Slobo's Dead

The dark prince of Serbia, dead at 64. Slobadan Milosevic, the man largely responsible for the untimely and unfairly gruesome, destruction of former Yugoslavia and its people, was found dead in his cell (more like a 3-star hotel room) earlier this week in Hague...weaseling out of the inevitable verdict that was to be handed down. Reports indicate he suffered a fatal heart-attack brought on by multiple heart ailments, and not the result of a suicide, a popular method of self-disposal among his fellow Serb war-criminals, and his family tradition.

It's difficult to feel sorrow for an individual such as this, easily comparable to Hitler, Stalin and Hussain...but the awful legacy he leaves behind is an interesting one, and full of valuable life's lessons that we can all learn from...I can just picture "Don't Do What Slobo Does" childrens' books and instructional videos like "The Quickest Way to Hell via the Slobo Express". But, for all that's happened, I'm sure Slobo never intended it to end this way. He just had this anti-talent for causing the opposite of what he really wanted. Let's look at his resume: He said he wanted a unified Yugoslavia, but under his leadership it became 5 different nations. Then he said he wanted a Great Serbian state, yet Serbia is now smaller than ever, and it shares a name with an obscure little province called Montenegro. He wanted to be seen as a hero and be loved by his Serbian people, yet, he's brought them universal shame and many even opposed his burial on Serbian soil. Talk about a guy who just couldn't get it right. Still, where most of the world saw the devil, he saw himself as an angel. Is it denial or just a matter of perspective?

As I hinted at above, Slobo lost both parents to suicide at an early age...a devestating set of circumstances for anyone to deal with, which probably explains why he was so nationalistic. Lacking parents, he saw his Serbian people as his family, one he'd do anything to keep strong and protect, at the expense of everyone else. Didn't Hitler have issues with his family too, as did countless other tyrants? We really should screen future world leaders for traumatic childhoods before electing these people to such high power positions. Media, forget all the dirt on who slept with whom, and who smoked what...get the mental trauma stories...the scoops that really matter!

One of the judges at Hague summed it up best when she said "it is with great sorrow that I announce Slobodan Milosevic's passing...for he'll never allow his victims to see true justice" by dying before the verdict. Burn!