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People are killing each other over there ? It's just the news
If any of y’all out there in reader-land are anything like
I am, you’ve probably been to an academic gathering, a dinner
or perhaps even a party where someone brought up an international
crisis of which you were so ill-informed you actually feared speaking
and allowing your ignorance to be known.
I realize, of course, this is unlikely to occur during lunch at
Sbisa or tea-time at the Chicken, but regardless of the setting,
the “dumb look” in response to conversation is never
“in.”
The way most of America deals with this problem is to hook up a
mental I.V. to CNN after coming home from work, but students, weary
form learning new stuff all day, seem less likely to fully absorb
the news.
No big deal. It’s just the news. Dan Rather and Ted Koppel
are all too often time-killers for that late afternoon beer and
growling stomach. Roommates discuss dinner plans during the broadcast
and it’s not even annoying because it’s just the news.
People make phone calls – so what? It’s not “Seinfeld”
or anything. It’s just the news.
Even if you manage to pay attention to what’s going on, you’re
only getting a four-minute sound bite on a 1500-year war –
hardly enough information to make one adequately knowledgeable.
Does it really matter? After all, it’s just the news.
Because of this problem, I decided to access the wealth of expertise
on campus and get the lowdown on a specific international atrocity,
the recent events in the former Yugoslavia.
Through and interview with Dr. Stjepan Mestrovic, a sociologist
raised in Croatia, and information supplied by Dr. Steve Pejovich,
a political economist from Serbia, I was able to understand the
Croatian/Bosnian plight and the Serbian drive for dominance and
learn enough about the war in Bosnia to develop confidence in conversation.
There are four main regions involved: Serbia (Orthodox Christian),
Croatia (Catholic), Bosnia (Muslim and Serbian) and Kosovo (primarily
Muslim with a few Serbians). Serbia, which retained all of Yugoslavia’s
weaponry, decided to expand its boundaries to include Croatia and
Bosnia, already 30 and 70 percent Serbian respectively. Many Muslims
were raped and slaughtered along the way.
These same Bosnian Muslims are fleeing their homeland into neighboring
Croatia to avoid almost certain execution. Since Croatians are Catholic,
however, they really aren’t too thrilled with the enormous
influx of Muslims. This is causing considerable social problems.
Moreover, both groups have the still bigger problem of Serbia, which
in addition to age-old border disputes, continues to hate Croatia
for collaborating with the Nazis in WWII.
Under the Nazis, the Croatians were responsible for the deaths of
almost a million Serbians. However, under the leadership of Milan
Nedic, the Serbian Nazi Regime committed similar mass homicides.
So now we know why the Serbians are so intent and ruthless. And
why aren’t we – the West, the UN – doing anything
about it? First, the Serbians have hated Muslims with a vengeance
since the Battle of Kosovo. Kosovo is a very small state, and was
part of Serbia until Turkey, which is Muslim, took it over in 1389.
The Serbians have held this grudge against Muslims for over 600
years, and Kosovo continues to be in danger as the anniversary of
the battle, June 28, approaches. The anger against Croatia stems
from “Nazi cooperation.” Also, Serbia claims that fear
of encroachment by Muslims and Croatians drives its killing machine.
Because the actions of the Serbians clearly violate UN regulations,
the UN sent troops from France and Britain to Bosnia, where they
were most unwelcome. In addition to providing a few useless troops,
the West has imposed economic sanctions and an arms embargo. This
does nothing but prevent the Bosnians from defending themselves.
Dr. Mestrovic stated to me frankly the difficulty in isolating a
“good guy” or a “bad guy” in this situation,
or even determining a right or wrong, but I found sympathy for the
defenseless victims quite easily. We mustn’t forget, however,
that today’s oppressors may be tomorrow’s victims in
the same war. Does this make them right, or is it “just the
breaks”? Unfortunately, while the West shrugs its shoulders
over this philosophical question regarding Bosnians, Serbians and
Croatians, thousands of people are being tortured, raped and executed.
But it’s just the news.
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