In mid-2012 the Turkish Premier boldly declared that Bosnia-Herzegovina is an Ottoman heritage and he added that “‘Bosnia is entrusted [emanet] to you [Turkey]. Don’t leave this region”, as supposedly the late Alija Izetbegovic told him in confidence in 2003. In sort Turkey claims a sort of a De Facto status of guarantee power in Bosnia-Herzegovina, one that has not been subject to any international or regional treaty but based on interpersonal relations and subjective interpretation of local history.

The soft power approach bases great value in the academic and educational sector as a prerequisite for the education of younger generations that will be in the future the “Bridge” between Turkish and Bosnian societies. According to Southeastern European Times and reporter Drazen Remikovic “Bosna Sema, a Turkish educational organization, has opened 14 schools in four cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1996… With over 3,500 pupils and over 500 employees”. Furthermore, two Turkish higher educational establishments already operate in the country and are in direct support by the governing Turkish political party AKP with an estimated 5,000 students. One of them the international University of Sarajevo has attracted over 1,000 Turkish citizens that prefer to reside in Bosnia while studying there and has been up to date a more than 110 million Euros investment. The International Burch University founder is the Istanbul-based Foundation of Journalists and Writers, established among others by Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen.

In particular the Fethullah Gulen movement seems to be more active and having larger educational funds to invest than Turkish state itself, with the presence of it quite extensive in Balkan countries. Only in the higher educational level the following institutions operate:

Albania
Beder University www.beder.edu.al
Epoka University www.epoka.edu.al

Bosnia
International Burch University www.ibu.edu.ba

Cyprus (Occupied North)
Eastern Mediterranean University www.emu.edu.tr

FYROM
International Balkan University www.ibu.edu.mk

Montenegro
Mediterranean University www.unimediteran.net

Romania
University of Southeast Europe / Lumina University www.lumina.org

Turkey
Antalya International University www.antalya.edu.tr
Gediz University www.gediz.edu.tr
Fatih University www.fatih.edu.tr
Meliksah University www.meliksah.edu.tr
Mevlana University www.mevlana.edu.tr
Zirve University www.zirve.edu.tr

According to an insider from Albania, “Epoka University disguises itself as secular. For this purpose, it hires a few – unaware – Western, and/or Western-educated, faculty members, to whom it offers high salaries. Religious subjects are not openly taught. However, most faculty members are Turkish Gulen followers. Most Albanian faculty and most students are alumni of local Gulen high schools. Most female teachers wear long skirts and long sleeves, and those who don’t are ostracized. Male and female faculty does not mix – i.e. they even dine in separate sections of the cafeteria. Male employees often refuse to shake hands or make eye contact with, and take orders from, female employees. There are no female department heads and no women in upper management.

Both universities are closely affiliated with, and promote themselves in, two Islamic newspapers, also owned and operated by Gulenists – Gazeta Start: www.gazetastart.com and Gazeta Jone: www.gazetajone.com ”

The Turkish press agency Anadolu has its main Balkan offices in Sarajevo and closely cooperates with state and non-state Turkish actors. It is of interest to note that Amir Zukic, the bureau chief of the Turkish Anadolu news agency’s Sarajevo office, recently stated in Washington Post that ““Turkish leaders are working at a new Ottoman empire, a gentle one…Turkey, a former regional power, is trying to come back in a big way.” One would wonder what would be the reaction in the region if an Austrian journalist expressed similar views upon a potential return of Austrian-Hungarian Empire being established in Bosnia, or a German, and a Russian one. Clearly the soft power tactic exercised by Turkey is gradually shifting from a pragmatic foreign policy tool and expanding into the realm of historical romance, a point which tends to re-affirm the notion to many neutral observers in the region that Turkey has over-extended itself and will sooner rather than latter have its Neo-Ottoman tactic backfiring, especially in the regional societal context, even amongst the Sunni Muslim part.

Sample of educational establishments in selected countries:

FYROM: Gornja Banjica village in Gostivar municipality; Donors: TIKA, the Union of Turkish World Municipalities and Gostivar municipality; 1,400 pupils.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bosna Sema with 14 schools since 1996, 3,500 pupils, plus the Sarajevo College 9Secondary education)
Romania: 10 schools in Bucharest, Constanta, Timisoara, Iasi and Cluj-Napoca; first school named “Megidia Kemal Ataturk National College” was founded in 1995
Serbia: One school in Novi Pazr with 1,000 pupils; 1.7 million Euros investment, donor: TIKA

Data originally compiled by Ivana Jovanovic, Paul Ciocoiu and Menekse Tokyay. The above schools do not include the Gullen movement ones, and include only those that were specifically established by institutions directly related to the Turkish state such as TIKA.

The two West African nations of Burkina Faso and Niger have stated that they both fully endorse the border decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). According to both nations they are pleased by the decision of the ICJ because you have no winner or loser. Instead, Burkina Faso and Niger can focus on the future whereby a genuine border will now apply between both nations.

In Kosovo the bias of leading nations like America and the United Kingdom is clear for all. After all, the Kosovo Albanians got everything despite not being internationally recognized by all nations and violating many international laws. At least Burkina Faso and Niger have gained and equally lost part of their territory in a diplomatic fashion. This reality shames many leading nations which just arbitrarily take land from nations or enforce their respective power dynamics in order to carve-up or weaken societies when it pleases them.

Tensions over the border between Burkina Faso and Niger date back to 1927 because of the legacy of France. Ironically, the same France is still meddling negatively in the affairs of Libya, Syria and also this nation recognized Kosovo despite the many violations of international law. In Mali it is essential for the international community to help this nation against Islamist terrorist factions. However, the ongoing support of destabilizing Syria isn’t warranted because secularism faces being crushed by Islamist militancy.

Turning back to Burkina Faso and Niger then tensions erupted in 2006 because of security forces and the confusion over the border region. At the same time custom officials in both nations were unsure about the real demarcation zone. Therefore, instead of turning to conflict or involving themselves in destabilization policies both Burkina Faso and Niger turned to the ICJ court to resolve the issue.

In Kosovo the Serbian Orthodox Christians and other minorities had no court to decide fairly about the rights and wrongs of the Kosovo diktat. Once more, Orthodox Christians were treated like second-class-citizens just like in Northern Cyprus whereby Turkey isn’t being forced to leave after invading several decades ago. The upshot of all this is the murder of vast numbers of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo on the watch of America, the United Kingdom and the European Union after the ending of the conflict. This also applies to the destruction of Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, architecture and even graveyards have been emptied and violated. Today the land of Kosovo is a ghetto for the majority of minorities and meanwhile this part of the former Yugoslavia is now a narcotics paradise. Sadly, this angle often follows in the footsteps of Washington and London because in modern day Afghanistan this nation is awash with heroin.

Vojin Joksimovich commented in an article titled Bare-Handed Kosovo Serbs Battle NATO which was published by Modern Tokyo Times that “On September 16 (2011) deputy mayor of Zvecan, Miodrag Acic, visited the UNMIK office in Zvecan to discuss the present crisis. Acic stated that Serbs have clearly defined who they are, born in the Serbian Province of Kosovo and Metohija, not so called Kosovars, with a rich identity of more than 1500 years old and who have a love of their culture, language and traditions. Serbs have survived all of the invasions and occupations which befell them in the last 1500 years. Serbian culture and heritage is all over Kosovo despite the fact that Albanians are trying to destroy it. He pointed out to a lack of toponyms, whose origins could be found in the Albanian language. There are, however, Islamic and Turkish toponyms due to the 500 year occupation. Now the Kosovo Albanians with help from US/NATO, with disproportional use of force, are trying to steal our history, our toponyms, our land, our language and are making the last try to expel of us. Acic pointed out and named international officers who side with the Albanians and disregard international law and use instead the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, set of traditional Albanian codes.”

The embattled Serbs of Kosovo which are witnessing their “Orthodox Christian Jerusalem” being Islamized and Albanianized must be amazed by the even-handed approach of the ICJ when it comes to Burkina Faso and Niger. After all, for the Orthodox Christian Serbs they have seen the bias of major international institutions which forgive Muslim and Catholic war criminals against them – at the same time where is the outcry about the cleansing of Orthodox Christians from Krajina, Kosovo and parts of Bosnia?

The Justice Minister of Niger, Marou Amadou, told AFP that “I think that the court sliced up the territory fairly….We gain a little in the North, we lose a bit in the South. Both countries win out because there’s no more border dispute.”

Likewise, Jerome Bougouma, Burkina Faso’s Minister of Territorial Administrative and Security, commented that “We are parting as good friends, very good friends.”

For the Kosovo Serbs and other minorities, just like for Serbia itself with regards to the European Union, it is one diktat after another. Therefore, only when Serbia bows down to nations which violated the sovereignty of the former Yugoslavia – and accept their servitude to all and sundry – will this nation be allowed to join the European table. Ironically, the Serbs in history fought against the invading Islamic invasions of Ottoman Turkey and against Nazi Germany. However, the real winners in the Balkans are the former fascist states of Germany and Croatia (Bosnian Muslim SS Units) and Turkey which still denies the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Christian holocaust which led to millions being killed in the early twentieth century.

In this sense, the Orthodox Christian Serbs are being punished for “fighting on the right-side of history.” Whoever says history is dead should only look at the conspiracies against the Serbs of the Balkans. Therefore, while justice can be found between Burkina Faso and Niger the same can’t be said about the ongoing diktat in Kosovo whereby the Serbs and other minorities must bow down to Albanianization.

By Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times

Alyse Radenovic (http://www.alyseradenovic.com) was born in 1973 therefore during her early adult life the war in the former Yugoslavia was blazing. This extremely talented artist was born in America and her adorable fine art covers many different themes and often flows in many directions. Many strong passions exist within Alyse Radenovic and this applies to her love of art and her deep respect towards many political issues. Of major concern for Alyse Radenovic is the distortion of reality when it comes to the coverage of what happened to the Serbs in Bosnia, Krajina and Kosovo. Therefore, this article is about fusing art, history and the “other reality” which was neglected by the mass media. Also, it highlights the fact that many major nations will do anything in order to appease the petrodollar nations of the Gulf.

It firstly must be stated that Alyse Radenovic is a fine arts artist who focuses on many themes. Therefore, the words in this article belong to the respective writers despite being inspired by the art of Alyse Radenovic. However, it must be stated that Alyse Radenovic is troubled by the re-writing of history – or, better to say – a history that was never taught in the first place outside of the embattled Serbs of Bosnia, Krajina and Kosovo.

In this article all the art pieces by Alyse Radenovic are focused on Bratunac and Srebrenica. These images can be put within a limited theme applying to what the viewer can see and feel. Or, alternatively, a bigger picture may entail from many different angles. If we then take the names Bratunac and Srebrenica away then the mist of reality can’t be debated. Yet, the titles clearly state that the art pieces apply to Bratunac and Srebrenica. Despite this, at no point am I implying that Alyse Radenovic is focused on the deeper meaning – only this talented artist can answer this; however, it is this chaos which aptly applies to Bratunac and Srebrenica which creates many images within the mind.

Serbian Orthodox Christians in Bosnia, Krajina and Kosovo had their entire history and martyrdom crushed by a mass media which ignored the past, the reality of the time and this ongoing blindness continues today. In modern day Europe you have northern Cyprus whereby Turkey continues to occupy parts of this country. Following on from Turkish occupation is the de-Christianization of this part of Cyprus. Likewise, in modern day Kosovo vast numbers of Orthodox Christian churches and important Serbian architecture have been destroyed. On top of this, many Orthodox Christians have been killed in Kosovo since the ending of the conflict under the watch of America and Europe. It is no coincidence that the petrodollars of the Gulf and the importance of Turkey in NATO, meant that in three conflicts involving Orthodox Christians and Muslims in the last 40 years in Europe; that America sided with Muslim forces in each conflict.

The stunning art piece by Alyse Radenovic titled Bratunac – Blue says much about the distortions of reality. In this image we see the power of the mountains, distant buildings and flowers which immediately hit you. Tranquility can be viewed despite the rugged landscape. However, for the Bosnian Serbs of Bratunac and other mainly Orthodox Christian villages in and around Srebrenica; then only death, persecution and fear could be found during the Bosnian conflict.

Many powerful individuals on the ground and people in the know, fully understood the real reality of Bratunac, Srebrenica and the entire area whereby mutual hatred flourished. In this atmosphere of hatred many innocent Muslims and Orthodox Christians were killed by opposing forces in this part of Bosnia. French General Philippe Morillon, the UNPROFOR commander who first called international attention to the Srebrenica enclave, is adamant that the crimes were quite “extraordinary in the region committed by those Muslim soldiers made the Serbs’ desire for revenge inevitable. He testified at The Hague Tribunal on February 12, 2004, that the Muslim commander in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, “engaged in attacks during Orthodox (Christian) holidays and destroyed villages, massacring all the inhabitants. This created a degree of hatred that was quite extraordinary in the region.”

Philippe Morillon further states that “Naser Oric was a warlord who reigned by terror in his area and over the population itself. I think that he realized that these were the rules of this horrific war, that he could not allow himself to take prisoners. According to my recollection, he didn’t even look for an excuse. It was simply a statement: One can’t be bothered with prisoners.”

Morillon continues by stating that “the Serbs took me to a village to show me the evacuation of the bodies of the inhabitants that had been thrown into a hole, a village close to Bratunac. And this made me understand the degree to which this infernal situation of blood and vengeance [...] led to a situation when I personally feared that the worst would happen if the Serbs of Bosnia managed to enter the enclaves and Srebrenica.”

“I feared that the Serbs, the local Serbs, the Serbs of Bratunac, these militiamen, they wanted to take their revenge for everything that they attributed to Naser Oric. It wasn’t just Naser Oric that they wanted to revenge, take their revenge on; they wanted to revenge their dead on Orthodox Christmas.”

