Milosevic Dead. Milosevic Who?

He's been out of sight and out of mind for a few years now. It's not that Serbian politics has been boring since he was deposed, after all. Much water passed under the bridge since and the life moved on a long time ago. He has not been a player, or of any importance, for a long time.

The post-Slobo era does not start today. It started in 2000. It should have started 15 years ago on this day, with the first demonstrations against him in Belgrade, starting on March 9, 1991, and lasting a week. The first Balkans people to see the tanks in the 1990s were citizens of Belgrade, students, us. That is when CNN became the third party of that war - on the wrong side.

The International Tribune will suffer the most - two deaths and two suicides in their prison over just a few months, including their star witness and their star prisoner. There is a lot of finger-pointing at them already, for not taking Milosevic's bad health seriously enough and for letting him die. They deserve all the scorn they will get and more....

Where is he going to be buried? This can be provocative. Gen.Rankovic, at the time of his death out of favor with Tito, was buried in the Alley of the Great (Aleja Velikana) anyway. The "speak no bad about the dead" idea is strong in that part of the world, and Milosevic will probably end up in the same place. Fine with me. Not that Nixon's body was buried in someone's back yard. There is a proper place for burying presidents even if they are crooks.

I just hope there is no provocation, some kind of an incident over the next couple of day before the funeral. After the funeral and all the pomp and chest-beating and political wailing, he will be forgotten AGAIN.

Here are some resources:

BBC:

Milosevic found dead in his cell
'He was determined to fight on'
Relief and regret in the Balkans
Milosevic's legacy of discord
Obituary: Slobodan Milosevic
Milosevic's legacy haunts Serbia
Worst outcome for Milosevic tribunal
Life in pictures: Slobodan Milosevic
In quotes: Milosevic death
Reaction from around the world to the death

B92 (in Serbo-Croatian):

Preminuo Slobodan Milošević
Reakcije na smrt Miloševića

On the blogs (a small sample):

Finally, the post-Milošević era
The last of the unholy trio has died
A eulogy
Milosevic Found Dead at the Hague in his cell
The Butcher of Balkans is dead
Milosevic dead: Reaction
Balkan countries sorry Milosevic escaped justice
Milosevic, Serbs and lessons about the World
MILOSEVIC - TEST YOUR MEDIA (this is actually all factually correct, so test your knowledge and confront your biases!)
Hague's Passivity Pardon
Slobodan Milosevic Died
Yes Its True - Yugoslav Leader Slobodan Milosevic Dies in Cell
Milosevic feared he was being poisoned
Slobo (or the Problem with International Tribunals)
The Despot is Dead. Vive le Despot

A loooong time ago on my blog, almost in passing:

Bush is Milosevic
On Clark and Shelton
Saddam trial - a historical parallel
Never Again