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The arrest of Ratko Mladic is a welcome if long overdue breakthrough (16 years on, the Butcher of Bosnia is behind bars, 27 May). However, the fact that his capture coincided with the visit to Serbia of Baroness Ashton and came just a week after the European commission president, José Manuel Barroso, told Belgrade to step up its efforts to catch war criminals, does raise some awkward questions. Have the Serbian authorities really been completely unaware of Mladic's whereabouts for 16 years? Does his arrest – like that of Radovan Karadzic in 2008 – have more to do with a political desire for EU membership rather than any investigative breakthrough by the police and Interpol?
Karadzic was found "hiding" in Belgrade in the same week that Serbia reinstated its ambassadors withdrawn from EU countries that recognised Kosovo's independence. Mladic's arrest comes just before the European commission is due to decide whether to declare Serbia a formal candidate for EU membership.
Misha Glenny called the war in the Balkans "a struggle between the rural and the urban, the primitive and the cosmopolitan, and between chaos and reason". Whether coincidence or premeditated, the arrest of Mladic should be welcomed as a victory of reason over chaos.
Stefan Simanowitz
London
• I note that the charges against Mladic include "inflicting terror upon civilians". The so-called "shock and awe" tactics employed by Bush, Blair et al upon the people of Baghdad in 2003 is another example of such an atrocity. I look forward to seeing those responsible similarly indicted at The Hague.
Dr T McMaster
Wigan
