The Truth Behind the Historical Lies That Made History

From the Dept. of Wishful But Noble Thinking comes word that the Scholar's Initiative, a group of more than 250 professor types dedicated to sort out the murderously competing historical narratives of Yugoslavia's breakup, will be presenting some of their findings April 19 in Washington.

The scholars—representing more than 25 countries from five continents—will report on 11 controversies from 1986-2000, including the wars involving Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Kosovo. […]

"Ever since the 1991-92 dissolution of Yugoslavia we have witnessed the birth of a half dozen self-serving accounts of what happened that carefully exclude inconvenient facts, while emphasizing or simply creating new ones that reinforce the divisions between peoples," said Ingrao, who studies ethnic conflict in Eastern Europe.

As someone who at various times had refugees from four different former Yugoslav republics crash on my couch, all I can say … is good luck with that.