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The Krajina Chronicle By Srdja Trifkovic The Krajina Chronicle reviewed by Amb. James Bissett, Chairman of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies.Srdja Trifkovic is no stranger to Chronicles readers, many of whom have found his articles commenting on foreign affairs, with particular attention to the Balkans, to be insightful, penetrating, and written with authority. His latest book, The Krajina Chronicle, provides further confirmation of his extraordinary talent. The book is a history of the Serbian warrior-farmers who formed the first line of defense against Islamic invasions into the Habsburg Empire. It is a story of heroism and tragedy that...

A judgement handed down today by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicting two Croatian generals of responsibility for crimes against humanity is a strong victory for Croatia’s war victims, Amnesty International said. The ICTY convicted Ante Gotovina and sentenced him to 24 years. Mladen Markač was also convicted and sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment. A third general, Ivan Čermak, was acquitted. Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač were found guilty of having participated in a joint criminal enterprise during and after the military “Operation Storm,” carried out from August to November 1995 with the aim of forcibly...

American investors plan to build Las Vegas in Croatia-Istria has the best chances for this investment In a year or two, Croatia should get its own Las Vegas, a city of entertainment that will offer casinos, Formula 1 route, rock concerts, horse racings, top restaurants and much more. The entire project would cost 1.5 billion $. Behind trhis is a group of American investors from the real Las Vegas, which is visiting Croatia this week. Istria has the best chance to get that investment. We visited several locations in Croatia, near Dubrovnik, Zadar and several locations in Istria. Istria has...

Did you know that the EU has ensured that there has been no war between its members for last 60 years?

Croatia, Kosovo and Montenegro have started to count their populations as part of a year of censuses across the ethnically tense Western Balkans to keep up with EU countries doing the same... Because of the painful history organisation of the count sparked debate and controversy throughout the region: from Macedonia, where ethnic Albanians fear that their importance will be reduced, across Montenegro, where there are complaints that Serbs are being "assimilated", to Bosnia which did not even manage to adopt a census law. In Kosovo, where the last census was held in 1981 while it was still a province in...

STANTON, Ky. — The arrest of a Croatian woman in small-town Kentucky for alleged war crimes two decades ago in the former Yugoslavia "brings her long run from justice to an end," a U.S. marshal said. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier ordered that Azra Basic, 52, be held without bond pending an April 1 status hearing and appointed her a lawyer. Prosecutors argued that no bail amount would guarantee Basic's presence in court. Federal agents arrested Basic on Tuesday. A complaint filed by U.S. Attorney James Arehart accuses Basic of committing crimes at three camps in the early 1990s...

Report: Germany offers Croatia 20 aging F-4 Phantom fighter jets By: The Associated Press ZAGREB, Croatia - Croatian state TV is reporting that Germany has offered Croatia 20 aging F-4 Phantom fighter planes to replace its even older MIG-21 jets. Croatia's HRT television says the twin-engine American-made fighters can fly for another couple of years before they are retired. But the six Soviet-made MIGs in the Croatian air force fleet have an even shorter flight span left. HRT says the Croatian government has not yet answered to the German free-of-charge offer for the McDonnell Douglas Phantoms, which entered service with...

The Arab freedom wave has now hit the shores of Europe and in the most unlikely of places: the Balkans. Croatia, an Adriatic nation that straddles the civilizational fault line between Central Europe and the Balkans, has been seething with public unrest and protests.

The virus of the "Arab revolution" seems to be spreading to Europe. Mass anti-government demonstrations took place in Croatia; there were protesters' clashes with the police. Nationalist trace is visible in these events directly related to the outcome of the war in Yugoslavia 15-20 years ago. A rally with thousands of participants gathered in Zagreb on Tuesday. The participants demanded the resignation of Prime Minister, leader of the Conservative party Croatian Democratic Union Jadranka Kosor. The main opposition, Socialist Party, was not favored either as the protesters burned its flag in the same way as they have the Conservative banner....

The Croatian Ministry of Defence has invited representatives from Russian fighter aircraft manufacturers to evaluate whether any of Croatia's fighter planes could be modernized. Representatives of the Russian company MiG and Rosoboronexport agency will be coming to Croatia to evaluate the condition of several 20-year-old planes that they manufactured. Croatia is looking to either modernize its current stock or buy some new or used planes. Eight planes should be modernized according to the Ministry of Defense's plan, costing the state some 20 million dollars. Considering that these planes are more than 30 years old, only the manufacturer can decide whether...

Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro: in the space of a fortnight, the leaders or ex-leaders of all three countries have been arrested or accused of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, reports a Montenegro weekly, the EU is paving the way for the accession of all three Balkan countries.Like something out of a political thriller, former Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader was arrested in Austria [on 10 December] under a warrant issued by his own country. He is now waiting for extradition in a Salzburg jail and says he’s prepared to answer corruption charges. A day or two prior to his arrest, right before parliament lifted...

