Entry-7 Reflection

                I think the best part of blogging blue jays was getting to learn about something, that I might not of otherwise. I was interested in a lot of it. I am glad that I got learn about all of it.

                The thing I didn’t like about was the fact that the one I chose was confusing at first. It took me awhile to really understand what it was that I was suppose to right about. I started to just right random things down, till I realized what I was writing about.

                If I could do the assignment over, I wouldn’t do too much different. For the most part I would have researched more. When it came to writing all my entries, I realize that I didn’t have enough information.

Works Cited

"Bosnian Genocide | World Without Genocide." Bosnian Genocide | World Without Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

Ching, Jacqueline. Genocide and the Bosnian War. New York, NY: Rosen Pub. Group, 2009. Print.

Danner, Mark. "Ethnic Cleansing in Former Yugoslavia." Ethnic Cleansing in Former Yugoslavia. N.p., Apr. 1992. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

"Genocide in Bosnia." Genocide in Bosnia. Holocaust Museum Houston, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.

"The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: Bosnia-Herzegovina 1992-95." The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: Bosnia-Herzegovina 1992-95. The History Place, 1999. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

Horvitz, Leslie Alan., and Christopher Catherwood. Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide. New York: Facts on File, 2006. Print.

Lindquist, David. Ethnic Cleansing, Yes; Genocide, No: Textbook Coverage of Ethnic Violence in the Former Yugoslavia. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.

Massimo, Calabresi. "The Lessons of Bosnia." Time Swampland n.d.: 179. Web.

Rockler, Walter, and David Roberts. "Ethnic Cleansing, When and Why It Started in Kosovo,." Ethnic Cleansing, When and Why It Started in Kosovo,. Campaign for Justice for the Peoples of Yugoslavia, Jan. 2003. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.

Entry-5 World response 

                “The ethnic violence that occurred in the former Yugoslavia during the mid-1990s has become one of the defining events of recent history. As such, today’s students should develop and awareness of the history of that situation and implications for contemporary society” (Lindquist, Ethnic cleansing; yes, genocide, no; textbook coverage of ethnic violence in former Yugoslavia). This is why it is important for us to learn about this. If we didn’t learn about this, we would never know about the sacrifices and courage people had.  Kids wouldn’t know about all the things that could have happened in their family, or families around them. The Dayton accord is what ended the 1991-95 Blackens war. It was a negotiation that Serbs and the US had. It stated that, partitioning Bosnia into two main portions known as the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation. It also stated that they have democratic elections and stipulated that war criminals would be handed over for prosecution. The reason the Serbs decided to do this was because of the fact that Bosnian Muslims and the Croats had taken half of Bosnia back, so they didn’t have much of a choice. “Peace has been maintained by a force of 31,000 NATO peacekeepers called the stabilization force, or gent of troops from the European Union” (Horvitz 49). The authorities have also maintained influence over the media and restricted their freedom of speech and press. So after everything that has happened, they loss so much. They loss supplies, food and water. They even loss a lot of the people there that were educated. So now the unemployment is going up, a lot. They say they started this out of “fear”. But what did the Muslims and Croats do that made them so afraid? And in the end, all the Serbs did was give up because they didn’t have really anything else to do, and now Bosnia is not a great place to be right now.

Entry-4 World response 

                After everything was over, things in Bosnia were not good. The town is littered with ruins and old buildings. Most people that lived there are leaving. No one really wants to go back there. If they do they won’t have much of anything. There is very little water, food and other supplies now. And the educated people that lived there are leaving so find better places. There aren’t many places to work there. The people that seemed to want to help the most were the UN. They are the ones that sent troops out to help the distribution of medicine and food to the Muslims. But that’s all they did. The UN, Unites states, and the European Union would not let their troops interfere. And everyone knew what was going on. There were media reports all about the mass killings and the secret camps. But no one seemed to care, they just went ahead and let Serbs commit genocide. When Bill Clinton became president he made sure to help Bosnia. He issued an ultimatum through NATO, Serbs were to withdraw their weapons from Sarajevo. The US kept trying help, but Serbs kept attacking. “Bosnian Serbs not only attacked the Safe Havens but also attacked the U.N. peacekeepers as well. NATO forces responded by launching limited air strikes against Serb ground positions. The Serbs retaliated by taking hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers as hostages and turning them into human shields, chained to military targets such as ammo supply dumps”(Genocide in the 20^th century). August 30^th the US led a massive bombing, it lasted until October. Bosnian Muslims also got arms shipment from the Islamic country. As a result half of Bosnia was re-taken by the Muslim-Croat troops. Now after all of this Serb leader Milosevic was ready to talk about resolving this. He went to an air force base in Ohio on November 1^st 1995. After three weeks, they came to an agreement.

