Bosnia as a Battlefield of the "Clash of Civilizations"

I am currently browsing through some of the essays in The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy edited by Emran Qureshi and Michael A. Sells. The book is a multi-faceted rebuttal to the collective body of voices pushing some variation of Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilization" thesis, including V.S. Naipaul and of course Bernard Lewis.

The influence of this strain of political/cultural thought on Western responses (and non-responses) to the Bosnian crisis has certainly not been overlooked, but it certainly merits continued attention. Earlier Serb and Croat nationalist claims about the "Islamic menace" coming from Bosnia and Kosova certainly did not fall on deaf ears, but after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 Balkan revisionists and Serb nationalist apologists seem to have sensed that the audience for such rhetoric has broadened. Therefore, those of us who wish to defend the historical record cannot afford to ignore the "Islam versus the West" theorists, no matter how much we might wish to dismiss such gross simplifications as irrelevant to the struggles of the largely secular Bosniak and Kosovar Albanian populations.

A couple of the essays in this book--one by Michael Sells; the other by Norman Cigar--deal specifically with the Muslims of Bosnia, and I will consider them in some detail; first, however, I will briefly consider some of the other essays, some of which touch on issues in the former Yugoslavia, and all of contribute to the larger discussion which Sells and Cigar are participating in.

I apologize for my infrequent (and abbreviated) posting as of late; I will make a sincere effort to be more consistent and prompt in my consideration of this book.

Michael Totten Reports from the Balkans

Many thanks to Anthony (an online friend whose blog The Catholic Libertarian is worth reading) for bringing this to my attention:

Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal

On June 10 he published Part II of a story on his visit to the Balkans. Good reporting and some great photography.

Breaking news: Serbia arrests war crimes indictee Zupljanin

From the Southeast Europe Times

Hopefully more news will become available soon. In the meantime, here's to hoping that Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are having a miserable, nerve-racking day.

"Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide" by Branimir Anzulovic [11]

CONCLUSION

After noting that a great number of Serbs wanted no part of the "Greater Serbia" project, that a significant number of prominent individuals as well as large numbers of citizens in the streets and the voting booths stood up against the political/military/religious/academic elites and their military, police, and paramilitary forces, Anzulovic regretfully notes the democratic and liberal deficiencies of the opposition leaders--and this book was published before Kostunica showed his true colors. The future for a free, stable, peaceful and democratic Serbia is grim as long as nationalist tensions in Bosnia, the Kosova issue, and international ambivalence towards the region persist. He makes a strong and convincing plea for a better "realist" foreign policy than the narrow, selfish, and short-term goals of traditional realpolitik advocated by the craven Henry Kissinger among others.

It is unfortunate that the author ends this excellent book with the following assertion:

"Modern myths that have inspired genocides are based on the Enlightenment idea that man is by nature good and able to solve all problems with the help of his intellect. This concept provides the basis for the glorification of particular persons, classes, races, or nations as saviors who will eliminate the evil from history. Therefore, it is of vital importance to recognize the validity of the religious concept of Original Sin, which teaches that the capacity for evil is present in every human being."

This could not be more wrong. Anzulovic is ignoring the role of the Serbian Church and it's anti-rational embrace of myth and national stereotypes reinforced with religious certainty. Indeed, "secular" nationalist extremism and fascist ideologies are also anti-rational universal myths themselves. It was clear through this entire book that Anuzlovic takes a kinder view towards institutional religion and faith than I do; he frequently takes pains to distinguish between the teachings of the Serbian Church and "real" or "authentic" Christian teachings. This disconnect between what he wishes to believe about faith and the anti-rational nature of the nationalist passions he sincerely opposes takes us into a larger debate which will wait for another discussion.

Despite this jarring, if not completely unexpected, stumble at the finish line, this is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.

"Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide" by Branimir Anzulovic [10]

[Ed. note: I'm in a hurry to finish this review and move on, and I'm rushed for time--I apologize for the brevity of this post, but hopefully by now I have managed to convey at least a hint of the breadth and depth of Anzulovic's analysis. --Kirk]

CHAPTER SIX: THE OUTSIDERS' MYTH-CALCULATIONS

The Acceptance of Heavenly Serbia

A brief discussion of Western acceptance of the image of self-sacrificing, heroic, "heavenly" Serbia at face value.

Balkanization or Scandinavianization

Contrasts the conventional wisdom that "Balkanization" is inevitably a bad thing with the example of Scandinavia, where five nations were carved out of two, which resulted in a lessening of national tensions, and an increase in regional cooperation.

The Imaginary Bulwark

Longer section detailing longstanding support for the creation of, first, a Greater Serbia, and then a Serb-dominated southeast Balkan kingdom. Also detailed is how the Allies of World War I mistakenly believed that the new country would provide a bulwark against Germany, but the Yugoslav governments had good relations with Germany, even the Nazi regime.

Indifference Makes a Difference

The title says it all; a grim and familiar history of western indifference during the 1990s, when a firm stand by the Western world could have saved thousands of lives and made the prospects of a stable peace much better. As Anzulovic writes:

"...one does not prevent wars by assuring the potential aggressor that his victims would not receive any support."

Fig-Leaf Myths

Discussion of some of the justifications used by Westerners to justify the indifference of the previous section, including the tired canard that the people of the Balkans are simply consumed with violent passions and are immune to reason and the restraints of civilization. Robert Kaplan, Rebecca West, Lewis MacKenzie, and other familiar names make an appearance here.

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I fully admit to not having done this material credit. I hope I encourage at least one person to read this book. In my next post, I will briefly summarize the Conclusion and give my own final thoughts on the book.

"Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide" by Branimir Anzulovic [9]

CHAPTER FIVE: A VICIOUS CIRCLE OF LIES AND FEARS [continued]

Fear Transformed into a Spider: Poisonous Best-Sellers

The line "fear transformed into a spider" comes from a mediocre poem by perhaps the most infamous mediocre poet of the former Yugoslavia, Radovan Karadzic. This lengthy section examines the blood-soaked, revenge-obsessed, violent works of fiction and poetry by a large segment of Serbia's contemporary men of letters.

Besides Karadzic, Vuk Draskovic makes an appearance, as does Dobrica Cosic, and Vojislav Lubarda; not to mention the large number of writers and academics (notably Nikola Koljevic) whose work may not have been noted for the same nationalist fervor and near-pornographic addiction to violence, but who nevertheless played an important role in the nationalist movement of the 1980s and 1990s.

Also discussed: the odd, and rather creepy, near-fetish fixation on knives, and not just Draskovic's book "Noz" ("The Knife"). It is not enough, apparently, to focus on graphic descriptions of brutal violence, and to dwell on biased versions of the most horrible episodes in history; one must also write multi-page odes to one of the most intimate implements of killing mankind has ever created.

This section is rather lengthy, and well worth reading.

The Highlanders as Scapegoats

In this section, Anzuolovic makes short work of the frequent excuse made by some Serbs that the fighting in Yugoslavia was a product of the violent highlander culture and that the rest of the former Yugoslavia simply got sucked into their barbaric orgy of blood-lust.

Needless to say, Anzulovic shows that this simply isn't so; indeed, he makes it clear that the genocide of the 1990s was not a "bottom-up" expression of primitive tribal rage but a carefully cultivated campaign orchestrated by the political, military, intellectual, and religious elites of Serbia, who dragged the rest of their country--including the new haiduks, the turbo-folk loving urban gangsters--into a nightmare of their own creation.

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This concludes my review of this chapter. I will look at the final chapter in my next post.

Civil Action Filed in Dutch Court Against Dutch Government

THE DUTCH STATE FAILED IN ITS DUTY TO PROTECT CIVILIAN VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE AT SREBRENICA (post from Srebenica Genocide Blog)

Please read this post at Daniel's excellent blog; I'm sure we'll all be watching this story closely.