{"id":597,"date":"2018-06-24T16:43:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T16:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geostrategy.club\/2018\/06\/24\/the-bosnian-war-what-lessons-has-the-world-learned\/"},"modified":"2024-06-27T10:05:56","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T08:05:56","slug":"the-bosnian-war-what-lessons-has-the-world-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geostrategy.club\/it\/the-bosnian-war-what-lessons-has-the-world-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bosnian War: What Lessons Has the World Learned?"},"content":{"rendered":"
By\u00a0Sputnik<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The first days of spring 1992 were marked by the beginning of a military conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the bloodiest war in Europe since the end of World War II. The conflict lasted until 1995 and, according to different estimates, some 70,000-200,000 people were killed during the war.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Today, the Bosnian War is a rare subject for\u00a0mainstream media reports. Having erupted 25 years ago, the ethnic and political crisis is now believed to\u00a0be resolved.<\/span> <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The armed clashes that broke out\u00a0in 1992 resulted from\u00a0an acute crisis in\u00a0Yugoslavia, as\u00a0well as\u00a0foreign pressure on\u00a0Slobodan Milosevic.<\/span><\/p>\n The first clashes erupted in\u00a0the second half of\u00a01991 between\u00a0Croatian forces and Serb militia forces backed by\u00a0the Yugoslavian army. In January 1992, a ceasefire regime was established due to\u00a0UN intervention.<\/span><\/p>\n Following the Slovenian and Croatian recessions from\u00a0Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, inhabited mainly by\u00a0Muslim Bosnians, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats, passed a referendum on\u00a0independence. The results of\u00a0the referendum were rejected by\u00a0Bosnian Serbs supported by\u00a0the Serbian government led by\u00a0Milosevic and the Yugoslav People\u2019s Army.<\/span><\/p>\n In March 1992, Croat forces entered the northern part of\u00a0Bosnia controlled by\u00a0Serbs.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On March 27, 1992, Croat forces carried out\u00a0the first ethnic cleansing in\u00a0the Bosnian War. The conflict was characterized by\u00a0ethnic cleansing, as\u00a0well as\u00a0indiscriminate shelling of\u00a0cities and mass rape.<\/span> <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On April 5, 1992, the Army of\u00a0Republika Srpska and Yugoslavian forces began the siege of\u00a0Sarajevo. The country plunged into\u00a0chaos, with\u00a0a growing number of\u00a0civilian victims.<\/span><\/p>\n According to\u00a0the International Criminal Tribunal for\u00a0the former Yugoslavia, all sides to\u00a0the conflict were held responsible. However, since\u00a0spring 1992, many Western politicians and media outlets demonized Serbian forces, ignoring numerous crimes and cases of\u00a0ethnic cleansing committed by\u00a0the other warring parties.<\/span><\/p>\n This misinformation campaign resulted in\u00a0turning various myths into\u00a0historic facts. One of\u00a0the most outstanding examples is the mainstream version of\u00a0the Srebrenica massacre as\u00a0the killing of\u00a0over 8,000 Muslims Bosnians in\u00a0July 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In July 2015, Russia vetoed a British-sponsored resolution condemning the killings in\u00a0Srebrenica. In addition to\u00a0considerable political reasons, Russian and Serbian historians insist that there is no evidence that 8,000 people were killed in\u00a0Srebrenica.<\/span> <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to\u00a0historian Elena Guskova, director at\u00a0the Center for\u00a0Contemporary Balkan Crisis Studies, the Serbs were deliberately portrayed as\u00a0murderers. The expert said that tragic events actually took place in\u00a0Srebrenica, but\u00a0there is no evidence that 7,000-8,000 Muslims were killed.<\/span><\/p>\n On November 3, 2004, former prosecutor for\u00a0the International Criminal Tribunal for\u00a0the former Yugoslavia Carla Del Ponte mentioned those numbers, with\u00a0reference to\u00a0a report from\u00a0the government of\u00a0Republika Srpska.<\/span><\/p>\n However, historian Zeljko Vujadinovic later said that the report did not cite that 7,000-8,000 Muslims were killed in\u00a0Srebrenica. According to\u00a0him, the document read that over\u00a01,000 Muslims died between\u00a0July 10 and\u00a0\u201419, 1995, without\u00a0providing details.<\/span><\/p>\n „The list of\u00a07,806 people referred to\u00a0all of\u00a0the people who went missing during\u00a0July 1995,“ Vujadinovic was quoted as\u00a0saying by\u00a0RT.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 1995, NATO invaded the conflict, which became the key step in\u00a0ending the war. The Bosnian War was brought to\u00a0an end after\u00a0the Dayton agreements were signed on\u00a0December 14, 1995.<\/span> <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to\u00a0Guskova, the Yugoslavian peoples believed that independence from\u00a0Belgrade would be positive, which was a common mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n „Yugoslavia was a country with\u00a0a relatively hard living standard. Its economically weak regions were supported by\u00a0its developed parts. There was no ethnic or sectarian discrimination,“ the expert\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0RT.<\/span><\/p>\n She continued: „Now, Yugoslavian peoples have been living separately for\u00a0already 25 years. That was enough to\u00a0build new national identities and develop economies, after\u00a0a war that killed dozens of\u00a0hundreds of\u00a0people. But what has been done?“<\/span><\/p>\n According to\u00a0Dragana Trifkovic, head of\u00a0the Belgrade-based Center for\u00a0Geostrategic Studies, the European Union and the United States were initially not interested in\u00a0forming stable developing nations in\u00a0the Balkans. She noted that the goal was to\u00a0destroy the buffer zone between\u00a0the West and the East.<\/span><\/p>\n „Having found themselves in\u00a0a deadlock, Balkan countries rushed to\u00a0the EU and NATO. However, European integration is not a solution for\u00a0economic troubles. European standards only complicate the economic difficulties in\u00a0those countries,“ Trifkovic said.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to\u00a0the economic downturn, the Balkans has been engulfed in\u00a0serious ethnic and political tensions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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