Srđa Trifković
Srđa Trifković (Serbian Cyrillic: Срђа Трифковић, Serbian pronunciation: [sr̩̂dʑa trîfkɔʋitɕ]; born 19 July 1954), also known as Srdja Trifković and Serge Trifkovic, is a Serbian-American writer on international affairs and foreign affairs editor for the paleoconservative magazine Chronicles. He was director of the Center for International Affairs at the Rockford Institute until his resignation on 31 December 2008. Trifković was an unofficial spokesman for the Republika Srpska government in the 1990s[1] and a former adviser to Serbian president Vojislav Koštunica and Republika Srpska president Biljana Plavšić.[2]
Srđa Trifković | |
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![]() Trifković in May 2011. | |
Born | Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia | 19 July 1954
Education | BA (Hon) in International Relations, University of Sussex 1977 BA in Political Science, University of Zagreb 1987 Ph.D in modern history, University of Southampton 1990. |
Occupation | Foreign affairs editor for Chronicles |
Trifković is the author of many books, among which is Sword of the Prophet, a book on the history, doctrines, and impact of Islam on the world. He comments on Balkan politics and is a regular columnist for several conservative publications in the United States. Trifković argues that the accepted interpretation of the Srebrenica genocide is a "myth based on a lie".[3]
Biography
Trifković earned a BA (Hon) in International Relations from the University of Sussex in 1977 and another, in Political Science, from the University of Zagreb in 1987. Since 1990 he has held a PhD in modern history from the University of Southampton, and in 1991-1992 he pursued post-doctoral research on a Title VIII grant from the U.S. Department of State as a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution in California.[4]
Beginning in 1980, he has been a radio broadcaster for BBC World Service and Voice of America and later a correspondent covering southeast Europe for U.S. News & World Report and the Washington Times during which time he was an editor for the Belgrade magazine Duga. In 1994–95 he acted as an "unofficial spokesman" for the Bosnian Serb government (while preferring to describe himself as a "Balkan affairs analyst with close links to the Bosnian Serbs").[1][5] He has published op-eds and commentaries in The Times of London, the San Francisco Chronicle, the American Conservative,[6] the Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Alternative Right. He has been a commentator on numerous national and international TV and radio programs, including MSNBC, CNN, CNN International, Sky News,[7] BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and CBC. He has contributed to Liberty, the newspaper of the Serbian National Defense Council of America.[8]
He has been an adjunct professor at the University of St Thomas in Houston, Texas (1996–1997), and, in August 1997, joined the faculty of Rose Hill College in Aiken, South Carolina. He has worked as unofficial representative of the Republika Srpska in London.[5]
In February 2000, he testified to the Canadian House of Commons on the situation in the Balkans.[9] In July 2000 he took part in a Congressional briefing organized by Rep. Dennis Kucinich.[10]
In March 2003, he testified as a defense witness for Milomir Stakić at his trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.[11] Stakić was later convicted of extermination, murder and persecutions and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment.[12]
In June 2006, he was one of two dozen people who presented works at a symposium on the Holocaust in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945, co-organized by two Serbian institutions and held at Yad Vashem Center in Jerusalem. In September 2008, he testified as a defense witness for Ljubiša Beara in the Popović et al. trial.[13] Beara was later convicted of genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions and sentenced to life imprisonment.[14]
In August 2011, responding to the claim that his work inspired Norwegian murderer Anders Behring Breivik,[15] Trifković rejected the idea that his work was a basis for the actions of this "mentally deranged narcissistic psychopath" any more than the "Beatles have inspired Charles Manson."[16]
In 2013 he testified on behalf of Radovan Karadžić. Trifković denied being a former spokesman for Karadžić at a time he was a journalist and analyst reporting on Karadžić's activities.[17]
He is also professor in Faculty of Political Science of University of Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Writings on Islam
Trifković is the author of Sword of the Prophet: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, a book about the history and tenets of Islam which identifies the rise of Islamic fundamentalism as the greatest danger to Western values since the end of the Cold War. According to James Bissett, former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia and a close associate of Trifković, Trifković sees the source of this threat in the absence of separation of church and state under Islam - because Islam is a way of life, Muslims are required to subordinate themselves to the teachings of Allah and live as members of the total Islamic community, calling into question their ability to give their political loyalty to a non-Muslim state. Trifković considers this to be a particularly important issue for the countries of Western Europe, with a population of over 50 million Muslims, and the United States (approx. 3.3[18] million).
