Steppin’ Ya Game Up, Carefully

"Serbia in Europe, Kosovo in Serbia" reads a billboard advertising a referndum on Kosovo's status

The latest in a series of rumblings from inside Belgrade about the immanent arrest of fugitive war criminal Ratko Mladić, a source from the Serbian Army Security Agency told Banja Luka newspaper Glas Srpske that negotiations are in progress to apprehend Mladić. Rasim Ljajić, the President of Serbia’s coordination team with the ICTY, has neither confirmed nor denied the comment, suggesting, my colleague noted, that “this is not just hearsay”.

Perhaps the issue is best encapsulated by another piece of news. A bag with a laptop and discs Karadžić had with him when arrested mysteriously turned up today on the sidewalk of a Belgarde suburb three weeks after the arrest. An “anonymous citizen” called in with the tip. It is unlikely that the bag sat on the side of the road untouched for three weeks. It was probably held by the (still) unnamed forces which apprehended Karadžić.

Both this find and the anonymous sources hinting that Mladić’s arrest is immanent follow the same pattern: aiding in the arrest of war criminals without revealing that you’ve helped. The push away from the 90s and towards the EU is one officials are making, cautious that they won’t be implicated in the change. Perhaps they are afraid of ultra-nationalist reprisals, perhaps they are ambiguous about the direction Serbia seems to be heading.

Or, as a British colleague of mine put it “We haven’t forgotten our Communist past”.