I’ve never thought a spring break would be this boring. Ann Arbor seems like a cowboy town even when the Sun shines the day brilliantly. My only hope is that I won’t rot in my room.
However, I just received my first copy of National Geographic Magazine yesterday. After about six months of its absence from my life, I welcome the magazine with an overjoyed heart. Its arrival is a goodly-timed arrival. No other time would be most suitable for it. If it had reached me later, certainly my only activity will be hibernation.
Oh how I remember its distinct smell, its distinct yellow border design, its interesting articles and its magnificent photographs. It reminds me of my younger days. It reminds me how innocent I was when I was small. It brings back sweet memories and usually, memory tells, when I was small, I would just stare at the front page, tantalized. Remembering that vivid memory, I tried to savor the front cover which features diamonds on a strawberry but what caught my eyes this time was not the red-monopolized photograph of the strawberry but rather, an article entitled “Danube River: Harmony and Discord”.
I know what the Danube is from listening to Johann Strauss’ classic – Blue Danube. Feeling interested, I skipped all of the other sections and immediately was amazed by a picture featuring the ruins of the Freedom Bridge, a bridge that once ran across the Danube in Novi Sad before it was bombed by NATO a few years ago.
Yugoslavia is the home of the Slovakian culture, the Russia’s closest ally. It’s also the home of Slobodan Milosevic who currently is being tried in the International Court of Justice at The Hague, The Netherlands.
The breaking up of Yugoslavia was the worst event in Europe’s recent history. Through the process of secession, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo were born, leaving Yugoslavia’s only member, Serbia’s naked in the open field. Embarrassed and torn apart, Serbia decided that the other states secession from Yugoslavia is unjustified and must be prevented. Thus, the Balkans War was initiated by Serbian leader named Slobodan Milosevic. Under his command, Serbia sent troops to Bosnia and Croatia but the Bosnians and the Croats fought back with the help of the world community. The war closed its curtain with Serbia announced as the loser. Serbia was shaken and left weakened by the result of the war. During this period of grimness, Kosovo sought a chance for independence and won. Kosovan win did not come easy as the Serb tried hard to deny the independence of Kosovo. Fortunately for Kosovo, the West sees the fall of Yugoslavia as the final victory against the Slovak. The West aided the Kosovas. The Russian too realized this and tried hopelessly to help their ally. In the end, the Kosovo and the world won but nationalism received its major blow.
Back in The Hague, Milosevic is not being charged of genocide. Milosevic is not being tried because of crime against humanity but he is simply being tried because he was just trying to defend his homeland from chaos. Of course, the world community says that Slobodan Milosevic is a monster but if we look more closely, we will find that his struggle is justified and sacred. He was fighting in the name of nationalism.
The media of the West has highlighted the fight for independence as holy but it is true only if one is being invaded by an antagonist. The Afghans War was a war for independence but the Balkans War was not. The Balkans War was a fight for perseverance of a nation. The Balkans War has a lot of similarities with the American Civil War. If Slobodan Milosevic is guilty as charged, then Abraham Lincoln should be tried for committing a crime against humanity and Margerat Thatcher should be jailed for refusing the independence of Northern Ireland. The South was only fighting for its independence. The Irish is only fighting for their independence.
Therefore, I plead to the world for Slobodan Milosevic’s innocence. He was merely defending his homeland. He was just trying to preserve the integrity of the once proud Yugoslavia.