Dutch unmoved by U.S. thumbs-up

What is happening here is that as Serbia gets closer and closer to our true ally and protector, Russia, the West keeps getting nicer and nicer to Serbia. Coincidence? I think not. They are still very afraid of Russia and very afraid that Russia will have a strong ally in the middle of Europe, that is not a memeber of the EU and not a member of NATO. That, the west thinks, would set a very bad example for other independent minded nations all over the world.
Keep getting closer to Russia, that is what Serbia should do, and you will see these corrupt and immoral western leaders eating out of Serbia's hands in no time.
Cheers!!

alban:

Have you ever looked up high on to the montains from S. Mitrovica? If you concentrate and look carefully you will see beautiful Serbian flags flying 24hrs a day.

What a dillema for the Serbian government. Arrest Mladic and the government will fall or lay low and perhaps in 10-20 year, when Mladic dies of natural causes, Serbia will be let in. Personally I wouldn't trade Mladic for all the money in the world.

Well Mrs Hartman, it looks that this contradicts your statement and the nut to crack is getting rather hard, but still I hope that your evidences are going to bring some more light to this history black hole!
A simple thought, maybe an agreement really existed between Holbrooke and Karadic and the US, via Biden, is now trying to hide it under the carpet by getting softer with Serbia.... fiction or reality?
At least for once there can't be any ambiguity in Mrs Clinton's statement.

I hope you enjoy the carrot Serbia. It will last until entire Kosova in under the rule of law, especially the North. This is the deal Tadic made

alban,

I can assure you that Russia will never sell out Serbia, so there is no need to worry about this.
I can also assure you that the US will sell you out, just give it some time. Most Americans couldn't care less about Kosovo and can't even locate it on a map, and most of the recognitions were just just lapdogs doing what their master tells them. You see, you have no natural allies besides the country of Albania, whereas we do. Russia is not just a friend and an ally to Serbia, but a Slavic brother, and the bonds are very deep. So forget about getting a UN seat, ever!!
Cheers!!

I actually home that holland continues with its hard-line position, and that Serbia is not cleared for EU candidacy.
This will convince Serbian voters that Tadic and the yellows can't live up to the promises they made, and insure that the opposition will get the votes they need to control the government after new elections.

Serbian people deserve a true Government, that prioritizes the interests of Serbia, over those of foreign powers, which Tadic and the yellows have clearly failed to do.

"Dutch unmoved by U.S. thumbs-up"

Good cop, bad cop. US says nice things, but Serbia still out in the cold thanks to the Dutch. Let's not forget that Tadic insulted the Dutch by saying the feel guilty for not savings the civilians and shouldn't hole it against Serbia. Tadic should blame those that committed the genocide

--"What is happening here is that as Serbia gets closer and closer to our true ally and protector, Russia, the West keeps getting nicer and nicer to Serbia. Coincidence?"

Nicer? In What sense? Look what's happening in Kosova and you have the answer! Tadic made a deal but they don't trust him so until Serbs are fully integrated no cookie for you.

FYI: Russia is about o sell you out, the rejoined the Contact Group and Medevev said he "looking for a solution." Once it becomes inevitable they will cut a deal and get something out of US

--Have you ever looked up high on to the montains from S. Mitrovica? If you concentrate and look carefully you will see beautiful Serbian flags flying 24hrs a day.

and Albanian flags are flying in Presevo. What's your point???

I feel somehow, Serbs won't forget true friends like Netherlands and sour relationship is guaranteed.

Dutch government is also extremely nice and their consulate is the "best" place to apply for a visa to a trade show like NAB in Amsterdam: for few lucky ones they give visa precisely for the number of days of the show.

The result:

1) The Dutch professionals and companies who know about the problem have very "high" esteem about their own government. Dumb.
2) Serbs don't apply there if Slovenian, Slovak, Hungarian Schengen visa is not any worse than Dutch for visiting Amsterdam. So Serbs are still there, just the visa fee goes to Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland - and not Netherlands. Dumb.

Congratulations.

Good move by Holland.Serbs should appreciate it.They are showing that they are not what Serbs call "America's puppet".They shouldn't listen to America but to stand up for the international law. International law ask for Mlladic to be arrested.

Again...thank you to our dear Dutch friends who are helping to keep us out of the SAA and European Union. If the Serbian government doesn't realize that the EU is a sinking ship, then at least the Dutch are trying to help the Serbs avoid such a terrible mistake. Opet hvala!

