Chilton Williamson had been National Review’s book editor in the Reagan years. He was one of the first to leave National Review, and of course landed at Chronicles.
Chronicles was covering mass immigration, legal as well as illegal, and National Review was heading in the Open Borders direction that did so much to wreck it.
Srdja Trifkovic has roots in the Balkans, and he was writing about the simmering civil war in the wreckage of the old Yugoslavia when no one else was paying it any attention.
I recall him saying something along the lines of there being three ethnic groups there, Christianity and Islam that were further divided along various sect lines, and that everyone held grievances about things from 1,000 years ago.
Even if you were born there you could hardly figure out who would be fighting whom.
“Srdja Trifkovic has roots in the Balkans”
At the time I read Chronicles, they did a very good job with the Balkans issue, which was noteworthy for the period. It was some time in the 1980’s, probably early 80’s.
I studied the Balkans for a time. Had a close friend who worked for my father-in-law who stayed in Europe with the Military after WWII. He spoke fluent Arabic and told me many tales about things that allowed him to do. He was a truly great guy. He was almost as close as family with my in-laws. Was always at family gatherings for the holidays. His parents were Lebanese Christians who immigrated to the US. If it is of any interest to you, I’ll send you his Obit. He had an amazing background.