Customer Reviews

The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West (Praeger Security International)

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In a clear and well thought-out style, Christopher Deliso warns readers in The Coming Balkan Caliphate about the growing threat of radical Islam in the Balkans today, how it has come to be, and what we can expect in the future if we do nothing.

With years of experience in the Balkans and a journalist's eye for detail, Deliso takes readers through Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro and Sandzak and explains who the radicals are, how they got there, what they are currently doing and what they intend to do. Tying it all together with history, failed and failing interventions and the growth of organized crime, Deliso warns us that "...it is, of course, the case that foreign Islamic groups, terrorists included, look first to partially or fully Muslim-dominated areas of the Balkans for their radical operations and social colonization projects." He makes a clear distinction between the moderate Islam that has been practiced for centuries in the Balkans and the encroaching danger of the imported Saudi-style Wahhabi-sect reminding us that "Fundamentalist Islam, unlike Western society, is not predicated on the ideals of progress and an ever-brighter future."

Expertly researched and written, this is a clear warning to ignoring the threat of radical and extreme Islam in the Balkans today. While the world focuses on Iraq and Afghanistan, as we should, we ignore the Balkans and the threat emanating from it at our own peril.

I was in Kosovo working as a security chief for OSCE in the Eastern Region of Kosovo. As an eyewitness and being a position to see the inner workings of how the UN, KFOR and NATO covertly aided the Albanian extremist groups that murdered Serbs from 1999 to 2004 while I was there and of course even after. The book is an accurate description of the truth of what is going on. I can say without a doubt the negative comments made by the authors, are completely inaccurate and biased. The international community on a high level is trying to cover and lie about the real agenda in Kosovo as they support Mafia influence and extremist activity without a doubt. The Islamic Fundamentalist find the Balkans a suitable area for training, rest, and planning phases for further action in Europe and the U.S. without the hammer from the International community. This is the truth as I was an eyewitness.

Caliphate tells the most terrifying story never told in the War on Terror, detailing the bizarre arrangement by which we've allied ourselves with "nominally Muslim" Albanian mafiosos to feed us information about the Islamists they do heroin and weapons business with, while Albanians, some at the highest levels of Kosovo's U.S.-supported officialdom, moonlight as terrorists themselves.

We also learn of a murky incident in which six Albanian-American fundamentalists arrived in the village of Skenderaj in the weeks before 9/11, saying that the U.S. would be attacked soon--and yet it sparked no interest or follow-up from UN or U.S. authorities in Kosovo.

From Caliphate, a reader begins to understand that in Kosovo everyone alternates roles between gangster and hostage: Albanian leaders/gangsters threaten the Islamists should they target the internationals; al Qaeda threatens Albanians with cutting off their heroin supply if they touch the Islamists; and the internationals are threatened with the understanding that the well-armed Albanians have a virtual gun pointed at our NATO troops should we embark on any unwelcome law enforcement.

As the Islamist cancer is allowed to quietly spread in the Balkans, a reader will be left with a sense that with their investigations of this cell or that, our agents and police are busily plugging holes in a boat that is already submerged.

Demonstrating an understanding of the complexity of the Albanian community, whose nationalism got them more than they'd bargained for, Deliso points to the Big Duh of the Bosnian and Kosovo civil wars: they were "just the prelude" to a longer battle, one that would be conducted against the region's Muslims themselves.

Without armed conflict or revolution "a silent transition" is taking place in the Balkans, a.k.a. "the new Middle East." The book makes for a damning read and a troubled sleep.

I have read Chris' book from a cop's eye view and in so doing examined it searching for inconsistent "testimony" as is evident in the usual contemporary journalistic rubbish. There is none. I spent several years in Bosnia and Croatia as a police observer. I also have spent time in Serbia including Kosovo and Montenegro as a tourist so I have the advantage of being able to compare on the ground gained experience with Chris' written facts who by the way has chronicled his by the same method of up close and personal interaction.

THE COMING BALKAN CALIPHATE is a professional investigator's prime reference tool for getting up to speed on what's happening in the Balkans in regard to the scams being run there and is the Who's Who for who is operating them. On my return to my home city, New York, I felt relieved to be safe in the good old U.S.A. That is until I was driving to work on September 11, 2001 in Manhattan. Chris will tell you in detail just who was responsible for that atrocity. I am tired of 9/11 being referred to as a tragedy. It was an atrocity and a war crime. For those of you who are politically correct neurotics-take a hike.

