THE BALKANS – ORGANIZED CRIME AND POLITICAL CORRUPTION PART 6

BALKAN: BIO - CHEMICAL WEAPON THREAT? 

 Adapted by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from Ioannis Michaletos

The EU strategists, whoever they may be, should be aware of the complicated BALKAN reality: the region is a mostly secular one, but it has the peculiarity of hosting safe havens of terrorists and organized crime related Islamists. Most of these areas are under international protection a paradox that ridicules the entire Western anti terror campaign. Another worrying fact is the real danger of proliferation of chemical or biological weapons into the hands of terrorists, especially in the case of ALBANIA. Already this threat is one of the top priorities for the security services across SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE, and GREECE along with the USA, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, and the EUROPEAN UNION; assists ALBANIA in destroying the stockpiles of its chemical weapons. It is worthwhile to mention that the ALBANIAN authorities had discovered 16 tons of chemicals in 2002, stored in an underground cache, but there are no verified accounts if any amount had been stolen during the 1997 riots, thus raising a question as to whether terrorist organizations already have taken hold of quantities of chemicals.

Lastly, the attack on the USA Embassy in Athens-GREECE in January 2007 with an RPG weaponry, is assumed to have a BALKAN-ALBANIAN connection, meaning source it came from, the “Weapons black market” vividly active in the borderlines between KOSOVO and FYROM.

Only a coordinated pan EUROPEAN operation would be able to eradicate this perilous condition. The bombings in Madrid and in London had a BALKAN flavor in them, namely the explosives used, according to many, came from those very same Muslim pockets in the BALKANS that are protected by WESTERN armies. For the future then, Islamic radicalism in the BALKANS is an X factor. What is certain though is that this factor will not be used for the benefit of the West and the only way of neutralize it is by disrupting its logistic and financial base.

WEST AND EU UNDERESTIMATE IMPORTANCE OF THE BALKANS? 

Political ambitious, international reputations and the all pervading political correctness, hinders the right actions to be taken. Unfortunately the implications of the WESTERN involvement have spilled-over worldwide and with dire consequences regarding the global anti-terror campaign. Shaul Shay states that “In the course of 1999-2000, several terror cells were discovered in the U.S. and CANADA. Some of their members lived in Bocinja [BOSNIA] or were connected to radical Islamic entities that resided there”. The West followed a contradictory stance in the BALKANS where it promoted the advance of radical Islamic elements linked to terrorism, in the same period -1999- it enacted the attacks against SERBIA, thus empowering the former.

Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring: It should be noted that the author of this article is Greek, thus favoring a pro SERBIAN and RUSSIAN stance. GREECE and CYPRUS and their respective orthodox churches provided sanctuaries to SERBIAN refugees and Chetniks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chetniks ) during the KOSOVO and BOSNIAN wars.

A great leader once said “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”. That surely sums up the mentality of the international officials around this Balkan “X factor”.

THE MUSLIM MINORITIES IN THE BALKANS

In contemporary EUROPE there is a great debate on the role of Islam in modern societies and the path that the EUROPEAN-MUSLIM relationship will lead into the 21st century. The BALKANS is a European area where considerable Muslim communities reside, some of them for over 700 hundred years and since the era of the Ottoman Empire.

The BALKAN Peninsula was always an area characterized by continuous population arrivals and exodus due to the turbulent history of the region and because of its geopolitical disposition in the midst of three continents. Since the fall of the Roman Empire immigration and conquest waves have over the centuries shaped the population composition of this EUROPEAN soil. The Slavs in the 6th Century AC, the BULGARIANS in the 7th and the TURKS in the 14th one, have all constructed more or less modern ethno-diversity in the BALKANS.

The former were able –after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 AC- to create the Ottoman Empire stretching from modern day SAUDI ARABIA and NORTH AFRICA, right up to the infamous “Gates of Vienna” or more specifically in Klagenfurt and the Styria province. During much of the previous 6 centuries, there have been massive conversions to Islam that formatted the existing Islamic enclaves in the BALKANS. The fall of the SOVIET Bloc in 1989, and the civil wars in Ex-YUGOSLAVIA; brought the remembrance of the war of faiths, which were part of the BALKAN history for the better part of the last Millennium.

Nowadays, all BALKAN states-Bar RUMANIA- have Muslim minorities that are part of the social and political life of the respective states and most importantly have been often accused as acting like a “Trojan Horse” from powers seeking to exercise influence in the area.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

BOSNIA was already a part of the Ottoman realm, back in 1463 and a mass conversion of the Bogomil Christian sect, (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogomilism) endured the existence of a large and influential Islamic community in the state. This area was for centuries the epicenter of the BALKAN Muslim life, since it was ideally placed in the centre of SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE and had a viable and vibrant Muslim community. At this point it should to be noted that the Bogomils were the most affluent class of BOSNIA and their adherence to Islam constituted an initiative from their part to retain their privileges and rights under the newly formed dominion.

In 1908 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA was annexed by the then AUSTRIA-HUNGARIAN Empire, at the same period the idea of a united confederation of the Southern Slavs –SERBS, CROATS, SLOVENIANS- was gaining momentum. The creation of Yugoslavia after WW1 didn’t resolve the wide religious and cultural gaps between Catholics, Orthodox and Sunni Muslims. The Second World War saw the alliance between the Fascist, pro-GERMAN CROATIAN regime of Andre Pavelic and the Muslims in BOSNIA.