Refusal of admission to Canada
In February 2011, Canadian authorities refused to allow Trifković entry into Canada to address a meeting at the University of British Columbia at Vancouver.[19][20]
Trifković reported in the journal Chronicles that he was refused entry to Canada on 24 February 2011 on the "transparently spurious" grounds that he was "inadmissible on grounds of violating human or international rights for being a proscribed senior official in the service of a government that, in the opinion of the minister, engages or has engaged in terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide, a war crime or a crime against humanity within the meaning of subsections 6 (3) to (5) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act."[19]
He claimed his "inadmissibility" was due to contacts with the Bosnian Serb leaders in the early 1990s but claimed that the Canadian authorities' grounds for refusing him admission were "transparently spurious" and they had in fact yielded to a Bosniak-inspired campaign against him.[19] The Canadian Institute for the Research of Genocide alleged that Trifković was promoting hatred, antisemitism and Islamophobia and accused him of publicly denying what New American termed the "alleged" massacre of Bosniaks at Srebrenica in July 1995, found by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to be a crime of genocide.[20][21]
Works
- "Rivalry between Germany and Italy in Croatia, 1942-1943". The Historical Journal. Cambridge University Press. 36 (4): 879–904. December 1993.
- Ustasa: Croatian separatism and European politics, 1929-1945, London (1998); ISBN 1-892478-00-5
- The Sword of the Prophet: The politically incorrect guide to Islam: History, Theology, Impact on the World, Boston, Regina Orthodox Press (2002); ISBN 1-928653-11-1
- Defeating Jihad: How the War on Terrorism May Yet Be Won, In Spite of Ourselves, Regina Orthodox Press (2006) ISBN 978-1928653264
- The Krajina Chronicle: A History of Serbs in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, The Lord Byron Foundation, (2010) ISBN 978-1892478108
Filmography
References
- Miron, Richard (5 July 2001). "Mixed views on Balkans pair". BBC.
- Ramet, Sabrina (2005). Thinking About Yugoslavia: Scholarly Debates About the Yugoslav Breakup and the Wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. Cambridge University Press. p. 93. ISBN 0-521-61690-5.
- ""Srebrenica" as Holocaust | The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies". balkanstudies.net. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- "THE YUGOSLAV CRISIS AND THE UNITED STATES: HOW TO UNDERSTAND IT, WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT?". Archived from the original on 7 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-07.; retrieved 15 January 2015.
- International Criminal trial for the Former Yugoslavia, Case #IT-05-88-T, The Prosecutor versus Vujadin Popovic, et al, Transcript of hearing on 4 September 2008, accessed 26 February 2011
- "The American Conservative". Archived from the original on 17 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-17.; retrieved 22 January 2015.
- Trifkovic's response to Ganic, soc.culture.yugoslavia (Google Groups)
- "Slobodan Milosevic and his legacy". Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26.; retrieved 22 January 2015.
- "GEO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF NATO INTERVENTION IN KOSOVO". Archived from the original on 17 December 2001. Retrieved 3 September 2016.; retrieved 22 January 2015.
- Congressman Dennis Kucinich Archived 30 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- "Stakic - "Prijedor"". SENSE Tribunal. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014.
- "Milomir Stakić CIS" (PDF). ICTY.
- "Popovic et al. - "Srebrenica"". SENSE Tribunal.
- "Popović et al. CIS" (PDF). ICTY.
- "Srpski pisac "inspiracija" Brejviku". B92. 12 August 2011.
- Vlačo, N. (12 August 2011). "Trifković: Nisam bio inspiracija Brejviku". Blic.
- "'Psychosis' In Court". SENSE Agency.
- "A new estimate of the US Muslim population".
- "Banned from Canadistan" Archived 10 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Chronicles Magazine, 25 February 2011], accessed 10 March 2011
- "Canada Ejects Serbian-American Scholar, Stops Speech At University" by R. Cort Kirkwood, The New American, 1 March 2011, accessed 3 April 2013
- CTV News clip on YouTube
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