It is a beautiful place with a tragic history. In 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated while riding in his carriage in the center of the town by a Serbian nationalist. This act was the spark that ignited World War I. It was a war without purpose that cost millions of lives. Some 80 years later, another Serbian nationalist by the name of Ratko Mladic commanded the Serbian forces that not only killed many residents in Sarajevo, but he is said to have ordered the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian men and boys in the Bosnian city of Srebrenica.
Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb wartime commander, was captured last week. For 16 years he had been a fugitive from justice. Gen. Mladic was wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity. His arrest in Lazarevo, a small town north of Belgrade, Serbia's capital, is supposed to bring closure to the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it won't.
While it is encouraging that Ratko Mladic will have to answer for his alleged crimes, there will never be true peace in the Balkans until all crimes committed against innocent civilians (regardless of ethnicity) are exposed and prosecuted ("Mladic found after 16 years on the lam," World, Friday).
After one real struggle and a second inconsistent performance at the French Open, Rafael Nadal felt a lot better and played a lot better in the third round.
Five years after her last appearance at the French Open, and a few weeks after her latest injury layoff, Kim Clijsters made a winning return to Roland Garros.
I would like to thank The Washington Times for publishing Yugo Kovach's April 19 letter, "Croatia owes Serbs an apology." However, in order to fully understand why the Serbian people deserve an apology from the government of Croatia, consider several facts.
It is tragic that many Croatians and Croatian-Americans such as Jeffrey Kuhner seem unable to understand that the Serbs had and still have legitimate grievances against a Croatian state that has glorified and resurrected the symbolism and rhetoric of a shameful Nazi-puppet and genocidal past ("The coming Balkan war," Commentary, Wednesday).
The late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had every reason to think that he could get way with ridding Croatia of its pesky Krajina Serbs ("U.N. court convicts Balkan wartime hero to Croatians," Web, Friday).
Croatia is headed toward another war. The Balkans - again - will explode with violence. It is only a matter of time. And the so-called "international community" has been pivotal in stoking the flames of ethnic conflict.
