Slobodan Milosevic dies

Woke up this morning to have my hangover compounded by the news that Slobodan Milosevic has died in his prison cell in the Hague. If you ask me, this is the worst possible result (aside from complete acquittal) to the 4-year saga of his trial. Milosevic had never recognized the tribunal, and oftentimes it was more personal political soapbox than long-awaited moral reckoning (a tactic mirrored today by Saddam Hussein). And with his death, still no leader has been held truly responsible for the wars that ravaged the region. Although there is some glimmer of hope that Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic will one day be captured, Milosevic has escaped for good.

On top of it all, there are rumblings in the conspiracy-loving Balkans at the fact that this is the second high profile detainee in Scheveningen prison that has died in less than a week. On Monday, Milan Babic, a Croatian Serb leader who ostensibly repented and testified against Milosevic, committed suicide in his cell in an undisclosed manner. In addition, recently the tribunal had denied Milosevic's request to be flown to Russia for heart treatment, saying that there was no reason he couldn't receive the same care in the Netherlands. Milosevic's wife has said that "The Hague has killed my husband."

Milosevic's Serbian defense team is demanding that his body be returned for an impartial autopsy and burial on home soil, and radicals are already touting the fact that old Slobodan (whose name means "freedom" in Serbian) will be interred an innocent man, his guilt never having been officially established.