Farewell Croatia

It is bizarre how one never has much to say about a great, large-scale misfortune. You can either do something and help someone, or simply tell about the things you witnessed and describe your feelings in the process. You can also talk about the underlying causes, look for the culprits, draw lessons but all that is still not the same as talking about the thing itself. Those worse hit are usually the ones who are best at noticing the weakness of words. Whatever you say the victims will never be entirely satisfied because all your explanations, accusations and warnings are addressed to someone else. There is no point in addressing the victims, since you can not deny that what happened did happen.

These days, around two hundred thousand wretches are stretched out on the roads from Krajina to Serbia. They all exist individually, and are being counted by onlookers who recognize in them a great national disaster. Krajina is coming to Serbia since Serbia failed to come to Krajina. People who are on their way now are those who did not know that Serbia will fail to come. When they were invited to rise, when they blocked roads with timber and cried "This is Serbia" on the outskirts of Zagreb, they were told quite a different story. Also, those who were silent, those who were against, and those who only minded their own business are also on their way, with their wives and children... Whatever they may have once thought or done, they now have no choice. Serbs migrated in the past but never on such a massive scale. In this war they usually played the role of those before whom others fled. They referred to their historical and ethnic rights, it was said to be a revenge for all previous wars and defeats; doctrine of preventive banishment and the defence from those who were much weaker developed. Victory, might and the right that it brings were believed in. Few in Serbia had time to notice someone else's casualties, someone else's misfortune, or lines of someone else's refugees.

Now, with the greatest possible speed, in only three days, desperately and for ever the Krajina Serbs evacuated their villages and towns. There is no justice in the whole thing; people do not deserve such vengeance and no one should observe this with malice. However, we all know that the world, and its Balkan part in particular, is not organized entirely in accordance with Christian morality and mercy. We rarely forgave each other in the past unless we had to. We have difficulties controlling ourselves while taking vengeance, and only repent for crimes we failed to commit. That is why Krajina's fate is logical, expected and should have been anticipated. That is why there is a clear blame, which lies mainly with Slobodan Milosevic and all those who once accepted him as leader of all Serbs, and who now scream that he conned and betrayed them. He did con them, in the same way as the customers of Dafiment Bank were conned. Their greed made them naive and gullible. The national elite thus entrusted Milosevic with an open mandate to create Greater Serbia. Krajina Serbs, who were thus pushed into rebellion, then hurried to cleanse Croatian villages and inaugurate their own state.

It is not often that a state manages to disappear so quickly and so completely. Milan Martic is also a rare example of statesmanship capable of rejecting all negotiations and compromises, only to shock the world with the ease with which he capitulated and place himself at the head of the exile. One must search thoroughly through the history of most unfortunate peoples in order to find a similar example of such invincibility which lasted until the last possible moment before a catastrophe.

Milosevic is under no obligation to take responsibility for Martic's wisdom and concern for his people, but is responsible for such a person being in charge of such a state. He is the one who claimed that Serbs only know how to fight, he once even gave them weapons and invited them to protect their rights. It is true that he soon realized that he will never be able to keep Krajina and that Serbia has neither the will or the strength to get involved in an all out war with Croatia. He understood that he would be facing a real possibility of total Serbian defeat, and it is funny how most of his bitterest political opponents in Serbia accuse him of things he is not guilty of. However, he is responsible for not stating and repeating unambiguously and with more determination that the Krajina Serbs must remain part of Croatia. He did advise them to accept the Z-4 plan, but it was persistently being said in Belgrade that it is their own affair and that nothing must be imposed, which encouraged Martic to loose everything, and gave Milosevic the opportunity to make a small profit. He used the Krajina disaster to demonstrate his pacifism, and the very fact that Tudjman's international standing weakened means that his own improved; the prospects for the sanctions being lifted also improved, as well as the chances of keeping Eastern Slavonia.

Of course, one should not expect Milosevic to accept his part of responsibility. Why should a politician accept his, when part of the intellectual elite which deposited its human and moral capital into Milosevic's bank failed to accept theirs. He at least has something to loose, and therefore something to guard, while those who do not hold power and will not go to elections could say a word or two of repentance, at least for the hope that someone might understand them and forgive. Instead of all the accusations, in this colossal catastrophe, Serbs could benefit by anyone's repentant gesture.

If the largest part of the outside world was, at least for an instant, excited about the incredibly easy victory of the Croatian army, that is the incredibly easy defeat of the Serbs whom everyone was sick of anyway, the pictures of a people in exile soon ruined their good mood. It is obvious that America and Germany pushed Tudjman, but I believe that the outcome is too heavy even for their stomachs. Some are still trying to prove that this is not a clear cut case of ethnic cleansing such as was consciously and systematically committed by the Serbs in Bosnia. The difference is that the Krajina Serbs have not waited, and thus failed to give Tudjman the opportunity to show his well known charitableness and tolerance. In any case, was it not the Croatian army that fired several times at the convoy of refugees which they considered not to be moving fast enough.

It took Croatia three days to get rid of all its Serbs. We can be disgusted with their enthusiasm, but only as long as we are sure that we would not celebrate a similar exodus of Albanians with similar enthusiasm. If you know that your heart would rejoice, then forget the Croats and leave them to their happiness. We will never have an opportunity of meeting them or sharing anything with them again anyway. We had some nice moments together, but in total, things just weren't going our way.

Only Eastern Slavonia remains disputed, as an area over which there might be more fighting, though I somehow doubt it. If he exploits the Krajina disaster sufficiently well, Milosevic might be allowed to keep it, or at least postpone its surrender until his life long mandate is over.

There is Bosnia left, in which it seems the final borders of Greater Serbia and Greater Croatia will be drawn. In any case nothing multicultural and multiethnic will be allowed to grow for a while. I think that neither of the two main actors in the Bosnian drama, Alija Izetbegovic and Radovan Karadzic, have anything to look forward to. The former, with the help of America, lead the Bosnian Muslims to nothing. The latter created a military state, only to suddenly find himself without an army. Karadzic is an obstacle on the road to Grater Serbia, since he is too eager to have his own state, something Milosevic is now trying to destroy with the help of General Mladic.

The outcome of that conflict will greatly influence the balance of power and the future regime in Serbia. The choice between Milosevic and Karadzic is a terrible one but since we reached this point anyway, it appears to me that Milosevic is the lesser evil and I believe that the Serbian opposition is making a mistake when turning to Karadzic. His indirect responsibility for the war, at least in the eyes of the world, is greater than that of Milosevic, and at the moment it is of paramount importance for Serbia to look good in the eyes of the world.

Is this disgraceful defeat in Krajina, which pushed the western Serbs to the east and reversed centuries of Serbian history not the price of the conflict with the whole world. If only the Serbs had not spent the last couple of years sticking up two fingers at the whole world, particularly at the West and America, Tudjman would not be seen as an epitome of democracy which deserves every help he can get. Though a bit too late, Milosevic understood where that leads. Milosevic is yielding to the west not because of his weak nature but because he has learnt that the other option is costly for him, and for us. The opposition on the other hand encourages Karadzic to show spite until he is made to join Martic and bring his people across the Drina. I understand that Milosevic's regime is difficult to bare but it must be acknowledged that he managed to convince us that it is not the worst.