SERBIA / BOSNIA : A Ratko Re-energized, Smirking And Defiant...Emerges At The Hague; Capture May Speed Bosnia-Herzegovina Formation.

GUARDIAN / R. Booth

    Accused war crimes mastermind Gen. Ratko Mladic, 69 made his first appearance at court in The Hague.
    But instead of guilt or shame, he admitted deep pride in his actions without any remorse.
    He even taunted the alleged victims and their families...describing the charges against him as "obnoxious," refused to enter a plea and described the indictment as "monstrous words that I have never heard before"... then asked for two months to weigh the 11 counts of genocide.

  AND:   Bosnia-Herzegovina has lacked leadership since October while Bosnian, Serb and Croat reps argued about sharing power. Mladic's arrest may reduce tensions there.
     “There is a new momentum created by Mladic’s arrest because it shows the idea of peace is gathering strength and the idea of justice as well,” observes Professor Mirko Pejanovic. “The central administration could be put in place by the end of the month.”
 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-03/mladic-arrest-may-accelerate-formation-of-bosnia-herzegovina-s-government.html

SERBIA: 30 May UPDATE: Police Clash With Protesting Ultra Nationalists Over Ratko Arrest.

LINK CHANGE/ TELEGRAPH


     Police and perhaps 10,000 protestors and ultra nationalists clashed in Belgrade over the arrest of genocide suspect Ratko Mladic.

    They demanded the resignation of President Boris Tadic.

    They call him a traitor  for  handing over alleged war criminals to the UN tribunal in The Hague.

    Some demonstrators threw rocks at police.

    Hundreds of riot police responded, some beating and kicking protesters.

    At least 12 were injured but none seriously. About 100 were arrested.

    FOR RAW 2:22 Protest VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaIHEEs63ro&feature=player_embedded

    Mladic's son, Darko,(below with mother) told the crowd that his father is sick.

   "He needs medical treatment that he is not getting,"  Darko claimed.

   "We will never accept those who bombed us to write our history,"  Darko told the crowd." For centuries we have been fighting for our own state, for our own country to give us security. We don't allow illiterate Westerners to write our history."

SERBIA/ KOSOVO/ BOSNIA/ EUROZONE: Ratko's Arrest...is Mixed Blessing; Was Arrest An Elaborate Set-Up?

NYTIMES / ANALYSIS : 
S. ERLANGER

NYT:    "The arrest on Thursday of the wanted war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic after 15 years of quiet protection and hiding is also regarded as a mixed blessing. It is a major victory for Serbia’s democratic president, Boris Tadic, (right) and his supporters, who see it as vindication of moral values and the closing of another chapter of a bloody past.
     Mr. Mladic’s inevitable extradition to face charges of genocide is bound to jump-start Serbia’s request to join the European Union. That could pay off politically for Mr. Tadic, who reorganized intelligence gathering and deployed the police on a nationwide manhunt for Mr. Mladic, in an attempt to remove that barrier to membership.
    But for many Serbs, who are struggling with a very weak economy and high joblessness rates of some 20 percent, the arrest of Mr. Mladic is an ambivalent, even irrelevant moment for their near future.
    European Union membership would be years away in any case, and Serbs have been watching the financial crises that have rocked the union."

 AND:  LONG READ:   Some speculate that Ratko's arrest at a cousin's house in a small village (above)...was an entirely staged event...the result of a year's negotiations...because Europe’s most wanted war criminal...with a $10mn usd reward on his head...responded to his arrest...not with gunfire or grenades...but polite compliments.

      “Good work,” he reportedly said while handing over 2 pistols. “You found the one you were looking for.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/serbia/8544051/Ratko-Mladic-capture-Was-it-all-an-elaborate-set-up.html

SERBIA / BOSNIA/ HAGUE: 27 May UPDATE: Ratko CAUGHT! Judge Rules Mladic Fit To Be Shipped To Hague...After 16 Years On The Run.

LINK CHANGE/ GUARDIAN

   A Belgrade judge has ruled that Ratko Mladic is fit to be transferred to the Yugoslav tribunal in The Hague.
    He reportedly had suffered 2 strokes in the past that left one arm limp...and was taking medicines.
   After 16 years in hiding, Mladic, 69, was finally arrested.
   The ex-Bosnian Serb army chief is accused of the worst mass murder in Europe since WW2...the 1995 murders of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.

 

    He was captured in the village of Lazarevo in northern Serbia...about 80km/50 miles north of Belgrade...living under an assumed name.
   The arrest can only help Serbia in its quest to join the EU.
    Up until yesterday,  Serbia has been regarded by many...as a "pariah state," dragging its feet on Mladic and refusing to recognize the independence of Kosovo
   “It’s a very brave decision by the Serbian president,” said French President Nicholas Sarkozy. “It’s one step forward for Serbia’s integration in the EU.”
    But its continued reluctance over Kosovo's recognition still remains a big impediment to full EU acceptance of Serbia.

TO SEE 1:25 AP ENGLISH VIDEO REPORT...with excellent archival footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jY2Xdx8Lj4&feature=player_embedded

FOR NYTIMES MLADIC PROFILE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/world/europe/27balkans.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

SERBIA: PR Offensive For EU Membership Underway But No Loan Agreed With IMF.

G.POST/ ANALYSIS/ Teri Schultz /
     Serbia is getting aggressive about speeding its path to EU membership.
     There were a series of raids in Belgrade this week seeking fugitive Ratko Mladic (pictured), the former Bosnian Serb leader charged with genocide for his alleged role in the killing of 8,000 men and boys in Srebenica.
    And recently it bumped-up the reward fot Mladic's capture from $1.4 million to $10 million usd. In addition there was the recent apology for a Croatian massacre.
   But the EU seems unimpressed and taking a more relaxed path.
  Also, the IMF can't agree with Serbia over its next $4.3 billion tranche payment of a bailout loan... because it is failing so far to narrow the 2011 budget deficit to 4 percent of GDP from 4.8 percent this year. “I don’t think that anything went really wrong in the talks, it’s just not easy to come up with a 2011 budget in line with fiscal rules,”said Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic. “We have made progress, but we still aren’t there.”

FOR IMF Tranche story, SEE:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-05/imf-leaves-serbia-without-agreement-on-loan-payments-talks-to-continue.html

SERBIA: 1ST UPDATE: EU Opens Path To Membership; Reward For Mladic Raised To $10 Million Euros.

NYTIMES/ Stephen Castle / 28 OCT UPDATE:
      The EU's 27 foreign ministers have decided to open Serbia’s path to membership, overriding objections from the Netherlands which is pressuring Belgrade to help arrest Ratko Mladic, (pictured) a former Bosnian Serb general accused of genocide.
      The EU wants to be flexible with Serbia to bring stability to the Balkans but its membership is still many years away.
      “The European Union should not give in to Serbia’s half-hearted cooperation with The Hague,” says Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch. “The E.U. needs to go beyond lip service to accountability, or the victims of Srebrenica will never get the justice they deserve.”
         Serbian deputy prime minister Bozidar Djeli, said his country was determined to track down Mladic. “If we find him today, we will arrest him today,” he said.
    NEW:   The Serbian government has raised to 10m euros ($13.8m) its reward for information leading to the capture of war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic.

    Serbia says it is raising the reward tenfold it showed a clear commitment to removing the final obstacle to itsentry into the European Union.
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11647390