Prague: Don't hold Serbia hostage to Mladić

is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver. Holland is just showing them how mistaken they are.
(Andrea Baucero, 8 January 2009 16:26

Not a single EU govnt is pretending this but as a Swiss citizen I would love to see your Snake brought to justice for all the drug trafficking that he initiated in our country!! So pls, before you want to clean somebody's else house, first wipe in from of your own door!

Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding
(Andrea Baucero, 8 January 2009 16:26)
not even the dutch government is saying this. at worst some people in the secret services are helping mladic. opinion polls show that most people in serbia want mladic arrested. punishing the entire nation for the deeds of the few is certainly wrong.

"Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver."

Andrea, do you have personal knowledge of this? Where is he then? It is uninformed comments like this that are adding to the delays and distrust. Maybe Belgrade knows where he is and maybe they don't. That's just the point. We do not know, and I think the Netherlands is being very unfair flexing their muscles like this and blocking EU entry. If the Netherlands knows for a fact where he is and that he is being hidden by the Serbian government they should just say so and tell everyone where he is. This is just pure speculation.

Mr. Schwarzenberg, there's a difference between being hostage to a war criminal, and being accomplice of a war criminal. Serbia is not being held back because Mladic is so good at hiding and no one knows where he is. Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver. Holland is just showing them how mistaken they are.

Kurt, the news is not fully quting Mr. Schwarzenberg's statement. He also mentioned that if the condition of successfull punishment of war criminals would be applied strictly end EU widely,many of curent EUcountries would propably not be amembers till today. However one surely supports the principle that any war crime or another crime against humanity must be punished, from today's point of view, looking at liberated non-Serbian war-criminals and comparing the changes in Serbia, taking all Serbs as hostages of one man is nonsense.

When Albania will submit its application for EU membership Mladic will be very angry and he will turn himself in. When Mladic hears that Albania has submitted its EU membership application he will realize that Serbia needs to progress on the road to EU membership.

scandal is that they are alone among EU members in standing up for this principle.
(Kurt, 8 January 2009 20:23)

Kurt, you are deadly right, unfortunately, there wasn't any political will at that time to proceed and I wouldn't even try to guess why!
But let's just get a bit further down the road, one day, one of my Dutch diplomat friend told me his frustration when, still, a few years after his indictment Mladic was freely moving in front of the Kfor HQ...
This is what I called a double standard! Certainly no one today denys the fact that this criminal has to end up to court, but as to punishing a nation so long is simply incorrect!
Their simply cannot always be so many double standards!!
And if you ask today a dutch citizen about the position of their foreign ministry, you would be surprised about the answer....politics!

@ The Swiss:

And whether the WHOLE Serbian security apparat is engaged in hiding Mladic, or just elements thereof, Serbia has repeatedly proclained lack of knowledge of his whereabouts, only to later say that it did know, but doesn't know anymore. You can see why that engenders skepticism. Ljajic says they knew as late as 2005/6. So the Dutch and Belgian policies are dead right. The real scandal is that they are alone among EU members in standing up for this principle.

I would love to see your Snake brought to justice for all the drug trafficking that he initiated in our country!! So pls, before you want to clean somebody's else house, first wipe in from of your own door!
(The Swiss, 8 January 2009 18:38)
Dear Swiss, whom are you talking about? I never heard of anyone called the snake, so please enlighten me and I'll be able to answer you. Everyone knows that Serbia has for years had the chance to arrest Mladic, but they didn't do it, the fact that they're not doing it now is that they start an operation, and immediately inform the media about what they're doing and where they're searching. It's obviously just a show. Besides EU membership is not a natural right for every country, the country has to apply, and if the current members think want then it can become a member. If Serbia wants so desperately to become a member, it knows what it has to do.

"Mr. Schwarzenberg, there's a difference between being hostage to a war criminal, and being accomplice of a war criminal. Serbia is not being held back because Mladic is so good at hiding and no one knows where he is. Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver. Holland is just showing them how mistaken they are."
(Andrea Baucero, 8 January 2009 16:26)

thank you, andrea. i couldn't have said it better. i am so sick of this ongoing dog and pony show: we're searching for him, we can't find him, he's here, he's there... Give us all a break!

i do not want to hear ONE more word from yr serbian govt sources, not a bloody word until he is arrested and extradited to Hague.