Bratunac and the entire area in and around Srebrenica witnessed countless massacres against local Orthodox Christians. Indeed, while nobody can deny the brutality of what happened when Srebrenica was taken by Bosnian Serb forces – how, what really happened and the numbers killed can be debated; but it is clear that thousands of Muslim males were killed. However, unlike Naser Oric and the brutality that occurred under his command against old people, women and very small children; the Bosnian Serbs allowed Muslim women and children to escape. At no point does this cover-up the massacres that took places by victorious Bosnian Serb forces when Srebrenica fell. However, it is ironic that the brutal murder of over 3,500 Orthodox Christians was brushed under the carpet despite three years of brutality by Muslim forces in the region.

In the art piece by Alyse Radenovic titled Srebrenica – Gold Red then the stylishly distorted images of houses and the vivid color red denotes the distorted bloodshed and reality which happened throughout this part of Bosnia. The Gold background can denote many things. Yet for both writers of this article it denotes the petrodollars of the Gulf and how America and the United Kingdom were willing to “sell their collective souls” while Turkey and Saudi Arabia were dreaming about the re-Islamization of vast parts of the Balkans. Alyse Radenovic may of course see something very different and the same applies to everyone who views this lovely art piece. Yet this is the connection between art, history, power mechanisms and various thought patterns – after all, much will depend on the world that you see – or the world that you have been allowed to witness.

Major-General (Ret) Lewis Mackenzie, a retired Canadian general, also raises serious doubts about “good” and “evil.” In his article titled “The real story behind Srebrenica.  The massacre in the UN ‘safe haven’ was not a black and white event,” which was published in The Globe and Mail (July 14, 2005), he clearly highlights many neglected areas.

Lewis MacKenzie witnessed many events and he states the following:

“As the Bosnian Muslim fighters became better equipped and trained, they started to venture outside Srebrenica, burning Serb villages and killing their occupants before quickly withdrawing to the security provided by the UN’s safe haven. These attacks reached a crescendo in 1994 and carried on into early 1995 after the Canadian infantry company that had been there for a year was replaced by a larger Dutch contingent.”

“The Bosnian Serbs might have had the heaviest weapons, but the Bosnian Muslims matched them in infantry skills that were much in demand in the rugged terrain around Srebrenica. As the snow cleared in the spring of 1995, it became obvious to Nasar Oric, the man who led the Bosnian Muslim fighters, that the Bosnian Serb army was going to attack Srebrenica to stop him from attacking Serb villages. So he and a large number of his fighters slipped out of town. Srebrenica was left undefended with the strategic thought that, if the Serbs attacked an undefended town, surely that would cause NATO and the UN to agree that NATO air strikes against the Serbs were justified. And so the Bosnian Serb army strolled into Srebrenica without opposition.”

Most tellingly, Lewis MacKenzie comments that “two wrongs never made a right, but those moments in history that shame us all because of our indifference should not be viewed in isolation without the context that created them.”

Lord Owen was equally alarmed and on page 143 of his book, Balkan Odyssey, he states that “On 16 April I spoke on the telephone to President Milosevic about my anxiety that, despite repeated assurances from Dr. Karadzic that he had no intention of taking Srebrenica, the Bosnian Serb army was now proceeding to do just that. The pocket was greatly reduced in size. I had rarely heard Milosevic so exasperated, but also so worried: he feared that if the Bosnian Serb troops entered Srebrenica there would be a bloodbath because of the tremendous bad blood that existed between the two armies. The Bosnian Serbs held the young Muslim commander in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, responsible for a massacre near Bratunac in December 1992 in which many Serb civilians had been killed. Milosevic believed it would be a great mistake for the Bosnian Serbs to take Srebrenica and promised to tell Karadzic so.”

The three individuals quoted come from Canada, France and the United Kingdom and all are respected individuals within the military and political world. Sadly, if Modern Tokyo Times gave quotes from Serbians, then people who want to gloss over the reality of Bratunac and Srebrenica, will use any means at their disposal. After all, the point was to kill Orthodox Christians in silence and then to hide what really happened by either silence or mass propaganda. In truth, all sides did massacres throughout the Bosnian conflict – after all, you don’t have any war whereby one side is free from committing massacres irrespective of faith, nationality and so forth. Germany committed many massacres during World War Two but millions of German civilians were also killed by carpet bombings and other brutal realities.

The Serbs of the former Yugoslavia have witnessed dhimmitude under the Ottoman Empire and enslavement; the brutal rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; NAZI Germany; Bosnian Muslim, Catholic Croatian and Albanian SS units. On top of this, the communist leadership in Yugoslavia after World War Two allowed further Albanianization to take place in Kosovo. During the conflict in Bosnia the Bosnian Serbs faced Bosnian Muslim forces, America, al-Qaeda, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the role of many other nations – in time NATO would bomb Serbia from the sky at a later date. Therefore, the mass media not only distorted the Bosnian conflict but they trashed the martyrdom and history of the Serbs by simplistic phrases. Today the same mantra is being thrown at Syria whereby America, Gulf nations and major NATO powers are once more siding in a brutal conflict; whereby Islamist terrorists are on the same side and the Croatian military angle is being used to arm the friends of Washington, Ankara, Doha, London, Paris and Riyadh alongside many other ratlines.

Therefore, the art of Alyse Radenovic with regards to Bratunac and Srebrenica unites with the distortions of reality but in a positive sense. The natural beauty of the art pieces by Alyse Radenovic, in relation to this article, also highlights the stillness of time and the rugged landscape. If people don’t know about the history of the former Yugoslavia before the Bosnian conflict, during and after the demise of this entity; then it is easy to take these art pieces at face value. Of course, Alyse Radenovic may desire people to take these pieces of art at face value but given the places that she portrays – then maybe the meaning is much more powerful than what people see outside of the images which spring to mind?

Irrespective of the real reasons behind the art work of Alyse Radenovic towards Bratunac and Srebrenica; the art pieces according to both writers of this article depicts “the ghosts of the dead that have been abandoned by the whims of outside forces.” Therefore, by Alyse Radenovic depicting natural landscapes alongside more blurred images of Bratunac and Srebrenica; it is what can’t be seen which also fascinates given her love towards the abandoned Serbs of Bosnia, Krajina and Kosovo. In this sense, for people who adore the art of Alyse Radenovic it is important to explore the real meaning behind the subject matter in this article. On a bigger scale, the same obviously applies to the distortions of reality when it comes to Bosnia and other issues related to the former Yugoslavia.

Art may appear to be a million miles away from what happened in Bratunac and Srebrenica. Yet, art is open to enormous interpretation and clearly all individuals will come up with their own meaning to the art viewed. However, when it comes to Bratunac and Srebrenica – just like in modern day Syria – then the mass media and powerful nations want only “their single interpretation.” In this sense, the natural charm of Alyse Radenovic allows many interpretations; if only the mass media and major nations would allow the same logic instead of instigating hatred and falsehood.

President Milorad Dodik of Republika Srpska (RS) comments that “The suffering of the Serbs in and around Srebrenica during those three years was in no way inferior, it just didn’t take place cumulatively in the space of a few days, but over the course of three years. Over 3,500 people lost their lives there, for which, as you can see, they clear Naser Orić, and convict Biljana Plavšić of command responsibility, even though she didn’t command anything in the RS, and only held political office. And that makes us wonder again if we’re willing to accept the double standards in this republic or not. I am not willing.”

Croatian and Bosnian Muslim troops participated in the 1942-1943 landmark battle of Stalingrad. This was one of the most fiercely-fought and brutal battles of World War II. The battle was the turning point of the war. The most fanatical and dedicated troops fought at Stalingrad. This was where they proved their loyalty and dedication to Adolf Hitler and the New Order. At Stalingrad, Ante Pavelic sought to ensure the triumph of Adolf Hitler and the New Order. Croats and Bosnian Muslims fought with tenacity and with determination to ensure the victory of Nazism. At Stalingrad, they took part in the turning point of World War II.

The Turning Point

The battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of World War II. It is one of the greatest battles in all of history. It was the first time that Adolf Hitler was decisively defeated. In fact, the battle was a military disaster for Germany that was unparalleled and unprecedented. It altered the course of history.

The Independent State of Croatia, the NDH, Nezavisna Hrvatska Drzava, consisting of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, contributed troops to this climactic battle of World War II. Croats and Bosnian Muslims participated in the battle. They were part of the 369^th Croat Reinforced Infantry Regiment. How did Croats and Bosnian Muslims take part in the greatest battle of World War II?

Genesis

After Germany and the other Axis countries invaded, occupied, and dismembered Yugoslavia beginning on April 6, 1941, Adolf Hitler created the Independent State of Croatia, a Greater Croatia that also included Bosnia-Hercegovina. German troops entered Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, on April 10, 1941. The Independent State of Croatia was then proclaimed. Ante Pavelic would subsequently be installed by Hitler as the Poglavnik, or leader or fuehrer, of the new state. Ante Pavelic returned from exile to form the new state. He was a hardcore fascist and staunch supporter and adherent of Nazism. He was one of Adolf Hitler’s most dedicated and most committed supporters and collaborators. A Roman Catholic, he also had the backing and support of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.

As soon as the NDH was established, Pavelic passed anti-Serbian, anti-Roma, and anti-Jewish laws. Modeled on the Nazi Nuremberg laws, Pavelic sought to create an ethnically pure Croatia, cleansed of all non-Croats, who were regarded as foreign ethnic groups. Massacres of Orthodox Serbs started. Jews were rounded up. The NDH would set up its own concentration and death camps, which was unique during the Holocaust. The largest concentration camp in the Balkans would be Jasenovac, set up by the Croat government itself. Pavelic sought to implement and to realize Adolf Hitler’s model and template, creating an ethnically pure nation.

Pavelic met Hitler on an official state visit on June 9, 1941, at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. Accompanied by Andrija Artukovic, he was greeted by Hitler, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Hermann Goering. The NDH became part of the New Order in Europe and one of Adolf Hitler’s staunchest allies.

Ante Pavelic, center, with General Friedrich von Paulus, left, the commander of the German Sixth Army, at Golubinskaya, outside of Stalingrad, in the Soviet Union, September 24, 1942, before the initial Axis ground assault on the city of Stalingrad.

Operation Barbarossa

On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.  This was the largest and most decisive German military offensive and operation of World War II. The outcome of the battle would decide the war. Adolf Hitler threw everything he had into the battle, his elite troops and formations.

Ante Pavelic understood that this would be the decisive engagement of World War II. He wanted Croatia to participate in this massive struggle. Pavelic perceived this as a crusade against Communism and Bolshevism, an ideological and religious conflict. It would thus advance the influence and impact of Roman Catholicism, the Vatican, and safeguard the independence of the NDH. Pavelic wanted to repay Hitler for his creation of an independent Croatia, a Greater Croatia. He also wanted to solidify his alliance with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, which also had troops in the USSR. Pavelic insisted that the NDH participate in this landmark invasion.

Pavelic contacted Edmund Glaise von Hostenau, the German military commander in the NDH, offering Croatian troops. Horstenau told Pavelic to make a request personally to Hitler. On June 23, Pavelic wrote to Hitler offering volunteers for Operation Barbarossa. Hitler replied on July 1. Pavelic ordered the recruitment of volunteers for the Russian Front on July 2. The formation of the Hrvatska Legija, the Croatian Legion, began.

Hrvatska Legija

The 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment, Hrvatska Legija, part of the German 100th Division, in Golubinskaya, west of Stalingrad, September 24, 1942.

The unit was known as the Croatian 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, Verstärktes Kroatisches Infanterie-Regiment 369, 369. pojačana pješačka pukovnija. By the end of July, 1941, 9,000 volunteers were assembled. The Legion was an Infantry Regiment made up of three battalions. Two battalions were recruited in Varazdin in Croatia, while the third was recruited in Sarajevo. One third of the troops in the regiment were Bosnian Muslims. Tahir Alagic was a high-ranking Bosnian Muslim military officer in the regiment. He was born in Sanski Most in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Croatian Colonel Ivan Markulj was the first commander of the regiment.

The Legion was part of the German Army or Wehrmacht commanded by German officers. The soldiers in the regiment swore an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler. They wore standard German military uniforms, used German weapons, rank insignia, and were trained and organized by German military forces. They were issued Mauser Karabiner 98 rifles.They wore a checkerboard shield on the right arm with the word “Hrvatska” and a shield on the helmet. On their right chest was the eagle and Nazi swastika symbol of Nazi Germany.

The regiment consisted of a staff company, a machine gun company, an anti-tank company, and a heavy weapons company. An artillery group of three batteries made up of 105 mm guns was added later. The unit would consist of 5,000 troops, with a training battalion.

On July 15, the troops were transported from Zagreb to the Doellersheim training camp in northeast Austria. On August 25, they arrived in Botosani, a town in Moldavia west of the Dniester River, north of the Black Sea. The regiment marched from there to join the German 100th Light Infantry Division on October 10, commanded by Division Lieutenant General Werner Sanne from July 6, 1942 to January 31, 1943, when it was destroyed at Stalingrad and the remnants surrendered. The division was then part of the 17th Army Group South commanded by Generaloberst Hermann Hoth. The division was reorganized as a Jaeger or “hunting” division, a smaller infantry division geared to adverse terrain such as hilly or mountainous zones of combat. The 100^th Division was the only Jaeger Division which fought at Stalingrad. The regiment began its combat role on the eastern front attached to this German division.

Borba Udruzene Europe na Istoku. The War of United Europe Against the East. Izlozba u Zagrebackom Zboru. The Exhibition in the Zagreb Union. Prosinac 1941 – Sijecanj 1942. December 1941 – January 1942. NDH exhibition card to promote the postage stamp to support the German, Italian, and Croatian invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Operation Barbarossa. The exhibition card was sold from November 6, 1941 to January 30, 1942 in Zagreb.

