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Posts Tagged ‘Bosnia’

A twisted thought

June 23, 2009 kyliedust Leave a comment

It was a while ago, that I had a news feed on Mladic.
In June Bosnian Television broadcasted some video footage of Mladic taken during some family gatherings or family celebrations.

Here is a link, along with the footage (can be found on YouTube as well)

I followed only a few  comments briefly, because I can not bare to read some . There may be some old footage among the material, but his grandchildren were born in 2001 and 2006. The one, where you see him holding his grandchild can´t count as “old” as in in “before the war”.

In this age, with all the technology, there lies danger in the use of technology. Or with images being presented . Maybe in a few weeks or days the world will be presented footage of Mladic´s death? The appearance of death. To close the matter.

What if we are shown the images we want to see versus images that are camouflage?
Following the news, especially Iran and the clashes and demonstrations. The use of digital cameras, mobile phones and the instant publication on the net – we have the ability to bear witness, to some extent – to be involved. You can twitter, and suddendly there´s a new angle at that technology.

But, it won´t be long, until cunning powers see the advancement in installing or staging events. The very same companies that brought innovation can help or be used in another way.

Mladic´s successful years in hiding blessed by CIA and France?

January 22, 2009 kyliedust Leave a comment

Within two days I had a number of google alerts concerning Mladic in my mailbox.

First, it was suddenly news that Mladic bullied allies for their support and successful help evading capture:

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Reuters) – The support network of war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic is getting smaller and weaker as Serbian investigators close in on a man who has alienated and bullied his protectors, a Serbian official said on Tuesday. “Some time before 2002, when he (Mladic) used army premises to hide, he lined up all the officers helping him to hide, pointed his finger at each and said that even their grandchildren will be hurt if they dare to give out information on where he is hiding,” Ljajic told Reuters. The Serbian government has posted a one-million-euro reward for information leading to Mladic’s arrest, and the United States is offering another $5 million. The arrest is vital to Serbia’s future as Belgrade cannot advance towards European Union membership until it turns over Mladic to The Hague. Ljajic, who is also Serbia’s minister for labour and social affairs, said Belgrade knows more about Mladic’s whereabouts today than six months ago. “Mladic trusts only a small number of people. He is aware that more people in his support network would only make the job for our services easier,” Ljajic said. The minister added that officials have reconstructed Mladic’s moves up until the spring of 2006. Giving rare details of the long-running manhunt, Rasim Ljajic, Serbia’s point man for cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, said Mladic had even threatened the children of supporters to make sure they reveal no clues of his whereabouts. (you can read the full article here)

And – without coincidence, Carla del Ponte´s book “ Madame Prosecutor: Confrontations with Humanity´s Worst Criminals and the Culture of Impunity”

about the eight years she spent chasing Bosnian war criminals is now published in English.
According to Blic Online, del Ponte claims, that then CIA chief George Tenet promised his support in Karadzic´s hunt , but was obstructing her in reality.

I am not sure if she goes as far as actualy claiming to have evidence, rather than refering to her associtate Florence Hartmann´s allegations:

Del Ponte’s closest associate Florence Hartman writes in her book ‘The Peace and the Punishment’ that in 2003 Mladic resided in seven different flats in Belgrade and that Serbia authorities pretended not to know where he was ‘with the blessing of the CIA’.
She also claims that Mladic enjoys protection of the French intelligence service because of release of the captured pilots and that Chirac personally stopped Mladic’s arrest on several occasions.
Artman also discloses that Joschka Fischer, former German foreign minister told Del Ponte at the beginning of 2006 that according to the report by German secret Service the BRD, he had been informed that Ashdown had met with Karadzic at the end of 2004. Del Ponte requested that report from the BRD in order to face the Great Britain with it, but Germany, as Hartman claims, refused that request.
Hartman also claims that Geoffrey Nice is actually the MI6 agent. She reminded of a small detail from an interview given by former Kosovo leader Azem Vlasi in May of 2007. Vlasi said that Nice told him during their meeting in Belgrade that he, Nice, participated in the mission in former Yugoslavia in 1966.
In August last year she told ‘Blic’ that ‘during the summer of 2005 two CIA agents, presenting themselves as the Hague Tribunal’s representatives, requested from the Bosnia/Herzegovina Police to suspend following of the Karadzic family ordered by Del Ponte’.
(you can read the full article here Blic online 22.01.2209 BIA collecting data on Mladic from 30 countries

Why just the reference? -Florence Hartman, Ms Del Ponte’s former spokeswoman, was charged with two counts of contempt for knowingly and willfully disclosing information.

