The Balkan Butchers Captured or Dead. Why the European Union should help Serbia.

 Finally, the arrest of Ratko Mladic. Why so long. Facing the truth needs courage.

The Ghosts of unimaginable horror returned to haunt Europe, post Communism.
top, the Balkan Butchers, Sniping citizens in Sarajevo,
The gate sign at Auschwitz shortly before it was stolen.

It cannot escape the attention of those who know this story, the time and means Mladic managed to remained free in Serbia. Professional soldiers fighting for popular causes always win sympathy. But Ratko Mladic is no combatant to be proud of. A self declared enemy of a whole group of people he is cut from the same grain as the psychotic perpetrators of earlier crimes against humanity. Young Serbs I met at the beginning of the war agonized over the route their leaders were taking them, openly sobbing while discussing the unbelievable madness gripping their country and their future.

Some of that madness protected Mladic for so long. Now a new direction is planned. It should be noted that that direction is towards the European Union. Even in the midst of a financial crisis and citizen’s criticism of its management, the European Union still has a noble focus for Europeans. A focus which encompass ideology that within the new European family such barbaric madness will become less of an option to devise and operate. Within the EU, times of social chaos can be shared with and by the rest of the Union. It's the stuff of which to make Rome proud.

There are reasons, and Mladic is one of them, why the E.U. in Brussels must work hard to keep its ideals and founding spirits alive. An overweight privileged centralized clique will harm these principals. Whereas, a leaner and fitter service will provide better value, trust and a following. The E.U is not invincible, nothing is, but it is admirable that Serbs see the Union as a lightning rod for stability and a return to civilized politics.

Europe, through the Union, must focus on cleaning up legacies from its recent past. It must remove the ancient tribal European addiction to violence and horror against those who are labeled different but in reality are the very same.

Balkan wounds run deep and long. Much needs to be done to heal this part of Europe ripped apart in savagery. But the removal of the Butchers is a good day for Serbia.

Journalism Goes where Angels Fear to Tread, The Age of Belief is over Forever

Hurray for Communications.
Communication power highlights the mirage issues of cultural collision, the order of power and sterility of institutions no longer relevant to society. Within a decade of the digital revolution, political revolutions are back in vogue. Can it be because success breeds success. Change is here to stay. The world is better connected and we have nothing to fear from it. Can it also be that personal connections across social and political differences raise questions about the fundamental nature of our character. All is open to debate and the searching eye of modern journalism.

Poggibonsi was revealed to her as they sang--a joyless,straggling place, full of people who pretended.
 When she woke up she knew that it had been Sawston................ E.M Foster "Where Angels fear to tread"

We no longer feel afraid to question powerful circles that thrive on lies and fear. The human species is growing up. Fundamentalists are the last kickback of a dying system where people are asked to accept and believe in things they neither want or understand.
Although it did a fine job fooling all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time during the Dark ages, the Churches are finally exposed as just a private enterprise selling Heaven and Hell. Heaven and Hell is revealed ---a joyless, frightening place, full of people who pretend.

By cruel betrayal of patrons and clients in systematically brutalizing children in its care, Catholic power and faith towards human spirituality has passed from heaven to earth where people understand and accept the reality of human frailty. The age of belief is over forever. There will never be another heaven or hell. The age of new communications gives rapture to such fantasies before they can become facts.