An addendum on Karadzic

Marcus Tanner, who covered the Yugoslav wars for the London Independent, and who wrote, among other things, an amazing history of Croatia, gave his two-bits on the media hyperbole surrounding Radovan Karadzic's capture.

"You’d almost have thought they come across Hitler, as the presenters struggled to outdo one another in their choice of superlatives. Everything was the 'worst,' the 'biggest' and the 'gravest,'" he reflects.

Meanwhile, other reports point out that, on Friday, Karadzic will appeal his extradition to The Hague; why some people bother with such formalities is anyone's best guess. While anything is possible in the Balkans, I highly doubt that Serbia will relinquish the process they have set into motion. Let's just hope they repeat it as necessary with those fugitives that remain.

And, as Tanner points out, "I just hope they don’t overdo it now, and so fall back into second gear if and when Ratko Mladic is handed over. Because if I were a Bosnian, that’s the event that would have me in the streets, for I still have a hunch that he, and not Karadzic was the really enthusiastic killer, the real psychopath."

One down, with two more to go

Every major media outlet is now discussing the news that Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb wartime leader of the country's breakaway Serbian "republic" was apprehended on Monday night in Belgrade, after spending more than a decade living a life on the run.

There is plenty of sensationalism at work in much of the coverage; headlines identifying him as "the world's most wanted man" is rather pushing it, since no one spoke about him, or the Balkan region, for that matter, following the long and painful shadow that was 11 September 2001. Suddenly, Southeastern Europe stopped being so important, except for brief interludes in the form of elections, the formation of new states and the dissolution of old ones. Truth be told, however, is that this region is as significant for the EU as Iraq and the Middle East is for Washington. Regional and continental integration is incomplete without the Balkans.

Rumour even had it, or so I am told, that Richard Holbrooke, the former US diplomat that was involved in both the Dayton peace accords (which ended the war in Bosnia, thus shaping the nature of the country today) and the run-up to the Kosovo war in 1998-1999, had cut Karadzic some kind of a deal that stopped short at prosecution.

It comes at both a sad and optimistic time, as the thirteenth anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica, in which Karadzic was allegedly complicit, is coming up. The Hague tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is nearing the end of its mandate, and its work is now all the closer to completion. There remain two more war criminals on the run, of whom General Ratko Mladic remains the 'big fish.' Is he next? I sure hope so.

Finally, the new Europeanist government in Belgrade is obviously trying to etch up its EU credentials, though it remains both bizarre and revealing that Karadzic was able to get into the country in the first place. Minus his longer hair and bushy beard, how did this happen, and why? The real revolution in Serbia shall not begin until this, and other questions, are satisfactorily answered.

"Lost in a world of lights"

Or so says Richard Z. Kruspe, known to most music followers as the lead guitarist of the German heavy metal band Rammstein. Some time in 2001, right around the time that his day job band released their third studio album, Kruspe emigrated to New York; years later or, to be more specific, last summer, he released a solo album entitled Emigrate, the same name as his solo project. It only came out in North America a few months ago, so the world can only now fully appreciate this intriguing and delightful debut.

Most of the eleven (or, if you are lucky enough, like myself, to own the limited edition, thirteen) tracks relate, in some way or another, to self-discovery, the theme of emigrating, and personal experience. It is a largely upbeat and positive album, grounded in the realities of failure sometimes being paired with success, but hardly a return to the dark, eerie and in-your-face themes that Rammstein has churned out since 1994.

The aforementioned lyric to the song "New York City" continues, permeating not only the song, but the whole album: "I'm lost in a world of lights / mesmerize my nights / the sky scrapes on building sites / I'm feeling so alive." Or, slightly later, "I'm gonna win / I'm gonna lose / I'm gonna chase it till the end / and if you're walking in my shoes / you're gonna make it or pretend."

The music is a mix: some songs are hard-rock, harking back to Kruspe's Rammstein roots, but others are more melodic, slightly slower and quite catchy. Lyrically, Kruspe's words are simple, but the simplicity of his messages have the effect of striking just where and when they are most potent. This is the type of album one could listen en route to travelling in a foreign land, and then replaying it once there, on a moonlight night amid surf-breaking waters, mountains and the chatter of friends and company.

It is an album that epitomizes independence, breaking roots while simultaneously establishing new ones. Unlike Rammstein, Emigrate is also of a different language, for the lyrics are entirely performed in English, where Kruspe (sometimes not so successfully, one can amusingly notice) tries to use an American accent, but his German background betrays him! This is an exceptional album, well worth the length that it took to be recorded and released. One can only hope that Kruspe, while not ignoring his commitments to Rammstein, will churn out more such albums in the future.

"Hooliganism" in Belarus?

An understatement, given the scope of the events in the country where, today, a bomb blast, as well as the discovery of a second unexploded device in Minsk, took place. Observers, and the Belarusian opposition (anachronism-sounding, as they are not much of an opposition, nor have they ever been), are predicting more crackdowns as President Lukashenka begins pitting the blame on someone, emboldening his own claims that the outside world and internal fifth columns are out to destroy the country.