Army Group South

Their first combat engagement in the Soviet Union was on the Kharkov Front in the Ukraine. The units of the regiment had been assigned to other regiments of the 100^th division when they were deployed to Kharkov to gain experience and to be tested in combat on the front. German troops captured the Soviet industrial city of Kharkov on October 24, 1941. A Soviet counterattack retook the strategic city of Rostov located on the Don River, southwest of Stalingrad, on November 27. Rostov-na-Donu was a port city and a railroad juncture. This Red Army counteroffensive forced German forces to retreat and withdraw. The 100th Light Infantry Division was then redeployed to the Mius River near Taganrog on November 22, south of the Kharkov front.

In January, 1942, the 100th Light Infantry Division was deployed to the Stalino area to counter a Soviet cavalry attack that had broken through the Axis lines. The regiment was engaged in the Samara River area during this period deployed at Valki, Selivanov, and Kalach, on the Don Front. Sanne awarded Marko Mesic an Iron Cross for the performance of his artillery battalion.

In May, 1942, the elements of the regiment were reorganized and reintegrated into a single unit under the command of Colonel Ivan Markulj. The regiment was deployed to the Kharkov front where it was engaged in attacks against Soviet forces which sought to retake the city. Eight officers in the regiment were awarded German Iron Crosses First Class following the Kharkov battle, known as the Second Battle of Kharkov, including Colonel Ivan Markulj and Lieutenant Eduard Bakarec.

On June 21, 1942, the Croatian Legion consisted of 113 officers, 7 clerks, 625 NCOs, and 4317 troops, for a total troop strength of 5,062 men. Marko Mesic replaced Markulj as the temporary commander on July 7, 1942. Colonel Viktor “Vitez” Pavicic subsequently assumed command of the regiment and led the unit during the assault on Stalingrad.

The regiment was part of the Axis advance on Voronezh, Kalach, and Stalingrad beginning in June in the summer of 1942. From July 25-28, the regiment was engaged in a battle near Selivanov on the Proljet Kultura Kolkhoz or Collective Farm against Soviet troops that resulted in 53 killed from the regiment. The engagement involved close quarter, hand to hand combat after a Soviet counterattack. The regiment continued to engage in combat operations along the Samara River which resulted in 171 killed from the regiment. By September, Axis troops had reached the outskirts of Stalingrad.

Poglavnik Ante Pavelic would come to inspect and decorate the members of the regiment on September 24, 1941, at the town of Golubinskaya, two days before the regiment would enter Stalingrad.

Seizure of the Caucasus Oil Fields

On April 5, 1942, Hitler signed Directive Number 41, making the Caucasus oil fields the primary military objective for German offensive operations in the Soviet Union in 1942, not Moscow or Leningrad. In the Directive, Hitler emphasized that the focus of military operations would be in the South: “First, therefore, all available forces will be concentrated on the main operations in the Southern sector, with the aim of destroying the enemy before the Don, in order to secure the Caucasian oilfields and the passes through the Caucasus mountains themselves.” The city of Stalingrad was to be destroyed. Hitler noted: “In any event, every effort will be made to reach Stalingrad itself, or at least to bring the city under fire from heavy artillery so that it may no longer be of any use as an industrial or communications center.”

The Axis offensive operations for 1942 were code named Case Blue, Fall Blau, later renamed Operation Braunschweig. Stalingrad would be the epicenter of the Axis military campaign in the Soviet Union in 1942.

For Hitler, Stalingrad was to be the convergence point for the operation: “The third attack in the course of these operations will be so conducted that formations thrusting down the Don can link up in the Stalingrad area with forces advancing from the Taganrog Artelnovsk area between the lower waters of the Don and Voroshilovgrad across the Donets to the east. These forces should finally establish contact with the armored forces advancing on Stalingrad.”

On May 8, the German offensive in the Crimea began. German General Erich von Manstein had taken Kerch on May 15. The strategic port city of Sevastopol on the Black Sea was captured by German troops on July 2. The military successes in the Crimean area opened the road to Stalingrad and the Caucasus oil fields in Baku, Maykop, and Grozny.

Stalingrad was an industrial center and communications hub on the Volga River. It was also a vital supply route and transportation center. It was known as Tsaritsyn before the Communist Revolution. It was renamed after Joseph Stalin because he had led Communist forces in the city during the 1918 civil war.

On August 23, the Luftwaffe began a massive bombing campaign of the city. Over 600 bombers had made 4,000 bombing sorties on the city which reduced the city to rubble. The bombing killed an estimated 40,000 Russian civilians. Incendiary bombs engulfed the city in flames. The city would be totally destroyed even before the infantry assaults and the house to house street fighting began.

En Route to Stalingrad

Ante Pavelic with Adolf Hitler at the Werwolf headquarters in Vinnitsa, USSR. OKW chief Wilhelm Keitel is behind Ante Pavelic. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop is on right behind Adolf Hitler. September 22, 1942.

Poglavnik Ante Pavelic met Adolf Hitler on the Russian Front on his way to Stalingrad on September 22, 1942. This was Pavelic’s second meeting with Adolf Hitler. The meeting place was Adolf Hitler’s forward military command headquarters on the Eastern Front in Vinnitsa, known as Werwolf, Fuehrerhauptquarter Werwolf. Pavelic was on his way to meet Paulus and to inspect and review and present medals to the members of the Hrvatska Legija before the assault on Stalingrad.

Pavelic had his first meeting with Hilter on June 9, 1941, at the Berghof, at Berchtesgaden, in Germany, accompanied by Andrija Artukovic. They met and conferred with Hitler, Hermann Goering, and Joachim von Ribbentrop. The third meeting occurred on April 27, 1943 at the Klessheim Palace near Salzburg, in Austria where Siegfried Kasche, the German diplomat in Zagreb, Reichsaussenminister Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Dr. Paul Otto Schmidt, Chief-Interpreter of the Auswaertige Amt, were in attendance. His fourth meeting was on September 18, 1944, at the Wolfsschanze command headquarters on the Eastern Front at Rastenburg, in East Prussia when he met Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. Field Marshal General Wilhelm Keitel, the Chief of the German Armed Forces High Command (OKW), and Reichsaussenminister Joachim von Ribbentrop were also in attendance at this meeting.

Fuehrerhauptquarter Werwolf was the code name for the headquarters which was located seven and a half miles north of Vinnitsa in German-occupied Ukraine region of the Soviet Union. It was in use from 1942 through 1943, located in an area of pine forests. It consisted of bunkers, barracks, and underground tunnels.

The Fuehrer Headquarters or Fuehrerhauptquartiere, FHQ, were a series of military headquarters or military command and control centers that Adolf Hitler had created throughout the Third Reich and occupied Europe. His other headquarters were the Fuehrerbunker in Berlin, the Wolfsshanze, or Wolf’s Lair, in East Prussia, and the Berghof located at Obersaltzberg near Berchtesgaden in Bavaria.

Adolf Hitler had previously met with Slavko Kvaternik, the Minister of the Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia, at the Wolfsschanze military command headquarters on the Eastern Front in East Prussia, on July 1, 1941.

Hitler stayed at FHQ Werwolf only three times during the war. During the summer offensive and the advance and assault on Stalingrad, Hitler stayed there from July 16 to October 30, 1942. It was during this stay that he met Ante Pavelic on September 22, 1942. Pavelic had arrived by plane with a group of NDH officials. He was met by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop at the makeshift airport and escorted by limousine to meet Adolf Hitler. Obercommando der Wehrmact (OKW), chief of the high command, Wilhelm Keitel was also present at the headquarters where he greeted the Pavelic party. The Hitler meeting with Pavelic was photographed and filmed for a newsreel. Adolf Hitler would give a gift to Pavelic of a Mercedes Benz limousine for the services rendered by Croatian volunteers on the Eastern Front. The car would be delivered to Pavelic in Zagreb.

From Werwolf Hitler issued Directive Number 45 on July 23, 1942 which split Army Group South into two spearheads, one to seize Stalingrad and the other the Caucasus oil fields.

Hitler ordered that the objective of Army Group B was to take Stalingrad: “The task of Army Group B is, as previously laid down, to develop the Don defenses and, by a thrust forward to Stalingrad, to smash the enemy forces concentrated there, to occupy the town, and to block the land communications between the Don and the Volga, as well as the Don itself.” Hitler emphasized “the decisive importance of the Caucasus oilfields for the further prosecution of the war”. He detailed that “the operations of Army Group B against Stalingrad and the western part of Astrakhan will be supported. The early destruction of the city of Stalingrad is especially important.”

Order of Battle at Stalingrad

Ante Pavelic with Croatian troops outside of Stalingrad. 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment, Hrvatska Legija, Golubinskaya, 50 miles west of Stalingrad.

The Croat 369^th Reinforced Infantry regiment was part of the 6^th Army. The 6th Army itself was part of Army Group B. 6th Army consisted of 2 panzer, 1 motorized infantry and 15 infantry divisions. The 369th Croat Reinforced Infantry Regiment was part of the 100th Jaeger Division which were subsumed in the 11th Army Corps. Army Group B also consisted of Group von Weichs under the command of Maximillian von Weichs, consisting of 1 motorized infantry, 4 German and 2 Hungarian infantry divisions, the 2nd Hungarian Army under Colonel-General Gusztav Jany, which was made up of 4 Hungarian infantry divisions, and the 4th Panzer Army under General Hermann Hoth, made up of 3 panzer, 2 motorized and 6 infantry divisions, the Italian 8^th Army, and the 3^rd and 4^th Romanian Armies. The Soviet 62nd Army under Vasily Chuikov was defending Stalingrad, along with the 8^th, 28^th, 51^st, 57^th, and 64^th Armies. In August, 1942, Soviet General Georgi K. Zhukov was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Soviet military forces. He went to the Southwestern Front where he assumed command of the defense of Stalingrad. He had earlier stopped the German advance on Moscow in 1941.

The German 100^th Jaeger Division was commanded by Generalleutnant Werner Sanne. In 1942, the Stalingrad Order of Battle for the division consisted of the following elements:

Jäger-Regiment 54

Jäger-Regiment 227

Verstärktes Infanterie-Regiment 369 (kroatisch)

Radfahr-Abteilung 100

Artillerie-Regiment 83

Pionier-Bataillon 100

Panzerjäger-Abteilung 100

Nachrichten-Abteilung 100

Feldersatz-Bataillon 100

Versorgungseinheiten 100

The Axis troop strength at Stalingrad during the Soviet counter-offensive in November, 1942 was a total of 1,040,000 troops, consisting of, 400,000 German troops, 235,000 Italian troops, 200,000 Romanian troops, 200,000 Hungarian troops, 5,000 Croatian and Bosnian Muslim troops.

Golubinskaya

Ante Pavelic, left, with Generaloberst Friedrich von Paulus outside of Stalingrad at Golubinskaya, September 24, 1942. Paulus is wearing the NDH Order of King Zvonimir’s Crown with Star and Swords on his left tunic pocket.

The town of Golubinskaya was where Generaloberst Friedrich von Paulus, the commander of 6th Army, had his headquarters before the Axis assault on Stalingrad. Golubinskaya is on the west bank of the Reka Don, the Don River, northwest of Stalingrad, north of Kalach-na-Donu. Paulus moved his headquarters to the basement of the Univermag Department Store in the city of Stalingrad after Axis troops entered Stalingrad. Golubinskaya is in the Volgograd Oblast. Golubinskaya is approximately 50 miles west of Stalingrad. The town was an assembly and staging area for the assault on Stalingrad.

The name of the city was changed from Stalingrad to Volgograd in 1961 by Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. The name was restored for six days, however, to mark the 70th year anniversary of the landmark battle in 2013.

Ante Pavelic met Generaloberst Friedrich von Paulus outside of Stalingrad, on September 24, 1942. Pavelic awarded Paulus the Order of King Zvonimir’s Crown with Star and Swords (Grosskreuz on sash) which is shown attached on his left breast pocket in a photograph of the meeting.

Ante Pavelic met with Generals Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs and Georg von Sodenstern outside of Stalingrad, on September 25, 1942. Pavelic awarded both von Weichs and von Sodenstern the Order of King Zvonimir’s Crown with Star and Swords (Grosskreuz on sash) which they were both shown wearing on their left breast pocket.

General der Infanterie Georg von Sodenstern, Chef des Generalstabes Heeresgruppe Süd, Chef des Generalstabes Heeresgruppe B, was photographed shaking hands with Ante Pavelic on his departure at an airport outside of Stalingrad on September 25, 1942. A German Major in the center is shown wearing the Order of King Zvonimir’s Crown with Swords, Class II, in a photograph of the meeting, who attached his Zvonimir “steckkreuz” through the buttonhole of his left breast pocket.

General von Weichs was photographed seeing Ante Pavelic off at an airport outside of Stalingrad on September 25, 1942. Von Weichs was shown wearing the Star of Order of King Zvonimir’s Crown attached to his left breast pocket.

General von Weichs and Ante Pavelic were photographed at an airport in Golubinskaya outside of Stalingrad on September 25, 1942 during Pavelic’s departure on a German transport plane, a Junkers Ju 52.

Pavelic awarded oberst Viktor Pavicic, the commander of the Hrvatska Legija, the Order of the Iron Trefoil with Oak Branches or Wreaths, Class III, during his visit to Croatian troops outside Stalingrad on September 24-25, 1942.

The Croatian and Bosnian Muslim troops in the regiment received Croatian and German awards and medals. Pavelic awarded them Croatian medals personally during his visit. In September, 1942, the German Iron Cross 2nd class was awarded to Bosnian Muslim Sergeant Dzafer Babovic and Lt. Josip Zambata of the regiment for combat on the southern sector. Captain Geza Majberger, who commanded the 1st battalion, received the Iron Cross 2nd class for his part in the battles around Manojlin in the summer offensive of 1942. Majberger died from the injuries he sustained on July 30, 1942. The Iron Cross was awarded for bravery in combat above and beyond the call of duty.

Ante Pavelic’s message to the troops of the Hrvatska Legija on the Russian Front before battle had been: “I am certain that you will demonstrate to the world the glory of Croatian arms.”

The 6th Army entered Stalingrad on September 25. The Hrvatska Legija entered the city of Stalingrad on September 27.

