Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

In the video, a group of blue-helmeted soldiers gather on the roof of a makeshift shelter, and one of them plants a United Nations flag on it. The flag is unfurled, and the blue globe flutters in the wind.

"To become someone people need."

Two blue-helmeted soldiers of different skin colors patted each other on the shoulder amidst the smoke of battle, while another soldier carried a child rescued from the rubble and placed him on a stretcher.

"To become someone who is remembered."

A helicopter flew close to their heads, kicking up a cloud of dust, which made the soldiers' blue helmets sway.

"Join the UN peacekeeping force!"

Finally, the scene shifts to the Yugoslav war zone, where flags from around the world flutter in front of the command post, and peacekeepers of different skin colors stand side by side with a huge United Nations flag behind them.

The image freezes at that moment.

"World peace needs to be guarded."

A line of small print scrolled down the screen, listing the address of the UN peacekeeping force recruitment committee in China and the registration period. After it was read, the video ended and a weather forecast began. The announcer then explained that Nanjing would be cloudy with light snow tomorrow.

The living room was quiet for a moment. Ma Wencai's father picked up the newspaper, then put it down again:

"The filming is... quite impressive."

"What nonsense?" Ma Wencai's mother was ladling peanuts into everyone's bowls, her hands a little unsteady, and one fell onto the table. She and her husband both knew that their son had always longed for some international brigade, and was obsessed with going abroad.

"You're just taking these pointless photos. Wencai is starting work at the power plant next week."

Ma Wencai didn't speak. He stared at the television, which was already showing the weather forecast, his mind still filled with images of the recent conscription.

He remembered what the soldier in the film said: "Maybe it'll be your turn to care about someone." The person he cared about was sitting at this table, one was scooping peanuts, and the other was pretending to read a newspaper. He didn't know how far away those smoking red-tiled houses and that unclaimed ball from the film were from this table.

He could roughly point out where Yugoslavia was on the map, but he had no idea how far away it was.

"Hurry up and eat yours!" his dad said.

The three people lowered their heads and ate peanuts.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sarajevo Airport, January 29.

The last Serb flag on the airport runway was lowered. The United Nations blue flag was raised instead.

Butmeer Airport, located on the southwestern outskirts of Sarajevo, is currently the only large-scale supply route between the besieged city and the outside world. Its runway is within range of Serb positions on the ridge, meaning that every transport plane landing on this runway is within firing range from the moment it enters the glide path. Pilots must descend at extremely steep angles to minimize their exposure to fire.

The first plane to land at Sarajevo airport after it was taken over by the United Nations was a Soviet An-12 transport plane.

It took off from Hungary, carrying twenty tons of flour and medicine. It descended rapidly through the gray winter sky, the fuselage still trembling violently as the wheels touched the runway. It taxied to the tarmac, and unloading began before the engines were even shut down—because every minute it remained on the runway was a gamble with its life.

Bags of flour were thrown off the plane one by one onto the tarmac, kicking up clouds of white dust. Boxes of medicine were moved out and stacked along the runway, and several Bosnian volunteers, their faces sunken like skeletons, drove over in trucks to load them, wearing dirty winter clothes.

They unloaded the twenty tons of cargo in fifteen minutes. The An-12's engines roared back to life as it accelerated and climbed the runway, disappearing into the gray sky.

The second plane landed ten minutes later, and the third twenty minutes later.

From that day on, air transport to Sarajevo began.

One transport plane after another took off and landed on this runway covered in gunfire: Soviet An-12s and Il-76s, French Hercules, American C-130s... They brought flour, canned goods, medicine, blankets, water purification tablets, and baby formula. Every ton of cargo on every plane was a gamble with the pilot's life—because the Serbs could fire on this runway at any time.

In the agreement for the UN takeover of the airport, the Serbs pledged not to fire on it.

But the reliability of this promise, like all other promises made during this war, depends on how much it's worth on the day.

PS: Historically, even after the United Nations took over the airport, Serb militants still shelled it.

Before the white dust on the runway had even settled, the fourth transport plane appeared on the glide path, its wings tilting rapidly in the gray sky as it plunged towards the runway surrounded by mountains and artillery fire.

"boom!"