NOT ONE WORD!

thank you.

how's that for being insistently positive?!

roberto
frisco the world

Mr. Schwarzenberg, there's a difference between being hostage to a war criminal, and being accomplice of a war criminal. Serbia is not being held back because Mladic is so good at hiding and no one knows where he is. Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver. Holland is just showing them how mistaken they are.

When Albania will submit its application for EU membership Mladic will be very angry and he will turn himself in. When Mladic hears that Albania has submitted its EU membership application he will realize that Serbia needs to progress on the road to EU membership.

@ The Swiss:

And whether the WHOLE Serbian security apparat is engaged in hiding Mladic, or just elements thereof, Serbia has repeatedly proclained lack of knowledge of his whereabouts, only to later say that it did know, but doesn't know anymore. You can see why that engenders skepticism. Ljajic says they knew as late as 2005/6. So the Dutch and Belgian policies are dead right. The real scandal is that they are alone among EU members in standing up for this principle.

is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver. Holland is just showing them how mistaken they are.
(Andrea Baucero, 8 January 2009 16:26

Not a single EU govnt is pretending this but as a Swiss citizen I would love to see your Snake brought to justice for all the drug trafficking that he initiated in our country!! So pls, before you want to clean somebody's else house, first wipe in from of your own door!

I would love to see your Snake brought to justice for all the drug trafficking that he initiated in our country!! So pls, before you want to clean somebody's else house, first wipe in from of your own door!
(The Swiss, 8 January 2009 18:38)
Dear Swiss, whom are you talking about? I never heard of anyone called the snake, so please enlighten me and I'll be able to answer you. Everyone knows that Serbia has for years had the chance to arrest Mladic, but they didn't do it, the fact that they're not doing it now is that they start an operation, and immediately inform the media about what they're doing and where they're searching. It's obviously just a show. Besides EU membership is not a natural right for every country, the country has to apply, and if the current members think want then it can become a member. If Serbia wants so desperately to become a member, it knows what it has to do.

"Mr. Schwarzenberg, there's a difference between being hostage to a war criminal, and being accomplice of a war criminal. Serbia is not being held back because Mladic is so good at hiding and no one knows where he is. Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver. Holland is just showing them how mistaken they are."
(Andrea Baucero, 8 January 2009 16:26)

thank you, andrea. i couldn't have said it better. i am so sick of this ongoing dog and pony show: we're searching for him, we can't find him, he's here, he's there... Give us all a break!

i do not want to hear ONE more word from yr serbian govt sources, not a bloody word until he is arrested and extradited to Hague.

NOT ONE WORD!

thank you.

how's that for being insistently positive?!

roberto
frisco the world

Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding
(Andrea Baucero, 8 January 2009 16:26)
not even the dutch government is saying this. at worst some people in the secret services are helping mladic. opinion polls show that most people in serbia want mladic arrested. punishing the entire nation for the deeds of the few is certainly wrong.

"Serbia is being held back because its government and its secret services know exactly in which Belgrade apartment Mladic is hiding, but they believe that they will obtain what they want without having to deliver."

Andrea, do you have personal knowledge of this? Where is he then? It is uninformed comments like this that are adding to the delays and distrust. Maybe Belgrade knows where he is and maybe they don't. That's just the point. We do not know, and I think the Netherlands is being very unfair flexing their muscles like this and blocking EU entry. If the Netherlands knows for a fact where he is and that he is being hidden by the Serbian government they should just say so and tell everyone where he is. This is just pure speculation.

scandal is that they are alone among EU members in standing up for this principle.
(Kurt, 8 January 2009 20:23)

Kurt, you are deadly right, unfortunately, there wasn't any political will at that time to proceed and I wouldn't even try to guess why!
But let's just get a bit further down the road, one day, one of my Dutch diplomat friend told me his frustration when, still, a few years after his indictment Mladic was freely moving in front of the Kfor HQ...
This is what I called a double standard! Certainly no one today denys the fact that this criminal has to end up to court, but as to punishing a nation so long is simply incorrect!
Their simply cannot always be so many double standards!!
And if you ask today a dutch citizen about the position of their foreign ministry, you would be surprised about the answer....politics!

Kurt, the news is not fully quting Mr. Schwarzenberg's statement. He also mentioned that if the condition of successfull punishment of war criminals would be applied strictly end EU widely,many of curent EUcountries would propably not be amembers till today. However one surely supports the principle that any war crime or another crime against humanity must be punished, from today's point of view, looking at liberated non-Serbian war-criminals and comparing the changes in Serbia, taking all Serbs as hostages of one man is nonsense.