Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague has quietly cleared the late Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, of war crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the massacre at Srebrenica.

In March 1992, in a meeting with international representatives, Slobodan Milošević
described the situation in BiH as similar to “dynamite”, and if anyone favoured one of the parties,
there would be hell but he had called the Accused and told him to “cool it”. 10530 Milošević also
said that Yugoslavia hoped for intensive links with BiH. 10531 Later in the war, in meetings with
international representatives, Milošević also made assurances that he would speak to the Bosnian
Serbs, that he continued to condemn “ethnic cleansing” [emphasis mine] but that the world was “satanizing” the
Serbs without condemning actions by the other parties.

Boy, talk about a horrible blog post.

OK, I see. I also recall that we had a while back a discussion about this. 
You vindicated the 'official version' of the story at that time and probably do so now.

The Chamber does not rely on Zametica’s general opinion that there was no joint criminal
enterprise between the Accused and Milošević or that Milošević was not interested in a Greater Serbia (emphasis mine).

In a stunning ruling, the trial chamber that convicted former Bosnian-Serb president Radovan Karadzic of war crimes and sentenced him to 40 years in prison, unanimously concluded that Slobodan Milosevic was not part of a “joint criminal enterprise” to victimize Muslims and Croats during the Bosnian war.

The Chamber does not rely on Zametica’s general opinion that there was no joint criminal
enterprise between the Accused and Milošević or that Milošević was not interested in a Greater Serbia (emphasis mine).

Šešelj also stated there was no joint criminal enterprise between the Accused, himself,
and other individuals to expel Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats and that the Accused did not have an
antagonistic attitude towards Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats. […] The Chamber does not find this evidence to be reliable. In reaching that conclusion, the Chamber considered that Šešelj had a clear self-interest in
testifying in this regard and his evidence was marked by political statements (emphasis mine).

The Chamber notes that the relationship between Milošević and the Accused had deteriorated beginning in
1992; by 1994, they no longer agreed on a course of action to be taken. Furthermore, beginning as early as
March 1992, there was apparent discord between the Accused and Milošević in meetings with international
representatives, during which Milošević and other Serbian leaders openly criticised Bosnian Serb leaders of
committing “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing” and the war for their own purposes (emphasis mine). See paras.
3280, 3289–3297.

With regard to the evidence presented in this case in relation to Slobodan Milošević and his
membership in the JCE, the Chamber recalls that he shared and endorsed the political objective of
the Accused and the Bosnian Serb leadership to preserve Yugoslavia and to prevent the separation
or independence of BiH and co-operated closely with the Accused during this time. The Chamber
also recalls that Milošević provided assistance in the form of personnel, provisions, and arms to the
Bosnian Serbs during the conflict. 11026 However, based on the evidence before the Chamber
regarding the diverging interests that emerged between the Bosnian Serb and Serbian leaderships
during the conflict and in particular, Milošević’s repeated criticism and disapproval of the policies
and decisions made by the Accused and the Bosnian Serb leadership, 11027 the Chamber is not
satisfied that there was sufficient evidence presented in this case to find that Slobodan Milošević
agreed with the common plan (emphasis mine).

A documentary (I know you don't like documentaries or at least not some) about the ugly part played at highest political level (Chancellor/G.Schröder, Foreign Secretary/J.Fischer and Secretary of Defense/R.Scharping) by my country.

Incidentally, I recently watched L'ennemi intime. I think you might not dislike it, although the protagonist is perhaps a bit... convenient.

The idea that war solves nothing is just plain stupid: War solves most things, excepting old grievances… And even those stop festering, effectively, after a generation or two. War is the state between peaces…

The French wrote the book on COIN (counter-insurgency strategy, and tactics…) from their experiences in Algeria; brutal stuff. An American general named Abrams updated it… And his strategy was working fairly well in Viet Nam. Then  the American Democrat-controlled Congress decided to lose the war and desert our allies.

The idea that war solves nothing is just plain stupid: War solves most things, excepting old grievances… And even those stop festering, effectively, after a generation or two.

The pirates in Iceland have had great progress

The pirates in Iceland have had great progress

German national football team

McDonald's is suing Florence for €18m after it was blocked from opening a restaurant on one of the Italian city's most historic plazas.
The fast-food giant had its plans for an outlet on the Piazza del Duomo rejected by Florence's mayor in June.
The decision was upheld in July by a technical panel in charge of preserving the city's ancient heart.

This is the second high profile spat over an Italian location this year for McDonalds. Last month it was reported that cardinals at the Vatican had been angered by plans to open a branch in a piazza next to Saint Peter's Square.