Conclusion

Croatian and Bosnian Muslim troops participated in the landmark battle of Stalingrad. This was one of the most fiercely-fought and brutal battles of World War II. The battle was the turning point of the war. The most fanatical and dedicated troops fought at Stalingrad. This was where they proved their loyalty and dedication to Adolf Hitler and the New Order. At Stalingrad, Ante Pavelic sought to ensure the triumph of Adolf Hitler and the New Order. Croats and Bosnian Muslims fought with tenacity and with determination to ensure the victory of Nazism. At Stalingrad, they took part in the turning point of World War II.

Over the past decade, Latin-American cocaine cartels have also collaborated with Balkan illicit importers and play a great role in supplying an estimated four million addicts with this drug annually in the European markets. Moreover individuals are being recruited in substantial numbers for loading and carrying of the drug. This method is preferred by Western African communities, mostly in Greece who pay a sum of around 2-4,000 Euros to EU citizens to travel and buy directly for them cocaine from Latin American countries. In that sense the try to minimize the damage by a confiscation of large shipment, while the individuals are usually ones without a Police record. A trend emerging according to recent commentary by the Greek director of country’s anti-narcotics unit, is for the recruitment of EU citizens that unload the drug to a destination different than their homeland, whilst they frequently change airport locations, so as to confuse authorities, while a large number of seeming unrelated people is involved, making investigation process far more difficult.

Hashish is widely cultivated and exported illegally from Southern and central Albania to Greece and Italy. A significant number of quantities are then re-exported to other countries in Europe, with the amounts of shipments usually exceeding one ton per transfer, made by trucks and vessels. According to estimates by the Greek Police in the main Western road axis that joins the Greek-Albanian borders with the port of Patras, 2 tons of confiscation of cannabis takes place per month, without including other quantities being found from indigenous production. The bulk of these amounts comes from transfers via trucks that follow the route Albania-Patras and then they are either re-exported to other EU countries or make their way Eastwards into Athens.

In Montenegro the local media “Vijesti”, relayed researches by EU bodies and local Police that assume for the existence of 35 organized crime syndicates specialized in narcotics contraband. These groups are also involved in arms illegal trade and consequently in money laundering, in similar fashion like in the neighboring Western Balkan states. The main spots of concentration of activity for these groups are the capital Podgorica, town of Rozaje, and the ports of Kotor and Bar. The main issue is the strong interpersonal bonds that have been created with Albanian (and Kosovar) groups along with the Calabria ‘Ndrangheta, while the stretch of activities reaches up to Serbia (Belgrade), Latin America, Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Central Europe. As far as Serbia is concerned the territory of the country is a major trespassing route but also a destination location, since local narcotics consumption is raising. The region of Novi Pazar -Sanjak hosts a number of criminal entities which are in direct contact with Albanian-Turkish-Kurdish traffickers. The gradual expansion of this collaboration has evolved to the extent that a gram of heroin is being sold for around 10 Euros in street prices in Belgrade and tends to drop constantly over the past five years.

The heavy involvement of drug cartels in Southeastern Europe with arms dealers, has also resulted in flooding the local markets with an array of small arms, posing clear danger for societal stability and concerns for the arming of radical and terrorist groups.AK-47′s are being sold in Greece’s underground market for 300-1,500 Euros depending on quality and times being used. Consequently robberies even of a small scale by the use of this military- type weapon have multiplied over the years, to the extent that the Greek ministry of justice is preparing a Law to sentence culprits using this machine gun into life imprisonment so as to deter further use. Moreover, sophisticated pistols such as Glock 17 can be found for around 4,000 Euros, Zastava ones for less than 2,000 and Tokarev and Makarov for as little as 1,000 Euros. Usually networks dealing small arms have also access to other types of weaponry including hand grenades (100-200 Euros per each) and can even supply RPG rockets to “costumers”. The recent revelations by world media that Western Balkan groups have also been involved in supplying heavy arms to the Syrian battlefield is another worrying trend, since that will further empower both their reach and their economic base.

Lastly, it is of importance to pin point variables under which a future estimation of organized criminal trends could occur in the Southeastern European locale.

Economic-crisis commercial and job market depression: Greece and Serbia are already in a downward spin, while Bulgaria, FYROM and Bosnia are in critical position. Consequently Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro will follow. Turkish, Croatian and Slovenian economic development are also in question.That is a fertile ground for empowerment of criminal groups

Economies of scale: Due to security authorities pressure and the one exercised by the EU for an eventual membership of W. Balkan countries; criminal groups already cooperating in the sectors of narcotics, arms and trafficking will join structures and combine their forces. The example of neighboring Italy is illustrative that local groups tend to formulate even stronger ones when circumstances make the existence of any individual group perilous. Similar “Cartel-type” organizations exist in Latin America and in USA, while the economics behind such model are evident.

Money laundering to become the norm-uncontrollable: Despite efforts of a great scale of both local and international authorities, money laundering has a vast number of manners under which it could be conducted that are virtually undetected by authorities. The creation of perfectly legal small and private companies with substantial “nominal” profits is one. Due to the variables that have already be mentioned that activity will likely rise, thus permitting organized crime cartels to further integrate into the societal structures and thus into local political and business life.

The different sectors of systematic criminal activity tend to multiply the dynamics of each. At the same time the success of each group tends to be imitated by newly emerging ones: In times of economic uncertainty and crisis, while new sectors of illicit activity are being created (such as the mass illegal immigration from Asia into the Balkans since roughly 2005), newly formed groups are getting involved by seeing opportunities to raise much needed capital.

Since each illegal sector needs to invest capital in the first place (transportation, logistic, recruitment, etc.) a vicious circle of enacting new criminal enterprises to secure capital so as to get into more sophisticated sectors begins that tends to involve a larger number of individuals who come from a variety of walks of life not necessarily connected to the “underworld”. In short, organized criminal activity tends to penetrate larger stratums of society and penetrating all legal activities as well.

Schengen zone and ease of travel: Apart from the obvious convenience of free travel of goods and people for criminal cartels, the Schengen zone along with the boosting of air travel and transportation in general across the Balkans-EU, has also created new interpersonal networks not only in a country level but also in region -to -region level, making the containment of activities of those extremely difficult.

Lastly the wider destabilization in the MENA region will certainly assist into the interaction of criminal groups as facilitators between countries such as Syria or Libya with the rest of the EU markets in a whole range of illegal sectors and most importantly illegal immigration and human trafficking.

The 1964 American adaptation of Stanislav Binicki’s “The March on the Drina” recorded as “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” by Patti Page with English lyrics by Vaughn Horton was a bold and original transformation of a musical work written during World War I into a pop song. The release was a bold attempt to insert the song into the American popular musical mainstream. The adaptation of a martial theme to Top 40 radio was daring, innovative, and original. The song showed the impact and influence of the “The March on the Drina” in the U.S. and on American popular culture and music. “The March on the Drina” had an impact, not only globally, but also in the U.S.

“The March on the Drina” became an international standard and staple of world music in the 1960s. The song had been composed by Stanislav Binicki to commemorate the first Allied victory of World War I, the Battle of Cer, where Serbian troops had defeated Austro-Hungarian troops invading from Bosnia over the Drina River. The song first became a sensation in Scandinavia in 1963. The popularity of the song subsequently spread all across Europe. Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann had a no. 1 pop hit with the song in Denmark, a no. 5 hit in West Germany, and releases of the single in the UK, France, and the United States. By 1964 the popularity of the song had spread to the United States.

The first major recording of “The March on the Drina” in the U.S. was by iconic singer Patti Page, “the Singin’ Rage”, the best-selling American female singer of the 1950s in the U.S.  She released the song as a single on Columbia Records in 1964. The release was a major production that transformed the military march into a pop song that was targeted for U.S. Top 40 radio. The release was a bold attempt to insert the song into the American popular musical mainstream. The adaptation of a martial theme to Top 40 radio was daring, innovative, and original. The record did not chart but was a remarkable achievement in musical composition and arrangement, showing what could be done in adapting music from another genre and country.

Patti Page was one of the most influential and successful American singers of the twentieth century. Patti Page was awarded a Grammy in 1999 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. She was one of the major female singers of the 1950s in the U.S. , whose songs defined the era musically. She had four no. 1 pop singles in the 1950s in the U.S., “All My Love (Bolero)” in 1950, “The Tennessee Waltz”, which was no. 1 for 9 weeks on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1950 and no. 2 on the country chart, “I Went to Your Wedding” in 1952, and “(How Much is that) Doggie in the Window”, which was no. 1 for 8 weeks on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1953. Her other major hits were “I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine” in 1950, which reached no. 8 on the Billboard pop singles chart, “Mockin’ Bird Hill”, a no. 2 hit composed by Vaughn Horton, in 1951, “Changing Partners” in 1953, “Cross Over the Bridge” in 1954, “Allegheny Moon” and “Mama From the Train” in 1956, “Old Cape Cod” in 1957, and her comeback hit “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte”, which reached no. 8 in 1965, her last Top 40 pop single in the U.S..

Her recording of “The March on the Drina” as “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” was the first pop version of the song in the U.S. There would be other notable later recordings of “The March on the Drina” in the United States, by Chet Atkins in 1966, by Frankie Yankovic in 1967, and by the Nashville String Band, featuring Chet Atkins and Homer and Jethro, in 1969.

She had an ABC TV show in 1958-1959, The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show, with co-stars Teresa Brewer and Shari Lewis. She had also appeared in films in the early 1960s, with roles in the movies Elmer Gantry (1960), Dondi (1960), and Boys’ Night Out (1962). Her husband was Charles O’Curran, a dance choreographer who had worked on three movies starring Elvis Presley, Loving You (1957), G.I. Blues (1960), and Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962). He had been the dance choreographer and was involved in staging the dance sequences in the movies. She met Elvis on the set of the 1958 Paramount film King Creole, on February 6, 1958.

Patti Page released “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” in 1964 on Columbia Records as an A side 7” 45 vinyl single backed with “Promises”, 43078, Matrix # JZSP 78055. She had recorded her biggest hits in the 1950s on Mercury Records. In 1963, she switched labels, moving to Columbia. Her recording used the music by Stanislav Binicki with new English lyrics written by American lyricist Vaughn Horton. Vaughn Horton was a singer, guitarist, and composer who had written the American pop classics “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”, with Denver Darling and Milt Gabler, “Mockin’ Bird Hill”, and “Sugarfoot Rag” with Hank Garland. Horton was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on October 11, 1971. The title of her version was “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” which was arranged and conducted by Mort Garson. Mort Garson, a composer, arranger, and songwriter, had co-written the no. 1 song “Our Day Will Come” in 1963 for Ruby and the Romantics. The publisher was Regent Music Corporation.

CBS also released the recording as part of the Patti Page “You Can’t Be True, Drear” Columbia Records EP or Extended Play 45 single in Portugal with a picture sleeve under the title “Drina” as CBS 6195. The EP consisted of four songs appearing on two sides: Side A: “You Can’t Be True, Dear” and “Who’s Gonna Shoe My Pretty Little Feet”.  Side B: “Drina” and “Promises”.

The 1964 Columbia Records 7″ 45 vinyl A side single release of “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” by Patti Page, 4-43078, Matrix # JZSP 78055, featured an orange Columbia Records label with black lettering. The music was composed by Stanislav Binicki, an adaptation of “The March on the Drina”, “Mars na Drinu”. The song opened with a martial drum beat which was maintained throughout the song. The melody of “The March on the Drina” was vocalized, not played by the orchestra. The trumpet solo in the break was the only place where the melody was played on an instrument.

The B side of the single was “Promises” by Patti Page, 4-43078, Matrix # JZSP 78069, arranged and conducted by Charlie Callello. “Promises” was written by Dick Manning and Murray Wecht. The B side also did not chart in the U.S.

The 1964 Columbia Records 7″ 45 vinyl single was also released as a white label promotional version which was intended for radio station play and was not to be sold.

The song is about a toy soldier which is owned by a drummer boy. The Drina in the song is not the Drina River that divides Serbia and Bosnia but a toy wooden soldier. The theme of the song is about how the drummer boy will grow up and get married and leave the toy behind. The motif of the song is one of coming of age. The literary technique that Vaughn Horton uses for the lyrics is personification, attributing human characteristics and emotions to inanimate objects. It is similar to the song “Kaw-Liga” by Hank Williams with the wooden Indian in the song imputed with human feelings and emotions. The song contrasts the military theme with the exuberance and joyousness of life itself.

One of Vaughn Horton’s major compositions had been “Mockin’ Bird Hill” which was a major hit for Patti Page in the 1950s and also for Les Paul and Mary Ford.

His other major composition was the classic “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”. Vaughn Horton had co-written the 1946 song “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” with Denver Darling and producer Milt Gabler which became a major hit for jump blues saxophonist and bandleader Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five. The record was no. 1 for 18 weeks on the Billboard Race Records Chart and no. 7 on the pop charts in 1946, released as Decca 23610. Billboard used the Race Record Chart from 1945 to 1949, which replaced the Harlem Hit Parade Chart created in 1942. In June, 1949, Billboard renamed the chart the Rhythm and Blues Records Chart.  The song would be recorded in 1956 by Bill Haley and His Comets on Decca Records produced by Milt Gabler. Asleep at the Wheel recorded the song in 1974. B.B. King released his version of the song in 1999.

Vaughn Horton played the mandolin, steel guitar, and guitar and other string instruments and performed for more than 50 years with such musicians as Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry, and Lionel Hampton. As a writer and arranger he appeared on 28 gold records. Initially he had worked as a coal miner. He began his musical career with his brother Roy in the group The Pinetoppers.  He appeared on radio shows in the 1930s with the group. His other major compositions were “Come What May”, a no. 9 hit on the Billboard pop singles chart by Patti Page in 1951, “Address Unknown” by Gene Autry, “Hillbilly Fever” by Little Jimmy Dickens, “Sugarfoot Rag” by Red Foley, “An Old Christmas Card” by Jim Reeves, “Teardrops In My Heart” by Marty Robbins and Rex Allen, Jr. , and “Till the End of the World” by Bing Crosby.