"I'm sure The British had a similar message in 1775–1783"

Read the entire history first. You must have a LEGITIMATE reason to pick up weapons.

For example, right now if the Albanians in Presheva started to fight US would not support us. Don't compare apples with oranges.

Per Austrians, "as far as the EU is concerned,there have been a lot of expectations when Austria joined, and most of them have not been met. There were unsubstantiated promises that everything would become cheaper, everything would be safeguarded at the same time, and that has not been true."

I like what going on now, just give Serbia the money you owe for bombing civilians and it's infrastructure and we'll stay out of your burocratic nightmare gladly.

Jones said -

"the Kosovo Serbs had to have the same rights and must not be imperiled, but that it was unacceptable that they should seek those rights through violence."

I'm sure The British had a similar message in 1775–1783

(Ratko, 29 May 2009 16:43)

Not long ago I have seen Serbian flag flying out of a windonw in Belgium, Hungary and France. What am I suppose to think? Flag changed nothing nad has never changed a thing.

Just as I said before and always. The Netherlands will not give up their stance until complete fulfillment of all obilgations.

You see how hard it is only to start talking about joining EU. When it comes to the real accession, much more difficult obstacles are to be passed, in case you want to join the European family. If not, political, economical and social stagnation will remain in Serbia just as in the last 2 decades. Not very tempting? Well, that's the choice of the Serbian leadership, until you start rethinking where your children should live. The last Serbian generation already spent their time in a political and social ghetto.

It seems you guys are guessing at the reasons why the Netherlands government wants Ratko Mladić arrested before unblocking Serbia’s negotiations with the EU. Maybe I can give you a glimpse in its mind.

The Dutch people think that its government acted very naive at the time by sending military personnel to Bosnia without proper means and mandate, simply believing that the parties involved in the fight would respect the authority of the ‘blue helmets’ (UN). Later, when Srebrenica’s enclave fell, it acted again very naive to consider an organised evacuation the best option, believing that the VRS would allow the buses with Bosniak people an unobstructed ride to Bosniak-held territory as Mladić promised. We all know now what happened instead.
Furthermore it is believed that countries like the US and France (let’s say the superiors of lieutenant-general Bernard Janvier) made a deal not to defend the enclaves any longer and used the naivety of the Netherlands government to get rid of them.

The current Dutch government (and any government in the future, whatever its make-up) therefore has the following to pay attention to regarding Mladić: (1) to be never naive again within international relations; (2) knowing that Mladić is walking free and unpunished is unbearable; (3) it can’t let down neither the people that live in Bosnia nor the personnel it sent there in its name (any more then it did in the past) by letting go of Mladić; (4) regain the respect of the Serbian government because it allowed Mladić to have a free life (attending soccer matches etc.) for many years after the war in Bosnia, despite desperate calls to have him arrested; (5) it can’t sell any gestures towards Serbia to the Dutch public; (6) regain the respect of France, the US, the UN etc. who used and use the Nethetlands to toilet-drain Mladić and Srebrenica;

For these reasons it is unlikely that the Netherlands government will come out its ‘wait and see’ position at present circumstances. International pressure won’t have much effect because of the reasons that I described.

So, what can be done to unblock Srebia’s negotiations with the EU? Let’s presume that Mladić is indeed out of reach to the Serbian government’s agencies at present.
Perhaps the most important initiative the Serbian government can take is to broaden the search from a purely technical matter (a police investigation) to public help in it. I think by showing the real Mladić’ history to the Serbian public the Serbian government could strip Mladić of his star status. Consequently, his support base will diminish and the chance to find him will increase.
The Serbian government could also regularly give information to the Serbian public about what it knows about his life/whereabouts, where he has been signalled, etc. That will leave Mladić the impression that he is really hunted for and that the net around him is shrinking. It would also enable the public to add new clues to the investigation.

I certainly think that knowing that Mladić is wanted in Serbia for only one thing – to be locked up for 40 years – will give the Dutch government enough room for manoeuvre to get Serbia closer to EU-membership.

Whishing the best for all the people of Southeast Europe (whatever state they live in)!
I hope that time will do its work and we will find ourselves one day united in the EU.

'A simple thought, maybe an agreement really existed between Holbrooke and Karadic ...'

