Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)
Yellow represents Serbian Republic
That part of BiH that was ethnically cleansed By Serbs
Today 9 January the political entity called Serbian Republic (Republika Srpska) is pushing ahead with celebrating its Day – the 21st anniversary of its own proclamation! This is also the 21st anniversary of the beginning of genocide and ethnic cleansing of all non-Serb nationals from the areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina where Serbs were in majority. Serb police, soldiers, and irregulars attacked Muslims and Croats, and burned and looted their homes. Some were killed on the spot; others were rounded up and killed elsewhere, or forced to flee. The genocide culminated in Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim (Bosniak) men and boys in July 1995. Then in November 1995 came the Dayton Agreement which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina effectively dividing it into two political/administrative entities: Serbian Republic (Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Federations of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosniaks and Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Ahead of the anniversary of the Republika Srpska (RS) Bosnian entity, members of 25 associations, which represent Bosnian war victims, held a press conference on Monday 6 January aiming to raise public awareness for the crimes and foundations of that entity.
A postcard with a photo of exhumed body remains found in Tomasica, the largest mass grave in Bosnia after World War II discovered at the end of 2013, was prepared for the occasion.
The postcards of the remains unearthed 18 years after the end of the Bosnian war were sent to the addresses of RS authorities ahead of January 9, the Day of Republika Srpska.
“If you mark the Day of Republika Srpska, do not forget that these are its foundations,” wrote the post card.
Postcard sent to Serbian Republic,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6 January 2014
Today, 9 January, the president of Serbian Republic, Milorad Dodik, celebrated Serbian Republic Day, marking it publicly perhaps for the first time for what it truly was intended to be from the very start: an independent state, which will then easily pin itself as part of Greater Serbia. He sent a message to the world that the Serbian will continue existing and be increasingly stronger and that its independence needs to be placed as a government and political goal.
Commenting on the Postcard from victims (referred to above) Dodig said that it arrived from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and not from Serbian (Republic) and that Serbian (Republic) is not governed by politics of ethnic hatred.
“If someone does not want reconciliation, they can only increase our convictions that we are on the right tracks of fighting for our status. Are they going to continue behaving negatively towards Serbian (Republic)? Of course they will. Many of them have suffered and lost their loved ones, but the Serbian side also had many who suffered”, said Dodik.
He said that the crimes were not committed in the name of Serbian Republic and that it never had plans of such kind, and that none of its leadership set such goals.
Oh yes they did Mr Dodik! The goal was to achieve an ethnically pure region (Serb) and in order to achieve that goal genocide, rape and forced deportation were employed as means to achieve that goal.
We must not allow that attempts that seek justice for perpetrators of genocide be labelled ethnic hatred.
During his visit to Sarajevo in 2010 Croatia’s president Ivo Josipovic urged Bosnian and regional leaders to put the past behind and work towards a shared, prosperous future in the European Union. He is been pushing the same agenda in Croatia: forget the Serb, or any other, crimes committed during the war of brutal aggression, move forward…
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Victims do not forget, victims cannot forget! Victims must have justice! We owe the victims the dignity of ensuring that genocide does not win its targeted prize: freedom/independence. Just imagine what would happen if someone came up to the Jews and told them to forget the Holocaust, to stop hunting down the Nazis who killed. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A.,M.A.Ps. (Syd)
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EU awarded Serbs for genocide by giving them their entity in B&H.Punished Croats for preventing it.
Yep, No, it certainly appears that way and it’s probably clear from where such “supportive” winds are blowing. Shocking.
UK should also be tried for genocide.
… we might live to see the day, No
Can’t believe the president of Croatia is telling us to forget the genocides. Talk about a stab in the back to all the people who died in the hands of the Serbian animals!
Yes Annathrax, I’m stupefied. One could conclude that the undercurrent there has to do with communist minds still trying to suggest that breakup of communist Yugoslavia was wrong? It’s just a terrible shame that such persons sit at the helm of states…
Too horrible for words, that the memory of those poor people has to be this image. How brutal is truth. And so necessary…
…and we must never allow that those who speak the truth and seek justice be called ethnic haters like Dodik does, Jasna Guy
This fellow worker was in the peace keeping forces sent there and he says he saw things that would make a maggot gag…. That whole area will never settle down. I haven’t a clue who started what but my God there has to be some balance.