Actually in 1943 the latter created the 13th Mountainous SS Brigade –Waffen Gebirgs division der SS- See: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Handschar_%281st_Croatian%29 ) that committed atrocities against civilian SERBIAN population in classic ethnic cleansing procedures. In 1944 a similar brigade was to be formed by the KOSOVO ALBANIANS -21st Skanderberg Brigade- that sought as well the elimination of SERBIANS from KOSOVO-Metohija. See: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Skanderbeg_%281st_Albanian%29 )

During the 90’s, Mujahedeen from various Islamic states, fought along BOSNIAN Muslims against CROATIANS and SERBS. Numerous allegations and documents reveal a strong Jihad connection between the then Izebegovic administration and Al Qaeda operatives that sought a safe haven in the centre of the BALKANS and close to EUROPE. Stephen Schwartz notes “Muslim BOSNIA and neighboring territories also face growing Islamist extremism. Wahhabi missionaries, promoting the ultra-radical cult financed by SAUDI ARABIA, have come back to the BALKANS after their expulsion from Sarajevo in the aftermath of September 11. BOSNIAN authorities acted then with admirable speed in cracking down on the SAUDI High Commission for Relief of BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, a center of al Qaeda activity”. Currently about 45% of BOSNIA’S population is Muslims, mainly populating the urban centers.

SERBIA-FYROM-MONTENEGRO

SERBIA’S largest Muslim minority is to be found in KOSOVO where over 90% of the population is of ALBANIAN descent and Muslim in denomination. The situation after the 1999 NATO intervention has revealed a massive destruction of the SERBIAN Christian Orthodox heritage. KOSOVO has been since the early Middle Ages a traditional SERBIAN pilgrimage and state epicenter.

The percentage of the Muslims in KOSOVO was traditionally 50-60% from the Ottoman period and up until the 1950’s. The mass immigrations of ALBANIANS from Northern ALBANIA, the immigration of SERBIANS to EUROPE and the very high birth rate of the former; resulted in the creation of an almost homogenized ALBANIAN-Muslim KOSOVO in the course of the second half of the 20th century. The importance of KOSOVO to the SERBIAN psyche, stems amongst other by the greatness of its artistic, literature and architecture grandeur during the Middle Ages and under the SERBIAN Nemanjia Kingdom, most probably the most highlighted era in the history of the SERBIAN Kingdom.

Another SERBIAN province with large numbers of Muslims is SANJAK –Close to KOSOVO borderline- that is also a habitation of Wahabbism. 

See:

SANDŽAK REGION, NOT ONLY THE GATEWAY FOR BALKANS ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATES, BUT ALSO FOR SPREADING WAHHBISM TO EUROPE

http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/wahhabism-in-bosnia-herzegovina-part-4.html

FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) is a state which can be characterized as a hub between SERBIA, ALBANIA, BULGARIA and GREECE. Due to its unique location it always attracted various ethnic and religious minorities, amongst them the largest Muslim one, mainly composed of ALBANIANS, TURKS and ROMA. After the 1999 war, scores of KOSOVO ALBANIANS sought refuge in FYROM thus increasing the total percentage of Muslims in the country. The 2001 conflicts between the SLAVIC majority of the country and the ALBANIAN minority revealed the cultural rift between the two ethnicity, as well as the growing fear of the SLAVS that the high birth rates of their Muslim compatriots will make Muslims the main ethnic entity in the course of the 21st century. Already, about 30% of citizens are Muslims.

MONTENEGRO on the other hand had always had a small Islamic community that has increased considerably due to the continuous influx of refugees from the YUGOSLAVIAN wars in the 90’s. Roughly 20% of the population is Muslim, and their vote was crucial during the independence referendum in 2006, that broke MONTENEGRO’S ties with SERBIA.

ALBANIA

ALBANIA is the only BALKAN country that has an absolute majority in terms of Muslim citizens. Officially 70% of the population is Sunni Muslims, even though there are considerable portion of secular ones. The main reason for the Muslim majority was the mass conversion during the Ottoman Empire, which saw a considerable stratum of the ALBANIAN population converting from Christian faith to Islam in order to obtain advantages within the Ottoman bureaucracy and army. Actually many TURKISH historical figures were ALBANIANS, and one of them rose to become the first Pasha of EGYPT; Mehmet Ali Pasha.

Since 1992 Albania is a member of the Islamic conference, an intergovernmental Muslim organization which has often become the focal point by the international community because of Muslim fundamentalists infiltration in the state apparatus.

BULGARIA

BULGARIA has a considerable Muslim minority in the southern regions bordering with GREECE and TURKEY. The Communist regime in BULGARIA after 1945, initiated measures that forced Muslims –of TURKISH descent mostly- to immigrate to TURKEY. In the 1980’s alone 300, 000 of those fled to BULGARIA. Nevertheless the percentage of Muslims in the country is well over 10% and they exercise significant influence in the political landscape of BULGARIA. The existence of a well established TURKISH-Muslim minority in BULGARIA has proved to be one of the main reasons for the GREEK-BULGARIA rapprochement that enacted in the mid-70’s and continues up to date, bringing the two states with a colorful history of rivalry together; along with excellent bilateral relations.