In her book "The Culture of Lies", University of Pennsylvania, 1998,
the Croatian writer Dubravka Ugresic says:
"The Yugoslav war is a dispiriting tale about human solidarity. Very
few people sympathized with the Slovenes, when the war began, just
as the Slovenes themselves unanimously closed the doors of their new
state immediately after the war. The Croats showed no solidarity to
anyone, just as few showed any to the Croats. The Serbs had no
sympathy for anyone at all, and no one showed any understanding for
the Serbs. Few people had ever shown solidarity with the Albanians,
just as Albanians were deaf to other people's troubles."
"Your land is here. Here are your houses, your fields, your gardens,
your memories. You are not hoping to leave them, are you, because
life is hard and because you are subjected to injustice and
humiliation? It was never in the spirit of the Serb and the
Montenegrin peoples to succumb before obstacles, to quit when one
has to fight, to be demoralized in the face of hardship." Milosevic, Kosovo, 1987
Serb general who wanted to shame conscripts into fighting in Croatia:
"All those who are not prepared to 'defend the glory of the Serbian
nation' had better lay down their arms and take off their uniforms,
the general told them. And, incredibly, they all did, including
their commanding officer... They were standing there and I got
furious and shouted at them to remove everything including their
underpants, and with the exception of one man they all removed their
military issue underpants and marched off completely naked. I was
still hoping that they would change their mind, but they didn't."
"Milosevic: Portrait of a Tyrant", Dusko Doder and Louise Branson,
Free Press, 1999
"NATO IN THE SKY, MILOSEVIC ON THE GROUND" - a graffito in Belgrade.
"We oppose all those who want to divide your country because we are
on the side of good and against evil."
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ensuring Serbian envoy Dragan Tomic
that Iraq is prepared to send troops to Serbia.
"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the
other bastard die for his."
US Army 4 star General George Patton
"Given the number of sins committed in the course of 20 centuries,
[reference to them] must necessarily be rather summary." Vatican official Bishop Piero Marini justifying the brevity of Pope
John Paul II's plea for forgiveness of sins committed in the name of
the Catholic church In a Lenten Mass on March 12, 2000.
"Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable, if
they last long enough."
Film director and actor John Huston as Noah Cross, the corrupt
magnate at the root of the scandal in 1974's "Chinatown."
I have spent the last decade reading books and articles written
about Yugoslavia by luminaries from East and West alike. I wonder if
there ever was a subject so enshrouded by myths and inexactitudes,
platitudes and wrongs, errors and omissions, lies and distortions.
This is a list of the more common of these, organized in
chronological order.
1. The Balkans was Entirely under the Domination of a Crumbling and
Venal Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was a well organized, highly structured and
intricate urban bureaucracy which gradually diverged from Rome. The
latter - the Western remnant of the former unified empire - did,
indeed, crumble under the weight of internecine warfare, nepotism,
cronyism, corruption and capriciously murderous dictatorships. But
Byzantium continued to flourish for yet another millennium.
In any case, only a part of the Balkans was incorporated into the
Byzantine reign. The border between Byzantium and Rome still exists
today - it is the contemporary line demarcating Serbia from Croatia.
The Balkans were organized in a strictly feudal system. The Slavic
tribes who descended from the north during the fifth, sixth and
seventh centuries AD - fit nicely into this hierarchical scheme.
Still, feudalism was much less rigid than it was made out to be.
Certain regions - such as Dalmatia and Slavonia in Croatia and
Herzegovina in Bosnia maintained a degree of autonomy comparable to
that of Kosovo under the Tito era constitution. Balkan feudalism, in
other words, was not a replica of the Western variant. It was rather
a "federal" approach, a compact between indigenous lords and their
nominal superiors.
2. The Croats were always pro-Germanic
When Rome imploded, it left a black hole of stupendous proportions.
Both Croatia and Slovenia hurried to declare their independence and
to assume a growing degree of sovereignty. "Croatia" and "Slovenia"
of that time were not the modern nation-states they are today. They
were the rough equivalents of fiefdoms, extended estates of local
(and imported) aristocracy, feudal lots. The sovereignty of that era
is the equivalent of the autonomy enjoyed today by states within the
United States.
Still, the unilateral actions of Croatia and Slovenia were at least
evolutionary, if, indeed, not revolutionary. They constituted a
loosening and new exegesis of the feudal code. Asserting their new
standing among other political units, both Croatia and Slovenia
fought off numerous invasions and attempted invasions by Magyar
(Hungarian) tribes.
It is only when the pressure became unsustainable and unbearable and
further defence of the realms untenable - that they resorted - very
reluctantly - to the Germans (Chrlemagne's Franks, at that time).
The Serbs - the contemporary epitome of ultra-nationalism - were the
ones who, quiescently, accepted Byzantine rule.
So did Bulgaria (which included today's Macedonia), Montenegro and
Dalmatia. A few enclaves remained independent - but this was
encouraged by the Byzantine rulers mainly for economic and trade
reasons. Thus, Ragusa (later renamed Dubrovnik) continued to trade
with Italy uninterrupted by the tectonic political shifts around it.
