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Karadzic Practices Psychiatry in Politics
It was no accident the SDS last week chose June 28, Vidovdan, the most sacred day on the Serb nationalist calendar, to reelect Karadzic its chairman.
By Kurt Schork
The silver-maned Bosnian Serb president and former psychiatrist appeared before the ruling SDS party central committee on Monday, presenting himself as a martyr for his people -- a theme which resonates through Serb history.
"The international community is pressuring me not only to resign but not to engage in party business, not to support our candidates," Karadzic said in a taped television broadcast of his remarks to the central committee. "Their opponent therefore is not Radovan Karadzic, their opponent is the Serb Democratic Party (SDS). Their opponent is the Serb people."
Twice indicted for war crimes, Karadzic was cited by leaders of the G-7 industrial nations and Russia on Saturday as an intolerable obstacle to the Dayton peace process. But observers say the peculiar political psychology of the Bosnian Serbs, manipulated by SDS-controlled media, ensures that Karadzic's stock among Bosnian Serbs rises in proportion to his vilification by the international community.
It was no accident the SDS last week chose June 28, Vidovdan, the most sacred day on the Serb nationalist calendar, to reelect Karadzic its chairman. On Vidovdan in 1389 the Serbs were defeated by the Turks at Kosovo Polje, ushering in half a millenium of Islamic dominance over Orthodox Christianity in the Balkans.
Legend records that Tsar Lazar, the Serb commander, fought to the death rather than surrender to the Turks in exchange for a reward -- preferring defeat and the kingdom of heaven over the betrayal of his people to an invader. So Karadzic rallies his people as as a modern-day Lazar, playing on the xenophobia and ethnic separatism his propaganda machine has honed to a knife's edge.
"If they (the international community) believed in their thesis that the leadership is extreme and the people moderate... they would let elections proceed in a democratic way," Karadzic said on Monday. "But they know that the people are determined to have their own country and oppose any forced mixing with others... That is why they will try everything so that the SDS does not win."
Karadzic and his army commander General Ratko Mladic, also twice indicted for war crimes, fought the Bosnian war to create a separate, ethnically-pure Serb state. Instead, NATO military intervention left them with Republika Srpska, 49 per cent of the country, in a loose federation with a Muslim-Croat federation. |
SARAJEVO, July 2 (Reuters) - Pursued by war crimes investigators and the international community, Radovan Karadzic is wielding Serb nationalism as his shield in peace, as it was his sword through 43 months of war.
Berserkistan, July 1 · Bildt: Bosnian Serb Leadership in Turmoil
Berserkistan, July 1 · In Televised Address, Karadzic Assails Opponents
Berserkistan, July 1 · U.S. Awaits Karadzic’s Next Move
Berserkistan, July 1 · Despite Pressure, Rumors Karadzic Still President
The Indictment Against Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic War Crimes Tribunal
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