I’m from hercegovina, and we have more problems with bosniaks than we do serbs. The taxes we pay go straight to sarajevo and we never see it again. even cities like bihać and the east side of mostar get more money than anywhere else in Hercegovina will ever get. of course the bosniak government like taxing the hercegovinian region because other than sarajevo we are the wealthiest part of the country due to migrant workers and half the population who has a house there lives in Germany/Austria. Croats need our own seperate state of Herceg-bosna, but the government has said it was unconstitutional.
Well Mate Paskonovic – if Serbs go about creating independence within the country then I guess Croats should follow suit if that is what they want – I do however believe that BiH should not be divided and that better rules of government should be brought in not necessarily representing different ethnic groups according to their number but representing each equally because BiH was such and is such
Ina, please read the this article from a legal website about Gotovina’s lawsuit against the US government…it is so biased, that it warrants a strong reply…that hopefully you can respond…I think pictures of center of Knin v. Vukovar and the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Serbs in Knin v. the exodus of Croats from Vukovar would help make a powerful statement:
http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/5646
Sunman I read about the case of Gotovina seeking to be removed from that list and so he should be. As to the author of the article in the link to provide who is reportedly a lawyer I do not think we should give him the benefit of comment or reply – if a lawyer cannot accept that a majority vote in an appeals court is what legally and humanly counts then he is no lawyer nor unbiased human being to me, let alone a lecturer or professor at university. Thank you on this Sunman, much appreciate it
I couldn’t help myself, I commented on the export law blog (link in the above comment) about Gotovina. We need to counter all falsehoods, lies, mistruths, propaganda and anti Croatian bias whenever and where ever they appear.
True Sunman – we all must respond and defend, I am following the case and will do a collage on it in words in the next couple of days.
War crimes is terrible, but if they can forget and build unity in the name of humanity I think it would be better. because peace is more valuable and precious.
thank you for sharing this post.
best wishes ; Kaligrafi
Perhaps Kaligrafi forgive is the word because one cannot possibly forget but certainly the horrible memories can be made milder when the criminals are punished and put in prison etc – here we have a situation where the most horrid of crimes are being treated like a slap on the wrist or something like that.
Thank you for writing this. As a Croat from BiH, this is truly heartbreaking and makes me be full of rage!
Yes, it enrages me too Didi.
If Dodik’s words that, “crimes were not committed in the name of Serbian Republic and that it never had plans of such kind, and that none of its leadership set such goals” then there never would have been a war. If there was no war and democracy and peace were respected by the Serbs, BiH today would be a multi-cultural, independent democratic state. But to be very clear SERBS NEVER WANTED ANYTHING BUT AN ETHNICALLY PURE, HOMOGENOUS and CONTINUOUS GREATER SERBIA. AT ANY AND ALL COSTS…this for the Serbs is short term pain for long term gain. Hopefully, this evil empire that Serbs have built will see its demise.
My problem is that Croatia’s president actually shakes hands with this guy – to my way of seeing he should not until Serbian Republic starts shedding its anti Bosnia and Herzegovina politics – after all it’s Josipovic who is the one to talk up the need for all to respect state law and yet here he is shaking hands with an outlaw.
“Victims do not forget, victims cannot forget! Victims must have justice! We owe the victims the dignity of ensuring that genocide does not win its targeted prize: freedom/independence. Just imagine what would happen if someone came up to the Jews and told them to forget the Holocaust, to stop hunting down the Nazis who killed.”