I'm convinced that Karadic thought he had an agreement (which he later broke by going public, BTW), but I'm also convinced that Holbrooke got his agreement to step down by using "creative ambiguity" rather than an outright promise of immunity.

At http://www.undispatch.com/node/8282 there's an image of a document - "Statement of [members of the RK government, I assume]" - about Plasvic assuming the presidency and Karadzic stepping down, but there's nothing about what K would receive in return, certainly nothing about immunity, and no American signatures.

It's possible Milosevic told K to sign and made promises in Holbrooke's name, but that's going to be hard to prove at this point, and irrelevant, in any case.

The Dutch are withing their right to demand Mladic's arrest. Serbia is certainly hidding something by not handing him in. At the same time, I do think the U.S is doing the right thing by engaging Serbia.

Serbs should integrate in what. In illegal narco-cartel state lead by ppl who massacred those Serbs. Are you out of your mind? That's not possible. Taking over the north! Yeah right. Like someone will allow you. After march 17th 2004. I doubt even USA and EU will allow Albanians to convey again action of ethnic cleansing over Serbs. After those events Albanians lost any credibility.
Partition of Kosovo is only way Serbs can exist and live some normal life. If someone decide to "integrate" north of Kosovo into albanian state of "kosovA" Serbs in north will share the same bad luck like Serbs in some enclaves. Maybe it's the final albanian goal (Kosovo without Serbs or entire Kosovo dominated by Albanians) but I doubt Serbs will let that happen.

What drives the Dutch stance?

Answer - they messed up in Srebrenica and now want to appear to be goodies.

This is not the only time when the Dutch reputation became badly tarnished in similar fashion. Their man also acted dishonourably when he inappropriately followed orders from the UN to desert people in Rwanda and leave them to a certain death.

There is no honour for the Dutch behaviour in either of these cases - but in insisting on Mladic's arrest they are able to turn their own failure back on Serbia and appear to occupy their high-ground that they have previously failed to protect.

This is not to defend Mladic. He should give himself up for the sake of Serbia.

@Bob

You might me right that The Netherlands acts out of bad conscience of what happened in Srebrenica (in Rwanda it was Belgian army, as long as i remember).
But this is certainly not the sole reason to counteract with the US and many EU states.

What about the genuine seek for justice?

And yes, I agree with you that if Mladic is so patriotic and loves his land so much, he would hand out himself. Unfortunately he is an egoistic coward.

Read the entire history first. You must have a LEGITIMATE reason to pick up weapons.
(alban, 29 May 2009 22:12)

High taxes are a legitimate reason to pick up arms? If that's the case Serbs have more than a noble cause to fight for their rights and freedom then the United States ever did.

My guess is that as the clinton adminstration is back they don't want to have mladic in Hague. There are probably a lot of dirty secrets around the dayton peace so to keep those secret it s better to have mladic hiding and silent.

I don´t think that the Dutch do have an own, sovereign approach to the issue.

the US stand behing this cheapish theater, I guess.

but, nevertheless, ...they are losing influence, and time is on Serbia´s side.

our dear albanian friends can´t prevent the inevitable.

let´s just see what future brings.

So much for some Americans on B92 who boast about Washington's great influence on European policies!

'Arrest Mladic and the government will fall ...'

Not if they announce on the same day that visa-free travel to Europe has been granted and that everybody can go to Paris for the weekend.

Dear Bob, there were no Dutch UN-soldiers in Rwanda. They were Belgian (sadly taken hostage and killed). Rwanda has been a colony of Belgium until 1962.

Piano Player - there was a Dutch officer working for the UN who behaved as I described. It is a well documented case - on film. The people were desperate, but he walked away under orders from the UN.

I fee very sorry for him. He had to leave people to a certain death because of orders.

However, in his situation I would have disobeyed orders and called for the resignation of those UN officials giving him the orders. Instead he walked away. Not so different from Srebrenica and a mode of behaviour that is identical in its murderous effect. If the Dutch are going to involve themselves in international force - they need to be prepared to act and take a lead at the time; not just wait to call for others to be imprisoned after the event.

'They are showing that they are not what Serbs call "America's puppet".'

Nor are they expected - by Americans - to act like puppets. It has been the Serbian press that has been assuming that the U.S. would "pressure" the Netherlands into doing something against its own interests.

Under Bush, the U.S. didn't even pressure Spain, Slovakia, etc. to recognize Kosovo, realizing these countries had their own problems with minorities. Obama, on the other hand, may be made of sterner stuff.

