Could it have been connection with the ruthless economic liberalisation forced on it by dogmatic Westerners at the end of the Cold War ?

Doug, London, UK

Might it have anything to do with Germany’s revived interest in the Balkans, and the hurried, railroaded EU recognition of Croatia as an independent state that suited German policy so well, but accelerated the bitter break-up of Yugoslavia?

Doug, London , UK

The EU, being a federation itself, likes to smash up other federal states before swallowing them – as we now seeing here.

Doug, London, UK

There were many parties interested in the dissolution of Yugoslavia: 1. The Germans wanted access to the Mediterranean via Croatia & Slovenia; 2. The US & Britain will always oppose & try to destroy strong States; 3. The Muslims want a foothold in Europe & have aspired to historically.

ian cheese, london, uk

Let me just remind people that today, in Croatia, it is a national holiday celebrating the biggest act of ethnic cleansing during the war. To this day, posters are displayed in towns and cities supporting Ante Gotovina during his trial in the Hague.

War is never just black and white

Dusan, Leeds,

France and Chirac plus Croatia intervened to save Bosnia. Iran helped Bosnia because the Bosnian Muslims are mostly Islamic Croats and the Croats are an ancient Iranian tribe. E.g. Iran offered 10,000 soldiers to the UN to defend Srebrenica but America rejected it. God bless Margaret Thatcher.

Shirley Jackson, Warsaw, Zagreb, Brussels, EU

Author should also know, that war could have nbeen avoided. Serb, Croats and Bosniaks, with strong push European push agreed at peaceful dissolution into 3 republics (Lisbon agreement). It was Izetrbegovich, who broke the agreement and started war, not Serbs.

Boris, New York, US

It was W. Zimmemrman of US who openly pushed Izetbegovich to break the agreement and staert war. and Clinton's administration coordinated supply of arms and Islamic fighters into Bosnia. These are facts, which US politicians would not want to surface on trial - hence the attempts to shift the blame.

Boris, New York, US

Serbs put fight with: Croats(Christians), Slovenians, Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, or let's say, pretty much with everyone that they neighbor. The idea was to clear the land from non-serbs, to make Serbia bigger. Now, they are saying that all world is against them, even International tribunal.

Bora Drljaca, Smederevo, Serbia

Serbs "opened the door to al-Qaeda and bin Laden?" Utter rubbish!! Modern Islamists like Khomeini's supporters in 1970s-80s and Hizbullah in Lebanon in the 1980s were employing terrorism, (e.g. hostage taking, suicide bombing) against Western targets LONG before Yugoslavia imploded in the 1990s.

Ann, Calif.,

Muslims had military units called 'Green berets' before the fighting started in Bosnia - trained in Muslim countries to take Bosnia
First victims in the 'war' were 2 Serbs - membs of wedding party shot by Muslim sniper in the church yard in Sarajevo
Serbs had to defend themselves - clumsily & no PR

savo, london, uk

This Harris is not to be taken seriously. Since Karadzic's arrest, all the usual suspects have popped up with their anit-Serb bigotry and chauvinism (Ashdown, Holbrooke, Silajdzic, Stewart). Harris should read Izetbegovic's writngs before pretending to understand bosnia.

Paul, London,

You're all ignorant people. You can call the hatred in the former Yugoslavia propaganda to the Serbian people, but it is really all of you who are being manipulated by the American Media.. thus their government. You were not in the war therefore you do not know the facts. Learn before speaking.

anja, ontario,

A simple fact of human nature- genocidal atrocities inflicted on a specific group of people will always unite the rest of them regardless of the groups religious beliefs. Mr Robin Harris is spot on. It's a good thing we have educated people in this world ... unlike some commenters below.

jayil, london, uk

Also just to add.. need anyone remind Americans of the "cleansing" of blacks and jews prior to WWII.. where PRESIDENTS were aware of the death camps created in order to have a perfect society. America was jealous of Hitler's rule only because he killed them faster..

anja, ontario,

Ed in NC, I will tell you why Damir in Des Moines lives in the US: ITs because he is going to college there.He hates the US but doesnt mind getting his education here, probably subsidized by US taxpayers.

Mike , NC, USA

Kosovan agents provocateur often carried out unreported terrorist murders upon Serbs with the full knowledge of western journalists, BBC correspondents certainly, who would then with the help of the same Kosovan terrorists be on hand to report in loud & anguished tones the reprisals

Steve, Sutton,

It is astonishing how islamic terrorism is always someone else's fault. It is either US or UK foreign policy, or Danish cartoons, and Rushdie, or now Karadzic. Thankfully, with anti-Semitic violence, we have matured past blaming anyone but the perpetrator. Time to approach islamism the same way.

Nick, Rotherham, UK

@ Phil, Preston.

