everyone is all in a tizzy because of the people who turned out for the funeral--they see it as support for Milosevic. Who goes to the funeral of someone he/she DOESN'T like? Also, there were far fewer people there than expected; that's one positive aspect.

Can Serbia deal with the past? 15:33 March 19 FoNet, Beta
WASHINGTON, BELGRADE -- Sunday - Daniel Server from the US Institute of Peace says it still remains to be seen whether Serbia is willing to part ways with the policies of the past. “People have the right to demonstrate in the streets, attend Milosevic’s funeral and declare loyalty to him, but the real issue here is whether Serbia as a whole is willing to part ways with the policies of the past. This is not yet very clear, because Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has purposefully made this issue vague, owing to the fact that his government depends on the support of the Socialists and the Radicals”, Server said. “I don’t see why Belgrade has less to lose after Milosevic’s death in dealing with the Hague Tribunal. I can understand why a verdict in the Milosevic had caused anxiety. He would probably have been found guilty for genocide, and this would have, in turn, had repercussions on the process in front of the International Criminal Court, but now that there is no verdict, is seems that one of the obstacles for co-operation should be out of the way. However, we have witnessed an emotional reaction in Serbia, accusing the Tribunal for Milosevic’s death, which I don’t comprehend. The best thing that Serbia can do for itself is to arrest Mladic and Karadzic”, Server concluded.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=34085&order=priority&style=headlines

From William Montgomery, a fairly reasonable voice in all of this mess...
I am convinced that the worst possible alternative in Milosevic’s view was a completion of the trial with the inevitable guilty verdicts and a lifetime prison sentence far from home and far from the public spotlight...The ICTY is fully responsible for how this mess has turned out. It took less than one year at Nuremberg to try 22 Nazi defendants. Slobodan Milosevic’s trial was into its fifth year with a cost that has been put at around $200 million. Three decisions in particular were devastating: indicting Milosevic on 66 different charges, thereby requiring that each be proved by an endless list of witnesses and documentary evidence; joining the indictments for events in Kosovo, Bosnia, and Croatia together rather than having separate trials for each; and permitting him to conduct his own defense. While each of these three critical decisions had its own logic, the end result is a trial that was never finished and that due to its length and nature had done little to bring reconciliation to the Balkans and had actually increased Milosevic’s popularity in Serbia. It is not only Milosevic who died. So did the original Chief Judge, Sir Richard May, more than one year ago...

The biggest disservice that Milosevic did to the Serbian people was to take their legitimate concerns and fears and instead of advocating them in a pro-active, positive, moderate way, he inflamed them for his own political benefit. Instead of helping to quell the flames of hatred and nationalism, he deliberately used the media and government information channels to throw fuel on the fire. This has had two radically different, equally negative results. First of all, because of the violent methods which were used and counter-productive tactics (such as the shelling of Dubrovnik), the world lost sympathy for Serbia, the Serbs, and their concerns. It is worth noting that this was not initially the case. In 1990 and 91, the U.S. Administration and many Europeans were sympathetic to keeping Yugoslavia together.
Secondly, an uncomfortably large percentage of the Serbian people to this day have sympathy for Milosevic because they perceive that he was defending Serbian interests. Far too few of the Serbian political leadership has had the courage to try to separate those legitimate Serbian concerns and fears and the totally illegitimate crimes which Milosevic supported and encouraged in their “defense.” Until this link is understood and broken, the true democratic transition in Serbia cannot be completed.
http://www.b92.net/feedback/misljenja/press/william.php