Ina, I wholeheartedly agree that all victims must have justice-that they are owed justice, no matter who they are, no matter when they became victims, no matter who was the victimizer! Of course telling the Jews to forget the Holocaust would be regarded as absurd, even today, 69 years after the end of WWII! But why does this sound so absurd to us? Because the Jewish nation possess many attributes that we as a Croatian nation do not. They are powerful lobbyists, they are fierce defenders of anything/anyone Jewish, they have built a nation-state from the ground up that has survived and thrived against all odds through sheer self-determination, they use their political, business, cultural connections to both advocate for their nation and to rally support in aid of it. They are hypersensitive to even a whisper of anti-Jewish sentiment coming from any corner of the world. Even in situations where their citizens are in conflict with one another, they still present a picture of a united front to the world at large. Now juxtapose this with any Croatian govt. from 1991 to today and we come up miserably short. We are a fractionalized nation whose unresolved injustices from WWII and its aftermath are the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge, let alone address. Unlike our Jewish counterparts, our politicians want to forget the Croatian Holocaust victims of the partisan/communist fascists (yes, I am calling them fascists) killed after WWII. The number of sites of mass graves that have as yet gone unexhumed and uninvestigated keeps climbing – they can be found all over Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia & Hercegovina. Where are the Croatian lobbyists, the Croatians from the political, business and cultural worlds to advocate for them? Who is leading the rallying cry to defend their honor as victims and give their remains the dignity that they deserve?-at the least, a marked grave. We had all hoped after the end of the Homeland War, once we got our independence that all the wrongs would be righted and that finally, justice would be won – how wrong we were!
Fast forward to 2014 and the postcard to Republica Srpska – the same sentiments could well be aimed to the Croatian govt. that enacted a Constitution that based our sovereignty and our right to exist as a nation-state on every era and period of our common history EXCEPT 1941-45 and NDH. Ergo,it could be said that the Croatian Holocaust victims were the bloody foundations on which Yugoslavia was based but since supposedly, Yugoslavia was the continuation of Croatian sovereignty???therefore these victims were also the foundations of today’s Croatia! If this is the true sentiment of the Croatian govt.,Croatian intelligentsia,or Croatians as a whole both then and today, then we should be pitied.
Yes Velebit – unity to achieve justice for all victims in Croatia does not exist because many are threatened who went along (some who are still alive participated) with communist crimes, corruption and oppression. Hopefully, with enough persistence unity will be achieved…once the “elite” are cut down to size then Croatia has a chance and that cutting down to size will only come from people pressure, as I see it.
The wording of Croatia’s constitution was chosen deliberately – to counter Belgrade / the Belgrade lobby’s propaganda claims that modern Croatia was a continuation of NDH and Tudman was the new Pavelic.
It was a necessity at the time due to the scale of Serbian propaganda in the early 1990s, which was echoed across the world, in particular, the English speaking world (and by default, to the largest power at that time whose support Croatia needed, the US).
With Germany’s push for a de-Yugocommunization / de-UDBasization in Croatia (Danke Deutschland zwei), once the next government gets into power (likely HDZ), we may well see a change to the language and the SRH reference removed, as it was not a continuation of anything except Belgrade imperialism.
Even without Perkovic or Mustac being extradited, the deyugocommunization and deudbasization will happen because Croatia is in Germany’s strategic interest and they want to clean house after giving us endless time to do so (and failing to do so). They want to protect any potential investment and are weary of outside influences over Croatia which is, with official EU entry, Germany’s underbelly as the EU is a German run affair now.
Without doubt, therealamericro, everything to do with ex-Yugoslavia, ex-communism… must be removed from the constitution – bury the devil for once and for all.
So, in order to counter Serb propaganda, Croatian govt. adopts a Constitution that intentionally omits the five WWII years off its historical timeline and with that of course it omits and negates all those who died fighting for an Independent State of Croatia; as well as those civilians and unarmed military killed by the hundreds of thousands AFTER WWII by Tito and his Partisans. I suppose some would think that it’s fair game to re-victimize the victims in order to gain political points with potential supporters but I am not one of those. Frankly, its getting old, this constant excusing of the inexcusable. Is nothing sacred? Is there no line that just shouldn’t be crossed no matter what the political repercussions? It’s an easy excuse to say that it was a necessity in times of war to do things that in peace time would never be considered.From 1990 to 2010 HDZ held power in Croatia for 16 years;five years during the war and eleven years during peacetime and there were no changes made then to the constitution so I’m unsure on what you base your hopes of any future changes. You are right, the Croatian govt. did all they could to distance themselves from NDH and in so doing only gave credence to the anti-Croatian smear campaign the Serbs inherited from their Yugo/Communist compatriots.
It must never be forgotten, else it will happen again.
