EUROPE UNDER THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL
The Hague court sentenced both the Serbian and Croatian generals Ratko Mladic and Slobodan Praljak within a week of each other. Mladic was convicted on November 22nd. The sentence for Praljak was confirmed on November 29th. This coincidence naturally pushes for reflection on the common fate of the Balkan countries.
In the 90s, the Balkans became an embodiment of interethnic confrontation in Europe. Indeed, a lot of crimes had been committed over the course of the Balkan wars (no one has abolished the imperfections of a human nature). However, this recent period of European conflict history shows a lot of examples of heroism and self-sacrifice. And now, having passed through the blood of its own heroes and victims, through ruins of ethnic confrontations, both Croats and Serbs found themselves in servile status. Both countries are subjected to significant pressure from the West. In exchange for the prospects of EU membership, they are required to turn away from those who fought and took up arms for the good of their own nations. Thus, both Serb Mladic, and Croats Gotovina, Markach, Praljak once found themselves in the Hague Court.
It all looks like a farce. Ideally, the essential meaning of a war is that the shed blood is for ensuring the national interests of one's nation. But here we see an example of how the "international community" can turn a national sacrifice into a subject of public humiliation.
This situation is somewhat reminiscent of the Ukrainian-Polish conflict of the Second World War times. Perhaps this conflict can be considered even crueler than the Balkan wars of the 1990's. Indeed it has both heroic and tragic moments. But in the end, both Ukraine and Poland fell under the Bolshevik occupation.
The trials of Gotovina, Praljak or Mladic must be considered not only as trials of Croatia and Serbia. These are trials of Central-Eastern Europe in general, as well as of the pan-European idea as such.
Croatian-American philosopher Tomislav Sunic once exspressed two interesting observations. First is that a series of communist ideals have been implemented precisely in the conditions of the capitalist West. "Such Paleo-Communist ideas of the Moscow Bolsheviks and European Marxist intellectuals as egalitarianism, intellectual-ideological 'equalization,' the possibility of constant economic growth within the framework of a multicultural system - all this with much greater success has been realized in the West." Second, despite the anti-nationalist policies of the socialist governments, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe avoided the influx of migrants.
Western Europe has fallen victim to ideological denationalization, migrant invasion, and the establishment of the hegemony of a mixture of bureaucracy, extreme-liberalism and Marxist ideology. Central-Eastern Europe has largely escaped such fate. And now the Europeanized West dictates its rules to the Balkans, the Baltics, Poland, and Ukraine. It not only judges the Balkan military, but also tries to force the Visegrad countries to accept migrants, tells Latvian and Estonian people whom they should and shouldn't honor, and expresses concern about the growth of nationalist sentiment in Ukraine.
The paradox of the situation is that the nationalism of Central and Eastern Europe sometimes acts as a negative factor. Disputes with neighbors not only distracts forces but, above all, does not allow the unity needed by forces to be able to survive in the current climate. In order to defend its national character, the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe must invent their own pan-European formula.
Returning to the comparison of the Balkan wars with the Ukrainian-Polish conflict, it should be recalled that after the establishment of communist regimes, Ukrainian and Polish undergrounds still managed to reach an agreement. Ironically, the initiator of reconciliation between the UPA and WiN was Marian Golebiewski, the one who had initiated anti-Ukrainian actions in the Kholm region several years earlier. All his later life Golebiewski was proud of being one of the first who realized the value of Ukrainian-Polish friendship. Under similar circumstances, in the context of the establishment of the communist regime in the Balkans, there was a search for reconciliation between the Croatian Ustashas and the Serbian Chetniks. The peoples of Central and Eastern Europe must realize that mutual conflicts are gravely expensive in our time. The Times of the Second World and the edge of XX -XXI centuries have proven that such sort of conflicts often resulted with the arrival of either the Moscow invaders, or the bureaucracy of Brussels or the Hague judges.
In the 90s, the Balkans became an embodiment of interethnic confrontation in Europe. Indeed, a lot of crimes had been committed over the course of the Balkan wars (no one has abolished the imperfections of a human nature). However, this recent period of European conflict history shows a lot of examples of heroism and self-sacrifice. And now, having passed through the blood of its own heroes and victims, through ruins of ethnic confrontations, both Croats and Serbs found themselves in servile status. Both countries are subjected to significant pressure from the West. In exchange for the prospects of EU membership, they are required to turn away from those who fought and took up arms for the good of their own nations. Thus, both Serb Mladic, and Croats Gotovina, Markach, Praljak once found themselves in the Hague Court.
It all looks like a farce. Ideally, the essential meaning of a war is that the shed blood is for ensuring the national interests of one's nation. But here we see an example of how the "international community" can turn a national sacrifice into a subject of public humiliation.
This situation is somewhat reminiscent of the Ukrainian-Polish conflict of the Second World War times. Perhaps this conflict can be considered even crueler than the Balkan wars of the 1990's. Indeed it has both heroic and tragic moments. But in the end, both Ukraine and Poland fell under the Bolshevik occupation.
The trials of Gotovina, Praljak or Mladic must be considered not only as trials of Croatia and Serbia. These are trials of Central-Eastern Europe in general, as well as of the pan-European idea as such.
Croatian-American philosopher Tomislav Sunic once exspressed two interesting observations. First is that a series of communist ideals have been implemented precisely in the conditions of the capitalist West. "Such Paleo-Communist ideas of the Moscow Bolsheviks and European Marxist intellectuals as egalitarianism, intellectual-ideological 'equalization,' the possibility of constant economic growth within the framework of a multicultural system - all this with much greater success has been realized in the West." Second, despite the anti-nationalist policies of the socialist governments, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe avoided the influx of migrants.
Western Europe has fallen victim to ideological denationalization, migrant invasion, and the establishment of the hegemony of a mixture of bureaucracy, extreme-liberalism and Marxist ideology. Central-Eastern Europe has largely escaped such fate. And now the Europeanized West dictates its rules to the Balkans, the Baltics, Poland, and Ukraine. It not only judges the Balkan military, but also tries to force the Visegrad countries to accept migrants, tells Latvian and Estonian people whom they should and shouldn't honor, and expresses concern about the growth of nationalist sentiment in Ukraine.
The paradox of the situation is that the nationalism of Central and Eastern Europe sometimes acts as a negative factor. Disputes with neighbors not only distracts forces but, above all, does not allow the unity needed by forces to be able to survive in the current climate. In order to defend its national character, the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe must invent their own pan-European formula.
Returning to the comparison of the Balkan wars with the Ukrainian-Polish conflict, it should be recalled that after the establishment of communist regimes, Ukrainian and Polish undergrounds still managed to reach an agreement. Ironically, the initiator of reconciliation between the UPA and WiN was Marian Golebiewski, the one who had initiated anti-Ukrainian actions in the Kholm region several years earlier. All his later life Golebiewski was proud of being one of the first who realized the value of Ukrainian-Polish friendship. Under similar circumstances, in the context of the establishment of the communist regime in the Balkans, there was a search for reconciliation between the Croatian Ustashas and the Serbian Chetniks. The peoples of Central and Eastern Europe must realize that mutual conflicts are gravely expensive in our time. The Times of the Second World and the edge of XX -XXI centuries have proven that such sort of conflicts often resulted with the arrival of either the Moscow invaders, or the bureaucracy of Brussels or the Hague judges.
by Igor Zagrebelny
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