You are clearly reading the Koran with a bigotted mind from the outset. If you read it with a clear mind with the intention to understand you would see plenty of peaceful verses which, when combined with the verses that teach self defense, will give you the complete picture.

Zecchetti, Bury St Edmunds, UK

Anyone who uses Islam or Christianity i.e. religion, to further their ends need their heads examined.

ian cheese, london, uk

It's useless to discuss with Serbs. Since primordial times no change has occurred only with crocodiles and Serbs.

Rohas, Sarajevo, BiH

I thought that one of the main reasons NATO didnt interfere sooner was the fear of how Russia would react to enemy forces getting closer to its borders.
In the end Islamist extremism has been here for centuries and there is no way to end it as they seem to blame the wrong people for their troubles

Dave, Chesterfield, England

Faqi, London....you're right.
Zechetti, Bury St Eds --- WRONG --- I've read the book AND some quotations (hadiths) - not nice reading.

And the foundation of Islam is dodgy..

"Darling, I was on this mountain and a voice spoke to me...."
Any witnesses...? Mo had a habit for 'revelations'

Phil, Preston,

Wrong....Islam's been fighting the West long before the USA and Israel was invented

Phil, Preston,

Radovan Karadzic is a monster because he masterminded, engineered and represented the slaughter of 100,000 HUMAN BEINGS!
What would one say had Karadzic murdered 100.000 golfers, raspberry-growers or electricians?

Dusan Bogdanovic, Belgrade, Serbia

Mr. Harris, I remember Mrs Thatcher getting a medal from Franjo Tudjman, the Croat President who declared in the main city square "thank God my wife is neither a Serb nor a Jew!"

Branka , London, UK

There was no program of Greater Serbia, but there was a program called "Islamic declaration", signed by Alija Izetbegovic years before the war. Program of Greater Albania existed for decades, and it is now realized thanks to the West. It is very easy to blame Serbs for everything...

miconi, Belgrade, Serbia

Dan, go and read Michael Totten's missives from Kosovo. You will be quite surprised. As was I.

Jewel, Lancaster PA, USA

Zecchetti, I have read the Koran many times and funny enough the passages that preach hate, intolerance and violence keep appearing.

Lionel, London, UK

Bang on and rejected accordingly. The truth hurts. But the Bosnian genocide was preceeded by the destruction of Palestine and for around a million, expulsion from homes and homeland. All quite fine as was done by the "chosen". Now the destruction of Iraq and a million dead. Reap what you sow.

tarquinis, Seattle, USA

Robin Harris' spin is nevertheless woven from the fabric of reality but evades the main fact it was the Iranian Revolutionary Guards which mainly organzied the protection of Bosnian Muslims.

Such protection was handicapped by the Crusading West which imposed an arms blockade vs a fully armed one.

JOHN ISH ISHMAEL, TORONTO, CANADA

Islamic terror existed before, perpetrated against Israel on a regular basis.

Also, why wouldn't then the fact that the West intervened to stop the genocide put them in a good light? Ingrates.

Fabien, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

The best way to expose a fool is to let them have their say.
Robin Harris ---"former prime ministerial adviser to Margaret Thatcher " ?
You sure this boofhead didn't walk her dogs.
A tip for you Robin --- do some reasearch or go get them dogs.

Anthony , sydney, Australia

Whilst the Serbs were particularly bad in their atrocities - all sides commited ethic cleansing in Bosnia (think of Croatia for instance). It is also pleasing to note the thanks that the West has received from the Muslim world in saving their co-religionists in Bosnia and Kosvo...

Dan, Winchester, England

Thank you. With all the focus on a cultural gap between East & West, we forget the gap in literacy, education, & logical reasoning. A monster slaughtering 100,000 Muslims will inevitably attract his opposite number. Yes; Jihadists came in droves - but it doesn't change the fact that he called them.

Qasim, West Midlands, UK

Thank you Robin Harris. At last someone in the West discovers the truth and is not shy to tell it. Unfortunately it is now too late for US and EU to correct their past mistakes.

Igor, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The Muslims did not have to react that way. They could have put Karadzic down to a bit of madness that they have to ensure does not happen again not copy him, with interest.

R Mason, London, UK

The writer has got it wrong. In my extensive experience of the Balkans I have found Muslims opt out of the pork eating scenario.They do however love a drop of pivo (beer) and sljivovica (plum brandy).

paul kelly, limehouse, england

To all these people that falsely claim that the Koran encourages violence, why not have a read of the Koran yourselves before preaching it to others? If you truly read it you would know that what you state is out of context. No point learning about the Koran off a priest, READ IT YOURSELF FIRST!

Zecchetti, Bury St Edmunds, UK

Put down your fiddle, and Look at what happens, not what is said.

If muslims were mobilised by this, why not attack Serbia, instead of Madrid, New York, or London? Answer, Islam's nature (if a movement can have a nature, is in itself - warmongering.)

Serbs didn't blow up London, muslims did.

