Arrest of Karadzic part of Serbia's about-face

BELGRADE: The arrest of the wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, charged in the worst massacre since World War II, marked an unlikely yet radical transformation in a country that had appeared headed toward virulent nationalism and isolation. Just six months ago, ahead of seminal Serbian presidential elections, more than 25,000 supporters of Serbia's far-right Radical Party packed a stadium here, where the warm-up act included a haunting song celebrating Karadzic. "Our brother hiding in a cave," the lyrics went. For those assembled, who wore "No to Hague Tyranny!" pins, Karadzic was a hero of Serb myth, and handing him over to the West would be tantamount to treason. It was just weeks before Kosovo, the breakaway Serbian province, declared independence. Western and Serbian liberals alike feared that the ghost of the... [read full story]