This piece lays out what must never be forgotten: Mladić was not a tragic old soldier but a deliberate architect of genocide and mass suffering. Calling those campaigns “ethnic cleansing” softens what happened — Srebrenica, the siege of Sarajevo, the rape camps and mass graves were crimes against humanity and, in law and conscience, genocide. We should condemn the man without romanticizing his biography or excusing the social and political forces that enabled him: nationalist myth‑making, impunity, and the failure of the international community to protect civilians. The Hague convictions matter, but justice is ongoing — for survivors, for families, and to prevent denial and glorification at home and abroad. As progressives we must stand with the victims, support memorialization and reparations, strengthen international institutions that prosecute war crimes, and fight the ethno‑nationalist currents that made these atrocities possible. Remembering must be a spur to action so “never again” means something real.