Entry-3 Victims

                The main people that were targeted were the Bosnian Muslims and the Croats. The Serbs said that they were attacking them because they were acting out of “fear”. Tons of the men that were captured went to concentration camps to be tortured and shot at. The women didn’t have it any better. They were gang raped thousands of times. “In May of that year, the UN security council declared six besieged Bosnian cities to be “safe areas” for refugees. The cities were Sarajevo, Bihac, Gorazde, Srebrenica, Tuzla, and Zepa. These safe areas were to be protected by UN peacekeeping troops using “all necessary means, including the use of force”” (Ching 33). But it didn’t do much to help. They still lost over 430,000 people. Men were never allowed to be seen in a house. If they were then they were taken away. There are some people today who were lucky enough to escape and are now trying to get law makers to recognize July 11^th 2011 as Bosnian Genocide Remembrance Day. Some of the people that lived through that say that they felt so safe in their neighborhoods and while they were among peers, but then, all of a sudden you can’t trust anyone around you. They want to make sure that people remember what they had to go through. So that when they have kids and grandchildren, they know about the history and all the terrible things that they were forced to live through. Some people remember being bused out to a certain point, then dropped off and forced to walk. Then they would hear sniper shots. This is something that people for generations should remember. If this is something everyone remembers, then they will hear about all the courage and sacrifice their family had or other families had to go through just to survive and be where they are today.

Entry-2 Leaders

                There were a lot of people who were part of what happened. After the genocide was over in 1995, most of the people who were the main leaders in this went into hiding. After a couple of years, they were eventually found. And they are now on trial for what they have done. One of them was Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. There where trials prepared for Rodocan Karadzic, Slobodan Milosevic, and Ratko Maldic for all their war crimes. It was Serb general, Ratko Maldic, that was on trial and said they did what they did out of fear. He was captured in May of 2011. Radovan Karadzic says, “He shouldn’t be accused for anything, but instead rewarded for all the good things he has done.” He also said “That he tried everything he could to try to stop everything, and even told them that he didn’t hate the Muslims.” But if did everything he says he did, why did he go into hiding in 1996, only to be found 13 years later? The people in the court room staring yelling out “he’s lying” while he was talking about not being responsible for everything that happened.  He faces 11 charges of war crime from the Bosnian war. He is also charged with crimes against humanity. More than 160 people have been charged with being part of the genocide. “Convictions have included Serb, Croat, and Bosniaks, though Serbians and Bosnian Serbs have faced a majority of charges” (Bosnian Genocide (1992-1995)). The former president Milosevic was captured in 2001. But he died in 2006 while in his cell. Radovan Karadzic was the supreme commander of the Serb armed forces. He was found in 2008 and is being tried on genocide charges. After the genocide was over in 1995, most of the people who were the main leaders in this went into hiding. But after a couple of years, they were eventually found. And they are now on trial for what they have done.

 

Entry 1- Background

                After World War II, the Balkans states of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia became part of Yugoslavia. But after the death of their long time leader, Josip Broz Tito, in 1980 growing nationalism between all the republics threatened to split up the nations. April 6^th, 1992 Bosnia-Herzegovina had declared independence from Yugoslavia. When this happened the Serbs started attacking the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslims) and the Croatians.  “Ethnic cleansing is a process in which advancing army of one ethnic group expels civilians of other ethnic groups from towns or villages it conquers in order to create ethnically pure enclaves for members of their ethnic group”(Danner, Faces of sorrow: Agony in the former Yugoslavia exhibition). This is what happened in Bosnia when they started attacking. “It should be remembered that Serbs had lived in Kosovo for generations and that Serbs regarded Kosovo as the cradle of their civilization” (Rockler, When and Why Did the Ethnic Cleansing Begin?). The Bosnian general Ratko Maldic says that he only did these things because he was acting out of fear, so the Serbs kept going. And it didn’t take long; three years later in 1993 they already had control of three quarters of the country, but not all Serbs felt the same way. Some of them even tried to help the Muslims. But if they were to get caught they would be considered traitors and killed. By doing all of this the population decreased by over 430,000 people, but not all of them were killed, some were lucky enough to escape from it all. But to this day some of the people are still considered missing; others didn’t get a proper funeral. This Genocide was a lot like the holocaust. People being lined up and shot at and killed, while women were raped. It truly was a horrific event.