disgrace
Posted by popkitchen | Filed under politics
Let’s face it – no one reads Vanity Fair
for its journalistic objectivity, deadpan criticism of political hypocrisy or clear ideological views. Glossy photos, sensationalist, yet captivating writing style and unparallel access to the powerful and rich attract us to indulge in this magazine. Vanity Fair is after a story, not morals. In each issue you can read at least one glorifying profile of a head of organized crime, corrupted politician, international swindler or disgraced public figure.
So no wonder that the November issue brings a story of “The Rambo in the Balkans” as they call former Kosovo Liberation Army terrorist, Prime Minister and indicted war criminal Ramush Haradinaj in a piece entitled The House of War.
Before I proceed further, let me clarify my position. As everyone from my country, I am outraged by the acquittal of Haradinaj in March, in front of the International Tribunal for War Crimes in the Hague, which according to the judge himself does not prove his innocence, but the lack of evidence on the side of prosecution. Such perversion of justice is what is troubling, an article in a well-known magazine is just rubbing it in, yet after all it could be expected as a part of well-paid spin.
The article is written by William Langewiesche, political correspondent for VF and former pilot, who obviously gets off on stories of bloody killings, sieges and traditional tribal vendetta still persistent in Kosovo .
In his account, Haradinaj is definitely a problematic figure, but the way he describes what he calls The Battle of Gllogjan (village in Western Kosovo), you might mistake Haradinaj for Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwatzeneger. What he wall call “terrorist” in any other circumstance is a “guerilla commander” (the term is widely used in all other media institutions such as BBC or CNN) here. He frames the story in a way that you are aware that Haradinaj is no innocent lamb, but he wants you to overlook his “indiscretions”, to make him more human, as it was a war after all, no questions should be asked. Not about smuggling of weapons into Kosovo in mid-nineties, not about people he allegedly killed himself, not about the source of his income or payment of his legal defense, all of which are mentioned in the article. The prosecution, carried by headstrong Carla del Ponte, in his words was “flimsy, based largely on hearsay, while the witnesses are unreliable”. Witnesses killed and those who were threatened and withdraw their statements during the proceedings were conveniently left out of the picture.
What fascinates him further is the tribal organization of Kosovo rural society, blood for blood long-standing tradition, unwritten laws of vengeance, fortified houses Albanian families live in, shooting in the air, even through closed windows, to celebrate the liberation of a person whom they perceive as hero. “Gunfire is a Balkan language used to express all manner of moods”.
During his time in Kosovo, Langewiesche met with more liberal-minded Albanians, those who would like Haradinaj to retreat to his village, after he secured them the independence. One says that he cried when Haradinaj was acquitted, but does not want him to continue political career. For all the branding of Serbia as a deeply nationalistic society, there has always been a part of public discourse, actively condemning war crimes, even during the worst of repression in 1990’s. Post-2000, all Governments cooperated one way or another with the tribunal in the Hague. There have been trials held in Serbia. All of these efforts are not enough for the society to grapple with what had been done in their name, but some steps have been made. Until the same is done in Kosovo, there will be no reconciliation or any kind of progress made.
So does it work? Haradinaj is portrayed as complex, yet ultimately likable thug. But even the author himself can not escape the reality of life on Kosovo – fact that “Kosovar Serbs were hunkered down in their enclaves in fear and anger” while Albanians were celebrating, high unemployment, high involvement in drug trafficking and sex trade. In the beginning of the article, Haradinaj is on the airplane from Amsterdam to Vienna, talking to an unassuming Austrian. He talks about Kosovo, the Austrian asks “Do you have tourist there?”. “No, not yet. But we have good wine and beautiful women” war criminal replies.
Tags: angry rant, kosovo, serbia, vanity fair
November 10th, 2008 at 4:15 am
[...] View original here: disgrace [...]
November 18th, 2008 at 8:08 am
how can you call someone acquitted in a court a criminal ?
I think your blog commentary seems fueled by an emotional and uninformed bias.
you may want tp present evidence to support attacks on people;s character in future.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:30 am
1) this is a blog, that is my private opinion for objective reporting go to …. CNN or FOX News:)
I say where I am from and that it is shaping my opinion, because in this case it could not be any other way.
2) if several witnesses die during the trial, it is just a convenient, right?
3) the article itself says that Haradinaj killed people. It goes to great lengths to describe one incident during armed conflict and his “Rambo” skills.
The author writes “Some people believe that he might be guilty, but according to whose laws”. How about international laws of the Tribunal set up by the UN.
4) you might try to get informed about a person, before you start defending them. criminal connections, personal involvement in war, indications that he killed several people himself …. people might wonder what you are like if you are defending someone like Haradinaj.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:12 am
[...] a slightly different perspective – a post bellow is my emotional reaction to something I perceive as injustice, this post is about a talk [...]
December 1st, 2008 at 12:49 am
[...] posts a critique of a Vanity Fair profile of Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and former prime minister of Kosovo, [...]
December 11th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I am amused by the desciption of Ramush Haradinaj that you gave us. It seems like you know him personnaly. None of the point you stated have benne proven so far and i can not understand how people of your kind can state such things upon a person whilehaving so little proove. If we were to take into consideration judgement based on so litlle fact as the one you might have most people that ever had a certain authority in agiven field would end up in jail. Particularly in the case of Ramush Haradinaj wich had authority in a war which makes him the ennemy of the oppenent. So the oppenent will try to accuse him of various crime nomatter whether he has comitted them or not.
Best regards.
December 12th, 2008 at 1:08 am
My knowledge of Haradinaj is restricted from what I learned from the media, I make no attempt to hide that.
In this article they explain his youth as a bouncer in Switzerland (kind of a higher education, don’t you think?), then proceed to talk about him procuring guns for Albanian rebels illegally in the late nineties - which is what …. an ordinary Albanian citizen would do that? I am well aware that Albanians were against Milosevic and that they felt repressed under Serbian police (not comparable really, but many Serbs living in Serbia felt that), but majority of them did not go into guerilla fighting.
Then the author tells us about this clash Haradinaj and his brother had with Serbian forces. The author himself writes about people that Haradinaj killed.
On the other hand, the reports from his trail state that witnesses either decided not to give evidence or died. How very convenient.
So yes, I personally don’t have evidence that he is a war criminal (should I as a regular citizen?), but Milosevic was not involved in any crimes personally, yet in my mind there is no doubt about the fact that he is guilty of war crimes. And that if he lived longer, he would be convicted of it. Rightly.
Here is the thing that worries me. In order to move on, people in Serbia need to face up with what was done in their name. Not because ICTY demands that. But because of us. Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic are not heroes. They are everything but. So is Haradinaj. What is the future of Kosovo, if he is celebrated as an innocent? Can there be any dialogue and reconciliation with him at Kosovo’s helm?
February 20th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Here is an excellent post about the same Vanity Fair article
It’s in Croatian
http://www.e-novine.com/sr/kultura/clanak.php?id=19302
P.S. On a tech note turn on permalinks for posts in your WordPress will improve SEO of the site
February 20th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Ehej, hvala na linku. Oduvek sam mislila da postoji neka bliskost između mene i B. Dežulovića.
Malo sam sredila permalinks, sad pokazuje ime posta i kategoriju. Nemam ja toliko velike planove da bi se bavila SEO-om, tj. da hoću da se bavim blogom ozbiljnije trebalo bi da pišem više. A to nikako ne stižem.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
[...] court. There were several examples where the accused from non-Serbian side, particularly Oric and Haradinaj, were released after sitting through trials similar to those that Lazarevic, Pavkovic, Sainovic, [...]
June 12th, 2009 at 6:28 am
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