I’m curious, how has the relationship between Serbia and Russia evolved since the war? Quite a history there.
Judging from media reports etc, the relationship between Serbia and Russia is blooming, Robert. And I agree – it’s the remembering that keeps things at bay, at least much if not all.
I drove through Republika Srpska to get to Surkovac to attend Don Ivo Pavic’s mass.
RS is destitute, and has no future. There is no economic life there outside of Banja Luka, where unemployment is rampant, and the city is quite dirty.
I thought East Mostar was a dirty hell hole. All of RS from the border with Jasenovac through Prijedor is just as pathetic.
W Hercegovina is literally California compared to what I saw in RS.
And former frontline / occupied towns like Hrvatska Kostajnica and even economically depressed Vukovar are Manhattans compared to any town of equal size in RS.
Mate is right, the criminals in Sarajevo are preventing any Croatian self rule, and HRHB, but they were and still are assisted by all of the UNSC members, the UN itself, and OHR and the revisionists in English media who suppress the facts and deify fables about multi-ethnic tolerance and rule of law when it does not exist. Then of course there are the Tito nostalgic leftist academics who can’t admit they were always, and remain wrong on everything, and simply ignore and or at best deny racist gerrymandering, and electoral fraud and engineering at the expense of Croats because to them, it doesn’t matter how bad Croats’ rights are trampled on as long as the goal of a multiethnic (even if a monoethnic dictatorship) AVNOJ border BiH is the goal, and an AVNOJ BiH is their wet dream as it vindictates their genocidal hero Tito and their intellectual inabilities to accept the cold hard truth.
Hercegbosna was a defacto reality until after Croatia’s first, and to date only politically or ethnically Croatian, President’s death.
That degenerate alcoholic, bearded evident war profiteering, false witness bearing traitor Stipe Mesic and the 200-2003 SDP government assisted in Schilling’s and all other OHR protectorate heads’ rape of Dayton and the Washington Agreement to weaken and destroy HRHB, throwing the AVNOJ BiH unitarists’ and Bosniak ultranationalists / Islamists a bone, to entrench RS and raise it to de facto independent state.
HDZ didn’t do anything to reverse or stop it once it came to power.
And the rhetoric by SDP (save Picula, who seems to have genuinely taken up the BH Croat cause along with Davor Stier) in regards to the position of BH Croats is just that, rhetoric, with the hope of one day splitting the BH Croat vote for election (too bad when Perki gets convicted, SDP is going to be declared a criminal party as it is the successor party to KPH whose heads ordered all of the assassinations).
RS has its de facto independence, but its poorer than the worst ghettos and trailer parks that I have seen anywhere East of the Mississippi, and the cronyism and tycoonization in RS makes Croatia look like an orderly Austria.
That and they are held together by a slither of territory in Brcko. The problem is that the Bosniaks are so delusional that theys till believe they will make the entirety of the Federation their own personal prcija, and would rather, in the event of foreign forces / OHR pullout, go to war with and against the Croats than the Serbs, whose territorial gains they have already written off as a loss. They are obsessed with an outlet to the sea and territorial continuity at the expense of the smallest nation in BiH, Croats (path of least resistance in their eyes).
I disagree with you Ina, BiH was a colonial creation (Turko-Austrian) with no historical legitimacy, and it is now a bankrupt international protectorate where Croats rights’ have been systematically violated since mid-December 1999, with a crescendo of applaus from the international community and international media.
The only way to save BiH as a state is to abolish both RS and the Federation and institute cantonization. Bosniaks, save a small minority like the intellectual Enver Kazaz, are entirely against this as they see BiH like the Serbs saw YU – theirs exclusively. They want no reorganization other than a unitary BiH under Sarajevo’s direct control, with one-man one-vote.
The sooner the state collapses and Croats leave with W Hercegovina, Central Bosnia and what is left of Croatian Posavina, and Croatia reinforces its strategic depth, the better. There is no economic freedom for Croats, Croats are subsidizing Bosniaks (and Serbs) lives and lifestyles with minimal or no reinvestment into Croatian areas, and no one, neither Serbs nor Bosniaks, even pretend to treat Croats as equal citizens, let alone neighbors.
