The world can breath a little easier with another notorious war criminal finally reeled-in by the proverbial long arm of the law. Radovan Karadzic, former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, was indicted nearly 13 years ago in connection with the massacre of nearly 8,000 Bosnian men and boys at Srebrenica. Based on the comparative photos shown to the right of this post, you will agree that his low-tech disguise is very effective (he looks to me more like Santa Claus!). "You could only recognize him if you know him by the sound of his voice,” according to a wartime friend of Mr. Karadzic. But then, there is no perfect crime and crime does not pay, so there goes his ingenious disguise.
Mr. Karadzic had lived a double life for over a decade as "Dragan Dabic," an alternative medicine guru and part-time writer for the magazine "Healthy Life" (he was additionally a poet, by the way). Since he was really a practising psychiatrist before he entered politics, I figure that role-playing as an alternative medicine guru was not much of a strain for him. I got interested in his story when The New York Times reported that he had a website. I promptly Googled "Dragan Dabic website" and clicked the link to his site. Below is a screenshot of his website, in case authorities take it down later (click on image to enlarge):
The English translation of his assumed profile in the said website is quoted below:
Dr. Dragan "David" Dabic was born some six decades ago in a small Serbian village of Kovaci, near Kraljevo. As a young boy he liked to explore nearby forests and mountains, spending a lot of time on Kopaonik mountain where he tended to pick the omnipresent, natural and potent medicinal herbs that grew at those green pastures. As a young man he moved to Belgrade, and then on to Moscow where he graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree (spec. in Psychiatry) at the Moscow State University (Lomonosov). After Russia, Dr. Dabic travelled around India and Japan, after which he settled in China where he specialized in alternative medicine, with a special emphasis on the mind-body control, meditation, Yoga, spiritual cleansing, as well as Chinese herbs. In mid-1990s Dr. Dabic returned back to mother Serbia for good, and ever since then emerged as one of the most prominent experts in the field of alternative medicine, bioenergy, and macrobiotic diet in the whole of the Balkans, and is frequent contributor to the regional alternative health magazines, and guest expert with numerous TV appearances and on many public forums, seminars and symposiums (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pancevo, Sombor, Smederevo, Kikinda...) dedicated to these issues and topics.
Dr. Dragan Dabic currently resides on Yury Gagarin street in New Belgrade, but for public forum invitations, television appearances or private consultations he can be reached directly at the following contact:
healingwounds @ dragandabic . com
Guess what, Mr. Karadzic aka Mr. Dabic had ten (10) favorite ancient Chinese proverbs on his no-frills website. What do these choice quotes tell about this intriguing persona? See for yourself:
Behind every able man, there are always other able men.(Photo credit: The New York Times)
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Teacher opens the door, but you must enter by yourself.
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A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.
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He who cannot agree with his enemies is controlled by them.
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If your strength is small, don't carry heavy burdens. If your words are worthless, don't give advice.
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A flawed diamond is better than a common stone that is perfect.
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Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
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If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, teach people.
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You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.
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The one who gives up his own, shall dig two graves.