A mortar shell landed on the runway, and the transport plane pulled up sharply.

As February drew to a close, the advance of the UN peacekeeping forces gradually stalled. The main problem for the UN forces, which had increased to 60,000 troops, had now shifted from peacekeeping to riot control. Logistics and medical services in the rear had stabilized, and most of the civilians displaced by the war had been properly resettled.

The main conflict now has become the continued attacks by Serbian-backed Serbian armed groups on UN peacekeeping forces.

The five permanent members of the Security Council have gradually come to realize that:

If Serbia's continued support for these armed groups is not addressed, the casualties among peacekeeping forces will only continue to rise.

It's time to have a frank and open conversation with Belgrade.

Chapter 123 NATO & Warsaw Pact: Serbia is courting death

On March 1, the Soviet Union and the European Community hosted peace talks.

Participants: the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the government of Croatia, Republika Srpska in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska Krajna in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and the New People's Army of Yugoslavia.

The demands of the Soviet Union and the European Community were very clear—

Serb forces in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia have ceased all attacks and withdrawn their troops back to within the borders of their respective republics.

Serbia and Montenegro have ceased all support for Serb armed groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, including weapons, ammunition, funds, and personnel.

Serbia and Montenegro withdrew their interventionist forces from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

Milosevic came in person to demonstrate his sincerity in the negotiations. He looked at the Soviet representatives with a gentle and cooperative demeanor, his words full of goodwill. He stated that Serbia and Montenegro fully supported the peace process, that Serbia had not deployed interventionist forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia—that the militants were acting in "spontaneous self-defense by local Serbs"—and that he would "urge" the Serb militants to lay down their arms.

Director Nian looked at him. She knew in her heart how little these words were worth—nothing more than the corpses in the trenches on the battlefield.

That's how negotiations work. Even if you know the other party is lying, you still have to talk to them, because before things completely break down and escalate into a full-blown war, the goal of negotiations at the United Nations is to obtain a signed document, then wait for the other party to violate it, and then use their breach of contract as a legal basis for the next step!

However, the patience of the five permanent members of the Security Council is limited, and the United Nations is merely providing an opportunity for everyone to sit down and talk before resorting to violence.

If certain small countries become arrogant and overconfident, wielding their power as if it were a trump card, thinking they can outmaneuver the five permanent members of the UN Security Council...

It would be best if it truly had the strength to become the sixth permanent member of the Security Council.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Negotiations concluded on March 5.

Serbia and Montenegro announced to the international community their withdrawal of interventionist forces and "urged" the Serbian armed groups to lay down their arms, claiming they had abandoned all support for the Serbs. Meanwhile, the two Republika Srpska republics, still in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated they were withdrawing their troops back to their respective territories.

Peace seems to have arrived.

March 8, Srebrenica security zone in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Srebrenica is a small town nestled among the mountains of the Drina River valley. Before the war, its population was just over ten thousand, mainly Bosniaks and Albanians, with many Serb villages in the surrounding area.

Since the outbreak of the war, Muslim refugees driven from the surrounding areas have flocked to the city, and the population has swelled to tens of thousands.

It is one of the UN-designated safe zones—in theory, a safe zone means that no armed forces are allowed to enter, and civilians are protected by peacekeeping forces here.

The mission to protect it was undertaken by over 300 Dutch peacekeepers. The area was very close to the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, and therefore quite far from the UN peacekeeping forces' rear. Although a ceasefire agreement had been reached by the UN, the Serbian armed forces' front lines were still more than 100 kilometers away, and the withdrawal was proceeding slowly, with many Serbian troops passing through the city's outskirts daily.

On this day, a group of troops withdrawing from eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina toward Serbia passed through a highway near Srebrenica. This group of interventionist forces had previously besieged Sarajevo and even fired on a UN airport. The UN's radio station in Yugoslavia broadcasted the troop's withdrawal movements regularly, warning civilians along the route to avoid the Serbian army.

Therefore, the citizens of Srebrenica, who had been surrounded by Serb forces since the start of the war, knew the location of these troops, and many Muslim and Albanian citizens flocked to the streets when they passed through Srebrenica.

They thought the war was over, the Serbs were gone—peace had arrived!