I hope you enjoy the carrot Serbia. It will last until entire Kosova in under the rule of law, especially the North. This is the deal Tadic made

"Dutch unmoved by U.S. thumbs-up"

Good cop, bad cop. US says nice things, but Serbia still out in the cold thanks to the Dutch. Let's not forget that Tadic insulted the Dutch by saying the feel guilty for not savings the civilians and shouldn't hole it against Serbia. Tadic should blame those that committed the genocide

--"What is happening here is that as Serbia gets closer and closer to our true ally and protector, Russia, the West keeps getting nicer and nicer to Serbia. Coincidence?"

Nicer? In What sense? Look what's happening in Kosova and you have the answer! Tadic made a deal but they don't trust him so until Serbs are fully integrated no cookie for you.

FYI: Russia is about o sell you out, the rejoined the Contact Group and Medevev said he "looking for a solution." Once it becomes inevitable they will cut a deal and get something out of US

What is happening here is that as Serbia gets closer and closer to our true ally and protector, Russia, the West keeps getting nicer and nicer to Serbia. Coincidence? I think not. They are still very afraid of Russia and very afraid that Russia will have a strong ally in the middle of Europe, that is not a memeber of the EU and not a member of NATO. That, the west thinks, would set a very bad example for other independent minded nations all over the world.
Keep getting closer to Russia, that is what Serbia should do, and you will see these corrupt and immoral western leaders eating out of Serbia's hands in no time.
Cheers!!

--Have you ever looked up high on to the montains from S. Mitrovica? If you concentrate and look carefully you will see beautiful Serbian flags flying 24hrs a day.

and Albanian flags are flying in Presevo. What's your point???

What a dillema for the Serbian government. Arrest Mladic and the government will fall or lay low and perhaps in 10-20 year, when Mladic dies of natural causes, Serbia will be let in. Personally I wouldn't trade Mladic for all the money in the world.

Good move by Holland.Serbs should appreciate it.They are showing that they are not what Serbs call "America's puppet".They shouldn't listen to America but to stand up for the international law. International law ask for Mlladic to be arrested.

alban,

I can assure you that Russia will never sell out Serbia, so there is no need to worry about this.
I can also assure you that the US will sell you out, just give it some time. Most Americans couldn't care less about Kosovo and can't even locate it on a map, and most of the recognitions were just just lapdogs doing what their master tells them. You see, you have no natural allies besides the country of Albania, whereas we do. Russia is not just a friend and an ally to Serbia, but a Slavic brother, and the bonds are very deep. So forget about getting a UN seat, ever!!
Cheers!!

(Ratko, 29 May 2009 16:43)

Not long ago I have seen Serbian flag flying out of a windonw in Belgium, Hungary and France. What am I suppose to think? Flag changed nothing nad has never changed a thing.

alban:

Have you ever looked up high on to the montains from S. Mitrovica? If you concentrate and look carefully you will see beautiful Serbian flags flying 24hrs a day.

"I'm sure The British had a similar message in 1775–1783"

Read the entire history first. You must have a LEGITIMATE reason to pick up weapons.

For example, right now if the Albanians in Presheva started to fight US would not support us. Don't compare apples with oranges.

'A simple thought, maybe an agreement really existed between Holbrooke and Karadic ...'

I'm convinced that Karadic thought he had an agreement (which he later broke by going public, BTW), but I'm also convinced that Holbrooke got his agreement to step down by using "creative ambiguity" rather than an outright promise of immunity.

At http://www.undispatch.com/node/8282 there's an image of a document - "Statement of [members of the RK government, I assume]" - about Plasvic assuming the presidency and Karadzic stepping down, but there's nothing about what K would receive in return, certainly nothing about immunity, and no American signatures.

It's possible Milosevic told K to sign and made promises in Holbrooke's name, but that's going to be hard to prove at this point, and irrelevant, in any case.

I actually home that holland continues with its hard-line position, and that Serbia is not cleared for EU candidacy.
This will convince Serbian voters that Tadic and the yellows can't live up to the promises they made, and insure that the opposition will get the votes they need to control the government after new elections.

Serbian people deserve a true Government, that prioritizes the interests of Serbia, over those of foreign powers, which Tadic and the yellows have clearly failed to do.

Just as I said before and always. The Netherlands will not give up their stance until complete fulfillment of all obilgations.

