Why insist on the surrender of Ratko Mladic

From The New York Times:

Rather than linking talks to one arrest, the European Union should ask if a deeply brutalized society like Serbia’s is a worthy partner for integration, regardless of the disposition of any one war criminal. Making General Mladic a totem for what Europe really needs — Serbia’s transformation — stunts the union’s ability to understand and encourage that process.

Fixation on General Mladic is of a piece with the naïve thinking behind much Western foreign policy from the Balkans to Baghdad. Similarly optimistic claims were made when former President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested, but five years later, Serbia’s politics still haven’t advanced enough. Oh — maybe that’s because we haven’t gotten General Mladic.

Here.