Mark, Staines,

it all makes sense now, Karadzic caused global terror because the US and UK did not give enough reasons to spread propaganda and also the islamists needed propaganda in the 1st instance to commence the violence......utter nonsense!!!!!

C Kroustis, London, UK

Yes, Karadzic stirred up the jihadists. But how typical that Blair's intervention in Kosovo to save the Muslims gets no thanks at all either from jihadists or Muslim spokesmen in the UK.

Bob, London,

Serbs love to wallow in self pitty,but it is time they grow up and accept the responsibility for the evil war.Bosniaks should stop thinking of themselves as victims and move on.Croats in Herzegowina should accept that Croatia does not want them.Then there will be peace in Balkans. And pigs will fly.

Anna, London,

No. The same old predicable liberal thing - 'it's really all our fault'. NATO went to war for the Muslims in Bosnia. It was more the USA arming the mujahadeen vs USSR that started this, again...The Muslim name for Belgrade is 'gate of jihad'...

Janice, Dalston, UK

Keith,
While sloughter in Yugoslavia was happening, lots of my family survived it thanks to US help. Meanwhile, except criticizing US, what did you do?
Andrew, you would like people to be unavere of what they feel they are? Who are you?

Sale, Hilden, Germany

Mulsims have been at war with everyone else since Mohamed came on the scene. They don't need an excuse to fight - its laid out in the Quran that they have to fight the unbelievers wherever the find them. Read the Quran and one will understand their mind set.

Faqi, London, UK

Nonsense. Islamic terror emanates from Islam. It began when Muhammad began attacking and killing non-Muslims in 7th century Arabia and stealing their land, property and women. My grandparents along with millions of other Hindus and Sikhs were the victims in 1947 in Pakistan, long before Karadzic.

Jai Khosla, New york, USA

So the Islamists will win. Apparently. Not with a BANG but by stealth and political correctness and "multiculturism". How many of us democratically voted for this? Can we likewise culturaly enrich muslim countrys?

Lukey Boy, Herts., uk

Global islamic terror has been stirring and causing trouble long befor Karadzic, 9/11, iraq etc. came along.

travis, nsw, Australia

Islamic fanaticism was never stirred by US imperialist ambitions in the Middle East and Israeli occupation of Palestinian and other Arab land... but by a pseudo Muslim country in the Balkans? Please.

Bojan Timotijevic, London, UK

As with WWII, the USA around eating deep fried hog rinds while the Yugoslavia slaughter occurred. Near the end, the USA joined in the clean up. Finally, the USA wanted all the credit.

Keith S, Winnipeg, Canada

I noticed this at the time. In 1992 the Muslims I knew didn't know or care much about Muslims elsewhere. By 1995 Bosnia had made them very aware and radicalised them all to various degrees.

Andrew, St.Ives, Cambs,

Enough of spinning the numbers. Last year, the Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo published the most extensive research on Bosnia-Herzegovina's war casualties. It reveals 97,207 names of citizens killed, 25.2% of whom were Serbs. This is just 5% less than % of Serbs in its ethnic make-up

Aleksandar Miskovic, Geneva, Switzerland

Absolute rubbish Muslims need no excuse to cause problems all their actions and atrocities are mandated and laid down in their so called Holy Book the Koran. Media hacks should read the Koran instead of parroting the pathetic mantra that somehow Islam is always a victim and never the aggressor.

Peter Barry, Bangkok, Thailand

oh my god!!! Being Serbian myself, I was used to being blamed for everything, but this one takes the cake. Serbs are responsible for Islamic fascism? Talk about a thin argument. What's next? blame Serbs for JFK assassination? Global warming?

vladimir gagic, phoenix, az

Wrong assumptions and theories!

Krishna R. Kumar, Udupi, India

The writer asserts that "Bosnia's Muslims were not militants." This sweeping statement is not true. In the wake of the Iranian revolution there were Muslims in Sarajevo who plotted to overthrow the communist regime and establish an Islamic republic in Bosnia.

Ben Ward, Topanga, California , USA

It was a catastrophic failure of the UN, EU and the US not to have managed a deliberate balkanisation of Yogoslavia. Aggressive diplomacy would have prevented genocidal bloodshed in Bosnia and Kosova (hence no Karadzic) and created new multi-ethnic states that dissipated racism in that region.

Billoo Bhai, London, UK

You notice Damir lives in the USA for some odd reason. Why we let tsome people into this country in beyond me. Bosnia was a blood bath before the USA stepped in to help stop the slaughter of innocent people. Period.

Ed Small, Greenville, North Carolina, USA

It's plain ignorant to say that American Intervention stoped fighting. It stopped Serbs from loosing whatever they had, because Bosnian Army was not only Muslims, it was Croats and Large number of Serbs. If America and Bill Clinton did not get involved, Bosnia would be better place.

Damir, Des Moines, USA