Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 15, 1994 TAG: 9402180022
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANO JELINCIC
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It reminds me of the old line about putting an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters. Hypothetically, they will be able to reproduce Shakespeare. If you replace the monkeys with today's world leaders, then you have the writers of the Balkan drama.
The writers have been at work for some time. Under the Bush administration, there were a number of contributors. James Baker, Cyrus Vance and Lawrence Eagleberger all demonstrated a lack of understanding of the Yugoslavian situation and acted accordingly. Months after Slovenia and Croatia were recognized as a sovereign nations, Secretary of State Baker went to Belgrade and proclaimed on Serbian television, that "We in America would like to see Yugoslavia stay united."
This absurdity would have been comical if the Serbian armed forces were not at that time and subsequently using "Yugoslavian" weapons to invade Croatia and later Bosnia-Herzegovina. The result has been that Serbia has overtaken almost a third of Croatia and has done its best to exterminate the Muslim population of Bosnia.
Of course something had to be done. United Nations forces were sent to Bosnia. Among the U.N.'s accomplishments have been getting themselves killed, helping evacuate Croatians from Krajina so that Serbs could occupy the vacated territory, observing Serbian atrocities in Bosnia and asking Serbian permission to bring humanitarian aid to the people brutalized by the Serbs.
A true Shakespearian tragicomedy would have subplots, and the Balkan situation is not lacking in small stories that would be funny if they were not so sad. When the Croats attacked Serb forces to try to take back the bridge near Zadar and reunite Croatia, France threatened to send a warship to attack the Croatians.
President Clinton, apparently frustrated about his inability to affect Serbian actions, threatened sanctions against Croatia for violations of truces that the Serbs have ignored. He immediately had to back down because he needs to use the Croatian port of Split to supply the ineffectual U.N. troops. And in their panic and despair over the unrelenting aggression of the Serbs, Croats and Bosnians have started to battle each other.
On Friday, Feb. 4, the Serbs killed 10 and wounded 18 people in Sarajevo. Before the world could fumble out its diplomatic rhetoric, the Serbs shelled a market on Saturday,the next day, killing more than 60 and injuring more than 200.
The Serbian leader in Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic, said that the Muslims had bombed themselves to win sympathy. The United Nations acted decisively, promising to immediately analyze the bomb crater. Lord Owen detected a note of optimism that this incident may lead to a U.N. solution of the Sarajevo situation. It must be hard for the Serbs to keep from laughing.
This tragicomedy need not have happened. Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Margaret Thatcher understood that only the decisive use of force would stop the Serbs. Their voices have not been heard.
After the Feb. 5 bombing, President Clinton said, "We rule out nothing." But neither have we done anything substantial to improve the situation.
During the communist regime in Yugoslavia, the following joke was popular:
For years there was a single policeman on the local beat. One day a second policeman appeared. A man asked, "Why do we need two policemen?" His companion replied, "My friend, it is a great improvement. Now we have one who can read and one who can write."
Days later the policemen appeared with a dog. The man asked, "There are now twice as many police. Why do they also need a dog?" His friend answered, "Someone must protect the intellectuals."
Given the intellectual vision of the international leadership involved in shaping Balkan policy, maybe it is time to get them a dog. Perhaps a Seeing Eye dog would be most appropriate.
\ Frano Jelincici, a native of Croatia, is artist-in-residence at Radford University.
by CNB