[spectre] eurotopics review on Slobodan Milosevic's death

[Andreas Broeckmann]

[here is today's eurotopics dossier - the daily newsletter gives a 
good overview over current debates in the daily newspapers of 
different european countries; subscribe to the newsletter in english, 
french or german on the website; -ab]


http://www.eurotopics.net/

Press review of 13/03/2006
DOSSIER
International politics/South East Europe
Slobodan Milosevic's death

The ex-president of Yugoslavia was found dead in his prison cell at 
the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague on March 11. Since 1999, he 
had stood accused of committing war crimes and crimes against 
humanity in The Hague. His trial began in February 2002. He was 
accused of having committed 66 war crimes in Croatia, 
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo during the Balkan Wars in the 1990s. 
The European press discusses the repercussions of MIlosevic's death 
for Serbia, Southeast Europe, Europe and the UN tribunal.

With articles from the following publications:
Italy - La Repubblica, Hungary - Nepszabadsag, United Kingdom - The 
Independent, Germany - Süddeutsche Zeitung, Switzerland - Neue 
Zürcher Zeitung, France - Libération, Slovenia - Delo, Denmark - 
Dagbladet Information
United Kingdom - The Independent

"Milosevic brought shame and disaster on the great Serb people. They 
are now known in far too much of the world as the people who 
perpetrated aggression and killing at places such as Srebrenica," 
Paddy Ashdown, a former high representative of the international 
community in Bosnia (May 2002-January 2006), writes in a commentary. 
"In the end the Serbs realised who he was, which is why they got rid 
of him. But Milosevic fooled too many Western statesmen for too long. 
The intervention came too late. The scales fell from the eyes of the 
international community over Kosovo. If they had realised earlier he 
was not part of the solution but part of the problem, tens of 
thousands of people would have lived and millions would not have been 
driven from their homes".
» http://comment.independent.co.uk/
» http://www.ohr.int
Slovenia - Delo

Milosevic combined fascism and socialism, says Ervin 
Hladnik-Milharcic, and stresses that he had great support in doing 
so: "From one stage to the next, he won election after election by a 
convinicing majority. It's not what he did that's so shocking but the 
fact that the nation backed him. Now that he's dead there is the 
danger that this could be forgotten. Millions of accomplices will 
assert that they didn't know what Milosevic was doing."
» http://www.delo.si/index.php?sv_path=43,49&id=eba4[...]
Switzerland - Neue Zürcher Zeitung

"His sudden death means that he can no longer be sentenced, and when 
you think of Milosevic's cynicism and the way he mocked people and 
facts, it's difficult to control your anger, writes Serb author Bora 
Cosic. "Because of his extraditon and because my people have such a 
vivid imagination and are so sadly naive, I can already see how the 
former dictator will continue to haunt them. This is simply because 
they feel that they have no leader, that they're marginalised and 
have no sense of belonging. That's why the dead dicator will continue 
to haunt them... I wonder how long it will take us to free ourselves 
of this ghost. Slobodan Milosevic's life on earth has come to an end, 
but he has still not paid for his most evil and necrophilic deeds."
» http://www.nzz.ch/2006/03/13/fe/articleDNSTD.html
Germany - Süddeutsche Zeitung

According to author Richard Swartz, the symbiotic relationship 
between Milosevic and his wife was a Balkan speciality. "Slobodan 
Milosevic and Mira Markovic were the Serb counterparts of Nicolae and 
Elena Ceausescu in Romania, Enver and Nexhmije Hoxha in Albania, 
Todor Zhivkov and his daughter Ludmilla in Bulgaria. We see a man in 
power, but behind him stands a woman, and she's the one who really 
rules. Bonds of blood take precedence over all other loyalties, 
whether to people or ideas. This profound alliance of power is 
characterised by a slight madness, nepotism, and all kinds of bizarre 
and extravagant projects; by astrology and occultism and, if 
necessary, a fanaticism that does not shy away from violence."
» http://www.sueddeutsche.de
Hungary - Nepszabadsag

"It was thanks to television that Slobodan Milosevic came to 
power.... And he ended his career in The Hague in the knowledge that 
the trial would be watched on television by millions of viewers back 
home," writes Serbian-based György Szerbhorvát. "He was aggressive. 
He never stopped smiling that familiar, cynical smile of his. 
Sometimes his face was red, but he never appeared to be in a 
desperate, bad mood, and certainly never ill. It's not true that he 
was a convinced communist or nationalist. He was interested in power, 
and to achieve it he became a great actor who knew very well how to 
do one thing: use television to his own advantage."
» http://www.nol.hu/cikk/397106/
France - Libération

For editorial writer Gérard Dupuy, the trial and death of the former 
Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, illustrate the limits of 
European policy. "If practically no voice is being raised in defense 
of Milosevic, this reproving unanimity must not make us forget that 
at one point he came close to success in what must be called the last 
war of conquest in European history, whose code name was 'Greater 
Serbia'. By remaining passive for too long, the Europeans allowed 
this evil ambition to take hold and sow widespread disturbances which 
only American firepower was ultimately able to stop. Right up to the 
uneasiness caused by his death, which spells the end of a largely 
unsatisfying trial, Milosevic showed a contemptuous mirror to his Old 
Continent cousins."
» http://www.libe.fr/page.php?Article=366579
Denmark - Dagbladet Information

Torben Krogh disputes the accusations that the war crimes tribunal in 
The Hague worked too slowly. "The trial was to be conducted under 
full observance of the legal security of the accused. This is what 
distinguishes a society which respects human rights from the regime 
led by Milosevic. Meanwhile, the international community pronounced 
judgement on him long ago. What was missing on his death was the 
judge's sentence, which would have been particularly important for 
the families of the many victims of his brutal regime.... Nobody - 
excepting, perhaps, the Serb groups that continue to regard him as a 
hero - doubts that Slobodan Milosevic was a war criminal of the worst 
sort."
» http://www.information.dk
Italy - La Repubblica

The Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic, whose film 'No man's' won the 
Oscar for best foreign film in 2002, reacts to Milosevic's death in 
an interview. "Slobo is dangerous even in death. Today, many Serbs 
consider him a martyr. I am scared to see how nationalist Serb groups 
will react. ... Serb policy has not changed. As long as the [Serb] 
president Boris Tadic continues to support the nationalists, it won't 
be possible to renew ties with Bosnia. Bosnia's problem is that it 
shares more then half of its border with Serbia. And when something 
goes wrong in Belgrade, it has repercussions in Sarajevo."
» http://www.repubblica.it