Bosnia monster gets his due

General Ratko Mladic was a monster, a military leader of unbridled brutality who was the cause of thousands of deaths during the three-way ethnic war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. At last his trial at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague is over and he has been sentenced to life imprisonment. He was ejected from the court for screaming at the judge, professing his innocence. There is no one less innocent on this Earth than Mladic. There were no good guys in the war, the Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs all hated each other and killed out of revenge for deeds committed three hundred years ago. It was mass slaughter and rape for more than three years. Mladic, with his rock-like face, was the worst of the bunch. He never differentiated between his "military" opponents and civilians. The latter were legitimate targets, in his view, for his artillery and sniper teams and mortar rockets and machineguns. The Bosnian Serbs did not commit every war crime during the civil war. The Croats, for example, fired shells on Bosnian Muslim families in East Mostar for two years, reducing the ancient district of the city of Mostar to ruins. Muslims killed Croats and Serbs, Croats killed Muslims and sometimes Serbs, Serbs killed Croats and Muslims. It was mayhem. Mladic stood out as the monster of monsters. He was the one who masterminded the killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica because he wanted that whole area to be exclusively Serb. I covered the Bosnia war as The Times defence correspondent, along with other excellent colleagues, and can say without exaggeration that it was the most dangerous time in my life. I went on to cover the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Sierra Leone. But none of them came anywhere near as life-threatening to me personally. Every day was dangerous. The press and media in general were targets as much as anyone else. Having MEDIA spread all over your flak jacket and vehicle was almost asking for trouble. There was no such thing as a safe journey whether you were in Muslim, Croat or Serb-held territory. I was shot at and mortared by the lot. Nevertheless, the one ethnic group you never wanted to come across when driving around a corner was the Serbs. They were always better armed and more likely to open fire first and see who you are second. I once was a passenger in a BBC TV armoured vehicle driven by my comrade Malcolm Brabant, a doughty war correspondent for the Beeb. He drove around a corner near the Serb-held town of Turbe and straight into an ambush of Serb tanks and armoured vehicles, their gun barrels pointing at us. Without a moment's hesitation, Malcolm performed the fastest U-turn his vehicle would allow and accelerated back round the corner. I think the U-turn took the Serbs by surprise because they didn't fire a shot. Ratko Mladic will spend the rest of his miserable life where he deserves to be, in jail.

No end to sex harassment cases

Charlie Rose, one of the great American talk show hosts, always watchable, is the latest to be caught up in the sex harassment scandal. What is being claimed is almost beyond credible, especially the allegation that he walked around naked in front of female colleagues! Did he really do that? He must have been mad! The "past" is a dangerous word. Now 75, I'm sure Rose behaves impeccably but his past has found him out. But before he can make a proper account of himself, and certainly before any proof is provided, he's suspended and tarnished for ever. It's punishment by media. The women making the allegations went to the Washington Post and they published their claims. And, bang, he's finished. It's a brutal world. No mercy. But that's the way it is. Anyone in a high-profle position, whether it be in politics, business, media or Hollywood who has said anything or done anything in the past which can be catergorised as sexual harassment is going to be pilloried and shamed. If they're genuine cases, especially if they involve serial offences, then the action being taken is justified. If they are minor, one-off cases, then the individual involved should be treated with more mercy and not have his career ruined. But right now, there is a hunt underway (I won't use the cliche word witchhunt because it seems rather inappropriate since it's men being hunted not women). I guess there are going to be many many more cases dredged up over the coming months before it runs out of steam. The most positive result out of this scandal would be for bosses everywhere to enforce a new code for all their employees, men and women. As part of their contract for employment new recruits should be made aware that harassment of any kind, whether physical or verbal, is prohibited. The US and British military went through all this a long time ago. The old tradition of the screaming parade ground sergeant-major instilling discipline into fresh recruits is now frowned upon. And when cases arise, as they have done recently in the US, where an instructor is facing court martial for abusing a Muslim trainee who subsequently jumped from a balcony to his death, military commanders are quick to take action. If the allegations against Charlie Rose are true, he is lucky to have survived this long as America's premier talk show host.

