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Strange Case of Dr Dabic and Mr Karadzic
Posted 2008-07-23 21:45 under Politics , Off The Record by Viktor Marković / 17 comments
Owen noticed in a comment on the previous post that there is a strange lack of reactions coming from Serbian blogs, well, ok, in any case in comparison to how big the news is. And the news is big, perhaps the biggest this year. But since it all started, the number of strange information has been increasing in such a manner that it’s maybe not so strange to imagine a lot of people just stare and listen in disbelief, myself included. There is a lot of questions circling around the Serbian and international press these days, and way too few answers. This is an attempt to collect them and try to find some answers.
Where has he been living all these years? Estimates in the press say that he has been living in Belgrade in the past 2 to 4 years, what about before that?
How did he come up with the idea of alternative medicine guru as a disguise? Perhaps he was a fan of TLN?
Why choose the role of a person that has such an exposure to broad audiences? Why choose to hide in a big city at all? What’s so wrong with bin-laden style mountain hideouts, caves and woods, hanging out with bears and sheep? I bet that a lot of his supporters are a bit sore to find out that their hero chose such a wimpy new-age disguise…
Who is the girl he’s been, according to rumors, seeing and living with? I hope his wife is not so mad at him, it was probably just a part of the disguise.
If it’s true that he has been visiting a cafe in Belgrade with his picture on the wall, hell, even sat directly under it while playing gusle and drinking, than at least I can guess who tipped him off – probably some sharp-eyed (and still sober) regular who noticed the striking similarity between the picture on the wall and rhe strange guest sitting under it.
Last but not least – what will this bring to Serbia? Should we think about this at all? Isn’t it enough that the suspect is brought to justice at all, do we really have to ask ‘what’s in it for us?’
I’m also interested to hear your reaction when you found out that he’s been arrested. Surprised? I know I was.
Also pay attention to those few blogs that were following the case thoroughly:
East Ethnia
Limbic Nutrition
Bosnia Vault
Jonathan Davis at Pajamas blog
Balkan file
Global Voices
(if you know of some more, put the link in comments, I’ll be happy to update here)
Also check out this rather good Wikipedia page on the arrest.
duksha on 24/07/08 01:56 AM
Yoz can only suck his dick for good! Cheers mates!
John on 24/07/08 02:01 AM
I think this will be and is good for Serbia. I think this was perfect timing, as far as his arrest goes. Too early and only more tensions and problems would have come from it.
My boy is 20 now and he and his friends really didn’t have an opinion other than to say, “lets see what happens”. They are busy living their own lives trying to make their own marks on the world – so are most I suppose, which is why I suspect a lack lf “interest” – if you want to call it that. In my opinion, the 13 or so years on the lamb have given time for people to come to terms when his arrest did come. Now, it is just another story….
I remember years ago when I asked what would happen upon his or Mladic’s arrest and a lot said…“another war”. Of course this was in the RS though…
I am pleased that he is finally in custody! Mladic is next…...
Owen on 24/07/08 10:34 PM
Do you people know how to ride a bike, or do you only know how to take it to pieces and reassemble it? Viktor, please excuse me, you’re the last person who should be on the receiving end of this, but it’s my genuine response to what seems to be going on.
We’ve had extraordinary coverage in UK reminding us of what Karadzic actually did. Of course we occasionally wonder how he got away with it that long but I think we got the message that he had a friend or two. Is it really still that impossible for people to look at the elephant instead of the coffee table?
viktor on 24/07/08 11:53 PM
you might get that impression as we all forgot what this man is charged of, but I don’t think that is the case.
For us here it’s not so important to cover what he did, because everyone knows what he did, and those who do not know it, simply refuse to accept it, and there’s no help with that.
Sorry, but right now I’m more occupied about how he managed to live right next to me so to say without any trouble in the world. This turns the whole idea about Mladic hiding in-some-woods-god-knows-where upside down.