After you read Chris' book you will see that "it" is not the oil as is the usual war protestor's cry but the junk, skag, white powder or what ever you want to call it. The politicians are making deals with whomever will accommodate their mad dash for wealth and more and more power. The oil piplines and military bases are going up while the pushers are being given a pass to move their white death through Europe and into the veins of our American youth. So while many of our youth are fighting for their lives in the Middle East the rest of them are dying on our streets.

If you want to really know what's going on behind the scenes read this book. Then put in on your shelf and see what happens next.

Well documented and researched, Deliso significantly adds to the literature on Balkan radical Islam. Having seen first hand these so-called "mujahadeen" and radicals while stationed in Bosnia in 1996, he highlights issues that current Western Administrations wish to forget or simply ignore - the "blowback" of having supported sides with questionable backing. An outstanding and thought provoking book that needs to be analyzed and embraced by Western security and intelligence communities. Well done indeed.

Christopher Deliso isn't the first person to point out the threat posed by radical Islam in the Balkans, but he is one of the first to put the pieces together and tell us what it all means. The other is former NSA analyst John Schindler with his book Unholy Terror.

Contrary to what some of the reviewers here might want you to think, the threat posed by radical Islam in the Balkans is real.

The fact that Alija Izetbegovic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Muslims, directly collaborated with Osama bin Laden has been verified by Western reporters such as Der Spiegel's Renate Flottau, and The London Times' Eve-Ann Prentice, both of whom eye-witnessed Osama bin Laden's presence at Izetbegovic's offices in Sarajevo during the war.

The 9/11 Commission Report makes no secret of the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man who planned the 9/11 attacks, was a veteran of the Bosnian jihad.

Fatos Klosi, the director of Albania's intelligence service SHIK, said publicly in 1998-99 that Osama bin Laden and various Arab governments were providing the Kosovo Liberation Army with training, cash, and fighters.

In just the last couple of months we've caught a group jihad minded Albanians from Macedonia and Kosovo, including a former KLA veteran, plotting to attack Fort Dix, as well as a pair of Bosnian Muslims in Vienna trying to bomb the U.S. embassy there.

Long story short; the threat posed by Radical Islam in the Balkans is real. If you want to understand the nature of the threat, how it came into being, and how bad it is then you should buy this book.

With this outstanding book, Mr. Chris Deliso has given us a look into the little reported Balkans region.
He shows us how after the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan, the West allowed, encouraged even, the radical Muslim fighters to go to the Balkans to carry out their fight for a radical version of Islam.We find a connection between the Balkans and Mr. bin Laden that is truly amazing. We are shown the influence of radical Islam in this region of Europe. The place where the tragic incident that touched off World War One took place. This powder keg is getting set for a new explosion thanks to the radicalization of a portion of the population of the region.
We see the influx of foreign "investors" and monies along with radical teachings and weapons.
This is not a very pretty sight to see. Some might even call it frightening, but either way, it is information that we need to have. We need to be aware of the happenings in this part of the world as it is the very entry to Europe and a likely place for future conflict. Considering how Kosovo is seeking to declare total independence from Serbia, this book helps explain what and why things are happening as they are today.
I found it to be a truly informative, easy to read about an area of the world that is grossly under reported in America.

The Balkans is one of the most very important places today in the world and yet is completely over-looked. Like Afghanistan in the 1990s the world is sitting on a volcano as Islamism grows and spreads in Bosnia and Albania and elsewhere such as in Sanjack in Serbia. A fascinating study is examines the way in which the Balkan terrorist groups may spread out and pose a new threat to world civilization.

Seth J. Frantzman

I don't know much about the Balkans, but I can vouch for the chapter on Turkey. That's saying something given the complexity of the country. Deliso adeptly summarizes the key political events of the last twenty years.

The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West is one of these books that every human being should read before she or he votes or before she of he enlists to fight in a foreign country. For certain, it should be taught in all US Universities in the class "How to create flexible, well organized and well financed terrorism cells worldwide and pay for the pleasure with US taxpayers' money".

"The Coming Balkan Caliphate" is the most comprehensive book for people to understand not only the recent past of the Balkans, but also to try to avoid future mistakes, which can tragically affect the future of all nations. Unfortunately, as always, the information about the mistakes made by Western politicians and political groups comes too late to be rectified.

Chris Deliso made a very detail research and miraculously accessed classified files from several 3-letters agencies. The result: astonishing truths not only about the Bosnian, Kosovo, and Albanian politicians and terrorists, but also about the hidden (from the American and Western taxpayer) political games of the USA and EU, which resulted in several catastrophic events for entire nations.

Smoothly narrated, lavishly illustrated with facts and figures, the book is real pleasure to read and to keep for reference.