Patti Page recorded the song “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” on May 28, 1964 at Columbia Recording Studio A located on 799 7th Avenue in New York City, New York. The producer was Warren Vincent. Vincent had joined Columbia in August, 1962, where he was a music editor. He later was promoted to editing coordinator. He had been promoted to pop artist repertoire and producer before the session . The other songs recorded at the session were “Promises”, 600 CO 82200, “(Love is) Bittersweet”, 601 CO 82201, and “Memories”, 602 CO 82202, as well as “Drina (Little Solder Boy)”, 603 CO 82203.

The Patti Page recording was highlighted in Billboard Magazine in the July 18, 1964 issue, page 46. “Programming Specials. Pop Standard. Patti Page — Drina (Little Soldier Boy) (Regent, BMI) (2:36) — Promises (S-P-R, BMI) (2:48). Columbia 43078.”

Her voice is in top form on the song. There is a Herb Alpert-like trumpet solo in the break. There are backing singers and drums and a backing orchestra that plays the rhythm while Patti Page vocalizes the melody. A mandolin or a similar sounding stringed instrument is featured on the bridge sections. The song structure is unconventional in that the song ends with a repetition of the bridge instead of a more conventional verse closing. The song opens with three verses and then transitions to the faster-paced bridge. The third verse is repeated as well as the bridge, which closes the song. The single was planned as a major release but it did not chart. It was an A side single release on one of the major labels in the U.S., Columbia Records. Frankie Yankovic recorded the Patti Page song in 1967 without the lyrics also on Columbia Records.

There were other adaptations of Stanislav Binicki’s music to “The March on the Drina” with the addition of lyrics. In 1964, Serbian poet and journalist Miloje Popovic wrote lyrics in Serbian that sought to evoke the 1914 Battle of Cer from the Serbian perspective. German lyrics were added by Walter Rothenburg in an adaptation of the music in 1974 as “Drina-Marsch (Mars na Drini)”. Bert Olden wrote German lyrics for a 1976 version recorded by the Czech vocalist Karel Gott as “Drina-Marsch”. Milutin Popovic Zahar added Serbian lyrics to a pop version entitled “Svirajte Mi Mars na Drinu”, “Play Me ‘The March on the Drina’”, recorded by Gordana Lazarevic in 1989 on PGP RTB.

Drina (Little Soldier Boy). Lyrics by Vaughn Horton. Music by Stanislav Binicki. Copyright 1964 by Regent Music Corporation.

Drina, little wooden soldier boy.

Playmate for your little drummer boy.

He’ll grow big and tall.

And leave you for a living doll.

He’ll be glad.

But you’ll never know it.

For if you could show it,

You’d be sad.

Drina, life is just a big parade.

Marching to a wedding serenade.

Lovers when in bloom,

Become a happy bride and groom.

How they dance,

Full of gay romance,

While wooden hearts are left without a chance.

Music, music, swinging and dancing.

Hopping to the polka band.

Hoopla, hoopla, happy is the bride,

When everybody kisses her hand.

Singing and dancing, drinking to the future.

Wishing happiness and joy. 

Someday, Drina, maybe you’ll be happy,

With another little drummer boy.

Lovers when in bloom,

Become a happy bride and groom.

How they dance,

Full of gay romance,

While wooden hearts are left without a chance.

Music, music, swinging and dancing.

Hopping to the polka band.

Hoopla, hoopla, happy is the bride,

When everybody kisses her on the hand.

Singing and dancing, drinking to the future.

Wishing happiness and joy.

Someday, Drina, maybe you’ll be happy,

With another little drummer boy.

She followed up the “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” single with “Days of the Waltzes”, 4-43183, with “Don’t You Pass Me By” as the B side, which also failed to chart. Her next release, however, “Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte”, 4-43251, backed with “Longing to Hold You Again”, became a major hit in 1965, from the eponymous 1964 20th Century Fox movie starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, and Joseph Cotten. The single reached no. 8 on the Billboard pop singles chart that year.

She would continue to have chart success in the late 1960s and into the 1980s. Her last chart hit in the U.S. was “My Man Friday” in 1982. In 1997, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. In 1999, she received a Grammy Award in the category Best Traditional Pop Album for “Live at Carnegie Hall: The 50^th Anniversary Concert”. She posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 55^th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony broadcast on CBS held on February 10, 2013 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles where Kelly Clarkson performed a tribute to her.

The 1964 American adaptation of Stanislav Binicki’s “The March on the Drina” as a pop song recorded as “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” by Patti Page with English lyrics by Vaughn Horton remains a bold and original transformation of a musical work written during World War I into a pop song. The song, moreover, demonstrates the impact and influence of the “The March on the Drina” in the U.S. and on American popular culture and music. “The March on the Drina” had an impact, not only globally, but also in the U.S.

We live in a complex world full of mind-boggling developments including cases of ruling administrations pursuing foreign policies clearly not in the national interests. A globalist agenda seems to transcend the national interests. In 2007/2008 this agenda led to the global economic meltdown, the worst since the Great Depression. Two US examples are only briefly mentioned herein and left for another piece. The US has sided with the jihadists in a number of local conflicts and civil wars, e.g. Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Libya, Egypt, and Syria!!  The other example is that of generalissima Hillary Clinton, to borrow the term from Ralph Nader, who overcame opposition from the Defense Secretary Robert Gates and choreographed NATO overthrow of long-term Libyan leader Gaddafi, who most recently only focused on becoming an African leader. During her four-year term she led a militarized State Department which had little room for diplomacy.

It should be noted that the war in Libya was conducted not only without a congressional declaration of war but without a congressional authorization and appropriation. Hillary’s husband provided a model for lawlessness in the world by unleashing NATO’s force of 1150 planes, dropping 21,000 tons of bombs and firing 1,300 missiles on essentially the defenseless country of Serbia (probably the most one-sided military conflict in history). It was the first time in NATO’s 50-yr history that the alliance directed its military might –second to none in the world—at a sovereign nation.  In my books, Kosovo Crisis and Kosovo is Serbia, I had characterized this act of naked aggression as 78 days of infamy. The US/NATO campaign broke seven international laws including the UN charter (Article 5) and ignored the US Constitution and US law. The House of Representatives did not pass a resolution supporting bombing. The NATO political establishment had to demonize not only the Serbian president Milosevic but the whole Serbian nation in order to justify the illegal and unconstitutional war. The handmaiden reporters played their assigned parts by the political establishment in demonizing the Serbs, as a part of the so called packed journalism.

This article is dedicated to the case Kosovo claimed frequently as a western success—only by ignoring what has transpired in the province since it was stolen from Serbia by the US/NATO and handed over to the domestic Albanian terrorists turned statesmen as Washington Balkan clients. After eight years of resisting pressure to abandon the cradle of its civilization Serbia’s existing government has now decided to capitulate. The capitulation vehicle was entering into the EU sponsored dialogue with an illegal entity called the Kosovo Republic, which unilaterally declared independence five years ago as the US/German creation. Serbia entered into a no win situation since US/Germany are holding trump cards. Serbia has no friends in the West, only in the East but those friends are not involved and Russia in particular. Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign-policy chief, has been acting as the mediator.

Unless the Serbian government decides to pull out of this dialogue at the very last minute it will sacrifice its territorial integrity, in violation of its constitution, primarily to obtain a date for initiation of decade long negotiations for joining the EU!! At the time of this writing it appears that Serbia will get nothing. Aleksandar Vulin, director of Serbia government’s Kosovo office said: “Everything the EU asked of other countries we have long fulfilled, not for the sake of the EU but for our own sake. Many EU member states are in worse economic and political shape than Serbia and less stable. But since we are Serbia other rules apply, and the only question is how long we will take that. Hopefully, Serbian government will reach that point on April 2.” This statement doesn’t offer a satisfactory explanation to why Serbia continues its pursuit of EU membership while sacrificing its territorial integrity and hence this belongs to the “mind-boggling category” to this writer.”

Kosovo Solution not amenable to US/German Impositions

My books address millennium-old Kosovo history about the Serbian and Albanian conflict, which I have routinely compared to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to illustrate the mass complexity. Historical animosities exist, which makes coexistence next to impossible. The Ahtisaari plan, not approved by the UN Security Council, but used by US/Germany as the blueprint for Kosovo independence. The plan was designed by the former Finnish president who was appointed by the UN Secretary General to be the UN special envoy for Kosovo. It recognized that the conflict in Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians could only be peacefully resolved if a way were found to allow the two communities to co-exist in a majority-run polity but also lived their own lives in their own communities. Kosovo is the cradle of Serbian civilization with some 1300 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, a Serbian Jerusalem. The conflict must be adjudicated either by the UN, with participation of Russia and China, or by some European entity like the 1878 Berlin Congress with participation of Russia. Bombing Serbia and claiming that farcical humanitarianism was in play as well as imposing a Carthaginian peace on Serbia is the crudest way to resolve this complex conflict in particular in the 21st century. “Carthaginian Peace” is referred to as a brutal peace demanding total subjugation of the defeated side. Tacitus wrote: “They make a desert and call it peace.”  Julia Gorin, an accomplished blogger on Balkan subjects, on the occasion of deployment of Fort Bragg soldiers to Kosovo, wrote: “Bombing a country on behalf of its domestic terrorists is ‘easing tensions.” Only in America, kids. Only in America!”

For eight years, Belgrade was ready to sacrifice almost everything to keep Kosovo within Serbia, including making a proposal for an unprecedented Kosovo autonomy compatible with the UN Resolution 1244, which terminated the 1999 war. However, in 2007 the US decided to abandon the UN process in favor of using the EU and NATO to impose the Ahtisaari plan on Serbia. Ahtisaari’s job was to choreograph the predetermined outcome: Kosovo independence. In 2007, the Finnish News Agency (STT) published two articles alleging that Ahtisaari was “bought” by the Albanian mafia.

Russia and Serbia backed diplomacy but the US backed force.  With the US and Russia at loggerheads, the EU was propelled into a pivotal position. At its annual summit, the EU asserted leadership by giving birth to a 2,000-2,500 person civilian mission named EULEX to replace the UNMIK (UN Mission in Kosovo). The EULEX, costing some $1.3bn since 2008, was supposed to be status neutral, given the EU’s lack of unity regarding Kosovo recognition, but instead became a main proponent of Kosovo independence reflecting the US/Germany influence. Previous Serbian president Boris Tadic and his Democratic Party accepted the EULEX mission, despite advice from Moscow to the contrary. The process of Serbian capitulation was thus initiated with Serbia making one concession after another including border management, Kosovo’s representation at regional meetings, university diplomas, trade, etc.

Serbia Capitulates to become German Colony

Given the availability of my books, as well as many others, I will shift quickly into December 2012. The Serbian government elected in May, 2012, consisting mainly of former Milosevic allies including Ivica Dacic as the Prime Minister (PM), former spokesman for president Milosevic when Serbia fought NATO. This government of former Serbian nationalists decided to violate the Serbian constitution, which explicitly says that Kosovo is part of Serbia. They rationalized that Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo exists only on paper and hence something might be accomplished through negotiations in order to prevent the final act of ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Serbs refusing to accept the Pristina rule.

The EU has been demanding from Serbia to “improve neighborly relations” in order to advance its EU membership bid. Another term in use is “normalization of relations.” It should be remembered that five EU members have not recognized Kosovo independence. Hence it may not be proper to call it the US/EU creation but more appropriately the US/German. It should be remembered that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Serbian officials in Belgrade last year that the “path of Serbia into the EU can only lead through the normalization of its relations with Kosovo.”  It has widely been interpreted that she meant Serbia’s recognition of an independent Kosovo without redrawing the borders. This demand is in stark contrast with the EU’s decision to admit Cyprus without demanding recognition of the Turkish Republic in the north. Vice-president of the Serbian government Suzana Grubjesic said that the dialogue is taking place in Brussels but Berlin decides.  She was partially right as the US and Germany is deciding.

The western media has been reporting that once-sworn enemies have signaled a thawing of relations between the two countries. PM Dacic, on a number of occasions, stated that division of Kosovo was the best solution but that in Brussels they did not want to hear about it as they did not want to see another Republika Srpska in the Balkans. This opposition comes mainly from the US. The American ambassador in Belgrade Michael Kirby stated that Republika Srpka didn’t come out well in Bosnia! He may or may not know that late American diplomat Richard Holbrooke, an architect of the Dayton Accords which terminated the war in Bosnia, was a creator of the Republika Srpska. It may well be that in Washington they believe that Holbrooke acquiesced to demands from Milosevic. This was deemed to be a Serbian success and Serbia was not supposed to have any.

The US has followed two basic rules in the Balkans as eloquently summarized by former US diplomat turned foreign policy analyst James George Jatras. “Rule 1: The Serbs are always wrong, and claims and interests they might have must be thwarted. Rule 2: Muslims are always right, and all claims and interests they may have must be facilitated.” Another reputable Washington-based analyst Doug Bandow said: “the Serbs always lose,” as a general rule. Incidentally, while speaking at the Belgrade Law School, ambassador Kirby refused to apologize for the illegal US bombing of Serbia, while presidents Clinton and Obama have prolifically apologized to misdeeds in the past.

Kosovo Serbs

Nobody can blame the Kosovo Serbs for refusing to accept tyranny by KLA terrorists turned politicians/statesmen on the US/NATO watch after experiencing the murders of thousands, ethnic cleansing (two thirds were expelled), demolition and burning of 155 Serbian churches and monasteries. 200,000 Kosovo refugees are still internally displaced persons (IDP) in Serbia. There are 120-130,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo: approximately some 40,000 in the north and about 80,000 in enclaves scattered across Kosovo. On March 17, 2004, just as in the 1930s, Kosovo Kristallnacht took place, a pre-arranged orchestrated Albanian ethnic cleansing plan. 60,000 strong Albanian mobs drove 4,500 Serbs from their homes. There were 19 deaths and some 900 injuries. Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, slammed NATO/UNMIK for failing to protect minorities.