But Lukashenka is himself unnerved, it seems, and not solely because the concert he was attending was disrupted by these events. This BBC report cites "rumours," if nothing else, of discontent within secret police echelons, Lukashenka's political circle and other state elements that are brewing beneath the surface. Without a hint of irony, the report states: "Moreover, it happened on the very anniversary of the capital's liberation from Nazi occupation, near the impressive monument to WWII heroes. It could have hardly been more symbolic."

What is indisputable is that this is significant: Belarus long had the reputation, for better or worse, of being something of a sideshow to the Soviet Union and, later, a bastion of old-world and antiquated politics -- and this, of course, not solely coming from me. That bomb blasts have come to this country is telling and a signal that, in the end, everyone is a cohabitant of this insane planet, irrespective of ideology, dispositions or levels of democratic development.

Victory by default

So it has come to pass: Robert Mugabe is the official 'winner' of Zimbabwe's run-off vote. Never mind that all results have not come in yet, or that a substantial number of ballot papers were wilfully spoilt by disgusted voters. Shams are shams, but this is just plain insanity.

Perhaps he should change his name to Mobutu and eliminate the whole wasteful facade he has made out of elections in the country. Mugabe's already wearing shirts emblazoned with his own portrait, and not even pretending to follow some kind of protocol. Zimbabwe is the fief of Zanu-PF, and the descent carries on.

All this, while the rest of the world pontificates just what else would be prudent to do next. This is not over yet.

When hope dies

Hope has all but totally died out in Zimbabwe. That is the essence of what is happening in the country today. As I write, a run-off vote is taking place, many weeks after initial presidential elections took place, but the results of which were delayed because President (and incumbent) Robert Mugabe's followers were caught with their pants down after it came to light that they had come second-place.

Veteran BBC correspondent John Simpson, in this melancholy report, writes that the violence, intimidation, killings and arbitrary arrests and imprisonments, stem from this humiliation. It is as if Mugabe, the grand old man of Zimbabwean politics, and the architect of its very collapse, has told his citizenry that this would be the price for resistance, even to obvious electoral shams.

MDC candidate, and official contender for the Presidency, Morgan Tsvangirai, is now hiding in the Dutch embassy, where he is fearing for his life. Mobs of pro-Mugabe vigilantes are scouring the country, checking citizenry if they have voted for Mugabe, while the President himself is assured of a victory, since Tsvangirai officially pulled out of the election. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, without surprise, says it came too late to remove his name from the ballots, presenting two challenges: easier means to identify those casting protest votes against Mugabe, and more window-dressing legitimacy for the unchallenged incumbent.

What comes out of these past weeks, a topic worth examination in itself, is the conduct of South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, who has maintained a platform of "quiet diplomacy," which really amounts to silence in the wake of Mugabe's conduct. Mbeki's conduct has precedent, and goes back to the beginnings of his administration. This New York Review of Books article gives a primer into South Africa's role. Nelson Mandela has come out to criticize Mugabe, but a tad-bit too late, it seems.

This development is becoming far more ridiculous as times goes on. It must show just to what low levels Mugabe's government has dropped, to be engaging in such insults to democracy and ordinary intelligence. Were it not so tragic and impact-ridden, I would wage that Mugabe would be the subject of a really bad comedy. As things look now, it seems we will be dealing with the Zimbabwean President for yet another five-year term...unless, of course, something happens to him personally, but which is a different subject in and of itself.

Back to the home base

Apologies for the month-plus writing hiatus, but I recently returned from a month-long excursion in Europe that took me to a total of four countries: Montenegro, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Even before I left, I told friends and family that it was interesting that I would be visiting the remnants of two super-federations that, around the same time, collapsed: Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

I had attempted to submit posts while overseas, but I was unsuccessful, since Montenegrin Internet service providers -- or, at least, the one to which I had access -- were slow, while elsewhere, my online time was limited, and I spent it reading and writing e-mails to friends and family, whenever possible.

I am still digesting the whole experience and, quite frankly, I miss all of the countries I visited. To date, this has been the longest excursion that I have taken, but even here, I remain frustrated at only having scratched the surface of understanding and learning of these places. Some of the things I saw confirmed what I had long suspected and written about, while other things baffled me and -- imagine that! -- proved me wrong. In seriousness, I will return very soon, though I am not quite sure how or when, but it will be very soon.

Every trip abroad, whether it be short or long, tells you something about the people that are your co-travellers, but also a lot about yourself. Being away from the monotony and hecticness of home life and responsibilities in Toronto (or wherever one's base may be) keeps you aloof from things, and shows you a perspective one oneself that, sometimes, you would have thought never existed. I went through this experience too, and am still undergoing it.

More to come later; once I catch my breath, political blogging on this wee End of the Line shall resume. Fear not, readers, for I have returned, and the world has not improved one iota while I was gone, it seems!