Another Piece of History Gone

Alija Izetbegović (Alija Izetbegovic) is dead.

The only good thing I can say of his handling of Bosnia in early 1990s is that things could have gone much worse than they did. On the other hand, if they went better than it could have gone, Izetbegović should take very little credit for that.

I don't doubt that his passing would be lamented by some well-meaning but uninformed observers who still took his loud proclamations of civic, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, tolerant and unitary Bosnia seriously. Those who object putting Izetbegović in the same basket with other two member of Magic Trio – Milošević (Milosevic) and Tudhman – might have a point; Izetbegović did much less damage, but it was more due to lack of resources and basic political skills rather than some noble principles.