It is a long farce that has to come to an end. Croats want the most logical thing, cantonization, while Serbs want total independence and union with Serbia, and the Bosniaks total control of the entire state politically, economically and militarily, so that they can tax and dictate to Croats and Serbs that they are not Catholic Croats or Orthodox Serbs but Bosnian Catholics and Orthodox Serbs. It is entirely incompatible.
The brain dead crash victim needs to be taken off of life support for once and for all.
You summarise the reality why BiH cannot survive as a whole, therealamericro – equality cannot be achieved in such politically corrupt circumstances. I agree with you, Croats are as doomed as ever there with the Serbs and Bosniaks trying to outdo each other for supremacy within the Dayton set “borders”. Your comments reminds us well why Bosnian Croats needed help from Croatia and still do. My fear is that if Republika Srpska “slips” into independence it will revive the horrors of early 1990’s for further expansion beyond borders.
Ina: the Serbs are the least of our (HRHB Croat) worries right now, and will be in the future.
The problem is 1) Neoyugoslav government 2) Bosniak ultranationationalist unitarists and Islamists 3) OHR 4) UN / International community.
Right now, the Serbs are an afterthought.
Agree with you there therealamericro but still their agenda will be at front lines and so will Bosniak quest for control – international forces often contain links with movements within so too is the case here as it was in early 1990’s – the memory is fresh of Serb controls almost everywhere in the ex-Yugoslavia so I suppose the neoyugoslavia concept is not different…all in all for Croats it means continued struggles unfortunately
Yep, therealamericro – the plot and tides are truly against Croats in BiH (HRHB) just as they were in early 1990’s
Bosniaks and Croats lose District Brcko to fraudulent population census:
“U Distriktu Brčko Srbi čine 43 posto stanovnika, Bošnjaci i Hrvati zastupljeni su istim postotkom od 26,9, (što je krajnje sumnjivo) a ostalih je 3,2 posto. Rezultati popisa u Brčkom upućuju na zaključak da se u tom distriktu desila velika prevara na popisu, jer su u Bošnjaci u ovoj opstini 1991 godine činili 44% ukupnog stanovništva i većina ih se u taj Distrikt vratila nakon rata.” http://popisstanovnistvaubih2013.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/rezultati-popisa-bosnjaci-cine-48-stanovnistva-manje-nego-ocekivano/
The Serbian state suffered? Yeah, sure Mr. Dodik, that’s absolutely why Serbs in RS continue to gain while leaving ethnic Croats of those areas in the dust; scattered around the world, with little hope of coming back to their homeland and creating a prosperous life. The problem is that Bosnian-Croats simply do not make enough of an effort to stand against RS, with many just accepting the reality, as if creating a semi-independent state out of ethnic cleansing and genocide is no big deal and we all just have to get over it and accept the “rights” of Bosnian-Serbs. Sure, this postcard is a great symbolic effort, but it will not make much of a difference politically and that is where changes need to be made.
It’s evident Kat that Croats are intimidated and scared there – the scars of horror still bleeding… a new force is needed to make shifts away from what Serbs are doing
I think you’re onto something there, Ina. I think it all started with Mesic and co. and their friends in the media and it continues to this day. What I am referring to is the Croatian political powers and the media, blatantly throwing insulting claims of Nazism/fascism at Croatians who try and speak the truth about what has happened and what is happening. Just look at one very good example, and that is the treatment of Marko Perković Thompson across many media outlets WITHIN Croatia. (It starts in Croatia and spreads internationally). Numerous lies written about him and numerous exaggerations about the “problematic” aspects of his concerts. He was even banned in Pula because the powers that be do not like his message. All these problems stem from old Yugonostalgics and their indoctrinated younger generations. If Croatia was truly upholding a free, democratic republic, there is no way a Croatian entertainer would be banned from performing in his own country just because he hold different beliefs from city officials. Seeing such problems occur, Croatians become more apathetic and intimidated to take a strong stance because they’re aware that doing so comes will come with attempts to muddy their reputation and this of course, extends to Bosnian-Croats too. That, or people are really more ignorant and selfish than I thought.