(Sarajevo) In the past 17th of November there was a final judgement by the Bosnian-Herzegovinan Federal Government in Sarajevo, has ordered the vacation of the residence of the Archbishop of Vrhbosna-sarajevo, Vinko Cardinal Puljuic, from the Episcopal Palace. The residence, the property of the Curia, was confiscated in the past by the Communist regime, to house there Communist or Muslim spies, according to Corrispenza Romana.

The former Croatian president Stjepan Mesic is just one of some 6,000 Croatian retirees receiving pensions from Serbia, the Serbian press has reported. These people used to work in Serbia and have paid contributions to the country’s fund for pension and disability insurance (PIO Fond). The director of public relations sector of the PIO Fond Jelica Timotijevic says that all of those who had worked for the presidency of the former Yugoslavia, for example – and have later become state officials and politicians in their own countries – have a right to a Serbian pension based on individual agreements between...

...Mr. Soros is the sugar daddy of the Democratic Party and the modern left. His net worth is more than $7 billion. He is one of the richest and most influential men in the world. Almost every major liberal organization, think tank or media outlet has been the beneficiary of Mr. Soros' largesse. The Nation magazine, Mother Jones, Media Matters, MoveOn.org, NPR and the Center for American Progress - all together they have received tens of millions of dollars from the financier. They serve as front groups and propaganda vehicles to promote Mr. Soros' brand of transnational socialism. ..Mr. Soros...

Croatia's Cardinal Josip Bozanić has announced that Benedict XVI will make a trip to Croatia in 2011. This will be his first time to the country as Pope. Vatican Radio cited Croatia's Catholic news agency IKA , which reported that the announcement came after a meeting between Croatia's president Ivo Josipovic and Cardinal Bozanic, the current archbishop of Zagreb. A commission to decide on the particulars of the trip will be comprised of Church and State officials, the president told IKA. One detail of the schedule is already known: the Pope will pray at the tomb of Blessed Aloysius Stepinac,...

Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac were two friends who grew up together sharing the common bond of basketball. Together, they lifted the Yugoslavian National team to unimaginable heights. After conquering Europe, they both went to America where they became the first two foreign players to attain NBA stardom. But with the fall of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, Yugoslavia split up. A war broke out between Petrovic's Croatia and Divac's Serbia. Long buried ethnic tensions surfaced. And these two men, once brothers, were now on opposite sides of a deadly civil war. As Petrovic and Divac continued to...

A review of The Krajina Chronicle by Srdja Trifkovic. Written by Ambassador James Bissett, Chairman of The Lord Byron Foundation, it was published in the September 2010 issue of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture.Srdja Trifkovic is no stranger to Chronicles readers, many of whom have found his articles commenting on foreign affairs, with particular attention to the Balkans, to be insightful, penetrating, and written with authority. His latest book, The Krajina Chronicle, provides further confirmation of his extraordinary talent. The book is a history of the Serbian warrior-farmers who formed the first line of defense against Islamic invasions into...

(CN) - A private U.S. defense contractor "trained and equipped the Croatian military for Operation Storm and designed the Operation Storm battle plan," which killed or displaced more than 200,000 Serbs in 1995, in the largest European land offensive since World War II, the Genocide Victims of Krajina say in Chicago Federal Court. They demand billions of dollars in damages from MPRI, founded by U.S. military officers who were "downsized" at the end of the Cold War, and L-3 Communications, which bought MPRI for $40 million in 2000. "This is a class action brought by ethnic Serbs who resided in...

BELGRADE -- A commemorative service was held in Belgrade to mark 15 years since the Croatian military Operation Storm and the exodus of ethnic Serbs from that country. Serbian president Boris Tadic, right, attends the service (Tanjug) Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej held the service before a number of officials, including Serbian President Boris Tadich, Deputy Prime Minister Jovan Krkobabich and General Secretary of the Serbian parliament Veljko Odalovich, as well as many people who gathered on the occasion. "We have gathered here today to remember in prayer the people killed 15 years ago, who were guilty first of being...

Thousands of people across several Balkan countries have held services to commemorate those who died in Operation Storm 15-years ago. Croatia's Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor headed a delegation of high-ranking officials at Zagreb central cemetery to mark the military operation carried out by forces from her country and Bosnia and Herzegovina to retake areas of Croatia claimed by ethnic Serbs. She said on Wednesday the operation had been “a victory" over the policies of former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. Masses were held at the same time in main churches in Belgrade and Banja Luka for about 2,000 Serbs who were...