Srdja Trifkovic
On July 11, the three constituent nations of Bosnia-Herzegovina marked the 15th anniversary of “Srebrenica.” The name of the eastern Bosnian town still evokes different responses from different communities, however. In the West, in the meantime, the complexities of the issue remain reduced to a simple morality play devoid of nuance and context.
As presented at AIU Roundtable in Kiev, June 17, 2010. (To read this article in Russian and Ukrainian scroll down to the end of the English text.)
Ukraine faces serious security challenges from its southwestern neighbor. They reflect a remarkable continuity of Romania’s geopolitical objectives, regardless of the nature of its domestic regime. They require carefully calibrated policy responses from Kiev.
The U.S. Department of State human rights report on Croatia, released on March 11, states matter of factly that Jasenovac was "the site of the largest concentration camp in Croatia during World War II, where thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma were killed” [emphasis added; a daily scene from Jasenovac, above]. This remarkable claim is the exact moral and factual equivalent of asserting that “tens of thousands” of Jews and others were killed in Auschwitz or Treblinka.
Ukraine's decision to say a final "No" to NATO should be a model for Serbia to follow. The government in Belgrade is still intent on seeking NATO membership, and encouraged to do so by various ill-informed and not necessarily well-meaning Americans. Such advice is contrary to Serbia’s interests and detrimental to peace and stability in the Balkans. [Russian translation of this article is at the end of the post]
The fact that Turkey is no longer a U.S. "ally" is still denied in Washington; but we were reminded of the true score on March 9, when Saudi King Abdullah presented Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (shown l. with wife and friends) with the Wahhabist kingdom's most prestigious prize for his "services to Islam." Erdogan earned the King Faisal Prize for having "rendered outstanding service to Islam by defending the causes of the Islamic nation."
Joining Europe (postmodern Eurospeak for joining the EU) is the mantra repeated ad nauseam from Belgrade to Sarajevo to Podgorica to Skopje. Behold (from AltRight) the joys of belonging to the institution headed by President Herman van Rompuy (l.)...
Two articles published on this site (and notably The Debacle of Serbia's "Lobbying" in Washington by James Jatras) have prompted inquiries regarding a "lobbying" deal the Government of Serbia has with ex-Gov. Rod Blagoyevich's top money man Milan Petrovic and his Chicago-based APS Inc. According to the Belgrade daily Borba, “Serbia’s lobbying in America is in reality a well oiled scheme for private misappropriation of money which belongs to the citizens of Serbia.” We now reveal additional known facts of this case, which has all the makings of a political scandal (cf. Serbian translation at the end of this article).
The U.S.authority is under strain all over the world, yet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains unable to leave the Balkans well alone: She told Senators Feb. 24 the U.S. is committed to the integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina ('we worry about that a lot"), and added that there is "a lot of unfinished business there," alluding - not for the first time - to her goal of abolishing the Republika Srpska (RS).
The dispute over the suspension of Bishop Artemije of Kosovo includes claims that funds allocated for other purposes were used to pay for lobbying services in Washington D.C. The allegation is ironic in view of the fact that there is no "Serbian lobby" in the U.S. capital.
The Green Corridor[1] (map from Limes) is a geopolitical concept with two meanings: (a) The Islamists' goal of creating a contiguous chain of Muslim-dominated polities from Istanbul in the southeast to northwestern Bosnia, a mere 120 miles from Austria [2]; and (b) The process of increasing ethno-religious assertiveness among the Muslim communities along that route.