UNMIK Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) established in 2006, in response to 250 complaints, announced a decision slamming the failure of UNMIK to investigate systematic killing of Serbs and other non-Albanians, including forced disappearances. HRAP requested from UNMIK an apology and compensation to a Prizren Serbian family for failure to find their father and son kidnapped by three KLA thugs in July 1999. In that timeframe according to some estimates the KLA had murdered 6,000 Serbs and other minorities who were mostly Roma.  Some consider this decision a landmark case. However, the competences were transferred to EULEX in 2008. Hence, this decision may prove to be too little, too late regarding accountability.

Even after universally condemning the 2004 pogrom the Kosovo Serbs have continued to be victimized. According to the Serbian office for Kosovo there had been 1025 attacks on the Serbs since Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence five years ago: 51 firearm attacks, 11 plantings of explosive devices, 15 hand grenades and Molotov cocktails thrown, 25 churches attacked, 201 Orthodox cemeteries desecrated, 197 tombstones destroyed, 135 Serbian houses stoned, and 48 fires set to properties owned by the Serbs. Four Serbs were murdered, 245 were injured, and the Serb population was attacked 203 times a year, an attack every other day.  Even during these EU sponsored “negotiations” on February 4 a bomb was thrown at a 3-yr old boy and a 9-yr old girl. The Visoki Decani monastery was attacked in an attempt to wrap the ethnic cleansing and to remove evidence of Serbian existence. Fortunately the Italian KFOR contingent prevented the monastery from being torched down.

10,000 Serbian monuments, including Serbian cemeteries, south of the Ibar River have been eradicated. Even the 30m high pine tree planted in Narodimlje by Serbian Tsar Dusan was cut on its 663 birthday. The only explanation for this vandalism is the sick minds of Albanian nationalist “neighbors” which are committed to eradicating the Serbian presence in Kosovo over a millennium. In contrast the monuments in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, where the Serbs constitute the majority, they are untouched.

These acts of terrorism and vandalism against the Serbs in the presence of KFOR, UNMIK, and EULEX received no due attention in Washington, Berlin and Brussels. There is no precedent in Europe for such ethnocide. The US/EU moral authority has been reduced to its lowest level in recent history. Do the European standards apply to Serbs in so-called independent Kosovo? James George Jatras wrote: “Evidence of Islamic evidence and intolerance in Kosovo—and in the Balkans in general—is almost completely ignored, since acknowledging it would challenge the cozy myth of successful US/NATO ‘humanitarian intervention’ and limit the application to future adventures.”

Association (Community) of Serbian Municipalities

Given that Kosovo division was not an option, in late December the Belgrade media published a document termed the “platform,” believed to be composed by president Nikolic and his advisers, laying down the principles and guidelines for dialog with Pristina.

The Serbian parliament passed the resolution on January 12, after 14 hours of discussion, paving the way for the consideration of high level territorial and political autonomy for Association or Community of Serbian Municipalities throughout  Kosovo where the Serbs constitute a majority, including the decisive role in the area of security, police and judiciary. This would require international guarantees and Serbia would have to adopt a constitutional law. The resolution fell short of recognizing Kosovo and was supported by the Kosovo Serbs.  Inclusion of Serbs south of Ibar represents some progress compared to the previous Serbian administration.

Brussels Dialog

In December the respective PMs of Serbia and Kosovo Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci met for the first time. The readers need to be reminded about Hashim Thaci’s background which is well known in Washington, Berlin and Brussels. Thaci, aka Snake, was a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander, highly recognized Kosovo thug, a narco-terrorist accused by the Council of Europe for selling organs of kidnapped and subsequently murdered Serbs. As a KLA commander he was involved in murdering the Serbs and others but was never indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He enjoyed immunity as he served US Balkans interests. President Bush said on numerous occasions that he would never meet with terrorists but he met with Thaci at the White House below the portrait of George Washington.  Thaci has been regularly getting kisses from US Secretaries of State: Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Everything goes in the Washington void of having any moral standards.

PMs Dacic and Thaci met seven times thus far with another session scheduled for April the 2nd. The EU has arranged for the Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic to meet with the Kosovo president Atifete Jahjaga on February 6. Hence, for all practical purposes Serbia has recognized the Pristina authorities. President Nikolic admitted during his visit to Egypt that the Serbian government was ready to recognize Kosovo institutions including the government, constitution, military and the police. However, he reiterated that: “Serbia has never, and never will recognize Kosovo…something created on injustice cannot be legal and just.”

The northern Kosovo area, bordering Serbia, has been under the control of so called parallel institutions funded by Belgrade including town councils, health authorities, schools and post-offices. These parallel institutions have been unacceptable not only to Pristina but to Washington and Berlin as well. Serbia’s position is that the proposed autonomy of Association of Serbian Municipalities would solve the problem. However, Pristina refused to consider providing the municipalities with any executive powers causing a serious stalemate in the dialog. Thaci has urged the US to support Pristina in its refusal to grant concessions to the Serbian minority in a February 27 letter to the US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.  The US dispatched assistant secretary of state Philip Reeker, who became available to meet with Dacic and Thaci in Brussels prior and after their sessions with Baroness Ashton. The US meddling will probably kill any agreement acceptable to Serbia. In parallel ambassador Kirby, speaking at the 20th Kopaonik Business Forum, urged that Serbia should change its image, “rebrand itself” and show its qualities to the world. He added that he saw Serbia in Europe and that it was up to Serbia to find its way to the EU.  This represents American position that Serbia should forget about the nation’s birthplace and focus on its foggy future in European and Atlantic integrations, i.e. EU and NATO.

Baroness Ashton met with the Serbian leadership, President Nikolic, PM Dacic and VP Vucic, on March 11 to discuss the Serbian proposal to create the Association of Serb Municipalities. Asked by the Belgrade media about his “red line,” Nikolic stated that Serbia recognizes Kosovo as a specific territory compared to other parts of Serbia and was ready to accept some facts Kosovo has accomplished with assistance from the UN and the EU like the constitution, the president, the government and the parliament.

However on that territory we will never recognize its independence – a big Serbian community exists which must be preserved and enabled to return. Dacic said that “nothing less than an Association of Serb Municipalities with executive powers would be acceptable” and that “no Serb would concede to more than that. The Serbian trio returned from Brussels and made optimistic statements that Pristina made concessions and that an agreement would be signed either on the 20th or the 28th, which exemplifies naivety of the Serbian leadership. Thaci quickly denied that concessions were made. Ashton visited Pristina on March the 14th and then flew to Belgrade. PM Dacic denied that Pristina made concessions and said that Serbia is still far from being in agreement with Pristina.“Only Washington can push Pristina into making concessions but decided not to do it despite the fact that the Ahtissari plan allows the creation of a decision-making body.”  The seventh session on March the 20th didn’t break the impasse leading to yet another session scheduled for April the 2nd.

Given Pristina’s failure to make concessions, an appropriate approach for the Serbian leadership would be to thank the EU for their mediation services and unambiguously state that they must protect the human rights of about 130,000 Kosovo Serbs by quoting the Albanian record briefly summarized above. This would stall the Brussels dialog and freeze the Kosovo conflict which is in Serbia’s national interest. It would then be up to the EU to grant Serbia the date for EU membership negotiations or not.

In April the European Parliament has scheduled a debate on Belgrade/Pristina dialog. The EU Commission is scheduled by April 16 to submit a report about the progress in negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina as the principal subject. Progress in judicial reforms, fight against corruption, minority protection, will also be addressed.  This report will be considered by all EU members at their semi-annual summit on June 28 and a decision made to provide the date to Serbia for membership negotiations or not.

Lies were told that Kosovo was ours: Serbian De Gaulle!

Dacic writing in the Belgrade weekly NIN on March 7 wrote that Serbs had been lied to that “Kosovo is ours”for a decade. “For 10 years, Kosovo was a taboo. No one could officially tell the truth. Tales were told, lies were told that Kosovo is ours.”  But “the Serbian president cannot go to Kosovo, nor the prime minister, nor ministers, nor the police or army. Serbs can only leave Kosovo. That’s how much Kosovo is ours and what does our constitution and laws mean there.” So called “second Serbia”  (viewed by many as anti-Serbs typically supported by western finances) jumped to praise Dacic. Ms. Vesna Pesic, co-leader of the 90-day 1996-97 winter demonstrations against Milosevic, compared Dacic to Churchill and De Gaulle! Well, Ms. Pesic might be right if Dacic can pull an equivalent of Republika Srpska into Kosovo by copying Milosevic’s accomplishment at Dayton, which doesn’t seem to be on the cards.

Agency Strategic Marketing found on March 6 that 63% of Serbian citizens accept that Kosovo is in practice an independent state and that Serbia can only hope to fight to secure the best deal for remaining Serbs in Kosovo. On the other hand, the same poll found out that 65% wouldn’t like to see Kosovo sacrificed for the sake of joining the EU. 61% thought that Dacic was doing a good job.

Dacic and Serbian citizens do not need to be reminded that the UN Security Council Resolution #1244 says that Kosovo remains part of Serbia. However, the US/NATO has bypassed this resolution. Hence, independent Kosovo represents a text-book example of an international grand-theft similar to piracy. The Tadic’s government acceptance of EULEX to replace UNMIK represented the initial part of the indigenous Serbian contribution to this grand-theft.  Ms. Pesic should remember that De Gaulle abandoned Algeria, but Algeria was a French colony and not the cradle of French civilization.

Serbia’s Dependence on EU

Serbia is willing to give up its territorial integrity in order to obtain the date for opening membership negotiations with the EU!! These negotiations may last 7-10 years or even longer. Why? The VP Vucic said that without the EU that Serbia’s economic survival would be threatened. As an EU candidate Serbia receives grants to the tune of 170 million euros per year. Vucic continues that obtaining a date would enable imports of key machines and the transfer of technology to Serbian factories as well as more financial and economic aid. Given the high unemployment rate of some 26.2% (comparable to that of Greece and Spain), 2% contraction of the economy in 2012, the budget deficit and the lowest income per capita in the region then this grant is obviously welcome. During the last 5 years the international debt of 8.4bn euros has grown to 17.7bn euros. The Economist has published an article titled: “Serbia is the Sickest Man of Europe.” Given these dismal statistics, Serbia must act fast to fix its economy.

The new administration must look elsewhere to attract foreign investment as opposed to propagating the myth of previous Tadic’s administration that joining the EU has no alternative. Recently they have obtained credit of 300 million euros from Russia and are negotiating with Russia for another loan to the tune of $500 million as a budgetary supplement. However, Serbia should remember that a country cannot live on loans as the unfolding Eurozone crisis has clearly demonstrated. In addition they seem to be successful at obtaining investments from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). About four years ago this writer has advocated that Serbia should explore joining the BRICs club (Brazil, Russia, India, China) as a long-term solution. Since then South Africa has joined. The club may or may not accept Serbia’s application but no effort was made to explore this option. Besides this BRIC countries have supported that Kosovo is Serbia.

At the above mentioned Kopaonik Forum, the Italian ambassador has pointed out that Italian companies can work with Serbian companies and that Serbia is a dynamic market, which has improved Serbia’s image in Italy. Trade between the two nations amounted to 2.3bn euros in 2012. The German ambassador said: “Most officials of German companies are satisfied with their businesses and treatment in Serbia.”  So Serbia seems to be doing reasonably well with these two key EU countries without being an EU member.

It appears that Vucic and the Serbian government is confusing pre-2009 EU with the one in 2013. Has the Serbian government examined the experience of a number of euro-zone members such as Greece, Portugal, and Ireland, which have received the IMF/EU bail-outs in exchange for severe austerity programs? Cyprus has requested a bailout of 17bn euros for their banks. Spain, Italy and Slovenia are other bailout candidates. The currency union has worked very well for German growth and wealth at the expense of countries mentioned.

Also, does Vucic see an analogy between the EU and the Soviet Union? Rigidity of German response to deal with the euro-zone crisis is a case in point: government overspending and excessive bank risks. Voters in member countries can change and have changed the governments but cannot change the economic policies designed in Berlin to protect the German taxpayers in particular prior to September general elections in Germany. Of particular interest to Serbia should be the experience of Orthodox countries: Greece and Cyprus as well as that of Slovenia, as a former Yugoslav republic. The experience of Bulgaria and Rumania, with their governments replaced, are also highly relevant.

Slovenia: German Colony

Slovenia was by far the richest state to emerge from the dissolution of Yugoslavia as a privileged republic in the market of 24 million people. Slovenia was the first former socialist country to adopt the euro. The economy grew on average by 4.4% annually between 1997 and 2008 thereby outperforming the Eurozone on economic growth. It was the region’s richest country with the GDP per capita greater to those of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary and Poland. It was a showcase for the benefits of EU membership.  However, the euro crisis caused three years of recession with the economy contracting at 8% in 2009 and even 2.4% in 2012. Currently, the unemployment rate exceeds 12% and the economy is expected to fall another 1.4% in 2013. Now, Slovenia might need a bail-out from its Eurozone partners. The German austerity model of cutting spending did not result in an economic revival. Slovenia had a problem with corporations financing operations through debt rather than equity. Slovenia’s banks are tottering under $9bn in non-performing loans, about 19% of GDP (higher than even Spain’s 16%). The government started implementing a bank bailout plan. Early in February 20,000 people protested against the austerity measures. PM Janez Jansa had to go and Alenka Bratusek became the new PM.

A Slovenian social scientist Rastko Mocnik said that Slovenia was now at the same level as other southern EU members like Greece, Portugal and Spain. It has become the Europe’s south. The EU operates on the principle of colonies with countries like Germany, France, and Scandinavian countries having privileged access to southern countries. Hence, Slovenia has become German’s colony with no political influence in the EU. Mocnik anticipates a conflict between developed capitalist countries with the surplus of capital and the undeveloped ones seeking that capital. The undeveloped ones, sooner or later, will be looking for alternatives. Asked if Serbia has an alternative to the EU, he recalled that after the demise of Yugoslavia, Slovenia was led to believe that the EU was the only way and that economically it wouldn’t survive. He thought that Serbia should integrate but not necessarily the same way as Slovenia. Mocnik was against the breakup of Yugoslavia and thinks that it was a great historic mistake.

