#BDS 🇵🇸

Not to give this loser any more air space than he deserves, but the myth of Ratko Mladić as some fearless warrior deserves to die with him. He was brave when artillery was pointed at cities, civilians were trapped, and prisoners were defenseless. But during Operation Breza ’94, when his forces ran into the 505th Bužim Brigade and soldiers who could actually fight back, the “Pampers General” was wounded and fled. He left behind his jeep, military cap, maps, documents and other equipment. His cap remains in the War Museum in Bužim today. His final radio message during the retreat has been recorded in accounts of the battle as: “Braćo Srbi, spašavajte se, ko može.” “Serbian brothers, save yourselves however you can.” That is the great warrior they celebrate. Faced with civilians, he was ruthless. Faced with real soldiers who could shoot back, he ran. And Mladić was never the entire story. For all the blood on his hands, he was still one piece of a much larger state-backed machine. The VRS received weapons, ammunition, money, logistical support and personnel through structures tied to Belgrade and the Yugoslav military. Behind that machinery stood Slobodan Milošević’s regime, Serbian State Security under Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, and the broader political, military and security apparatus that sustained the war. So celebrate the Pampers General if you want. History remembers what happened when he finally met men who could fight back. And history should remember the names above him, too.