Recent commemorations of the beginning of World War I led me to reflect on the difficulties or impossibilities of overcoming centuries of ethnic hatred. One news report described how “Artists and diplomats declared a new century of peace and unity in Europe …in the city where the first two shots of World War I were fired…” Not everyone saw it that way. Another report described Bosnian Serbs unveiling a statute of Gavrilo Princip, the Bosnian Serb teenager who killed Crown Prince Ferdinand after Ferdinand had travelled to Sarajevo to inspect his occupying troops.

A hundred years of time have not resolved the divisions. Austrian President Heinz Fischer said “Europeans have learned that no problem can be solved by war. Milorad Dodik, president of the Bosnian Serb half of the country called Princip “…a freedom fighter and the Austro Hungarian empire was an occupier here.”  He added that the people are still divided in “…this country which is being held together by international violence.” An actor portraying Princip posed in front of his statue with a pistol as people shouted “shoot at NATO” and “shoot at the EU.”

Another conflict that is centuries old is between Shiites and Sunnis. The U.S. is trying to decide what to do about the battles in Iraq between those two religious groups. It seems to me worrying about it now comes a few years too late. Prime Minister Maliki ordered the arrest of the Sunni vice president a day after the last U.S. combat troops were withdrawn from Iraq. Maliki took that action despite the fact that Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi “had tried to be conciliatory.” Perhaps we should have taken that as a signal that trouble was on its way. Our apparent decision was to dither with a “hands off policy” and hope for the best despite Maliki’s obvious intention to have a non-inclusive government.  I’m guessing we can’t do anything now that won’t anger Sunnis, Shiites, or both.