Some people were laughing, some were crying, some were hugging, and some were spitting at the retreating Serbian military vehicles on the highway.

The retreating military vehicles were loaded with a large amount of weaponry: rifles, machine guns, mortars, ammunition boxes... These items did not return to Serbia with the troops.

They did not leave with the Serbian army; they were "lost".

At this time, the Serbian forces obtained a large number of weapons left behind by Serbia. Due to the ongoing international embargo, Serbia and Montenegro had been obtaining weapons through neighboring Albania.

Albania was known as the "Land of Fortresses" during Hoxha's rule. After Hoxha left, he left behind a large amount of weaponry, and many tanks, armored vehicles, and guns were sold to Yugoslavia.

PS: One of the major reasons why Europe began to intervene after Albania's economic collapse was that the loss of a large amount of weapons and equipment made Albanian gangs powerful, directly affecting all the neighboring Eastern European countries. There were even incidents where bandits used heavy firepower and tanks to rob Greek banks.

Albania made a fortune during the Yugoslav Wars, and upon hearing that the UN peace talks were about to conclude smoothly, it quickly lowered the prices of its arms to boost sales, allowing the Serbian armed groups in the surrounding area to reap a huge military profit.

On the afternoon of March 8, clashes began in Srebrenica.

No one knows where the first shot was fired. After more than a decade of continuous investigation, with the rubble and bodies cleared, witness testimonies collected, and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court spending several years piecing together a timeline of events, no country has reached a definitive answer.

Because there were far too few survivors.

Perhaps a quarrel in some corner of the city escalated into a shoving match, the shoving into a fistfight, and then someone pulled out a gun. Perhaps someone in the Serb militia outside the city decided to fire a burst into the city, or perhaps a stray bullet from who-knows-where happened to hit someone, and then fear and anger spread like wildfire.

Gunfire erupted in the streets of Srebrenica. First came a few sporadic single shots, then bursts of automatic rifle fire, and finally screams and explosions that came simultaneously from multiple directions across the city.

Many unidentified armed men dressed in mottled clothing opened fire on civilians in the city. The people began to run, running in what they perceived as safe directions, towards the UN safety zone markers, and towards the white armored vehicles and blue flags!

Outside the city, Ratko Mladic, commander of the Republika Srpska army, issued an order to forcibly enter Srebrenica to "suppress the violent conflict."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The commander of the Dutch peacekeeping force refused to allow Serbian troops into the Srebrenica security zone when they attempted to breach the checkpoint.

He responded, "The security zone is a protected area designated by the United Nations, and armed forces are not allowed to enter it!"

More than 300 Dutch soldiers were deployed at several outposts within the safety zone: checkpoints, observation posts, and command posts. Their mission was to ensure that no armed forces entered the area. The safety zone was crowded with refugees; since the chaos began in the city, more and more people had flocked to the safety zone seeking help.

The peacekeeping force had to rely on volunteers to maintain order. More than 10,000 people were crammed into this small 1-hectare security zone, relying on more than 300 soldiers and several hundred volunteers to maintain order.

Some civilians who were illegally possessing firearms were asked to hand them over. The peacekeeping forces could not determine whether they were civilians or disguised rioters. The civilians believed that their weapons were their means of survival and refused to hand them over. Arguments, chaos, and fights continued to occur within the safe zone.

Each ethnic group within the safe zone has its own designated area, and no one trusts each other—the Bosnian War was a war in which various ethnic groups slaughtered each other, and everyone has heard stories of other ethnic groups killing their own.

Distrust of each other, security concerns, the approaching Serbian army outside the city, the peacekeeping forces being stretched thin, language barriers...

I'm afraid this safe zone won't last long even without the Serb army firing a shot.

Outside the safe zone, Serb forces were still closing in. The Dutch commander fired warning shots and donned all his equipment to confront the Serb militants.

The more than 300 Dutch soldiers were mostly armed with light infantry weapons—automatic rifles, machine guns, and a few anti-tank rocket launchers. Their only heavy equipment was a West German-made Leopard 1A5 main battle tank.

The number of Serb militants outside the safe zone far exceeds that of the Dutch peacekeeping forces. They have mortars, heavy machine guns, and two T-54 tanks!

