'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Croatia's national independence finally has been secured. This is the real meaning of the recent ruling by the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague to overturn the conviction of Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina.
Another war is brewing in the Balkans. Recently, Serbia's voters elected a new president. Ultranationalist Tomislav Nikolic narrowly defeated the liberal, pro-European Union incumbent, Boris Tadic. Mr. Nikolic's victory means the Balkans may be plunged into ethnic violence again.
The Yugoslav war-crimes tribunal sentenced the former chief of the Yugoslav army to 27 years imprisonment Tuesday for providing crucial military aid to Bosnian Serb forces responsible for the Srebrenica massacre and for a deadly four-year campaign of shelling and sniping in Sarajevo.
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.
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.
