At last!

Ratko Mladic has been arrested, in Serbia, details still unknown. President Tadic is quoted by the New York Times:

Extradition is happening. This is the end of the search for Mladic. It’s not the end of the search for all those who helped Mladic and others to hide and whether people from the government were involved…this is happening on the day Catherine Ashton is coming to Serbia.

Yes, the moment is a good one, not only for the occasion of Ashton’s visit but also just as Chief Prosecutor Brammertz was to release his report on Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. Convenient, but welcome nevertheless. So too Tadic’s reference to searching for those who helped Mladic all these years, and his reference on NPR this morning to the importance of this arrest for regional reconciliation.

But the main thing this morning is just this: at last Ratko Mladic is headed for justice.

PS:  Compliments to Nenad Pejic of RFE/RL for his well done “flash analysis.”

PPS: Too bad President Tadic can’t even mention “Kosovo” without adding something incomprehensible about “our autonomy Kosovo.” And too bad The Guardian couldn’t find a Bosnian Muslim who thought Mladic has a right to be defended:

Daniel Serwer

Share
Published by
Daniel Serwer
Tags: Balkans

Recent Posts

It’s not just the verdict that is unjust

This is one more lesson in why you shouldn't be too friendly to Washington and…

2 weeks ago

Kosovo should get on with governing

I hope the votes can somehow be found to make Sejdiu president, not because of…

2 weeks ago

Rehabilitation of Mladic is rehabilitation of Vucic

Miloš Ćirić, a political scientist in Belgrade, writes in Danas, Sept. 12-13, 2026: Serbia buried…

2 weeks ago

The bright spot is visible but not certain

So what's the bright spot? I hope the election. Americans on November 3 have an…

2 weeks ago

The Death of a Convicted War Criminal, Survival of an Ideology

A war criminal can die, while the ideology that made him a hero survives. That…

3 weeks ago

Montenegro, a War Criminal, and European Integration

We are witnessing a new variation on Milan Kundera’s famous *The Joke*: “Optimism is opium…

3 weeks ago