Mass Grave

April 3, 2003 12:35 PM

Bosnia. Here's a news story which has received precisely no attention over the last few days. We should all be joyful that international justice, still in its infancy, helped along by this man amongst others, has led Milosevic to trial.
posted by Pretty_Generic (12 comments total)

woah. long fpp. (in mozilla)
posted by mook at 12:41 PM on April 3, 2003

Ten thousand white tombstones will be erected.
posted by Shane at 12:46 PM on April 3, 2003

Hm? Keep taking the mook-medicine.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:47 PM on April 3, 2003

"Precisely no attention?" There was a very long, very detailed report on this in my morning newspaper, and the BBC World Service covered it pretty thoroughly last night as well.

I agree that the TV news is "all Iraq, all the time" these days, but I don't look to the TV news for thoughtful reflection any more than I look to my daily chocolate bar for nutrition.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:47 PM on April 3, 2003

looks at his Slim·Fast bar, wonders about life-style change
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:49 PM on April 3, 2003

Shame on the UN, NATO, and the western world for dropping the ball on Bosnia and Rwanda.
posted by dkhong at 12:58 PM on April 3, 2003

Bosnia: Muslim terrorists kill Serbians, Serbia whips itself into a frenzy of fear about an attack on their country and way of life. The West vilifies Serbians and thereby increases their terror and they react atrociously. The West attacks and destroys the country, thereby convincing Serbia their fear was well-founded. The West ends some lives and saves other lives.

Rwanda: Hutu politicians and media spread fear of Tutsis (historically not unfounded) as a tool to win an election, and it works too well. Even the Catholic leaders are involved. Extremism takes over and millions are killed. The West does not intervene. The Hutus and Tutsis are now working on a self-directed reconciliation process similar to the South African Truth Commission

Is it better to impose justice from the outside or let it come from inside? I think reconciliation and knowing the truth, even at expense of punishment/revenge, is more likely to prevent future violence (both Bosnia and Rwanda conflicts are many hundreds of years old).

Obviously the best scenario is to learn to recognize the onset of atrocity-enabling fearmongering. Do we recognize it in the drumbeats of our own war on terrorism?
posted by mediaddict at 2:19 PM on April 3, 2003

Bosnia: Muslim terrorists kill Serbians, Serbia whips itself into a frenzy of fear about an attack on their country and way of life. The West vilifies Serbians and thereby increases their terror and they react atrociously. The West attacks and destroys the country, thereby convincing Serbia their fear was well-founded. The West ends some lives and saves other lives.

No offense, but that was the most incredible, uninformed oversimplification of a complex situation I have read in my life, akin to media stereotypes such as "those darn always Irish fighting each other over religion..." I should not even address your post.
posted by Shane at 4:47 PM on April 3, 2003

Shane: of course it's a simplification - it's four sentences! Either add some of your own content or just add noise.
posted by mediaddict at 7:06 PM on April 3, 2003

"Muslim terrorists kill Serbians..."? No. Centuries of conflict between the Muslims, Serbs and Croats. This isn't 9/11 we're talking about. You need to read up on the conflict before you're worth a discussion. If I add content it will be a suggested reading list, but you can Google that yourself.

Moving on now, as I don't want this to get ugly. Really.
posted by Shane at 6:24 AM on April 4, 2003

We can disagree on interpretation, but check your facts.
posted by mediaddict at 9:31 AM on April 4, 2003

As for ugly, see the pictures at the end of the last link.
posted by mediaddict at 9:44 AM on April 4, 2003