Mugabe and his president for life dream

Being president for life is, for some people - very few people - an obsession. After leading the war campaign to overthrow white rule in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe always felt he was entitled to be president for life. And if he hadn't abused the system so much and hadn't allowed his wife and her cronies to feed off the country's dwindling finances, he might have made it. But having been president for 37 years, an absolute ruler, you could see from his rambling, longwinded speeches, often very critical of Britain, that he was in his dotage and no longer capable of running a country, let alone his wife. He's still hanging on, but it won't be for long. The trouble is, what does a president of 37 years standing do in retirement? It must need a counsellor of unbelievable tact and cunning to explain to such a man that he is no longer in charge and must start reading all those thrillers he meant to read while he was running the country. I often wonder what President Putin will do when he eventually relinquinshes power, although I bet he sees himself as president for life, just like Mugabe. By the time his term is up, he will no doubt find some clever legislative clause to allow him to stay on. He did it before. Can you imagine Russia without Putin in power? I can't. The same goes for Angela Merkel. She has been around for so long that it is difficult to envisage her being ousted and going into retirement. She's in real trouble because her coalition partners are no longer happy being her coalition partners. So she will have such a small minority backing her as leader that she may have to call another election. Theresa May must be looking with grim foreboding at what is happening in Berlin. Now Theresa obviously would never have considered being UK leader for life. She couldn't anyway under our political system. But she certainy wants to hang on for as long as possible. That thing about power does become obsessional. There's nothing worse in politics than being in opposition. Mugabe is going through the withdrawal symptoms right now, hanging on for dear life because he can't bear the thought of someone else coming in to replace him. Putin just won't let it happen, full stop!! Trump, dear God, has, theoretically, another seven years to go, and Angela Merkel could be out on her ear if there is another election athough somehow I think she will survive. Her country needs her. Mind you, that's what Margaret Thatcher thought and then all those nasty Tory grandees stabbed her in the back, and she was finished, shedding a very visible tear at the back of her official car as she left Downing Street as ex-Prime Minister. Perhaps it all ends in tears, whoever you are. Take note, Mugabe, Putin et al.

Brexit dilemma

There have been non-stop complaints about what is going on with Brexit. No one, not it seems even the British government negotiators, knows how it's all going to end up. Are we going to be half in and half out, in other words staying in the single market and the EU customs union but exiting everything else - is there anything else? - or is going to be a total break-up with no trade deal or will it be a decent trade deal but not in the single market, and who knows about the free movement of labour and the future of EU citizens in the UK and British citizens living and working in the EU? That about sums up the ignorance. We haven't a clue what life is going to be like after March 2019 - deadline month for leaving the EU - and it's no wonder everyone, not just the politicians, is beginning to get seriously fed up. Can you imagine being someone who runs a business with a lot of European sales or links? How is he or she going to plan for the future when the future is so uncertain? The UK Government's position is: leave it to us, we're in the midst of negotiations and we can't reveal our hand. Well, ok, if you're playing poker you keep your hand to your chest and only display what you have when you've got what you want, your rivals have either throw in their hand or have begun to look vaguely suicidal and you have calculated what huge sum you're going to win by bluffing all the way to the very end. But this is not a game of cards. This is about our lives, our way of life and the lives of our children. We cannot remain in total ignorance of what the politicians are up to. If Theresa May indicates she is prepared to pay out, say, £40 billion to the EU as an exit fee should we not have a say in that? What will it mean for our eoonomy? That is more than our total annual defence spending for example! Where will the money come from? And why do we need to feel obliged to pay the EU all that money? As I have made clear before, I voted Remain, so I'm not happy about anything to do with leaving the EU, but as this country seems set on doing just that, I don't want the EU bureaucrats to screw us and our economy. We will still be part of Europe even when we leave the EU, so let's get this new arrangement sorted out fast, without all this pussyfooting around and disagreeable whispering. Do a deal that will make sense for this country and for Europe as a whole. It can't be that difficult.