Cyprus Drama

Eight months after the Cypriot government requested a bail-out to the tune of 17bn euros, bleary-eyed Eurozone finance ministers produced a contentious package on a Saturday the 16th. This crisis-mode of operation is EU’s modus operandi. The finance ministers demanded from Cyprus to extract 5.8bn euros from bank depositors in order to cut the size of the rescue package to 10bn euros. This was unprecedented. Peter Bofinger, a German economist, voiced the view that trying to make small savers pay to secure a European bailout of the Cypriot banking system is dangerous. “It will shake the trust of depositors across the Continent. Europe’s citizens now have to fear for their money. The Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese may not run for their money today or tomorrow, but as soon as the crisis intensifies in a Eurozone country, the bank customers will remember Cyprus. They will withdraw their money and, but doing so, intensify the crisis.”

In the bailouts of Portugal (78bn euros) and Ireland (67.5bn euros), it was those countries taxpayers and the Eurozone partners bearing the risk of lending money to them. In Greece (172.6bn euros), the Eurozone did the same but shared the pain with the country’s bondholders. With little Cyprus (population 800,000, GDP of 17bn euros, and 0.06% economic output), whose major banks suffered huge losses in Greek investments and souring real-estate market, the bank depositors had to suffer the pain. The Cypriot legislature rejected the deal with Chancellor Merkel reportedly outraged. Cyprus was “exhausting the patience of its euro partners.”  On the streets of Nicosia, like on the streets of Athens, she has been viewed as a hate figure with images of an SS guard or donning a Hitler moustache. On the other hand she continues to be popular at home as the Germans do not like their taxes to be used for bail-outs. Yuri Pyankykh, President of the Russian Business Association of Cyprus, blamed the Cyprus crisis on the German special services which reported that Cyprus banks were teaming with cash laundered by Russian oligarchs and that bailing out Cyprus means helping out those tycoons.

Another bleary-eyed session took place the morning of the 25th. The so called troika (IMF, ECB and EU) imposed their bail-out terms but secured the deal by bank restructuring which doesn’t need approval of the Cypriot Parliament. The deal shuts Cyprus’ second largest bank (Cyprus Popular Bank) imposing steep losses on deposits over 100,000 euros. The country’s largest bank, Bank of Cyprus, will be downsized aggressively with large depositors taking the hit. Russian PM Medvedev has characterized the deal as robbery. Russian and other foreign investors have been robbed. The troika will be in touch with the Russian government. The country faces a big recession that it may need more money to survive in the Eurozone. Economists predict a GDP decline of 10% this year and 8% in 2014. The banks will open on the 28th after 12 days of shutdown. During this period no electronic transactions were available with the ATP machines dispensing only 100 euros per day.

The bells should be ringing in Belgrade that the experiences of Cyprus, Greece and Slovenia are highly applicable and necessitate immediate re-examination of the Serbian government infatuation with the EU.

Kostunica Warnings

Vojislav Kostunica, former President of Yugoslavia, former PM of Serbia and now the President of the Democratic Party of Serbia, warned the Serbian government not to do what no previous governments had done. The EU is directly endangering not only the territorial integrity but also the national identity, culture, national self-respect and dignity, and economic interests of the country. The theft of the Serbian territory will resonate in younger generations with anger and will undermine stability of the country. The issues of provinces Vojvodina and Raska will be opened including the survival of Serbia as a country.

Kostunica has requested the session of the Serbian Parliament in order for the government to inform deputies regarding the EU demands and to reject the proposals of Brussels. Serbia would be the first nation to voluntarily hand over its territory. No state in Europe has done anything similar nor has anything similarly been requested from a nation state. It is expected from Serbia to kill its own statehood in order for independent Kosovo to be created. Every sovereign state must reject such a proposal. This writer cannot agree more with Kostunica.

Vojin Joksimovich is the author of three books and over one hundred articles. The Revenge of the Prophet by Dr. Vojin Joksimovich is a classic book which gives great insight and knowledge about the Balkans, radical Islam, US foreign policy and other important areas. Dr. Vojin Joksimovich wrote an in depth book called Kosovo is Serbia and please check this athttp://www.gmbooks.com/product/Kosovo-GM.html – it  is a must read if you want deep knowledge about this complex topic.

The Weekly Standard media in a February 2013 reportage reported around the aims of that party to push towards an Islamic Caliphate in the Balkans. It was also described around the connection of LISBA through its leader Arsim Krasniqi and the Muslim Forum of Kosovo (FMK) “which is associated through the fundamentalist European Muslim Network, led by the Islamist media celebrity Tariq Ramadan, with the Qatar-based hate preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi”.

LISBA is a clear indication of the formal appearance of Muslim Brotherhood in the Balkans been supplied with capital from Qatar mostly, with an eventual goal of establishing a stronghold in the Southeastern part of Europe. In the meantime a nexus between mercenaries venturing from Kosovo to fight along Jihadists in Syria has been established by a variety of worldwide media, including local Kosovo ones, whilst the EU and NATO seem hesitant in conducting a thorough policy upon the issue, despite the fact that all these culminations increase considerably the threat level of terrorists attacks in many countries with Netherlands being the latest one to prepare itself for a potential spillover.

Moreover, the newly formed Islamist party is directly connected with the groups controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood in Bosnia-Herzegovina and also acts as a coordinating hub for similar groups in Albania and FYROM. The pace of Islamization of Kosovo is being consistently upgraded, through a variety of means. Around 200 mosques have been erected since 1999, while a similar number of Christian churches and monasteries was destroyed, a clear case of cultural genocide in which the international forces paid little attention.

The attempted Islamization of Kosovo and of the rest of the Western Balkan territory, alerted nevertheless some European leaders, that fear sensibly that the territory will be in flames sooner rather than later, endangering the stability of the EU as a whole. Slovakia’s deputy Prime Minister and foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák, made a public statement recently citing his anxiety upon the issue and more specifically of the aims for the creation of a Greater Albania which coincidently are fervently supported not only by nationalistic circles but from Islamist ones as well. The German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has also called for a check on these phenomena in the Balkans, while Germany as a whole disengages from participating in high-risk games regarding the Sunni Islamic world, as does UK and France which actively support the Jihadi rebels in the Syrian civil war that are in turn related to those in the Balkans and beyond, in fact across the world.

In the regional level, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Serbia are concerned on the pace of these developments with Croatia and Montenegro paying also attention. FYROM suffers from serious destabilization mainly attributed to the Albanian nationalists and the activities of the local Islamists, while EU countries with a stake in the region such as Italy and Austria also fear the birth of new radical networks, should they are left unchecked.

The role of Turkey is of particular interest. Although it officially promotes the strategy of “Neo-Ottomanism” based on the local Turkish minorities and the expansion of Turkish businesses, as well as, NGO’s in the region, from the other hand it fears that the expansion of Qatari and Saudi strain of Islam will push aside its own agenda. Further, Turkey itself is entrapped into the Syrian civil war, since it is being used as the stage point for attacks of the rebels against Syria, since Ankara made wrong calculations that the war will end soon and it would not endanger its own stability. Thus, in the Balkan terrain Turkey places itself in another strategic crossroad, endangering it own “investments” in the local Islamic communities without an easy exit.

The USA, although they have invested considerable political, diplomatic, economic and most importantly military capital in the Balkans, seem absent from the developments while Russia without doing anything of substance wins “Hearts and minds” of the Christian Orthodox population in the region which forms the majority in most countries. That further obstructs Serbia’s impeding accession in the Euro Atlantic structures, whilst it also hinders the socio-economic development for the whole of the region from FYROM-Kosovo-Albania up to Montenegro and Bosnia. In essence, a territory in Europe which is being contested by the most extremist form of Sunni Islam will certainly find itself unable to integrate in both the EU and NATO.

The issue of “Greater Albania” which was mentioned previously is another tinderbox in political terms and is gaining in pace based upon all available data. Apart from the public statements being heard even from the Prime Minister of Albania Sali Berisha in December 2012, a few years back in January 2010 three quarters of Kosovo-Albanians already supported such goal according to Gallup Balkans Monitor and two-thirds of the Albanian citizens. It’s a common secret and an obvious everyday political reality that nationalistic movements from all Albanian communities in the Balkans are actively pursuing such prospect which can only be achieved through another “Balkan war” of the scale of the ones back in 1912-1913 which were also the prelude for WW1.

In overall, the normalization of the Balkans and in particular of Kosovo is far from over and new set of issues are emerging such as the gradual expansion of extremists from the Middle East. For those really interested in establishing stability and prosperity in the region, a careful assessment of the historical context upon which the Balkan Peninsula was formed should be a priority. Otherwise history may repeat itself in one of the most turbulent areas in Europe and one where all major Empires of both modern and ancient era begun their course of decline. Balkans is the barometer of Eurasian politics and the cultural revolving door between the “West” and the “East” since the break-up of the Roman Empire, a move that sealed the fate of “Rome” for many centuries ahead.

By Ari Rusila

Over a decade and a half after the event Srebrenica continues to be engulfed in heavy fog. Messages about Srebrenica can be divided in two categories. The first a myth about three days on July 1995, a simplistic story line for the broad masses, not overly concerned with facts and arguments, and certainly not encouraging critical analysis. It is based on the repetition of emotional platitudes such as “genocide” and “eight thousand executed men and boys”. The second category projects a propaganda line geared to a more select and influential public. It is based on the pseudo-history of the Yugoslav conflict promoted by the Hague Tribunal and the political apparatus which sustains it. To point out the many questionable aspects of the official narrative about what happened there, The Srebrenica Historical Project has created a presentation Srebrenica The guide for the perplexed a concise exposition of basic facts.

To give a bit more comprehensive picture about Srebrenica case I would like to highlight – with help of presentation mentioned above – few key questions which are challenging the official (ICTY, Western mainstream media) picture as follows:

8000 executed men and boys

How could an allegation of the execution of 8,000 individuals be made and then widely accepted if the only hard evidence in The Hague Tribunal’s possession that points to summary execution involves the remains of 442 persons that were found with blindfolds and ligatures? Indeed, where are the bodies to support the claim of 8,000 execution victims?

In ICTY procedure in Hague the number of Srebrenica victims has varieted from trial to trial. First the standard estimate of executed victims in Srebrenica was 7,000 to 8,000. In the recent Tolimir trial judgment, however, that figure was put at 4,970. Similarly, in all previous Srebrenica trials dealing with Branjevo farm executions, victim estimates were based on the claims of ”Starwittness Erdemovic, one of the perpetrators who made a plea bargain with the Prosecution. The accepted figure was 1,200 victims, notwithstanding the fact that the number of bodies exhumed at the crime scene was 115.

Where are the famous satellite photos that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright advertised as the definitive proof that a crime of huge dimensions did occur around Srebrenica? Why are they under seal for fifty years if they are of such enormous probative value? If they were made available to the public and to neutral experts for critical analysis now, would that not benefit everybody because many persistent doubts about Srebrenica would quickly be resolved?

Map of military operations during the Srebrenica massacre, July 1995

The laughable reason given for insisting on the photos’ confidentiality is that showing publicly them might compromise intelligence gathering methods. That rationale is an insult to the intelligence of the public because the methods used in 1995 are long obsolete.

As the supply of legitimate Srebrenica execution mass graves began to dry up, and bodies needed to back up the 8,000 genocide victims claim were in short supply, the Muslim-controlled Missing Persons Commission focused, for instance, on a locale called Kamenica. They played down the fact that Kamenica was on the path of withdrawal of the Muslim army 28th Division in July of 1995 and that a major clash with Bosnian Serb forces took place there, with numerous Muslim casualties.

DNA?

The forensic evidence (DNA) is more unhelpful than helpful to the Prosecution’s claim that there were about 8,000 execution victims in Srebrenica. Ten years later, there was no trace of even the 4,805 bodies that in its trial judgment the Krstic court gullibly stated had been “detected” in unexhumed Srebrenica mass graves.Body counting and forensic analysis in the classical sense had reached an embarrassing dead end. The standard forensic approach which is based on autopsies may not have generated the hoped for 8,000 victims, but in a situation of this nature it generates at least some legally useful evidence. The standard approach did yield 947 potential execution victims (442 with blindfolds and ligatures, plus 505 with bullet injuries).

How can it be asserted that the human remains exhumed so far prove summary executions on a large scale when in their autopsy reports ICTY Prosecution forensic experts conceded that out of 3,568 exhumed “cases” 1,583 or 44.4 %, consisted only of body parts, and that in 1,462 or 92.4 % of them no conclusion could be drawn regarding the cause of death?

DNA is currently presented as undeniable proof of “genocide”. However, DNA findings cannot establish key elements of a murder case, the cause and time of death, which is important given the possibility of many combat deaths as well as natural deaths and burials in the Srebrenica area prior to July 1995.

Combat casualties instead of genocide

“If you want to use a word “genocide” (for Srebrenica) – then OK, but we need a new word to replace the old “genocide” word…” (Noam Chomsky)

The status of the 12,000 to 15,000 strong military/civilian, mostly male column which left Srebrenica enclave on foot late on July 11, 1995, headed for Muslim-controlled territory in Tuzla, is a key factor in the controversy over what happened. ICTY Prosecution military expert Richard Butler conceded the mixed character of the column, which under international law makes it a legitimate military target.Testifying in the Popovic case, Butler reiterated that position. The legal character of the column and the extent of its casualties are of the utmost importance because in an effort to reach the magic figure of 8,000, combat losses inflicted on the column are conflated with execution victims.These casualties were estimated by prosecution military expert Richard Butler, when testifying in the Popovic trial, to have been 1,000 to 2,000 for the period of July 12 to 18, 1995, and raised to between 2,000 and 4,000 at a subsequent trial. Given the severe dearth of incontestable execution victims, the presence of thousands of these legitimate Srebrenica casualties is at worst an embarrassment, but at best an opportunity. The opportunity is to blend them in with execution victims, thus eliminating the problem and at the same time helpfully raising the victims’ total, even if it still remains short of the target figure of 8,000.

