Цитаты — стр. 3

But written by Slobodan Milošević’s wife, such words are sheer cynicism because she deliberately chooses not to acknowledge her husband’s role in what she calls “bloody orgies.” This was the time when Sarajevo was still under the siege and snipers were killing people lining up for water or bread.

Mira and Slobodan are completely devoted to each other and to their children, and nobody outside their little autistic haven can touch or move them. Only she could turn this cold, calculating man into a caring and tender person.

If it were not for The Hague, Kunarac, Kovač, and Vuković would still be sitting in a café in Foča’s main street, smoking, drinking brandy, and telling anecdotes of the war. They would be met with the respect that war veterans get there.

This must be a hard, even humiliating, lesson for men to take from a woman in a society as patriarchal as our Balkan one. Men like Karadžić, Mladić, and Gotovina will not forgive her for having exposed them as even more miserable figures than they already were.

Из Афгана я вернулся, я знал – буду жить! А в Чернобыле все наоборот: убьет именно тогда, когда ты – уже дома.

Помните, у Толстого? Пьер Безухов так потрясён после войны, что ему кажется – он и весь мир изменились навсегда. Но проходит какое-то время, и он замечает за собой, что снова так же ругает кучера, так же брюзжит.

After the war, the veterans’ organizations had grown into a very powerful political instrument controlled by the right-wing Tudjman’s HDZ party. Just how powerful an instrument became clear only when they organized demonstrations in Split on March 11, 2001.

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They also knew that there would no longer be a life for Levar in Gospić after he had been proclaimed a traitor. So they offered to make him a protected witness, to move him and his family abroad and give them new identities. But Levar turned down the offer, believing that going public would give… Развернуть 

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Because people find it easier to live with lies than with the truth, attempts to administer justice through the tribunal or even through the local courts are experienced as an injustice. And as long as there is so little desire in these societies to uncover the truth, justice for war criminals… Развернуть 

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The reason is a simple one, one that goes beyond the Tudjman-Milošević ideology. Too many people were in some way involved in the war, and too many profited from it. It is easier, and much more comfortable, to live with lies than to confront the truth and with that truth the possibility of… Развернуть 

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Establishing the truth about the war is at the heart of the controversies surrounding The Hague tribunal. Until the truth about the war is established, trials of the war criminals, whether in the International Tribunal or in the local courts, will be experienced as an injustice to the “war… Развернуть 

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In light of the “evidence” of differences, often in the form of detailed descriptions of pressures and suffering in the mass media, either real or invented, in time those others are stripped of all their individual characteristics. They are no longer acquaintances or professionals with particular… Развернуть 

But if the brotherhood and unity among the sworn enemies of yesterday is indeed the epilogue of this war, one wonders what was it all for? Looking at the merry boys in the Scheveningen detention unit, the answer seems clear: for nothing.

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She [Mira] wanted to participate in politics directly, not merely through her husband, no matter how great an influence that gave her. In 1994 she founded a left-wing party called the JUL (Yugoslav United Left). This enabled her to operate in the same political arena as her husband. Soon the JUL… Развернуть 

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Every time I see a photo of Mira Marković, Slobodan Milošević’s wife, or her image on a TV screen, I feel the urge to tell her that her hair and her dresses are so hopelessly unfashionable that she must do something about them. Not that I am myself a fashion slave. But she looks so far from… Развернуть 

What I missed in these biographies of Milošević was the other side of him, his private face. It seemed his biographers could touch only his surface, the shell, not the essence of the man.

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I read four biographies of Slobodan Milošević and the diary of his wife, Mira Marković, in the hope of understanding the motives of the man. But every new biography added to my disappointment. The books by Dusko Doder, Florance Hartmann, Slavoljub Djukić, and Vidosav Stefanović focus on just one… Развернуть 

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Most probably, what Milošević believed was that he could control the power of nationalism and manipulate it for his own benefit. He was a skillful demagogue riding on the patriotic feelings of others. The paradox of Milošević is that he was neither a Communist nor a nationalist but an opportunist… Развернуть 

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It is easy to think that people in Yugoslavia would be happy to finally get rid of a dictator, which Tito, no doubt, was. But they were not happy. When he eventually died, they were surprised and devastated. I remember men and women crying in the streets for days after his death, wandering around… Развернуть 

The extermination of Jews also began with small steps. Little things, such as not being allowed to buy flowers in a local shop, have your hair cut at the hairdresser, or ride a streetcar, eventually led them to the gas chamber.

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Now I realize how much we are all poisoned by the trials depicted in television shows and Hollywood movies, with their rapid exchanges of arguments between good-looking lawyers in expensive suits. In The Hague there is no such drama. The drama here is that everything really happened: there were… Развернуть