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by Dr. Jack Wheeler
May 27, 2016
Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska. Welcome to a country you never heard of. It’s a Christian country in Europe – and proudly so, unlike those Euroweenie countries like Germany busily Moslemizing themselves.
The churches and cathedrals here are magnificent –
It’s a peaceful, prosperous place – and great for having a beer inside a medieval fortress overlooking a beautiful river…
Problem is, it’s at the center of Tectonic Europe, where two geopolitical plates have been grinding against each other for centuries and still do today. For we are in the Balkans – Europe between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean fought over by empires and peoples and religions for a thousand years and more.
And at the very heart of the Balkans is Bosnia – which the map at the left pretends is an intact country. Fully half of Bosnia has seceded, forming its own country with its own government. No other government in the world recognizes it, but the Republic of Srpska (Serbian Republic) is independent and sovereign nonetheless.
Its origin is dark and soaked in blood. When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, Yugoslavia did too – except that a Serbian Communist named Slobodan Milosevic tried to reconstitute Yugoslavia as the Empire of Greater Serbia by waging slaughter and war upon the people of Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro – and within Bosnia.
Bosnia was the most horrific. Milosevic placed a monster named Radovan Karadzic in charge of creating a separate state for Bosnian Serbs (who comprise over 1/3rd of Bosnians) that would merge with Serbia.
Karadzic in turn had his friend Ratko Mladic create an Army of the Republic of Srpska, and perpetrate a war of genocidal extermination and ethnic cleansing upon Bosnian Moslems (known as Bozniaks comprising 50% of Bosnians) and Bosnian Croats (Croatians are Catholics while Serbs are Serbian/Russian Orthodox).
Mladic proceeded to earn his sobriquet as “The Butcher of Bosnia” by committing a series of atrocities culminating in the mass murder of over 8,000 Bozniaks in Srebrenica in July 1995.
Milosevic died in his jail cell in The Hague during his war crimes trial in 2006. Karadzic was finally sentenced to 40 years in prison (he’s 70) this past March (see Karadzic link above). Mladic remains in jail at The Hague as his war crimes trial has yet to complete.
These horrors are receding into the past today thanks to an exceptional Serbian leader named Boris Tadic – with whom I had a private dinner in Belgrade a few days ago.
As President of Serbia from 2004-2012, he went far in healing history’s wounds – issuing official apologies in the name of Serbia to the people of Bosnia and Croatia, personally going to Srebrenica to commemorate the victims of the genocide, working with Interpol to capture Mladic, presiding over the peaceful independence of Montenegro from Serbia, and working to create peaceful relations between Srpska and Bosnia.
I found him to be an extremely impressive man. He’s pro-West, pro-free market capitalism, devoutly Christian of course (and working hard for rapprochement between Catholic and Orthodox churches). Plus he’s just a truly nice guy.
He was candid about his worries. There’s the balancing act with Putin – how far and how fast can you edge Serbia into full partnership with Europe without provoking the Russian bear into suiciding you?
Yet we shared an even bigger concern – a threat that’s far older than Europe’s problems with Russia and is the major threat we all face today.
I pulled out an example of this threat from my coat pocket to show him – a news item on page 24 of the May 2016 issue of Turkish Airlines’ inflight magazine Skylife.
Entitled Glorious Conquest, readers are notified that “The 563rd conquest celebrations in Istanbul take place at Yenikapı Performance and Meeting Area on May 29. The 563-person strong Mehter company concert and a show by the aerobatics team Turk Yildizlan are some of the events highlighting this year’s celebrations.”
And just what is this Glorious Conquest that the Moslems of Turkey have been celebrating for 563 years? It is the May 29, 1453 rape and slaughter of countless Christians in the Moslem sacking of Constantinople:
“Nothing will ever equal the horror of this harrowing and terrible spectacle… The enraged Turkish soldiers gave no quarter. When they had massacred and there was no longer any resistance, they were intent on pillage and roamed through the town stealing, disrobing, pillaging, killing, raping, taking captive men, women, children, old men, young men, monks, priests, people of all sorts and conditions . . . these frantic brutes stormed into their houses, dragged them, tore them, forced them, dishonored them, raped them at the cross-roads and made them submit to the most terrible outrages.”
This is what the people of Istanbul and throughout Turkey will be celebrating this Sunday. Rape and conquest of Christians.
Turkish Airlines is discrete enough not to mention other events this Sunday, such as the annual May 29 huge protest in front of Hagia Sophia, the world’s largest church, completed in 537 by Emperor Justinian, a mosque for 481 years (1453-1934) until Kemal Attaturk converted it into a museum.
The protests are to demand Hagia Sophia be converted into a mosque again – to purposefully humiliate Christians as Istanbul already has over 3,000 mosques. They don’t need another.
The US Embassy will no doubt be issuing a warning, as it has in past years, for Americans to be extra careful in Turkey on May 29 lest they alienate Moslems celebrating their ultimate humiliation of Christians on May 29.
Note in the Balkans map above the border between Croatia and Bosnia. It’s the same Ottoman border of 1800.
What worries President Tadic and me is that Turkey’s current ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is an Islamofascist intent on recapitulating the Ottoman Empire as much as possible. That he’s Turkey’s Milosevic is demonstrated by his sponsorship of ISIS.
Just as Milosevic sponsored Karadzic and Mladic by providing a sanctuary across the border, money, arms and training – so Erdogan does exactly the same with ISIS. After all, part of the Ottoman Empire was all of Syria and Iraq.
Both President Tadic and I have the same fear – that Erdogan is encouraging ISIS to move into Bosnia. It’s already started, as this April 6 article in Der Spiegel documents: Bosnia’s Islamic State Problem.
As President Tadic explained to me:
“Whoever your next president is, I pray they understand that to defeat Islamic terrorism it is necessary not just to go after terrorists themselves but their sponsors – the people who make them possible and without whom they wouldn’t exist. In Afghanistan, as you know Jack, it’s Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). With ISIS, it’s Erdogan. The flood of Syrian and other refugees into Europe all come from Turkey. That’s his plan. I believe he’s the greatest threat to Europe today.”
Churchill called the Balkans “Europe’s soft underbelly.” So does Erdogan. He wants to end the peace and prosperity you see in the streets of Banja Luka. He wants Glorious Conquests over the Infidel Christian West instead. His strategy is to tear apart once again the plates of Tectonic Europe.
Let’s hope that President Tadic’s prayer is answered.
NOTE: For a comprehensive understanding of the entire history of Turkey and its struggle with the West since its Islamization, please read Asia Minor Part One and Asia Minor Part Two from May 2007.
— Dr. Jack Wheeler is editor-in-chief of To The Point News and is widely credited as the architect of the Reagan Doctrine.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin and [former Howard Dean campaign manager] Joe Trippi are America’s two foremost experts on online politics.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
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Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.