Owen on 25/07/08 01:44 AM
Yes, Viktor, certainly you’re entitled to an apology, you shouldn’t have been the target of my reaction, your post was just the trigger. You’re quite right that the circumstances of Karadzic’s arrest throws the issue of Mladic and his whereabouts into high relief and certainly that’s massively important. I shouldn’t have been so facetious. But all the same, while the rest of the world is talking so loudly about Karadzic’s deeds and their legacy, there’s something a little strange about the minimal contribution to that dialogue coming from Belgrade.
Owen on 25/07/08 01:57 AM
Vikto, you asked for reactions to the news. My reaction was of course a momentary excitement and then the thought that nothing can ever undo what that man has done. To his victims and their relatives, making them suffer unspeakable barbarity. To his supporters, sucking them into that barbarity. And, trivially in comparison, but still importantly for me, what he did to me, changing my world with the knowledge that these terrible things could happen in my world, to my neighbours, just round the corner from my home.
Samaha on 25/07/08 04:30 PM
Viktor – these names – Karadzic, Mladic, Milosevic and Bin Laden are all names that the international community knows what they did but still the international community is writting about what they did, interviewing more victims of Srebrenica, documenting the reaction of the various people whose lives he has affected because it is part of writting the history of the moment. That Serbians are more enamored about the details about how he got away with it all this time rather than pointing out what he has done (especially since many people don’t believe it, others think of him as a hero, and others see all of this as a conspiracy theory).
On my own blog a comment was left by what everyone assumed was a Serb that was pretty barbaric and this affects your world image. To say – those that don’t believe what Karadzic did was wrong will never believe it is (I hope) a false statement and you simply can not take a stance that you can not change these things. You try – you may fail but your try – you get others to work with you – this is the only way opinions change and you should be willing to invest that much into your country and your people if not for the rest of humanity.
Additionally, do you have any information in regards to RTS? Yesterday I was on the site – looking for the Serbian reaction and I noticed that the comments on articles changed – either were edited or added but they were changed. Does the government get inolved with RTS affairs?
Ian Cresswell on 25/07/08 07:36 PM
Samaha
I know what Viktor means, you can try but you’re banging your head against a brick wall and eventually your head hurts too much. And its to no purpose.
To amplify one of Owen’s points. There was blanket coverage in the UK for 48 hours or so. Reading the comments left on various big news sites a few things struck me.
Firstly, compared to 8 or 9 years ago when because of Kosovo there was a fair old amount of online Balkan discussion, there is a lot more cynicism about the media and hostility to Islam. And so a lot more scepticism about the orthodox view of events.
But secondly, a fair few people under 30 who really don’t remember or took no notice at the time were shocked about what they had seen.
Samaha on 25/07/08 09:10 PM
Ian,
It may feel like you’re banging your head against the wall but it’s necessary for changes to take place. If everyone just took this position Serbia wouldn’t have a new government in place today.
The whole media and hostility to Islam – I don’t buy it. I think people are much more educated these days in regards to everything that has anything to do with Islam which includes Bosnia and by extension Serbia because of their history. I just saw a comment on a NYT’s blog in which a woman tried to say that there was no genocide commited – that people don’t understand the definition of genocide – that a couple of thousand people died out of millions – typical propoganda .. and I was amazed at the reactions of people – very knowledgeable in the fine details able to comprehend that Srebrenica was a genocide and why it was a genocide, being able to distinguish Srebrenica from Bosnia in whole.. so on and so forth.
Now, I haven’t been paying much attention to the Kosovo debates and especially not what is going on in Europe but I do know that here in the US – there is a mixed reaction to the independence of Kosovo when back 8 or 9 years ago such was not the case.
Now, it’s always important for us to acknowledge actions to be wrong and question and debate the radical elements from within because when we do not do these things we allow the elements of radicalism to prosper.
In the history of Serbia – do Serbs want this moment of time to be marked by news stories of radicals protesting and Serbs being pre-occupied with Karadzic’s secret open life or do they want it marked with relief that a fugitive charged with crimes of the worst nature has been apprehended, marked with statements and articles that are furious over the crimes that he is accused of commiting? For future generations the latter is important because no matter what the history books will say or print – one will be able to go back and read all of these things and come up with their own conclusions.