Ragusa was the Balkans Hong Kong for centuries to come.
Inevitably, Slovenia and Croatia became Roman Catholic, while
Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia became Eastern Orthodox.
Religion in the Balkans is often a matter of expediency, as we shall
see. Religious convictions were the result of granted concessions,
economic prowess, brutal repression or political calculations. The
right religion - like the right party affiliation years henceforth -
guaranteed speedy access to the bureaucracy, a decent living,
education and tolerable safety.
Being political-economic juggernauts, all religions in the region
were zealously missionary. They all proselytized in rich Dalmatia,
for instance.
3. The Bosnians were Good (Orthodox) Christians before They were
Forced to Convert to Islam
Bosnia was always considered to be a lowly and primitive place by
the other inhabitants of the Balkans - sort of the poor, always
needy relative. Tucked between Croatia and Serbia, mountainous and
endowed with a prilapsarian nature - Bosnia was almost psychedelic
or surrealistic. One of the doctrinally most severe heresies
developed among its Christians - Bogomilism. It engulfed the entire
destitute and illiterate populace in no time. It was a powerful,
populist and rebellious rhetoric. Its subversive messages threatened
both the church and the (feudal) state. It bore uncanny resemblance
to both the Reformation and to Communism. It looked ominously
unstoppable. Thus, all Bosnians were officially branded "heretics"
and catholic powers were encouraged to exterminate them on sight.
The Bogomils were largely the ones who later converted to Islam -
mostly willingly and for reasons of convenience (they could buy land
and obtain positions in the Ottoman administration). The rest of the
population - having remained catholic - joined the Croats (also
catholics). As centuries passed, these Bosniaks came to regard
themselves as perfect Croats. Orthodox Bosniaks identified
themselves as Serbs. They were neither Croats, nor Serbs to begin
with.
During the 12th century, Rome was forced to collaborate with Hungary
against the Bogomils. This enhanced Hungary's stature considerably.
Rome repaid Hungary its kindness with the territories of Croatia and
Bosnia.
Thus, Christian heretics in Bosnia "helped" introduce Hungary into
the region as its uncontested superpower (though not for long). The
Hungarians even supported a rump Serb kingdom following the
apocalyptic defeat of the Serbs at the hands of the Turks in Kosovo
in 1389. Only 70 years later, did this Serb kingdom surrender to the
Ottomans.
The only ones to constantly, consistently and continuously rebel
against the Hungarian occupation were Bosnian peasants (mostly
Bogomils). The Ottomans assisted them in this worthy endeavour (from
the Turkish point of view) and later - the Bosnian forces having
been depleted - annexed the territory itself.
The first seeds of conflict were sown. The Bosnians welcomed the
Turks, converted to Islam, joined their administration and owned
land. True, they were Slavs but their religious heresy (Bogomilism
and then Islam) was further compounded by their national betrayal.
The Serbs hated the Turks. They had no intention of remaining
Turkish subjects for long.
4. The Serbs were never Welcome in Croatia, They were always an
Alien Body
There were almost no Serbs in Croatia until the Austrian occupation.
The Austrians and the local Croat population were terrified by the
possibility of a renewed Turkish invasion. To fend off Turkish
troops, Croatia called upon Serbs (mortal enemies of the Ottomans)
to come and settle its border zones (today's Krajina). The Serbs
did. They formed para-military, well armed and rather ferocious
militias and declared their settlements "(martial) camps or zones",
autonomous, though within Croatia. Their role was not only passive.
They joined the Austrian army in its invasion of Ottoman-controlled
regions in 1689 (including Macedonia). When the Austrians were
defeated, the Serbs throughout the Ottoman empire - by now
considered traitors - fled. A sizeable group of Serbs emigrated from
the heartland of the ancient Serb Kingdom, a wind swept plateau
called "Kosovo". The Albanians hurried back (they were relegated to
Albania's mountains by superior Serb forces three centuries
earlier). The Turks encouraged them to convert to Islam and they
became close allies of the Ottoman administration (see "The Myth of
Great Albania").
5. There is a Religious and Cultural Affinity between the Greeks and
the Serbs
It goes deeper than that. The Greeks, Russians, Bulgarians and Serbs
collaborated in two Balkan Wars against the Ottoman Empire in an
effort to re-carve the map of the Balkans. The idea in 1912 was
to "liberate" Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania and to punish the
collaborationist and separatist Albanians in Kosovo and Western
Macedonia. This the invading Serbs did with a vengeance, burning
villages and crops, looting and killing.
This precipitated a nationalist movement in Albania proper. Fearful
of being conquered and annexed by Serbia and Greece, the Albanians
declared independence. The leaders of the independence movement
were, inevitably, Moslem.
In the meantime, everyone ganged up on Bulgaria and in the skirmish
that ensued Serbia won both Macedonia and Kosovo.
With the Sick Man of Europe thoroughly defeated, the Serbs a
regional superpower once again and Russian influence ever growing -
the only remaining imperial power (the Habsburgs) became the next
logical target.