Apparently, if data on Mladic is compiled from 30 countries – a fugitive story.
Not so long ago he was seen as a sheperd, than as a tuberculosis patient in Belarus ……as himself, proudly and in all his glory.

Someone told me, that Mladic was seen as Chirac´s poodle.
No wonder Chirac was mauled by his depressive dog.

s-jaques-chirac-poodle-mauling-large




Karadzic uhapsen, caught, caught caught!!!

July 23, 2008 kyliedust 1 comment

What a message !! After nearly 13 years Radovan Karadzic, the former president of the Serbian Republic, has been caught!

This is such great news! I couldn´t believe it, when I heard it on the news. My first reaction was “Oh, okay, of course…” but then I realized it was for real. This is such a major sign for change from Serbia. No, it´s much more than just a sign.
There are different versions about his capture. His lawyer claims he was arrested on friday on a bus and held captive for three days. (So what, is my first reaction!) There have to be different versions, regarding the security of the people involved. I only hope (naively so) there will be no revenge attacks by radical loyalists.

Nevertheless I don´t think it´s a coincidence, there´s no way, that they caught him just by accident.

When I saw the first pictures of Karadzic I was astonished how easily he managed to hide his identity.
So many times there have been speculations that the fugitives (Mladic, Karadzic ) underwent surgery to change their appearance. But obviously that simply is not neccessary. People can easily be misled, because they want to- it´s easier.
Karadzic only grew his hair long, stopped shaving and put on some glasses. The result is close to a fairytale appearance, with the exception that he has a dark, horrendous agenda. It´s ridicule and cynical that he practiced as an alternative “healer”(a reader on a serbian online newsmagazin wanted to complement him on his genius.) But on closer examination you discover the real look underneath all that hair. There is a picture of him, the way he looks now, where he stares directly at the camera. In that pictures I could immediatly recognize him. That stare!
There are stories now being told, how Karadzic was a frequent visitor to a local kafana (pub, cafe) where he used to play the gusle. Practically he sang and played gusle under his framed photograph and that of another fugitive, Ratko Mladic

As Dr. Dragan Dabic, Karadzic claimed that his hair and his beard were helpful for absorbing energy.
(if you understand serbian/croatian you can read the full article here. ) Altogether while living undercover he lived like a bohemian. There is, in all that enough black humor, even if some will say that it´s inappropriate.
If he really is serious about defending himself, it will be cause for further ridicule for the victims.

Here are some links with stories on Karadzic:

in german

english:

serbian:

Suddenly there is a personal page on Dr. Dragan Dabic on the web. There is not much, just a short Bio and a listing of his favourite proverbs. especially the last proverb leaves un ugly impression on me. You guess
(you can check out the site here, the official site of Dr. Dragan Dabic and his Human Quantum Energy healing concept can be reached here.

And all the while people in Sarajewo and Bosnia are celebrating, My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered during that war and is still suffering. Mothers who lost their children. Men who lost their children, their sons and daughters, their wifes. Young women who lost their parents, their grandparents, their lovers, their husbands. Neighbours who became enemies, friends who suddenly had nothing in common, they believed. So much damage, so much pain. It will never be forgotten.
It still pains me to think about that war and I am still angry in a way. While I was living safely in Germany I was shocked how passive the world reacted to the war. I still cannot understand why nothing was done to prevent it much earlier. I couldn´t take it to watch the news, because it was like watching your loved one´s bleed. Politics is tricky, and maybe I am a fool, but I was raised in the belief that it´s neccessary to help others in need. We have to make all that madness stop. With all that technology and the vast opportunities the web is providing, we can make a difference. It has to be.
Now I´m out. To je za Jasnu, Ninu, Zeljka, Mirka …. u dusi.
So much of today.

Categories: Diary Tags: , , ,