Remembering Srebrenica

Srebrenica massacre memorial gravestones 2009. Wikiepdia

Marchers Re-Enact Srebrenica Escape Before Mladic Trial -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre marched through the hills of eastern Bosnia on Sunday to re-enact their escape from Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic, demanding a swift conviction in his genocide trial which resumes on Monday.

The massacre, often described as Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two, involved the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys captured after Bosnian Serb forces overran the United Nations-protected enclave in July 1995.

About 15,000 men and boys managed to escape and fled through the woods, but many were easy prey for the Serb army who shelled and ambushed them or lured them to surrender disguised as U.N. soldiers.

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My Comment: Atrocities and mass murder was committed by all sides .... but the Srebrenica massacre will always be remembered as the worst atrocity since World War Two. Wikipedia has a good post on this event here.

Bosnia-Hercegovina Remembers The 20th Anniversary Of The Civil War

Bosnia-Hercegovina Marks 20th Anniversary Of War -- BBC

Ceremonies in Sarajevo are marking 20 years since the start of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, a conflict that saw the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II.

The conflict began in April 1992 as part of the break-up of Yugoslavia.

About 100,000 people were killed and nearly half the population forced from their homes in four years of fighting.

Red chairs have filled the street in Sarajevo where the conflict began - 11,541, one for each victim there.

People have been putting flowers on some of the chairs. A teddy bear, toys and schoolbooks were placed on the smaller ones that symbolise the hundreds of children killed during the four-year long siege by Serb forces.

Sarajevans were asked to stop what they were doing at 12:00 GMT for an hour to mark the start of the conflict.

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More News On The 20th Anniversary of The Bosnia-Hercegovina Civil War

Bosnia Marks 20 Years Since War Began -- Time/AP
Sarajevo: A look back at the first few months of the siege -- L.A. Times
Sarajevo remembers its dead 20 years after war began -- Toronto Star
Sarajevo marks 20th anniversary of Bosnian war's start -- CBS News
Bosnia marks anniversary of war -- Press Association
Empty chairs mark Bosnia anniversary -- BBC
Shaky calm as Bosnia marks war anniversary -- UPI
Bosnian war 20 years on: peace holds but conflict continues to haunt -- The Guardian
2 decades after Bosnia’s war erupted, the national idols are volleyball players without limbs -- Washington Post/AP
Two Decades After Siege, Sarajevo Still A City Divided -- NPR
Remembering Sarajevo: A Reunion of Journalists 20 Years Later -- ABC News
Grief of Bosnia war lingers on -- BBC
Bosnian war 20th anniversary: Sarajevo residents remember siege victims Friday -- Christian Science Monitor
20 Years Later: The Bosnian Conflict in Photographs -- Time

Remembering The Massacre At Srebrenica

Thousands Mourn Srebrenica Massacre Victims, Criticize UN -- Voice of America

Survivors have expressed frustration over the United Nation's perceived failure to prevent the killing of more than 8,000 Muslims by Serb forces in July, 1995.

Tens of thousands of people have commemorated the 15th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War II in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Survivors have expressed frustration over the United Nation's perceived failure to prevent the killing of more than 8,000 Muslims by Serb forces in July, 1995.

In the summer heat, huge crowds of mourning Muslims attended the biggest funeral near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

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More News On The Massacre At Srebrenica

775 coffins: Bosnia marks 1995 Srebrenica massacre -- AP
50,000 people gather to commemorate victims of Srebrenica massacre -- Xinhuanet
Obama urges Mladic capture on Srebrenica anniversary -- AFP
Barack Obama demands justice 15 years after Srebrenica -- BBC
775 Srebrenica victims buried to mark 15th anniversary -- The Telegraph
Bosnia marks Srebrenica massacre -- Al Jazeera
Srebrenica massacre memorial to point finger at UN -- AP
Details emerge from Mladic's secret wartime diary -- AP

My Comment: When the massacre at Srebrenica was occurring, I was vacationing on the Greek islands in the Ionian Sea only a few hundred kilometers away. Life is sometimes very surreal .... and that was one experience which always reminds me on how life can be incredibly unfair to many others.

Former Serb Leader Radovan Karadzic War Crimes Trial Starts Today

Radovan Karadzic: War Against 'Islamist Goals' Of Muslims Was 'Just' -- The Telegraph

The Serb cause in the Bosnia war was a “just and holy” war against the “Islamist goals” of Muslims, Radovan Karadzic has claimed during his trial against United Nations genocide charges.

Wearing a dark suit and tie, the wartime political leader of Bosnia's Serbs today ended a previous boycott of his genocide and war crimes trial to open his own defence.

”I stand before you not to defend the mere mortal that I am but to defend the greatness of a small nation in Bosnia and Herzegovina which for 500 years has had to suffer and has demonstrated of modesty and perseverance to survive in freedom,” he told the court in his opening statement.

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More News On The War Crimes Trial Of Radovan Karadzic

Genocide Trial Begins for Bosnian Serb General -- Voice of America
Karadzic genocide trial resumes after 4 months -- CNN
Karadzic defends Bosnian Serb 'holy' cause at trial -- BBC
Radovan Karadzic delivers 'dissident' view of Bosnian war -- The Guardian
Torture in Bosnia dismissed as a media 'conspiracy' -- The Guardian
Karadzic shows no remorse at genocide trial -- Politico

Serbian Spy's Trial Lifts Cloak On His CIA Alliance

Photo from The BBC.

From The L.A. Times:

As Milosevic's intelligence chief, Jovica Stanisic is accused of setting up genocidal death squads. But as a valuable source for the CIA, an agency veteran says, he also 'did a whole lot of good.'

Reporting from Belgrade, Serbia -- At night, when the lawns are empty and the lamps along the walking paths are the only source of light, Topcider Park on the outskirts of Belgrade is a perfect meeting place for spies.

It was here in 1992, as the former Yugoslavia was erupting in ethnic violence, that a wary CIA agent made his way toward the park's gazebo and shook hands with a Serbian intelligence officer.

Jovica Stanisic had a cold gaze and a sinister reputation. He was the intelligence chief for Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, and regarded by many as the brains of a regime that gave the world a chilling new term: "ethnic cleansing."

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My Comment: Jovica Stanisic played both sides. He should and he will be punished.