ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
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price <strong>for</strong> having a very bad leadership which allowed the worst elements of society to<br />
come to the <strong>for</strong>eground. I don’t think that Serbs are inherently any better or worse than<br />
other nationalities in the Balkans. But they have to this day acquired a very negative<br />
image in the minds of most people in the West.<br />
Q: Well, Germany is still working its way out from under Hitler’s time.<br />
PERINA: True. But I just don’t believe in the concept of collective guilt. I think making<br />
everyone guilty lets everyone off the hook. I believe in individual accountability. But the<br />
reality is that nations do pay the price <strong>for</strong> the actions of leaders. I underst<strong>and</strong> how it<br />
happens, though it is not fair.<br />
Q: What was your impression of (Croatian President) Tudjman <strong>and</strong> (Bosnian President)<br />
Izetbegovic?<br />
PERINA: It is difficult <strong>for</strong> me to say because I really did not interact with them directly. I<br />
met them once or twice <strong>and</strong> observed them at meetings but do not have any deep<br />
impression. Certainly their demeanor was very different from Milosevic’s. They were<br />
much more <strong>for</strong>mal. Dealing with them was very different, if only because of the language<br />
barrier.<br />
Q: What was your impression of the Milosevic- Holbrooke dialogue at Dayton? Were<br />
there shouting matches between them <strong>and</strong> the like?<br />
PERINA: I never witnessed a shouting match. That was not Holbrooke’s style, nor<br />
Milosevic’s style. Milosevic wanted always to show how unflappable he was. And<br />
Holbrooke’s real strength was his persistence. He would never give up, even when<br />
somebody else might say this is impossible <strong>and</strong> walk away. It was often just a matter of<br />
physical duration <strong>and</strong> energy. Holbrooke could go on very little sleep at night. I saw this<br />
already in his visits to Belgrade. He could go on two hours of sleep at night. Then in the<br />
car on the way to the airport he would say “I have to rest <strong>for</strong> 10 minutes.” He would close<br />
his eyes in the car <strong>and</strong> wake up ten minutes later <strong>and</strong> be all energetic again. Both<br />
Milosevic <strong>and</strong> Holbrooke were like that. But toward the end of the Dayton talks,<br />
Holbrooke did put on this big bluff that he would declare the conference a failure unless<br />
all three presidents signed on. We in the U.S. delegation were actually instructed to pack<br />
our bags <strong>and</strong> put them on the sidewalk in preparation <strong>for</strong> pick-up. He wanted it to really<br />
look like he was ending the conference <strong>and</strong> would declare it a failure.<br />
Q: What would have been the consequences? Was there an implied consequence like<br />
bombing the Bosnian Serbs again if the conference failed?<br />
PERINA: I never heard Holbrooke say directly we’re going to bomb if this doesn’t work.<br />
But as far as the Serbs were concerned, certainly there was an implication that the<br />
sanctions would get worse, the isolation would get worse, <strong>and</strong> we would under no<br />
circumstances allow Republika Srpska to secede from Bosnia. In other words, no matter<br />
what the Bosnian Serbs did, they would not achieve their main objective of breaking off<br />
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