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Not Quite What It Appears


A subplot to the significance of the capture of Radovan Karadzic -- political, societal, and emotional -- has been the apparent brazenness with which a man indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity practiced quackery outside the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Much is being written about Karadzic's hirsute alias, D.D. David (apparently short for "Dragan Dabic David"), and his practice peddling the curative power of "human quantum energy."

News agencies say he was propagating his clinic through a "Psy-Help-Energy" website. But in the rush to learn more of the bizarre details of Karadzic's 12 years on the run, don't believe everything you read.

There are bound to be a lot more hoax websites. This site, for instance, purports to offer "10 favorite ancient Chinese proverbs as selected personally by Dr. Dabic." They include, at No. 1, "Behind every able man, there are always other able men," and, at No. 10, "The one who gives up his own, should dig two graves."

It goes on to state that "Dr. Dragan Dabic currently resides on Yury Gagarin Street in New Belgrade, but...."

Could that be for real? Serbian authorities' apparent failure to act resolutely for the past decade, despite all forms of pressure from the UN war crimes tribunal and the international community, has cost Serbs heavily. But they're not stupid.

-- Andy Heil

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Written by RFE/RL editors and correspondents, Transmission serves up news, comment, and the odd silly dictator story. While our primary concern is with foreign policy, Transmission is also a place for the ideas -- some serious, some irreverent -- that bubble up from our bureaus. The name recognizes RFE/RL's role as a surrogate broadcaster to places without free media. You can write us at transmission+rferl.org

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