You see how hard it is only to start talking about joining EU. When it comes to the real accession, much more difficult obstacles are to be passed, in case you want to join the European family. If not, political, economical and social stagnation will remain in Serbia just as in the last 2 decades. Not very tempting? Well, that's the choice of the Serbian leadership, until you start rethinking where your children should live. The last Serbian generation already spent their time in a political and social ghetto.

Well Mrs Hartman, it looks that this contradicts your statement and the nut to crack is getting rather hard, but still I hope that your evidences are going to bring some more light to this history black hole!
A simple thought, maybe an agreement really existed between Holbrooke and Karadic and the US, via Biden, is now trying to hide it under the carpet by getting softer with Serbia.... fiction or reality?
At least for once there can't be any ambiguity in Mrs Clinton's statement.

The Dutch are withing their right to demand Mladic's arrest. Serbia is certainly hidding something by not handing him in. At the same time, I do think the U.S is doing the right thing by engaging Serbia.

I don´t think that the Dutch do have an own, sovereign approach to the issue.

the US stand behing this cheapish theater, I guess.

but, nevertheless, ...they are losing influence, and time is on Serbia´s side.

our dear albanian friends can´t prevent the inevitable.

let´s just see what future brings.

I feel somehow, Serbs won't forget true friends like Netherlands and sour relationship is guaranteed.

Dutch government is also extremely nice and their consulate is the "best" place to apply for a visa to a trade show like NAB in Amsterdam: for few lucky ones they give visa precisely for the number of days of the show.

The result:

1) The Dutch professionals and companies who know about the problem have very "high" esteem about their own government. Dumb.
2) Serbs don't apply there if Slovenian, Slovak, Hungarian Schengen visa is not any worse than Dutch for visiting Amsterdam. So Serbs are still there, just the visa fee goes to Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland - and not Netherlands. Dumb.

Congratulations.

What drives the Dutch stance?

Answer - they messed up in Srebrenica and now want to appear to be goodies.

This is not the only time when the Dutch reputation became badly tarnished in similar fashion. Their man also acted dishonourably when he inappropriately followed orders from the UN to desert people in Rwanda and leave them to a certain death.

There is no honour for the Dutch behaviour in either of these cases - but in insisting on Mladic's arrest they are able to turn their own failure back on Serbia and appear to occupy their high-ground that they have previously failed to protect.

This is not to defend Mladic. He should give himself up for the sake of Serbia.

Piano Player - there was a Dutch officer working for the UN who behaved as I described. It is a well documented case - on film. The people were desperate, but he walked away under orders from the UN.

I fee very sorry for him. He had to leave people to a certain death because of orders.

However, in his situation I would have disobeyed orders and called for the resignation of those UN officials giving him the orders. Instead he walked away. Not so different from Srebrenica and a mode of behaviour that is identical in its murderous effect. If the Dutch are going to involve themselves in international force - they need to be prepared to act and take a lead at the time; not just wait to call for others to be imprisoned after the event.

Per Austrians, "as far as the EU is concerned,there have been a lot of expectations when Austria joined, and most of them have not been met. There were unsubstantiated promises that everything would become cheaper, everything would be safeguarded at the same time, and that has not been true."

I like what going on now, just give Serbia the money you owe for bombing civilians and it's infrastructure and we'll stay out of your burocratic nightmare gladly.

My guess is that as the clinton adminstration is back they don't want to have mladic in Hague. There are probably a lot of dirty secrets around the dayton peace so to keep those secret it s better to have mladic hiding and silent.

@Bob

You might me right that The Netherlands acts out of bad conscience of what happened in Srebrenica (in Rwanda it was Belgian army, as long as i remember).
But this is certainly not the sole reason to counteract with the US and many EU states.

What about the genuine seek for justice?

And yes, I agree with you that if Mladic is so patriotic and loves his land so much, he would hand out himself. Unfortunately he is an egoistic coward.

Again...thank you to our dear Dutch friends who are helping to keep us out of the SAA and European Union. If the Serbian government doesn't realize that the EU is a sinking ship, then at least the Dutch are trying to help the Serbs avoid such a terrible mistake. Opet hvala!

It seems you guys are guessing at the reasons why the Netherlands government wants Ratko Mladić arrested before unblocking Serbia’s negotiations with the EU. Maybe I can give you a glimpse in its mind.