Oh – and I found some information on RTS and see where the problem may be – not that it is really excusable – but I do see there is a problem.
Owen on 25/07/08 10:31 PM
Ian, you make a good point about the under 30s. Until Karadzic’s arrest there were a lot of young people, even fairly well informed young people who know about Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo and have even maybe heard the name Srebrenica, who knew nothing about what was done across Bosnia (and perhaps still know nothing about Eastern Croatia). The scenes they have seen thanks to Karadzic’s arrest have opened their eyes. It’s easy to forget how almost a generation has grown up since 1995.
viktor on 26/07/08 09:44 PM
Readers of this blog are pretty familiar with this blog’s authors point of view, and you can pretty much gues what it is when it comes to Karadzic.
As for the international community and it’s view on Serbia, I prefer to leave it to each and every person interested in Serbia to decide whether they will base their opinion on Richard Holbrook’s statements or on some more credible source. This is a free world, and we are all grown ups here so we can decide ourselves what and who to believe. The truth in this case is so obvious that it needs no repeating and pointing out, at least not on this blog.
But you are right as for other Serbian medias are concerned, there was not almost any mention of Karadzic’s deeds, neither before his capture, nor now. And that is dangerous, and irresponsible, I agree.
As for the diehard nationalist, I believe that for them the most difficult blow comes from the fact that their hero was caught in a public bus, in a pretty unheroic way, dressed up as a freak who made his living selling magic necklaces to poor people. When you compare it to Gotovina’s arrest, who was caught on a fancy island, while eating fancy food and drinking champagne dressed in Gucci, well I don’t wanna rub it in, but… oh, heck, let’s face it: Radovan is a big ol’ hairy wuss of a man.
Owen Beith on 26/07/08 11:06 PM
And Viktor, I hope my moment of exasperation won’t cause you to doubt my respect for you and your opinions. There’s a big difference between people who just want to move on and people who stick their head above the parapet because they want to move on with honesty and responsibility.
frank on 27/07/08 02:15 PM
I, too, have been rather floored that I might have been riding around buses in Novi Beograd in 1998 next to the guy, if he was ever in Belgrade then.
My own guess is that the anonymity of big cities where no one cares about you or anyone else is far preferable to trying to fit as a newcomer into smaller villages, where everyone sticks their nose into your affairs. Particularly if you are, as claimed, desperate for attention and social status of some kind. ;-) In Belgrade, you can hold forth at conferences on all kinds of homeopathic nonsense, and your grocer won’t have a clue about any of it, so long as you smile when you buy her fruit and vegetables.
I’m still ruminating on what, if anything, to post about the people holding religious vigils and making claims of the “we are all Radovan” type. I tend to lean towards the “it must be done” argument – history by itself does not often penetrate the awareness of the wilfully ignorant. The question is how to persuade people to take a second look at what they think they know.
My problem is that every time a Westerner like me opens his mouth on the subject, it’s very, very difficult to combat the avalanche of subject-changing fallacies. ;-) The message may be crucial, but the messenger is scorned a priori because of who he is. ‘Spare us the Western lectures so we can continue ignoring our own cognitive dissidence,’ I suppose. :-7 Even for Westerners who wish the best for Serbia and all her citizens, and know full well about past Western mistakes and misdeeds.
I dunno – do you think I should step in that minefield? :)
Daniel (Srebrenica Genocide Blog) on 01/08/08 08:17 AM
MUST SEE:
Take a look at a photo of Karadzic posted on my blog. It’s a close up of his gaunt and tired face. Visibly shaken, he appears to have cried. Take a look:
http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2008/07/radovan-karadzic-court-appearance-gaunt.html
Owen on 26/08/08 04:32 PM
On holiday?
Viktor on 28/08/08 01:15 PM
Just got back… normal service will resume soon :)
Owen on 28/08/08 11:18 PM
Acclimatise gently.