Useless Justice

I think I finally understand why someone would wish to be the Pope. One would visit Zagreb, and with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman hovering in the background, you would say that the Croats must forgive and love the Serbs and Muslims because they and the Croats live next to each other, have intermarried and are linked together. All this precisely when the Croats thought that they would never ever again have to do so, but since you're the Pope and infallible, then there's nothing much left to be said but instead one must be delighted by the idea. Then you say that the war is not being fought on religious grounds, and no one ever came up with a better reason in the first place. In the end you return to the Vatican and leave the Croats to negotiate over borders, autonomy, and a federation with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Serb Krajina President Milan Martic and Bosnia-Herzegovina President Alija Izetbegovic.

The Pope seems to be following the main trend in international diplomacy, which has come to believe that no solution can be found without a patient, cautious and partial renewal of some severed links in the former "artificial creation", i.e. the former Yugoslavia. This is why it is important to retain some kind of unity in Bosnia and to allow the Bosnian Serbs to have links with Serbia via a union, as has already been done with the Croats. In this way, the establishment of a Muslim state will have been avoided; the Serbs in Krajina will find it easier to accept Croatia's sovereignty; the Muslims will continue their precarious balance between the Serbs and the Croats; tensions in Montenegro and Kosovo will ease, while Macedonia is settling down.

All are sovereign and all are a bit shortchanged. It sounds nice, but someone might ask: what was the point of the war in that case? Well, in order to ensure a future life together. In order that Serbs and Croats might be equal in the perpetration of genocide and thereby learn that they are brethren. This time the Muslims have been shortchanged by the Serbs, but something had to be left over for some future war. The entire federal-confederal construction would have been very unstable and would have served more as a psychological intermission, until it became clearer what direction we are heading in and what forces are pulling us along. Even if it were to survive, it would be a balance of fear and no one would have to be afraid that some new "artificial creation" would evolve with time. Such a creation would require a general triumph of the civic, liberal spirit, whereas fundamentalist nationalism has entrenched itself here - everywhere. A civic society is viewed as disarmament and all are waiting for others to turn into citizens before they do. However, if we were all sure of exactly what belonged to each of us, then with time perhaps we could exchange our pups for their pigs in the poke, without fearing deceit.

Since the Serbs would never listen to the Pope, it was up to Slobodan Milosevic to take over the role and try, in his way, to explain it all to them. He took a long time getting ready: he fired Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Seselj, created the United Left (JUL) and has of late started remembering World War Two achievements. But, his plans were foiled by the Bosnian Serbs. They who killed most, looted most, destroyed most and burned down the greatest number of other people's houses, don't wish to share things anymore. They know that they can't be equal in peace with those they weren't equal to in war and crimes.

Everything has been said about this war and its goals. I do believe, however, that ignorance, inexperience and a wrong impression about one's self, others and the rest of the world, have not been sufficiently emphasized. While Milosevic climbed the ladder of power with a party putsch and allowed the so-called people to topple political careerists and hunt for "traitors", all those who could have given him some common sense advice were ostracized.

The former state's entire team of experts disappeared; they were stripped of power and silenced. Milosevic instead replaced them with his most vociferous fans. They had to learn everything right from the beginning and acquire their experience while we bore the brunt of it all. For them the war was a short course in history, politics, diplomacy, law, international relations and common sense. They tried to fly and learned that gravity is not something invented by enemy propaganda. But the problem of patriotic inertia remained, so that this has become a problem that only Einstein could deal with.

I am very interested in the state of awareness of the "average Serb", who is now exposed to overdoses of moderation and sobriety. This is broadcast to us by state television, while Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Bishop Atanasije take turns appearing on independent Studio B. What happens when public figures change places and start taking over each others' lines.

The average local Serb reasons that the international community has punished us even though we are innocent, just because we were helping our brethren defend themselves from the mujahedin. We were never at war and so we have nothing in common with that archcriminal and thief Karadzic. The peace-promoters are our greatest traitors. We will never abandon our brethren in trouble. Milosevic is not going to draw us a border on the Drina River. Sanctions can't harm us, but it wouldn't be a bad idea if they were lifted. We must unite immediately. They

are not going to drag us into their war. Bishop Atanasije is right. Milosevic is right when he says that peace is our greatest interest. So, how can Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) leader Vuk Draskovic accuse Karadzic?

I see that deputy-cum-boxer-cum-Chetnik Branislav Vakic is complaining that the police are hounding Chetnik volunteers who fought legally in Bosnia as part of Serbian Ministry of the Interior units? Who is he complaining to? The police? Or perhaps he expects us to show some understanding? To be concerned over the human rights of Seselj's men, those who shelled Muslim enclave Srebrenica from the hills above Bajina Basta (Serbia), and later burned and looted their way through Bosnia?

Aren't we talking about principles? Yes. If it were possible, they and those persecuting them, should be tried, along the same principles, and now. Since we don't have the opportunity of doing so, there is no reason to poke our noses in the natural selection of criminals. If I remember rightly, justice is when you make a difference between the guilty and the innocent, which means that in this case, the whole thing is useless.

Here comes a group of citizens, tourists, fans of the Drina River. They won't control anything, or observe anything, but they should be avoided, because if they start asking questions, then our sovereignty will fly out of the window. But, this is the beginning and things had to start somehow. This country's status is like that of a newly discovered island which has unusual customs, so that the outside world must first see what can be done, and we have to see what the world is like.

After this advance party on the Drina, a plane will probably fly in from somewhere. The first passengers will be very excited over the adventure, and I'm sure that television will not miss the opportunity of recording the great event. I'm not sure how the lifting of sanctions will start, and I admire the political wisdom of those political leaders who are still trying to prove that no one should have been allowed in or out, and the area left as untouched as the Virgin Islands. But perhaps Seselj and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader Vojislav Kostunica will demand of their membership that they continue living under sanctions, and boycott Belgrade Airport and take the bus to Budapest and buy their petrol in cans at 2.5 DEM/liter. That would be proof that they weren't prepared to sell out cheaply on their brethren across the Drina River.

Whenever it seemed to me in the last few years that things might start falling into order, and that there were reasons for hope and optimism, Milosevic would come up with plans for the country's economic recovery and an economic reform. I have developed a reflex about the thing and know definitely that someone, somewhere, is going to start shooting soon. I don't wish to sound like a prophet of doom. It doesn't matter much if we believe or don't believe, but I do believe that we should relax, hope and wait and see what will happen. Nothing can disappoint us anymore.