The Dutch people think that its government acted very naive at the time by sending military personnel to Bosnia without proper means and mandate, simply believing that the parties involved in the fight would respect the authority of the ‘blue helmets’ (UN). Later, when Srebrenica’s enclave fell, it acted again very naive to consider an organised evacuation the best option, believing that the VRS would allow the buses with Bosniak people an unobstructed ride to Bosniak-held territory as Mladić promised. We all know now what happened instead.
Furthermore it is believed that countries like the US and France (let’s say the superiors of lieutenant-general Bernard Janvier) made a deal not to defend the enclaves any longer and used the naivety of the Netherlands government to get rid of them.

The current Dutch government (and any government in the future, whatever its make-up) therefore has the following to pay attention to regarding Mladić: (1) to be never naive again within international relations; (2) knowing that Mladić is walking free and unpunished is unbearable; (3) it can’t let down neither the people that live in Bosnia nor the personnel it sent there in its name (any more then it did in the past) by letting go of Mladić; (4) regain the respect of the Serbian government because it allowed Mladić to have a free life (attending soccer matches etc.) for many years after the war in Bosnia, despite desperate calls to have him arrested; (5) it can’t sell any gestures towards Serbia to the Dutch public; (6) regain the respect of France, the US, the UN etc. who used and use the Nethetlands to toilet-drain Mladić and Srebrenica;

For these reasons it is unlikely that the Netherlands government will come out its ‘wait and see’ position at present circumstances. International pressure won’t have much effect because of the reasons that I described.

So, what can be done to unblock Srebia’s negotiations with the EU? Let’s presume that Mladić is indeed out of reach to the Serbian government’s agencies at present.
Perhaps the most important initiative the Serbian government can take is to broaden the search from a purely technical matter (a police investigation) to public help in it. I think by showing the real Mladić’ history to the Serbian public the Serbian government could strip Mladić of his star status. Consequently, his support base will diminish and the chance to find him will increase.
The Serbian government could also regularly give information to the Serbian public about what it knows about his life/whereabouts, where he has been signalled, etc. That will leave Mladić the impression that he is really hunted for and that the net around him is shrinking. It would also enable the public to add new clues to the investigation.

I certainly think that knowing that Mladić is wanted in Serbia for only one thing – to be locked up for 40 years – will give the Dutch government enough room for manoeuvre to get Serbia closer to EU-membership.

Whishing the best for all the people of Southeast Europe (whatever state they live in)!
I hope that time will do its work and we will find ourselves one day united in the EU.

Jones said -

"the Kosovo Serbs had to have the same rights and must not be imperiled, but that it was unacceptable that they should seek those rights through violence."

I'm sure The British had a similar message in 1775–1783

So much for some Americans on B92 who boast about Washington's great influence on European policies!

'Arrest Mladic and the government will fall ...'

Not if they announce on the same day that visa-free travel to Europe has been granted and that everybody can go to Paris for the weekend.

Read the entire history first. You must have a LEGITIMATE reason to pick up weapons.
(alban, 29 May 2009 22:12)

High taxes are a legitimate reason to pick up arms? If that's the case Serbs have more than a noble cause to fight for their rights and freedom then the United States ever did.

Serbs should integrate in what. In illegal narco-cartel state lead by ppl who massacred those Serbs. Are you out of your mind? That's not possible. Taking over the north! Yeah right. Like someone will allow you. After march 17th 2004. I doubt even USA and EU will allow Albanians to convey again action of ethnic cleansing over Serbs. After those events Albanians lost any credibility.
Partition of Kosovo is only way Serbs can exist and live some normal life. If someone decide to "integrate" north of Kosovo into albanian state of "kosovA" Serbs in north will share the same bad luck like Serbs in some enclaves. Maybe it's the final albanian goal (Kosovo without Serbs or entire Kosovo dominated by Albanians) but I doubt Serbs will let that happen.

Dear Bob, there were no Dutch UN-soldiers in Rwanda. They were Belgian (sadly taken hostage and killed). Rwanda has been a colony of Belgium until 1962.

'They are showing that they are not what Serbs call "America's puppet".'

Nor are they expected - by Americans - to act like puppets. It has been the Serbian press that has been assuming that the U.S. would "pressure" the Netherlands into doing something against its own interests.

Under Bush, the U.S. didn't even pressure Spain, Slovakia, etc. to recognize Kosovo, realizing these countries had their own problems with minorities. Obama, on the other hand, may be made of sterner stuff.