As far back as 1791 the Marquis de Salaberry had described people in the Balkans s as “the unpolished extremities of Europe”.  There is some truth to this.  The countries, it seems to me, were all ruled by extremists.  And when you turn your country over to extremists no one should be surprised when lethal mayhem follows. And many believed it was inevitable that they would bubble over much as they had done in centuries past.  It seemed that this is exactly what happened. Murderous animosities fueled by memories of injustice and vengeance took over a whole nation. In 1992 the American Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger said, “Until the Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats decide to stop killing each other, there is nothing the outside world can do about it.” This is the same thing that happened in Gaza and Israel. The extremists led each to war and the ensuing slaughter was as vicious as you would expect.

According to the second view the Balkans tragedy was rather the fault of outsiders.  After all, as outlined over the past 2 centuries the Balkans had been fought over, conquered, divided, and exploited by others.  These exploiting countries included Turkey, Italy, France, England, Austria, Germany, and Russia.  They were to blame for creating the bad blood between the peoples.  The problem was not ethnic hostility, but rather imperial manipulation for the benefit of the colonizers at the dire expense of the colonized. The irresponsible interference of foreign countries magnified the local hostilities. According to this view, things like the overly hasty recognition of the independence of Slovenia and Croatia by some European countries such as Germany, led in 1991 to a decade of disaster. This view has the attractive feature of aligning with centuries of dominance and interference by outside countries.

While the causes may be muddy, it is clear that a decade of catastrophe followed.  It is important however not to let the local Yugoslavs off the hook. They were far from blameless. As Tony Judt said in his magisterial history of modern Europe, Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945,

“To be sure there was a lot of history buried in the mountains of the former Yugoslavia, and many bad memories too.  And outsiders did indeed contribute crucially to the country’s tragedy, though mostly through irresponsible acquiescence in local crimes.  But the break-up of Yugoslavia—resembling in this respect the dismantling of other former Communist states—was the work of men, not fate.  And the overwhelming responsibility for Yugoslavia’s tragedy lay not in Bonn or any other foreign capital, but the with the politicians in Belgrade.[Serbia]”

The key is to control the extremists. Don’t give in to them.  Once more that is what countries like Canada and the US must do. That is what Israel failed to do. Don’t give in to the loudest voices. Give in, if you must, to the dull boring middle, if you want to improve your chances. That’s really what pluralism and liberalism are all about.