From: wickerhauser-victor@math.yale.edu (Victor Wickerhauser)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Re: Unfriendly Neighbors...a Question
Date: 16 Dec 1992 00:32:11 -0500
Organization: Yale University Mathematics Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2155
NNTP-Posting-Host: math-gw.cs.yale.edu

In article <hlopez.2.724436719@AFIT.AF.MIL> hlopez@AFIT.AF.MIL (Hector P. Lopez) writes:
>I have never posted to this newsgroup before but have read posts with great 
>interest and have watched the heart-rending news unfold like a bad dream as 
>the killing of innocents continues in what used to be Yuoslavia.  From what 
>I have read about the situation, in seems like the prevailing school of 
>thought is that the Serbs are pulling off what amounts to "land-grab" under 
>the guise of some ancient blood fued, although history cannot be completely 
>easily discounted.
>
>My question is this, If as people say, this is an attempt by Serbia to 
>attain a "Greater Serbia", then why the inhumane, savage, immoral conduct of 
>the War in BH and in Croatia?  I know the question sounds funny, since there 
>is no such thing as a humane war, but the news accounts leaving the war zone 
>tell of documented cases of murder-rape camps for Women, murders of families 
>cowering in basements, torture of civilians in camps, etc. etc. etc.  In 
>other wars, there is killing, but usually not directed against innocent 
>civilians and without the underlying HATE. 

This is an excellent question, and one which both historians and
sociologists will seek to answer for many years.  I can venture one
explanation based on a combination of history and current events.  In
``The Prince,'' an advisor suggests that the best way to keep
territory is to populate it with your own people; this is well
reasoned and has the ring of truth.  After the defeat of the Ottomans
in Serbia proper, there was  a period of ``ethnic cleansing'' in
Sumadija (the heart of Serbia) which resulted in an ethnically
homogeneous area completely free of any traces of Turkish rule or
Islamic culture.  I conjecture that these facts are well known to
Milosevic's advisors, as are the various tactics used by the Serbs
during WWII against Jews, Muslims, Croats, and other non-Serbs.  Thus
this circle of advisors has merely put together a modern
implementation of rather old ideas.

There are a few points to consider.  The Yugo Army is short of
infantry, so it chooses to stand back and use the artillery which it
has in abundance.  The same lack of infantry means that it is hard to
control areas once they are overrun, so it is better if they are
totally depopulated before being resettled.  The total destruction of
certain areas like Konavle (around Dubrovnik) is probably an
acknowledgment that no Serbs were willing to move in right away, so
there was no reason to save anything.

Also, it is easier to depopulate an area if the inhabitants flee by
themselves, hence the widely publicized terror instigated by rather
small groups of soldiers.  It is probably not hard to produce small
numbers of people who are sufficiently evil to commit such acts,
simply expose a large number of people to inflammatory lies and see
who volunteers.  Some of the killers probably even think they are
doing the right thing.

>I have read of how in BH, Muslims and Serbs have lived together in the same 
>small villages for generations, have invited each other over for holidays, 
>their children having played together, and now, the same Serb neighbors have 
>looted their homes and killed (or sent to camps) their former neighbors in 
>an organized effort to ethnically cleanse huge portions of BH.

This is really perverse, especially since Serbs have a well-deserved
reputation for generosity an open-heartedness.  But even for this
one can seek an explanation.  Fear of death is stronger than love of
neighbor, and Serbs who do not collaborate get killed quite publicly.

>Maybe there is a real ancient blood fued at work?  Is the former Yugo 
>destined to repeat this bloodshed in the future, when the hand of BH and 
>Croatia are stronger and their children are taught revenge and hate?  

Most historians would reject such an explanation, since the main
strife before WWI occurred between the Southern Slavs and their
foreign rulers--the Ottomans and Austro-Hungarians.  Between WWI and
WWII, the main source of strife was the overbearing Serbian
administration.  WWII was a complete bloodbath throughout Yugoslavia,
with Ustashe killing Jews and Serbs, multiple kinds of Chetniks
killing Muslims, Jews, and Croats, Germans killing everybody, and
finally the Communists killing mobs of Croats, Serbs, Muslims, and
Germans.  But then, rather similar things were occurring all over
Europe, yet no new ethnic war has broken out between, say, the Germans
and the Poles.

This leaves us with the alternative explanation that this was is being
put up, and thus it remains to see whose interest it might conceivably
serve.  I venture that the Yugo Army and certain Serbian dreamers
originally saw a confluence of goals and simply decided to strike
while the iron was hot.  But, the calculation was in error, as can be
seen from the downsizing of Serbian ambitions with the passage of
time.  From all of X-Yugoslavia, it shrank after the failure to
conquer Slovenia to just XYU Southeast of Karlobag-Virovitice.  After
Croatia won recognition, it has fallen to Croatian Vojna Krajina plus
everything SE of BiH.  With UN intervention and the recognition of
BiH, it shrank further to just a corridor across BiH to CVK, rump-YU,
plus whatever can be grabbed of Macedonia.  If Albania gets involved,
or particularly if the UN makes good on certain threats, then it is
not clear whether even Kosovo, Montenegro or Vojvodina can remain in
the Serbian orbit.

It is too bad that the people of Serbia are ultimately going to suffer
for the flabby ambitions of certain leaders.  I think the UN is trying
to preserve an image of neutrality to suggest to the reasonable Serbs
that they will be rewarded with restored pride if they reject the
insane policies of the few.  But these hypothesized reasonable Serbs
have not uttered a sqeak for quite a while now, and the UN must be
starting to doubt their existence.

>I can understand war, but I am bewildered on how it is possible for former 
>neighbors to kill, loot, and rape their neighbors just because they are 
>ethnically different.  How in Gods name is it possible?  I believe that all 
>people are good, but I must write here, my belief is being challenge by Serb 
>behavior in BH and Croatia.

I too did not believe that evil really existed, but have been quite
thoroughly convinced otherwise.

Regards,
Victor



-- 
Prof. M. Victor Wickerhauser                      <victor@kirk.wustl.edu>
Department of Mathematics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA
Telephone:  USA(314)935-6771, USA(314)727-0749;     FAX: USA(314)727-4963
Sto se ljuckim trudom uzdignulo, Ljuckim znojem jopet se ponavlja. --Medo Pucic
Xref: sparky soc.culture.yugoslavia:10148 soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna:887 soc.culture.croatia:142