(The content of this article is based on authoritative historical data, and there are literature citation sources at the end of the article)
In 2001, in the war-torn land of Serbia, a dramatic event shocked the world.
When former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested, his daughter, Maria, in a fit of rage, drove at gunpoint into a police car and fired five shots at the vehicle her father was escorting. This shocking scene witnessed the fall of the Milosevic regime and heralded the end of an era.
After a series of tumultuous wars, Milosevic was forced to abandon Kosovo, a territory considered the "land of dragons" for the Serbs, under pressure from the international community. He then lost the 2000 election to the opposition that had been wooed by the West, and was ousted from his long-term power.
Although Milosevic himself was humble and generous at one point, the West did not intend to let him go. Under the leadership of his political rival Djindjic, Milosevic was eventually arrested in 2001 and transferred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to await a trial for genocide.
The tide is raging in Kosovo
The roots of the Kosovo problem can be traced back to the early 90s of the last century. With the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Albanian people of Kosovo began to seek independent self-government.
As the leader of the remaining Yugoslavia, Serbia under Milosevic is firmly opposed to Kosovo's secession claims. The escalating confrontation and conflict between the two sides on this land eventually led to the outbreak of the Kosovo War in 1998.
Faced with resistance from Kosovo's militants, the Milosevic regime ordered a military crackdown on Kosovo. The Serbian army launched a large-scale operation in Kosovo, resulting in a large number of Albanian civilian casualties.
This practice quickly drew condemnation from the international community and the attention of NATO. In February 1999, under the auspices of NATO, Serbian representatives and the Kosovo camp held peace talks in the Rambouillet Forest area in France.
The Rambouillet Conference was not a real negotiation between the two sides. NATO has drawn up the elements of a reconciliation plan in advance, demanding the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo, a high degree of autonomy for the Kosovo region, and the stationing of NATO multinational forces in Kosovo to supervise its implementation. This is effectively tantamount to depriving Serbia of its sovereignty in Kosovo.
Faced with such harsh conditions, Milosevic resolutely refused to sign the peace treaty. He said that he would never accept such an agreement that "humiliates the country by losing power and humiliating the country." In contrast, the Kosovo camp ultimately chose to compromise, signing the agreement under pressure from NATO.
Milosevic's intransigence led to a 78-day NATO airstrike on Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999.
The war completely destroyed Yugoslavia's already collapsing economy, taking a $2 billion toll on the small country. After losing the haunting territory of Kosovo, Milosevic was eventually forced to step down after losing to the opposition in the 2000 general election.
As the "land of the dragon" of the Serbs, Kosovo is of great significance to the Serbs. Milosevic was forced to give up the territory, and his regime was on the verge of an end. He was once domineering, and he is destined to experience a more difficult fate in the future.
Opposition fox tail
The 2000 election marked a turning point in the decline of Milosevic's regime. In the first round of voting, he received 40.23 percent of the vote, but he was far behind the candidate of the opposition coalition "Serbian Opposition Democratic Bloc", Kostunica.
This coalition of 19 opposition groups has actually received strong support and training from the United States and Western countries.
In order to smoothly oust Milosevic in this election, the United States spared no effort to manipulate the opposition forces. The Americans not only trained Serbian opposition personnel in Hungary, teaching them everything from organizing marches to making leaflets, but also hand-picked two representatives to support them, one of whom was Kostunica, who later became a presidential candidate.
After the results of the first round of voting, the Kostunica camp claimed that the counting process was fraudulent and demanded that the ballots be rechecked, but the EC refused. As a result, the "opposition democratic camp" staged increasingly large protest marches in Belgrade, culminating in direct control of the capital on October 4, forcing the Constitutional Court to rule that Kostunica was elected president.
Just one day before Kostunica's inauguration on October 7, Milosevic opted to hand over power peacefully. He was graceful at the handover ceremony, wishing the people and his successor, and then retired to a private villa on the outskirts of the city, intending to retire to the countryside.
However, Milosevic's troubles are far from over. The U.S. government immediately began a new round of pressure on the new authorities to arrest Milosevic and transfer him to an international tribunal for trial for genocide.
This task fell first and foremost to Kostunica. Out of consideration for safeguarding national interests, Kostunica categorically rejected the unreasonable demands of the US side, saying that even the trial should be conducted in China.
The Americans were furious at this and quickly targeted another pro-American element - the new Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic. Djindjic was originally a politician raised by the Americans, having previously served as mayor of Belgrade and even turned to the West during NATO air strikes. In order to obtain funding and support from the United States, Djindjic did not say a word this time and happily agreed to the request for the arrest of Milosevic.
On 30 March 2001, Djindjic, bypassing the President and the Constitutional Council, ordered the Belgrade police to go to Milosevic's private house in an attempt to arrest him. That night, a large number of SWAT officers rushed to the area around the villa and confronted Milosevic's personal bodyguards.
It was at this critical moment that Milosevic's daughter, Maria, a gun-obsessed "tough guy daughter," made a crazy move. She advised her father to shoot himself, preferring to die rather than be arrested in humiliation by the West.
