This talented journalist will travel to the Hague to observe the trial of Ratko Mladic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He will also travel to Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Belgrade, interviewing not only the victims of Ratko Mladic and his men, but also his associates and, I presume, supporters.
He is currently blogging about his experiences on his blog at ForeignPolicy.com. At the outset, his posts appear to be balanced as he searches for the truth and questions what he is observing. He wrote of his difficulties in accepting the term genocide when referring to the massacre at Srebrenica in his post Defining Genocide.
I wanted to express a knee-jerk reaction to this, we all do when faced with the overwhelming abundance of genocide denial with respect to both Rwanda and Srebrenica. But on reading his post, it turns out that his question was well considered and he appeared satisfied at his affirmative answer. These questions are important and need to be asked and answered. We can’t sweep them under the carpet for fear that we might be pandering to the fantasies of genocide-deniers.
There is no doubt that Michael has a long, challenging journey ahead and in the video below, he discusses the work that he will be doing and the questions he intends to answer:
His questions will include:
- Why did the massacre at Srebrenica happen?
- Could it have been prevented by the international community?
- What lessons have we taken from the series of trials of former Yugoslav military leaders over the last decade?
- Have these trials contributed to helping to prevent future genocides?
You can follow Michael Dobb on Twitter: @MichaelDobbs and you can also follow the USHMM: @HolocaustMuseum.
Excellent article once again! Too few of us have the appropriate knowledge-base but you keep us consistently informed. Thank you for all that you do.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading Cher. It is only the visitors and seeing what people are searching for when they visit here that keeps me writing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Emm..for always sharing truly powerful posts! You are awesome!
ReplyDeletevictoria
Michael Dobbs proved himself to be a failure. He put the term genocide into quoation ("genocide"), then he continued questioning the genocide:
ReplyDelete"Few matters are more fraught with emotion in Srebenica, and Bosnia as a whole, than the question of whether the cold-blooded executions of around 8,000 Muslim men by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995 should be qualified as 'genocide.' I experienced this myself when I referred to the event as a 'massacre' in a conversation with a Srebenica survivor. 'It was not a massacre,' Matidza Mehmedovic shouted at me angrily. 'It was a genocide.' I must admit that I find it difficult to use the word genocide, which conjures up images of the Holocaust."
He also continued to employ the doctrine of "moral equivalism" focusing on the Serbs in the notorious village of Kravica. Those same Serbs slaughtered Bosniak civilians in May of 1992 in villages of Suha and Glogova (near Bratunac). Now he is presenting them as victims of Muslim aggression. I already filed complaint with the USHMM.