10 YEARS AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF WAR
The arrest of Goran Hadzic, the last fugitive from the Balkan wars, sowing doubt about what will happen with the fervent desire of Serbia joining the European Union and in part on how it will develop from now onwards, the history of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), open court by the UN for almost twenty years and created exclusively to address the processes of arrest of the ringleaders of the genocide Balkans.
Charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, Hadzic was one of the many headaches of Serbian President Boris Tadic promised to arrest all war criminals from the former Yugoslavia. And he did it.
Goran Hadzic, wanted for at 5 million euros since 2004, was leader of the Serbs who fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 and president of the Serb Republic of Krajina, south of Croatia, who never enjoyed international recognition . He is accused of murder in just three days, 264 Croats who were admitted to the hospital in Vukovar in November 1991 by paramilitaries and members of the JNA. In addition, he is charged crimes of torture, persecution, murder, deportation and inhumane treatment of helpless civilians who did not share his ideology. After the arrest and extradition to The Hague of Ratko Mladic, and no leader is not involved in the crimes committed in the Balkans, decisive historical enclave and one of the starting points of the First World War.
Slovenia and Croatia ‘reinvent’
June 25 marked the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia when Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence and ended in February 2008 when Kosovo finally split from Serbia. With this there are six new states, seven if you include Kosovo is not recognized by the entire international community.
These twenty years ago left behind a Yugoslavia with a high standard of living and consumption, even compared to Western European countries, leading to some of the states that emerged from conflict are limited in their growth, a disadvantage when joining the European Union.
After the wars that took the horror to the heart of Europe, the United emerged from the former Yugoslavia and its subsidiaries weave new economic and cultural ties despite the nationalism. However, economic and cultural elite has never broken all ties. In the last five years, trade and cultural cooperation has been intensified, while doing business elites and oligarchs Balkan compete for the size of their yachts on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia.
Slovenia is the richest republic and part of the EU since 2004, despite the economic boycott of Slovenian products Serbian. Something that has been forgotten that, currently, over 410 Slovenian companies are present in the Serbian market with investments exceeding 500 million euros of ‘dubious’ origin (they think they are nouveau riche emerging from wars and political alliances supported with interests in the area), while Croatia, converted into an international tourist destination, hopes to enter in 2013.
Serbia, meanwhile, has been given little by little, small steps economic, political and also with the history with the goal of closing scars. Dropped the ultra nationalism and seems to have achieved political stability in the hand of Boris Tadic social approach which seeks to Europe.
However, the major victim of the Bosnian war is a deep political crisis, social and economic which arises, especially for being unable to overcome ethnic divisions and mistrust between Muslims, Serbs and Croats. Another barrier for this country is the lack of information on more than 10,000 missing in the war and the lack of a solution for more than a million IDPs unable to return to their homes. As for the economic and social, Bosnia is at the tail of the average wage, along with Serbia, with 150 and exceeds 33% unemployment.
Throughout the region the process of economic transition from socialism to capitalism has not ended and accelerated privatization essential part of economic strategies. This process causes many speculations about the origin of foreign investors: who is the cover of who? There are reasons, both economic and political: companies with English names and locations in the Caribbean islands are often local or regional capital of dubious origin, the source of such capital is often linked to war or, as the local press writes, is ” controversial and there is corruption. ”
International investors
Although the movement of capital between the former Yugoslav regions during the past six years is more than obvious, the biggest foreign investors remain: Swiss, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Greek and Russian. An example of this is that real estate sales are dominated by Russian oligarchs linked to the oil and gas, especially on the coast of Montenegro. On the other hand, the presence of U.S. companies is now only visible in the purchase or control of strategic management of some factories, while Bosnia has received investments from UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries causing the local banking sector will disappear with the arrival of large international financial institutions ..
However, this does not prevent cultural exchanges that are not visible and are even driven by international economic cooperation in the form of donations, which is reflected in the exciting and vibrant activity within the world of cinema and theater based the premise that to make money, create networks of regional contacts.