Milosevic

Adam Lebor

At the core of Adam Lebor's biography is the story of western nations - and Serbs themselves - failing to deal with Milosevic in the early 1990s and allowing him to dismantle Yugoslavia and render Serbia a gangsterocracy. Chief amongst those who cosied up to Milosevic were British politicos like Lord Owen and Lord Hurd. By the way, read Owen's Balkan Odyssey for a monumentally turgid account of the Bosnian episode in the Milosevic story. The Americans also notoriously feted him at the Dayton peace talks. Lebor reveals they found his "Balkan rogue" image somewhat charming - he boogied and karaoked the night away in Dayton while the other camps - the Bosnian Muslims, the Croats and the Bosnian Serbs - allowed themselves to be frozen out.

One of the Americans involved in nailing Milosevic has a telling quote: "We knew from the beginning he was part of the problem. We just didn't realise for years that he could never also be part of the solution". And for a long time it did seem that Slobba was the man to rein in the Bosnian Serbs even though, as a military force, they were his creation. Certainly his growing irritation with his proteges in Pale was genuine. Hindsight is a beautiful thing; realpolitik rarely is.

The Milosevic trial in the Hague is to last several years more. Apparently it's already an established part of the tourist trail in The Netherlands. One of the few Brits who saw exactly what the west was dealing with in Milosevic was Paddy Ashdown. Ashdown addressed Milosevic's trial recently and said "I warned you that you would end up in this court. And here you are."