In his latest book titled “Srebrenica — The History of Salon Racism” (Srebrenica — die Geschichte eines salonfahigen Rassismus) published 2010 in Berlin, Alexander Dorin focuses on manipulations with the number of Muslims who lost their lives in Srebrenica. “It is perfectly clear that Muslim organizations listed as Srebrenica victims all the Muslim fighters who were killed in the fights after the fall of Srebrenica,” the Swiss researcher said. Dorin explained that director of the Belgrade Center for Investigation of War Crimes Milivoje Ivanišević analyzed the lists of alleged Srebrenica victims. Ivanišević discovered that, a year after the fall of Srebrenica, some 3,000 Muslim men who were supposedly killed in 1995, were voting in the Bosnian Muslim elections. It asserted that no more than 2,000 Bosnian Muslims had died at Srebrenica – all armed soldiers, not civilians – and that 1,600 of them had died in combat or while trying to escape the enclave. In addition, at least 1,000 of the alleged 1995 “Srebrenica massacre victims” have been dead long before or after Bosnian Serb Army took the town over.

Planning the narrative – two years before

The “Srebrenica massacre” is the greatest triumph of propaganda to emerge from the Balkan wars.(Edward Herman)

There is also many arguments about political PR game behind exaggerated death numbers, misrepresentation of early reports and manipulated pictures. Indeed President Izetbegovic according mentioned UNSG Report told in 1993 that he had learned that a NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina was possible, but could only occur if the Serbs were to break into Srebrenica, killing at least 5,000 of its people.” So from here are the numbers originating – two years before events in Srebrenica. (Source: UN report Memorandum on war crimes and crimes and genocide in eastern Bosnia )

The authenticity and the implications of this shocking scheme are extensively explored by Ola Flyum in his documentary film Srebrenica: A town betrayed.

Bosnian Muslim violence against Bosnian Serbs from UN protected safe zone

If Srebrenica was indeed a UN protected demilitarized safe zone, how was it possible for it to be used as a training ground and launching pad by Muslim army forces inside it against Serbian civilian villages and military positions outside?

There was also a long history of atrocious Bosnian Muslim violence and treachery perpetrated against Bosnian Serbs leading up to the events of 1995.The most cruel crimes were committed by the 3rd Corps 7th Muslim Mountain Brigade, to which were subordinated foreign Muslim fighters, also known as mujahedeen, who came from Islamic countries through Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. “Demilitarized safe area of Srebrenica” served as the safe haven to this brigade lead by Bosnian Muslim leader of Srebrenica forces Naser Oric. From there the brigade went to implement series of atrocious attacks on the near-by Serbian areas.

 An important issue pertaining to Srebrenica that is almost never talked about are the Serbian victims. The trick of excluding them is performed by simply narrowing down the relevant Srebrenica chronology to three days in July of 1995, while completely ignoring events during the preceding three years. In the three-year period before the massacre of Muslims in 1995, According to the Dutch Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), these attacks “…followed a certain pattern. Initially, Serbs were driven out of ethnically mixed towns. Then Serbian hamlets surrounded by Muslim towns were attacked and finally the remaining Serbian settlements were overrun. The residents were murdered, their homes were plundered and burnt down or blown up.” As a consequence, “it is estimated that between 1,000 and 1,200 Serbs died in these attacks, while about 3,000 of them were wounded. Ultimately, of the 9,390 Serbian inhabitants of the Srebrenica district, only 860 remained…”

Why are these substantial figures (Serb victims)rarely reported or given even fleeting attention in discussions about Srebrenica, although they are undoubtedly an integral part of the overall picture and their relevance to the events of July of 1995 is indisputable?

First of all, because this is precisely what generated the “accumulated hatred” that was clearly sensed by the UNPROFOR commander in Bosnia, General Philippe Morillon, which he referred to as the consequence of these “terrible massacres.”Second, perhaps because these pogroms created a motive for taking revenge on the perceived malefactors when that became possible in July of 1995. The latter point clearly upsets the genocide applecart because it posits a compelling alternative explanation of the motive.

R2P based on Srebrenica

One aspect which keeps the official narrative about Srebrenica alive is that the case is the fundamental element of R2P (Responsibility to Protect) concept. The Srebrenica narrative serves as the cornerstone of this important new doctrine in international relations and since Bosnia been used with many conflicts around the globe as tool of western interventions.

First, as former US ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith recently revealed, in terms of the Bosnian conflict “endgame” Croatia’s Operation Storm in 1995 against Serb-held areas in the Krajina would not have been feasible had not “Srebrenica” prepared the ground for it, morally and psychologically. The Srebrenica narrative and the outrage it produced served as a convenient veil to shield atrocities committed during the Croatian offensive in August of 1995 from substantial public examination or criticism.

As Bill Clinton, the U.S. President who had stood by in Bosnia, wavered again, Mr Blair warned that Kosovo was a test of whether civilised nations acted before it was too late. “This is not a battle for territory; this is a battle for humanity. It is a just cause, it is a rightful cause,” he argued.

A couple of more examples: “We prevented a new Srebrenica in Libya” (Hilary Clinton) Recently U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world powers to urgently unite to end the bloodshed in Syria, recalling the inertia of the United Nations in 1995 as genocide occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

My view

Was Srebrenica – a hoax or massacre? I would say both; a hoax due the well planned and implemented PR campaign, a massacre when the Serbs went to trap and used brutal force also against civilians.(Ari Rusila)
From my point of view the myth of 8,000 executed men and boys is busted. It was planed well before to get U.S.involvement with war against Serbs. An essential part of narrative was the death toll of 8,000 and that the victims were civilians. However the figures after decade and half intensive bodycount don’t match. Besides numbers it has came clear that most of the military-age men from Srebrenica assembled in the village of Susnjari and from there under-took a 60 kilometer trek through minefields and Serbian ambushes to Tuzla as they were affraid Serb revenge due their atrocities against Serbs during preceding two years. As for the women, children, and elderly, they were left behind and deposited at the UN compound in Potocari. Quite possibly that was done as a convenient bait to the Serbs to perpetrate the anticipated massacre, but whatever the ultimate motive behind it may have been, on the whole nothing sinister occurred. The 20,000 or so enclave residents dumped in Potocari were put by the Serbs on buses and evacuated safely to Muslim territory.

One can claim that Srebrenica was not a genocide and definition ethnic cleansing is weak too, instead it was a partly war crime provoked by crimes on the other side. Partly as mostly the deads in Srebrenica on July 1995 happened when 28. Muslim Division tried to escape from town to Muslim held territory knowing the amount of hatred among local Serbs and lost their life during this operation. Saying this I’d like to point out that sure there was civilian casualties, innocent victims as well executions which can be seen as war crimes and crimes against humanity etc.

Despite unprecedented efforts over the past ten years to recover bodies from the area around Srebrenica, less than 3,000 have been exhumed, and these include soldiers and others – Serb as well as Muslim – who died in the vicious combats that took place during three years of war. Only a fraction have been identified. Probably a massacre happened but maybe not like that picture which main stream media has offered.

Ari Rusila is a development project management expert and freelancer from Finland with a special interest in the Balkan region. His blog is at http://arirusila.wordpress.com

First of all, since 2010 and the eruption of the Greek economic depression (- 25% GDP between 2010-2013) there has been a trend that involves the transfer through organized criminal networks, of illegal immigrants from Greece (mainly) to Central Europe through the Balkans and especially FYROM.

This trend is supported both by the rapid increase of arrests concerning these new routes, as well as, by the notifications of both Bulgarian and FYROM authorities and the latest FRONTEX assessments on the issue, as well as, a European Parliament review on the illegal immigration issue. The human resources involved are from a variety of nationalities involved in this type of criminal activities. Apart from locals, there has been a noted increase in the arrest of human traffickers of Afghani, Syrian and Pakistani descent. The coordinating centers for this activity are located in Athens, Thessaloniki, Skopje, and increasingly are to be found in Bulgarian and Serbian provincial cities, following a route along central Europe. The main methods being used are transfer through bogus tourist companies and buses, commercial Lorries and trucks, designated taxi fares and often on foot by small groups of immigrants.

Furthermore, according to FRONTEX “rising numbers of detections at the EU external border with West Balkan countries can be attributed to the successfully negotiated free-trade agreements which in combination with visa-free travel between Turkey and all the countries of the Western Balkans were followed by expanding direct air links between two regions and increased flows of regular passenger. This explains why Turkish nationals represented by far the most refused nationality at regional air borders (a significant increase in detected illegal border crossings of Turkish nationals trying to enter the Schengen area from Croatia or Serbia was also reported)”.

Another important trend is the significant increase in the arrests of criminals forging travel documents for the purposes of illegal immigration. Approximately since 2010 and up to date more than 5 people each week are being arrested in the Athens region alone. The vast majority are Iraqi (Kurdish descent), Pakistani and Syrians. The travel documents being forged are mostly German, Scandinavian and Italian passports-visas.

During high tourist season which starts in late spring and lasts until autumn there are regular incidents of passport and EU id’s theft by “spotters” which work for the trafficking networks and are specialized in this illicit sector, by working along with the forgers. A fake passport which rarely is being undetected in any border control costs around 300-500 Euros in the street black market in Athens, whilst bureaucratic papers from state authorities that can be used for travel purposes and which have been obtained illegally by Greek municipal authorities can cost a few thousands. For that reason, several countries, and most notably Germany have increased border controls even within the Schengen zone and specifically target flights arriving from Greek airports by stopping and checking passengers travel documents, thus in effect terminating the free movement of people and the aforementioned European treaty. Another counter effect has been the denial by Netherlands, Germany and Austria to accept Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen Zone citing fears of a mass movement of immigrants passing through these countries and onwards into Northern EU states.

Moreover, it should be noted that over the past three years in Greece criminal networks involved in narcotics contraband are increasingly being involved in travel forgery and in many respects these two illicit sectors have become mixed and consequently dominated by drug traffickers. Almost in all cases where forger’s hideouts have been detected, significant amounts of narcotics were also been deposited there as well.

Another trend in the increasing involvement of European citizens in assisting illegal immigration to the EU through Greece via “bogus marriages”. The process under which marriages are being used for immigrants to acquire legal residence rights, consequently be able to travel and establish themselves freely into the EU is a complicated procedure which puzzles the authorities, since it is often hard to prove whether a marriage – although legally signed – is genuine or not.

There are though several indicators which can be applied especially in the case of Southeastern European countries.

- Immigrants “marry” local Roma women or Central European national with legal rights regarding their travel into Schengen zone (i.e. Poland) (Illegal payments range from 3-7,000 Euros)

- Marriage takes place in a different municipality than the permanent residence of both groom and bride

- The time period between the entrance of the immigrant to the country and his marriage is little to justify an acquaintance, a following affair and a subsequent marriage (Often the time space is less than a month)

- The people involved as “Best man/woman and marriage witness”, appear coincidently in several marriages of seemingly non-connected couples

- Marriages between immigrants residing in one country (i.e. Greece) with citizens of a neighboring country (i.e. Bulgaria)

-Multiple marriages between immigrants and residents in a short period of time in a specific municipal hall by the same vice-Mayor or other state official.

It has to be noted that recently in Greece, an extensive criminal network composed by Greeks, Georgians and Bulgarians was uncovered that was facilitating the legalization through marriage of Georgian organized crime figures. The Police investigation uncovered various links with state officials in the municipal level, along with involvement of attorneys and travel agencies that managed the one-day transfer of “brides” to Georgia to marry a local resident there so he could have his papers in order even before he arrived in the country.

A similar trend to the above is the assistance in the transfer of illegal immigrants from Greece to the EU and to other Balkan countries by EU citizens with their own cars bearing EU plates, so as to pass without border controls. German, Polish, Czech, Italian and French citizens have been arrested lately mostly in Patras and Igoumenitsa ports on their way to the ferry line to Italy. Similar cases with mostly Central European citizens, have been observed since 2010 in peripheral Island airports in Greece during tourist season that operate mostly with charter flights. The most favored destinations were small EU airports such Bergamo in Italy, whilst in 2011 a Greek-Italian-Moroccan network tried to transfer “clients” by using private jet flights from the peripheral Greek airport of Kavalla to Italian ones.

Lastly, a trend which goes in a different direction is the tightening of border controls and the repatriation of illegal immigrants. Since early 2012 and January 2013, around 23,000 immigrants have been repatriated from Greece to their countries, mostly: Pakistan, Iraq, Algeria, Nigeria and Bangladesh. In 2011 the number according to the Greek Police was 18,000 people and another 7,000 are scheduled to be deported until early summer 2013. What’s interesting as well, is that a number estimated around 5,000 has already been arrested and placed under judicial control is specially designated detention centers and a considerable number has requested “laissez passer” documents to travel back to his original destination. The number of immigrants in transit between Greece-FYROM-Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania is hard to be calculated, but can be considerable, perhaps more than 30,000 people at any given moment.

The total number of illegal immigrants in Greece -which is the Southeastern European trafficking epicenter-, is presently around 400,000 people with incoming flows decreasing rapidly, some minus 45 per cent for 2012 and up to date. The Greek Interior Ministry believes that around 30,000 people entered the country illegally in 2012 instead of 55,000 in 2011 and the expectations are for an at least further 50% drop the present year. Due to the deteriorating job market in the country the trend that should be expected in 2013-2014 will most certainly involve more repatriations of voluntary nature, as well as, further buildup of immigrants “in transit & in limbo” communities in Southern Balkans, while trying to move out of Greece on their way to Germany-France and Northern European destinations.