Although Milosevic rejected his daughter's offer, when he was finally arrested in a neat suit, Maria drove after the escort car with a gun and fired five shots at the body, which was shocking.
Prison feathers are waiting to be thrown
Milosevic's fortunes became even more bumpy after his arrest. This was despite a promise from then-President Kostunica that Milosevic would be tried at home and would not be extradited.
But under the manipulation of Djindjic and the U.S. government, Milosevic was eventually transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague in 2001.
Milosevic was tried before the Tribunal in February 2002 and is charged with more than 60 felonies, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and massacres. As a person familiar with the law, Milosevic personally defended himself, categorically denying any charges and questioning the legitimacy of the tribunal itself.
What followed was a long and tortuous trial process. During the adjournment, Milosevic was held in the United Nations prison in The Hague, along with a number of other suspects accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
Although he is the highest-ranking in this prison, the United States deliberately portrays Milosevic's good living conditions in prison, as if to appease the public in Serbia.
However, the reality is far from what the US has advertised. The long period of house arrest, coupled with the aging of Milosevic, has deteriorated his health. On March 11, 2006, after five years in prison, Milosevic died of a sudden myocardial infarction at the age of 66.
News of Milosevic's death caused a great deal of repercussions in Serbia. When his body was transported back to Belgrade from the Netherlands on March 15, thousands of people spontaneously went to the airport to express their condolences with flowers and photos of Milosevic, despite the heavy snowfall. Over the next three days, more than 50,000 people across Serbia took to the streets to remember the long-time leader in their own way.
In stark contrast, Djindjic, Milosevic's old enemy, was already dead. In March 2003, Djindjic, who had just finished "selling his life" for the Americans, was suddenly shot and killed at a government meeting.
Djindjic, who had always been a pawn of the West and a stealing life, finally lost the life of a dog, which makes people lament the impermanence of life and the cruelty of power play.
Woe to poor people and short-mindedness! Milosevic and Djindjic, two former rivals, one had to bow his head in order to protect his country, and finally died in a cage with hatred; The other betrayed the country for his own selfish interests, and the result was never recovered. Their experiences bear witness to the smoke of that turbulent era, and also reflect the dark side of the power struggle.
There is no guilty quibble
After Milosevic's death in prison, his trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague continues. It wasn't until 2016, exactly 10 years after Milosevic's death, that the verdict was finally handed down in the longest war criminal trial in history.
In its judgement, the Tribunal made it clear that, despite the evidence that Milosevic intended to remove the Bosnians and Croats by force, it did not find that he was directly involved in or explicitly endorsed the genocide against non-Serb civilians. Based on this, the court ultimately found that there was insufficient evidence and acquitted Milosevic.
This result is ironic. Milosevic was arrested and imprisoned for many years, and eventually died in hatred, while the so-called "crimes" against which he was charged could not be proven, and the whole trial process was more like a farce. It is obvious that bringing Milosevic to justice as a "scapegoat" is the result of political manipulation by Western countries.
In fact, during the course of the trial, Milosevic himself repeatedly stressed that the provisional international tribunal in The Hague itself is illegal, and its verdict cannot be universally accepted and recognized by all countries. It is not difficult to see that the tribunal has had serious legal deficiencies from the outset.
Looking back at the origins of the whole incident, the course of the peace talks in the Rambouillet Forest has already exposed the sinister intentions of Western countries in interfering in the issue of the former Yugoslavia.
NATO's pre-conceived reconciliation plan is tantamount to depriving Serbia of its sovereignty in Kosovo; After Milosevic refused to sign, NATO used even more force and launched a 78-day air raid on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Since then, the general election has been manipulated by Western countries. The "Serbian Opposition Democratic Bloc," a coalition of 19 opposition groups, was itself established with funding and guidance from the United States. And Kostunica and Djindjic, the two protagonists in manipulating the direction of the election, are pro-American elements carried by Western countries.
The most stark scene occurred at the time of Milosevic's arrest. Although President-elect Kostunica rejected the request for Milosevic's extradition out of national interest, Djindjic, a politician who only believes in the United States, ignored the constitution and ordered his arrest on the basis of his own selfish intentions.
From Rambouillet and the manipulation of the election results to Milosevic's arrest and trial, the whole incident reflects the rogue nature of Western countries that wantonly interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and inflict humiliation. They have spared no effort to suppress a tiny country, trying in vain to distort history and inculcate their own values, and their methods can be described as ruthless and outrageous!
We have reason to abhor the United States and the West for doing so, and we should learn a lesson from it. In today's chaotic international situation, no country should be wantonly bullied and oppressed. We should work together to defend national sovereignty and national dignity! Only by always keeping a clear head and being highly vigilant can we avoid the fate of being deceived and being bullied.
Resources:
- International Court of Justice Ruling on the Legacy of the former Yugoslavia: Serbia did not commit genocide (Gloria)
- Succumbing to the pressure of Western countries, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia attacked Milosevic, and Milosevic was arrested (Qingdao News Network)
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