Chris Deliso « Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton and Charles Goyette

Scott Horton Interviews Chris Deliso

Scott Horton, February 22, 2008

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Chris Deliso, the only western journalist in Macedonia, longtime contributor to Antiwar.com, proprietor of Balkanalysis.com and author of The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West, discusses the problems of ethnic and religious differences, crime and corruption in the former Yugoslavia, the rise of Saudi-financed Wahaabi Islam in Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and the compromised and ineffectual “humanitarians” from the UN who’ve been running Kosovo.

MP3 here. (28:20)

Balkanalysis.com director Christopher Deliso has lived and traveled widely in SE Europe and has a master’s degree with distinction in Byzantine Studies from Oxford University (1999). His two new books, The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West and Hidden Macedonia: The Mystic Lakes of Ohrid and Prespa will appeal to readers interested in, respectively, the major security issues involving the region today, and travel in one of Europe’s most fascinating but least visited areas.

Since 2001, he has published many articles on Balkan politics, economics, security issues, travel, history and culture in US and world newspapers, analysis firms such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, and in numerous magazines and websites. He is also a travel writer for Lonely Planet, covering SE Europe.

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Comments to “Chris Deliso”

cliff
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 am

Another good interview by Scott Horton and Antiwar.com. Its so weird to watch the flimsy analysis that the media gives the balkins and compare that to what is actually going on. It appears the U.S. is once again stirring up a hornet’s nest. History teaches us that what large powerful nations do regarding small seemingly unimportant nations can have serious consiquences. Piety, that we keep making these same mistakes. I just gave a modest contrubution to Antiwar.com in the hopes that their excellent reporting will help us some day to defeat the War party.

redsaunas
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 pm

Some of the propositions in this interview I find a bit flimsy.

The fact that the western world stood by and watched Muslims being openly slaughtered for three years in the middle of Europe has been one of the rallying points of the Jihadists. ‘See! This is what they allow to happen to Muslims right under their noses.’

One other observation. I know quite a lot of Balkan people, Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims. (No Albanians, though.) Of all of these, the Bosnian Muslims strike me as the most open-minded, cosmopolitan and outward-looking and modern of the lot. They are certainly not ‘fundamentalists’ in any way whatsoever. The ‘Christians’ are busy refighting the wars of the middle ages.

Putnik
February 24th, 2008 at 3:21 am

redsaunas

I must take issue with your claim that “…the western world stood by and watched Muslims being openly slaughtered for three years in the middle of Europe has been one of the rallying points of the Jihadists.”

Good regurgitation of the CW (common ‘wisdom’) but so terribly wide of the mark. Certainly, there was slaughter; of Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats…it was a civil war! The Muslims were no more nor less ’slaughtered’ than ANY OF THE OTHER ETHNICITIES! Just because the Western media pushed this line does not make it true! The Bosnian Muslims were hardly any kind of innocents in all this. For crissakes, they were instrumental in killing their own people to elicit Western sympathies and blame those massacres on the Serbs.

And, your asinine assertion that “The ‘Christians’ are busy refighting the wars of the middle ages.” is just that, a baseless assertion. The Serbs were in many ways retaliating for WWII not the Middle Ages. Over 1 million Serbs were slaughtered by Hitler’s willing executioners, the Croatian Ustasha and the Bosniak(sic) Muslims. Don’t forget, there were 2 Bosniak(sic) Muslim SS divisions and their primary task was the extermination of the indigenous Serb population.

Jana
February 24th, 2008 at 7:29 am

redsaunas

Thanks god you are probably not a woman and if you are you did not go to Bosnia. I sincerely suggest that you visit Bosnia and see for yourself how “open minded and cosmopolitan” they are. They are so cosmopolitan especially in Zenica that after been few times harassed (having breakfast in the hotel restaurant, in the hotel lift and on the street) I was afraid to go out of my hotel room.

Putnik
February 24th, 2008 at 10:41 am

Jana,

Amen! This was not the case prior to the dissolution of Yugoslavia. My mother’s family was from Zenica. During WWII more than 1/2 of her large, extended family were slaughtered by the Croatian Ustasha/Bosniak(sic) Muslim. During the Wars of Yugoslav Dissolution, the remainder of her family were exterminated save 2 by the Bosniak(sic) Muslims and the imported mujahedeen. This formerly Orthodox christian town has been turned into a Muslim stronghold. With the consequent harassment you experienced.

Toba
February 24th, 2008 at 11:01 am

Just a reply to Redsaunas message. Give those “open-minded, cosmopolitan and outward-looking and modern of the lot” a chance to be a majority as a people and rule this country, then you would see how ” open-minded, cosmopolitan and outward-looking and modern of the lot” they are. By saying all of this before, I don’t want to assault some and many good people and families among them, but in general, I wouldn’t make a statement as you made just by knowing few or some families or individuals, not only muslims, but any other people. Also, people that you know could be as you described, but majority of them is not.

redsaunas
February 25th, 2008 at 10:27 pm

I can only speak of those I personally know. Those people are refugees who fled the country.

What happened to those who stayed behind is another matter.

You commit massive atrocities against people, and you know what? You will radicalize them.

It might come as a shock to many, but that’s what happens.

And yes. I’m sure that there were terrible atrocities on all sides. But I am equally sure that it wasn’t ‘equal’. Muslims got it harder and longer and from both sides. Sorry, folks, that’s just what happened.

The thing you always run into when dealing with Balkan people of all stripes is that they are fed a victim mentality with their mother’s milk, and are utterly incapable of seeing anything from anybody else’s point of view.

Stephen Schwartz
February 27th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Chris Delouso is no more the only Western journalist in Macedonia than I am president of the U.S. First, bloggers are not legitimate journalists and Delouso has a total of three clips as a journalist, all of them in the realm of travel puffery. Second, numerous Western journalists travel to Macedonia but would not be seen in the company of disinformational propagandists for Slavofascism like Delouso. His fabrications about Balkan Islam and especially about Albanians are contemptible, but fully appropriate for the walls of the public toilet run by Dennis Raimondo.

Stephen Schwartz, who does not hide behind screen names.

cowbot
February 29th, 2008 at 6:53 am

Mr. Schwartz, toeing the Washington party-line with your real name is not an act of civil courage. If your allegations of ‘disinformation’ had any factual merit, you could use this space to justify them instead of resorting to the character assassination and potty-language so common among your kind.

Jet
March 6th, 2008 at 5:38 am

This caliphate stuff is just more fear factor meant to demonise those countries the US empire deems a threat to their sole superpower status since the collapse of the Soviet Union. [which hasnt really collapsed IMHO]

Troy
March 6th, 2008 at 10:33 am

I guess we found out who “Darryl” is. I’m not hiding behind a screen names either Mr. Schwartz.

Bob Bogus
March 6th, 2008 at 10:52 am

>Stephen Schwartz, who does not hide behind screen names.

Hey Comrade Sandalio, how’s it hanging?

Troy
March 6th, 2008 at 11:53 am

Slavofascism, Islamofascism, neofascism, Commie Sandi seems rather busy to be posting here. Fortunately, “bloggers are not legitimate journalists”, only those who write for such great publications as the National Review, Weekly Standard or Front Page Mag are in fact “legitimate journalists” so he has nothing to worry about from Chris Deliso. He just felt the need to point how illegitimate he felt this mere blogger was in presuming his reporting had any merit and that the Muslims are the whipping boys of the Balkans.

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