I agree, Kat – and I have no doubt that it is of the greatest importance to condemn and convict every communist crime, that way a balance of the negative can be achieved (if we can call that a balance), double standards will disappear and Croatia’s generation of today and tomorrow will be able to move forward with the ease it deserves
In all honesty Ina, this was to be expected from the get go with this creation of a false state within a false state, its impossible to have two political and social entities that both want to claim the same things that they really both don’t have a right to and must use force to achieve their goals whether it was militarily or politically. The serbs stating that they were there before everyone else even though King Tomislav let them in (Bog knows why) and the Bosnians aka, (Muslim Croats and the occasional serb), the term started with the ottomans and was a name for the croats of that regions because they were near the bosnian river, started claiming that they are a race and the territory as a state when that state never in the history of balkans hadn’t existed until the creation of it in 1946 by Tito, while suppressing politically everyone who isn’t one of them or for their state, especially us, while also taking our money to be spent on themselves instead of our areas where it is needed. In the end I hate to says this but hopefully Republika Srpska leaves so this failed Yugoslav experiment can be finally put down like it should have been at dayton, so our people in Bosnia can actually break away and come with us instead of being abused by both our enemies, and maybe actually help us fix our problems whether they be economic or political as well.
Yes Anonymous, history has much to answer for but in the 21st century perhaps we can right the wrongs?
I may not understand everything, but all I can say is I wish for world peace 🙂
Wishing for peace – Me too Inigo Boy 😀
QUOTE: So, in order to counter Serb propaganda, Croatian govt. adopts a Constitution that intentionally omits the five WWII years off its historical timeline and with that of course it omits and negates all those who died fighting for an Independent State of Croatia; as well as those civilians and unarmed military killed by the hundreds of thousands AFTER WWII by Tito and his Partisans. ENDQUOTE
Yes. The propaganda / logic and rhetoric technique is called inversion (the most successful technique in psychological / media warfare, btw.). It was in Croatia’s case, quite successful.
Those five years were then, and now, a political / diplomatic / media / media wafare / propaganda kiss of death. Germany nor the Vatican would have NEVER recognized us were we to include NDH in Croatia’s Constitution, because they would have never been able to weather the diplomatic / media storm despite their disproportionate power within Europe and the world – if they wouldn’t have been able to, what would have happened to little Croatia then? I will tell you: it would have been reduced to everything north of Velika Gorica, with Milosevic being given an honorary doctorate at Harvard and the Nobel Peace Prize for “defeating genocidal Croatian fascism.”
It was omitted on purpose, and will certainly remain ommitted in the future, however so-called “SRH” will be ommitted along with it once a real government comes to power, and once Lustration is finally enforced in Croatia.
That is a very good thing.
QUOTE: I suppose some would think that it’s fair game to re-victimize the victims in order to gain political points with potential supporters but I am not one of those. ENDQUOTE
Life is not fair, neither is geopolitics, you deal with the cards you are handed and try to maximize outcomes with them. Croatia under Tudman maximized its potential to the fullest. HRHB was a defacto reality on the ground until the foreign centers of power but that treasonous, libellous, false witness bearing, war profiteering bearded degenerate Stipe Mesic into power along with that Yugoslav relic Racan, and they carried out the foreign centers of powers’ bidding and systematically defanged and destroyed Croatia from within.
State policy, be it military, political, economic and especially in Croatia’s impossible, entirely against the odds fight in 1990-1995, cannot ever and should not ever be guided by individual feelings. Croatia needed international recognition (diplomatic / legal legitimacy) in 1990, and it quite frankly still needs it, and will need it in the future. NDH is a diplomatic and media kiss of death that would, if included in the constitution, leave Croatia entirely isolated and give the Serbs all of the initiative and foreign support they ever wanted and needed immediately. I’ll take NDH over SRH any day of the week but both are gone and Croatia has created a free, sovereign parliamentary democratic state and needs to move on, strengthen itself, and the position of HRHB Croats. Putting NDH in the constitution is doing the Serbs / anti-Croat Westerners hate speech and bidding for them. It was, and remains, a total autogoal.
QUOTE: Frankly, its getting old, this constant excusing of the inexcusable. Is nothing sacred? ENDQUOTE
Read Stepinac’s remarks on NDH to answer that question.