Zimbabwe's bizarre coup

Well, this has got to be the strangest coup of all time. Mugabe ousted, military chiefs take over, tanks on the streets, the old dictator forced into house arrest (very nice house, mind you), and then, suddenly up pops Robert M in his finest suit attending a college graduation as if he was still the president and nothing had happened. All very bizarre and kind of creepy. The military I'm sure never left his side throughout the ceremony, but Mugabe seemed quite happy. I noticed that the day before, he was reported to have "chuckled" during a meeting with the miitary top bods and visiting South African delegates. You don't generally chuckle before your execution, so I guess there's not going to be any Mugabe blood shed. Nothing like the moment when Colonel Gaddafi was overthrown for example when he was summarily lynched. So, all very pleasant in Harare at this stage. But Mugabe must have got the message surely? The man called Crocodile is beathing down his neck and at some point he will have to step aside and spend the rest of his days looking at his medals, presumably without his beloved wife, Grace, who seems unlikely to be able to make a triumphant return. Mr Crocodile will see to that. When he takes over, assuming he does and not the poor long-suffering Opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, old Crocodile is not going to want Mugabe wandering the streets looking for trouble, let alone Grace, his hated rival. But in the meantime, perhaps Mugabe has a few other longstanding engagements which he would like to fulfil during this strange hiatus, such as opening a new school that hasn't actually been built or visiting a tractor factory. Does Zimbabwe have tractor factories? Probably not. The house "sort of arrest" of old Mugabe mirrors the bizarre arrests that have taken place in Saudi Arabia courtesy of the new Crown Prince. A whole host of princes, government ministers, officials and members of the military detained for questioning in the Crown Prince's huge corruption investigation are not chained to the walls of a dungeon but have been housed in the five-star luxury Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh where room service is legendary. So the wealthy Saudi princes, including one of the richest men on the planet, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, share one thing in common with Robert Mugabe. They have all been ousted one way or the other but they are still enjoying the sort of standard of living to which they have for long been accustomed. But, despite Mugabe's little visit to the graduation ceremony, none of them are free men. Their future will depend, on the one hand, on the whim of The Crocodile, and on the other, the very smooth and very rich Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mugabe might wish he was currently living at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh.

Putin comes to Maduro's aid

There are some stories which make me boil. President Putin agreeing to go to the aid of President Maduro of a once great country called Venezuela is one of those stories. Maduro, not a man with much economic brain sense who has successfully turned a wealthy country into a bankrupt state with no hope because of his idiotic and corrupt management, desperately needed someone to help him out with cash. So along comes Putin, ever ready to prop up anyone who claims to like him, or more likely, ever ready to help a country that offers Russia a military base or port. Maduro will now survive because Putin has agreed to reschedule Venezuela's debts so it can stagger on for another year or so. The people of Venezuela will still be living in in a twilight world, unable to buy the food they need, unable to sell their homes because they are worthless and unable to leave the country for a better life elsewhere because they can't take out their life savings with them. This country DOES need help but not if Maduro and his cronies are still in power. Putin, if he had been a better man, would have said to Maduro: "We'll help you with your debts if you do something about the economy and look after your people and be a democrat instead of a dictator." But that's about as likely as Trump saying sorry to Hillary Clinton and inviting her to dinner at the White House.

Mugabe ousted

While most Zimbabweans and leaders around the world - or some of them - breathe with relief at the ousting of the dreadful Robert Mugabe, there has to be an element of fear and concern amidst all the cheering and clapping. Military coups seldom run smoothly, and the risk of a slaughter of opponents to the coup has to be high. I love the semantics used by the coup plotters - not a coup but a bloodless correction. When the military use such terminology, watch out for some brutal correction ahead. When General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ousted democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi as president of Egypt in 2013, no one called it a coup, especially not the United States which never liked Morsi. That was also a sort of correction because Sisi and his military chums hated the Muslim Brotherhood taking over the country and judged that Morsi and his cronies were bad for the security and happiness of the nation. So, off with his head. Well, not quite, he was imprisoned and charged with causing the deaths of protestors. There were mass jailings of Muslim Brotherhood members. In subsequent violent protests against the "coup", hundreds of people were killed. Some correction! No military coups are gentle affairs. So we'll have to see how General Constantino Chiwenga, the Zimbabwean army chief, conducts himself and his troops in the next few days, and more importantly, what steps are taken by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the fomer vice-president who was sacked by Mugabe, provoking the military takeover. He seems to have returned from his brief flight from the country and the number one person on his list to sort out will no doubt be Grace Mugabe, the hated shoe and handbag-buying wife of Robert Mugabe who fancied herself as the next leader of Zimbabwe and had gathered a tight bunch of devotees around her. Grace has now fled but Mnangagwa, a big bloke nicknamed the Crocodile - presumably not for affectionate reasons - looks like the type of man who will want to iron out any political wrinkles as he takes over power. What will The Crocodile do with Robert Mugabe? Let him retire in luxury or put him into an old people's home for correction?