These T-54s were secondhand vehicles purchased from Albania. Although their maintenance and manufacturing were far behind the times, they were still capable of taking on West Germany's Leopard 1A5s.

The Dutch commander was stunned when he saw the Serb forces bringing in several tanks. He quickly requested reinforcements and air support from his superiors, hoping to get some armed helicopters.

But the response from the other end of the radio was that coordination was underway. Because the United States had established a joint command to counterbalance the Soviet Union, any troop movements had to be reported to the highest command for discussion, especially air support, which required approval through multiple layers of the command chain—UN peacekeeping forces' requests for air strikes had to go through three levels of approval before they could be executed.

In short, air reinforcements take time.

He requested assistance from friendly forces, but the nearest mobile peacekeeping force was dozens of kilometers away. The road conditions were very poor, and there were minefields set up by Serb militants along the way. The mountainous terrain made rapid reinforcements almost impossible!

The standoff lasted for several hours.

Dutch soldiers lay prone behind sandbags, their guns pointed at the line marking the edge of the safe zone. On the other side of that line, Serb soldiers also lay prone, their guns and cannons pointed at them.

There is an open space of several tens of meters in the middle.

No one wanted to fire first. The Dutch didn't want to, because they knew they couldn't fight and wouldn't win; the Serbs didn't want to fire first either, because they couldn't afford the political consequences of directly attacking UN peacekeeping forces after the peace talks.

But the gunfire in the city never stopped. Gunfire and screams could be heard intermittently from the edge of the safe zone toward the city center. The 300-plus peacekeeping troops could only defend the small safe zone, but what about the other areas of the city?

Many militants have stormed into the city and are killing people indiscriminately. More and more civilians are flocking to the checkpoints in the city's safe zone. The peacekeeping forces, which are severely lacking in manpower, are unable to maintain order. Stampedes, cries, screams, gunshots from the crowd, and sniper fire are pushing the situation toward collapse.

At 7 p.m., the Serbian army commander issued an ultimatum to the Dutch peacekeeping forces via radio:

"If the peacekeeping forces refuse to allow Serb troops into Srebrenica to maintain peace and order, we will be forced to use force to open the passage."

The Dutch commander refused.

"This is a UN security zone; no armed forces are permitted to enter!"

"Repeat, this is a UN security zone. We are a UN Security Council peacekeeping force. No armed forces are allowed to enter!"

He knew the consequences of his refusal. But he had no other choice—he knew what was happening in the city outside the safety zone; if he let the Serb troops in, the entire city would face massacre. The UN's promise would become worthless, his cause and beliefs would be tarnished by his actions, and the tens of thousands of civilians who had fled into the safety zone seeking protection would be exposed to—

"boom!"

It's unclear who fired the first shot. Perhaps it was an overly nervous Serb soldier who accidentally discharged the weapon, or perhaps a stray bullet from the city happened to land on the line of confrontation.

"boom!"

A shell struck the Dutch peacekeeping force's position.

Battle was imminent. The peacekeeping forces fought back under heavy fire, and the commander shouted for help over the radio, but the nearest troops would not arrive for at least 3 hours—and that was the best-case scenario, without encountering a minefield!

Even if the nearest troops arrive, it won't be of any use, because the support force only has a little over two hundred people.

Serb T-54 tanks ran over sandbags, rammed open the gate, and opened fire on the crowd. Shells exploded between sandbags and barbed wire, shrapnel whistling through the air as it tore through the sandbags and tents. The crowd began to surge toward the exit of the safe zone, and stampedes occurred one after another.

Dutch soldiers returned fire from their stronghold. The sounds of rifles and machine guns rang out between mortar explosions. The 105mm cannon of the pristine white Leopard 1A5 turned towards the charging Serb mob and fired several shots—the shells exploded in the ranks of the attackers, kicking up dirt and debris.

But one tank cannot withstand fire from all directions.

"boom!"

An anti-tank rocket hit the side of the Leopard 1. The tank shook violently, and its side armor plate was penetrated—the Leopard 1A5 is not one of the tanks with the toughest frontal armor; it cannot withstand a close-range RPG hit to the side.