QUOTE: Is there no line that just shouldn’t be crossed no matter what the political repercussions? ENDQUOTE
Some repercussions are too costly. If the entire Serbian / pro-Serb Western media and academic establishment were working to paint Croatia in the 1990s as the new NDH and Tudman as the new Pavelic, it is a logical deduction that putting NDH in the constitution would be a very bad, if not fatal move.
QUOTE: It’s an easy excuse to say that it was a necessity in times of war to do things that in peace time would never be considered. From 1990 to 2010 HDZ held power in Croatia for 16 years; five years during the war and eleven years during peacetime and there were no changes made then to the constitution so I’m unsure on what you base your hopes of any future changes. ENDQUOTE
There has been no legitimate government in Croatia since early December, 1999. Every government was a puppet to (anti-Croatian) foreign centers of power looking to weaken Croatia. Tudman as the wartime and post-war leader could have never done it without reversing all of the diplomatic advances he, thanks to the will of the Croatian people and the extraordinary efforts and performance of Croatian military, police and intelligence, achieved.
All Croatia needs is a lustration law and a revision of the constitution to remove any mention of the puppet province, which is exactly what it was, SRH. Everything that is needed (interenational recognition, standing military / police, intelligence, NATO and EU membership) is in place. One addition would be a comprehensive diaspora return plan, which no party has authored to date.
QUOTE: You are right, the Croatian govt. did all they could to distance themselves from NDH and in so doing only gave credence to the anti-Croatian smear campaign the Serbs inherited from their Yugo/Communist compatriots. ENDQUOTE
By not mentioning NDH in the Constitution? How is NDH being mentioned in the consitution, which would have been a greater Serbian / pro-Serb international community propaganda coup detat that would have “justified” all of Croatia turning into a giant Ovcara, a pre-requisite for the fight for independence from Serb dominated Communist Yugoslavia and the creation of a sovereign, parliamentary democratic state, when NDH itself was not a democracy?
By mentioning NDH in the constitution Croatia would have been doing E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what Belgrade, London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing and other anti-Croatian elements wanted.
Thank you on this comment therealamericro
My pleasure Ina.
I would add a change to the election law where candidates, not parties, are voted for. This musical chairs game played since 1990, while it may have served a purpose in the war and even immediately after, is detrimental and prevents politicians from being held accountable.
Music to my ears, therealamericro – the good thing about candidates being voted in is that if they falter, they’re out (and party regroups) … bi-elections held and it’s anyone’s game – so they’re kept on their toes
While forgiveness can occur, i agree about not forgetting. remembering (and not forgetting) is about learning and paying forward the hard lessons that were learned
So true that, psychologistmimi – if one forgets one never really revisits, no need to learn how to do better etc etc Cheers!
Never forget Krizancevo Selo massacre! 74 Croatians brutally massacred! Herceg Bosna svoje sinove dala a nigdje joj ni rijec hvala! HRHB
Number one issue is as has always been our own disunity. The HDZ BiH divide into two HDZ BiH and HDZ BiH 1990 ilwas supported by Sanader and engineered by Karamarko through support and financing from UK intelligence services MI6. Now municipalities where Croats are the majority are falling to SDA because of split votes. HDZ 1990 and Zivko Budimir are perfect examples of the true problems of our people..betrayal and disunity. Sami smo sebi najveci dusmani i sami smo mi krivi…dok se ne probudi nasa svijest kletva Kralja Zvonimira i dalje vazi…
Thank you on your comment Narod Hrvatski – I agree we need to take better care of ourselves and protect the Croatian being better
The Croats had concentration camps in Bosnia. Why not talk about those? Not everything was the fault of the Bosnian Serbs. I know Croatians love that narrative, but let’s not forget the atrocities committed by the Croats.
A Random Greek on the internet – YOU CANNOT COMPARE SERB GENOCIDAL AGGRESSION WITH THE VICTIMS’ NEED TO DEFEND ITS OWN LIFE! You cannot even compare the camps either! Nobody here is saying that some Croats did not commit war crimes but I would suggest you read a book “Poaching in the Hague” which is a big book on facts regarding The Hague and its trials when it comes to Croats…