summer came the news that the Serbs had blown up the 
picturesque old town of Mostar, destroying its cathedral, its many 
beautiful mosques and all but one of its famous old bridges.  In late 
August we saw the National and University Library in Sarajevo being 
shelled for three days with incendiary grenades.  Despite the heroic 
efforts of firefighters and volunteers, the building burned to the 
ground and one of the great libraries of Europe went up in flames--
over 1.5 million books and manuscripts were lost, wiping out much of 
the written record of Bosnia's history. 
 
It soon became clear that what we are witnessing is not merely 
"collateral damage" incidental to the general mayhem of warfare.  
Early last September, BBC reporter Kate Adie interviewed Serbian 
gunners on the hillsides overlooking Sarajevo and asked them why they 
had shelled the one hotel in town that housed all of the foreign 
correspondents.  The Serbian officer commanding the guns apologized, 
saying they had not intended to hit the hotel, but had been aiming at 
the roof of the National Museum behind it.  The gunners soon improved 
their aim, and the museum, and its unique Bosnian folklore collection, 
is no more. 
 
The Serbian nationalists' aim was and remains to wipe out any physical 
evidence that could remind us that people other than Serbs ever lived 
in Bosnia and Hercegovina.  It is to this end that Muslim mosques, 
Roman Catholic churches, Jewish cemeteries, and all of the country's 
libraries, archives, and museums are being torched, dynamited and 
bulldozed even as we speak.  The practitioners of ethnic cleansing are 
not content to terrorize and kill the living; they want to eliminate 
all memory of the past as well. 

response 2 of 82:

Apr 3 05:43 UTC 1993

The Big Brother history revision method in action.

response 4 of 82:

Apr 3 14:13 UTC 1993

 Nuke them all, & let their deities sort them out.

response 6 of 82:

Apr 3 18:33 UTC 1993

   Today's NYT reported that the 'legislative' body for the
Bosnian Serbs completely rejected the Vance-Owen proposal
in any form, even though their leader had accepted it
providing that some parts could be changed.  One of the
legislators was quoted as saying that we (the Serbs) should
just seize the territory we want by military force.  (I don't
remember the exact quote.)

    The Serbs are completely intransigent.  We have only
two real alternatives -- let them completely slaughter the
Bosnian Moslems and Croats, or intervene.  Half measures
like the ones we have been taking will only prolong the
agony.

response 8 of 82:

Apr 3 19:12 UTC 1993

CroMagnon mentality has always been a quagmire. 

response 10 of 82:

Apr 3 22:12 UTC 1993

What is wrong with these people?  While I realize that this is too simplistic,
I cannot understand why these people go on destroying everything.  I mean,
when they are done, there will be nothing left for the "victors."  Sorry
for any offense to the Wolverine fans...
 What is in thhe heads of peoople that engage in this kind of behavior. It's
like they have no brains: no self control...

response 12 of 82:

Apr 4 06:17 UTC 1993

Its religion. The Serbs are eastern orthodox, the Bosnians islam, and
the Croatians Roman Catholic. They have been slaughtering each other
for centuries because of differences of opinion about mythology - and,
of course, hatred created by the fact they have been slaughtering each
other for centuries. Since the whole mess is based on religions all of
which *teach* things like "do unto others....", charity, life is sacred,
it is astonishing that the hatred is considered compatible with that,
and that the religious leaders condone this very nonreligious behavior.

response 14 of 82:

Apr 4 07:10 UTC 1993

For those who'd like to know about the war in former Yugoslavia beyond
the myths and slogans and conventional wisdom, I recommend the recent
article in "Foreign Affairs" by ... um ... I forget the name, but I'll
find the cite and post it.  Also, an interesting article appeared recently
in the Washington Post titled "The Balkan Quagmire Myth" which debunks a
lot of the things that have been repeated here and elsewhere.  The latter
was posted on the other system.

response 16 of 82:

Apr 4 14:13 UTC 1993

Re 13: The Latin (Roman) world invaded the easter (Moslem) through the
11th to 13th centuries, in the Crusades. The Moslems returned the favor
several times, overrunning Constantinople, and the surrounding lands. The
Latin and Eastern (orthodox) catholic worlds got involved too, as the Latin
church tried to conquer the Eastern church "en route" to "ethinically clean"
the holy land. The Eastern church didn't have the resources to return the
favor, but they wanted to. (My memory of the details of all this, 
originally acquired from Gibbons, is now a bit rusty, but these people
*were* slaughtering each other practically from the day the different
churches arose.)

response 18 of 82:

Apr 4 20:05 UTC 1993

Re 16.  The Roman Church and the Ottoman Empire are kind of what I meant
by the Great Powers.  Serbs and Croats in the Balkans lived in peace with
each other for centuries before World War I.

response 20 of 82:

Apr 4 20:38 UTC 1993

As for the possibility of a wide-scale conflict starting in the Balkans:
yes, the possibility is quite real and taken seriously.  Most of the
concern focuses on the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Kosovo is cherished by Serbian nationalists as some kind of historic
heartland of Serbia.  However, it adjoins Albania, and the population
of Kosovo is more than 90% ethnic Albanians (and has been that way for
generations or centuries).  Kosovo had some limited autonomy within
the context of the Yugoslav federation, even though it was officially
part of Serbia.

With the coming of Serbian nationalist hysteria in 1990-91, the Serbian
government unilaterally revoked all self-government in Kosovo, fired
all non-Serbs from government jobs, closed all non-Serbian schools and
universities, shut down all Albanian-language media, declared martial
law, and sent more than 100,000 troops to enforce it.  Around the same
time, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, although the Kosovars had
no weapons to put this into effect.

Since that time, Kosovo has been a very tense place.  The troops have
made life difficult for the ethnic Albanian majority there, including
many beatings and occasional killings of people who just happen to pass
on the street.  Heavy weapons have been moved in to surround Pristina and
other Kosovo towns.  The Serbian nationalist parties are clamoring for
the expulsion of all non-Serbs from Kosovo, an ethnic cleansing project
which would generate about a million refugees and/or dead.

It is generally understood in military and diplomatic circles that the
slaughter and displacement of ethnic Albanians would force Albania to
enter the war; Macedonia also has a large Albanian minority which would
probably also rush to Kosovo's defense.  In the meantime, many of the
refugees would end up in Macedonia (already destabilized by Bulgarian
and Greek hostility over whether it has a right to exist) and spread
the war there as well.  Independent media in Belgrade have found plans
by the Serbian government to invade Macedonia and/or divide it with
Greece.  Bulgaria and Turkey have warned that they could not possibly
tolerate this.  There's more, but the bottom line is a large and spreading
war.

With all this in mind, George Bush actually found enough backbone to
issue a threat to Milosevic: ethnic cleansing in Kosovo would be met
with direct U.S. military involvement.  Not "Oh, we'll consult with 
the UN and maybe tighten sanctions or something" but the equivalent
of "War against Kosovo's population will be met with the U.S. Marines."
Clinton has reiterated this; the threat continues in effect.

Think about it: two successive U.S. presidents have promised direct
involvement of U.S. troops in a portion of Serbia itself.  (Bosnia, by
contrast, has never been a part of Serbia.)

Funny thing!  The Serbian troops in Kosovo (though being very repressive)
have behaved themselves.  Ethnic cleansing is not taking place.

response 22 of 82:

Apr 5 02:28 UTC 1993

Why are we considered of the same species?

response 24 of 82:

Apr 5 11:21 UTC 1993

At our cores, we're all still animals.