#1

Dunno if this really warrants its own thread but I know there’s a couple of Yugoslav War geeks like me on here and the politics thread is focused mainly on the budget atm but I feel like this is very important. So yeah, verdict today. Life:

Most of us have heard of this, but it helps to remind yourself this happened in the 90s, in Europe, with the whole world watching:

Would recommend not reading this if you’re easily upset, what happened leading up to and after Mladic and the volunteer militias took the enclave are genuinely beyond horrifying:

I think what happened there in the 90s and in Bosnia in particular are important because they show how easily even relatively stable and peaceful societies can fall apart, how quickly patriotism and nationalism turn sinister and poison everything (not a cheap shot - this is very relevant to our own situation atm), and how really evil shit is never far from the surface in most people. I think it’s also important because that part of Europe is still and always will be living the effects of the wars, and there is still a lot of bitterness and anger between people, as well as the crime, corruption and poverty that are pretty much direct results of what happened. Plus there’s the whole issue of what exactly the point of the UN was in 1995, how culpable is the West and its leaders, the EU’s uneasy relationship with the Balkans today, and so on.

If you want a feel for the contemporary situation then Lily Lynch offers a way in for leftist Westerners…

https://twitter.com/lilyslynch/status/933301653519953920

https://twitter.com/lilyslynch/status/933286939859578880

And some of the takes from people with direct experience are invaluable if we’re trying to understand the why/how/could it happen anywhere/etc:

#2
#3
#4

Not if you’re Noam Chomsky or John Pilger it didn’t.

#5

God yeah, that weird reluctance to admit what Serbian politicians wer eup to is something I will never understand.

1 Like
#6

So weird that this is one of the first major international historical events that I remember happening, although as a young child in the early 90s I obviously didn’t know the details until I had grown up (we had lots of refugees because of it etc), and it’s only now come to actually punishing this guy.

#8

Fine, great, sorry. In my defense there are about 3000 other words in the OP and I tried to include the most interesting links I could find to witness and survivor testimony, as well as information about the wars, the shady role of the EU/NATO/UN in the region to this day, how the people there are dealing with the fallout of the conflict, how it relates to our own situation, etc. Seems like we could have slightly more interesting or productive discussions about all of that tbh.