Returning to Europe

Radovan Karadzic is a Serbian war criminal, who has been on the lamb for 13 years. Now, he is being brought to justice. (Well, he's being turned over to the Hague, so we'll see how much justice is actually done.) The relevant and significant facts of his arrest are that he was finally arrested by a courageous new government in Serbia, which is staking its political future on more democracy, atoning for past atrocities committed by the likes of Karadzic, and working toward EU membership. This is amazing in the place that gave Balkanization its name, is historically aligned with Russia, and has strong nationalist attitudes. Even when Communist Tito was running the joint, Serbian nationalism was a tapped as a source of power and control more so than international Marxism.

Read about the fascinating feats of diplomacy that helped bring all this about here.

The slow march out of the darkness of Communism and post-communist extremist nationalism for the nations of East Europe is a story that people in the West should be more familiar with. Not just because it has led to the sacrifice of NATO blood and treasure (and reputation), but because it presages some of the conflicts that the nations of the Mideast will encounter soon. Also, a pro-Europe Serbia is probably pissing off the Kremlin, and that never leads to anything good.