By Anthony Borden

Nearly 30 years ago, I organized a trip by three independent journalists from the then-collapsing Yugoslavia to visit New York City and speak to media and diplomats.

Brutal violence had erupted in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the worst of the ethnic cleansing and genocide had not yet occurred. Srebrenica was still two years away.

Yet the question already was, How was such bloodshed possible? How could neighbor turn upon neighbor so viciously?

One of our delegates on that trip was Miloš Vasić, from the Belgrade-based independent newsmagazine Vreme. It was one...