Srđa Trifković

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Srđa Trifković (also Srdja Trifković; Serbian Cyrillic: Срђа Трифковић and as author Serge Trifkovic) (born July 19, 1954, in Belgrade) is an American writer and (since 1998) foreign-affairs editor for the paleoconservative magazine Chronicles. He has a PhD in history from the University of Southampton. He is also Director of the Center for International Affairs [3] at The Rockford Institute, which publishes Chronicles. Trifkovic is the author of the bestselling Sword of the Prophet, [4] a book on the history and doctrines of Islam. As a former consultant to President Vojislav Kostunica, he is an expert on Balkan politics [5] and a regular columnist for several conservative publications in the United States.[6]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Trifkovic 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 Ph.D in modern history from the University of Southampton, UK, and in 1991-1992 he pursued post-doctoral research on a Title VIII grant [7] from the U.S. Department of State as a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution in California.[8]

Beginning in 1980, Trifkovic 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.

Trifkovic has been an adjunct professor at the University of St Thomas in Houston, TX (1996-1997), and in August 1997 he joined the faculty of the short-lived Rose Hill College in Aiken, SC. In 1994-95 he was an unofficial[citation needed] spokesman for the Bosnian Serb government. [9] Trifkovic has published op-eds and commentaries in The Times[10] of London, [11] the San Francisco Chronicle, the American Conservative [12] and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and been a commentator on numerous national and international TV and radio programs, including the Oliver North Show on (MSNBC), CNN [13], CNN International, SKY News [14], BBC Radio 4 [15], BBC World Service [16] and CBC.[17] He has contributed to Liberty, the newspaper of the Serbian National Defense Council of America. [18] Trifkovic has worked as a political consultant to Aleksandar Karađorđević and Vojislav Koštunica, and as an adviser to Biljana Plavšić. In February 2000 he testified to the Canadian House of Commons on the situation in the Balkans. [19] In July 2000 he took part in a Congressional briefing [20] organized by Rep. Kucinich. Trifković has worked as a political consultant to Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia and Former Yugoslav President Vojislav Koštunica, as an adviser to Biljana Plavšić, and as representative of the Republika Srpska in London. In March 2003 he testified as an expert witness for the defense before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

In June 2006 he gave the keynote address at a symposium on the Holocaust in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945, at Yad Vashem Center in Jerusalem. [21]

[edit] Books

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He has written three books:

He has edited, written the Foreword, and contributed a chapter to two books:

  • Peace in the Promised Land: A Realist Scenario (2006) ISBN 0972061630[24]
  • The Kosovo Dossier, (1999) [25]. His Introduction to the book is here: [26]

Trifkovic's most influential work to date, The Sword of the Prophet, has been described as "exceptionally fluid argument against militant Islam... Powerful stuff powerfully presented" by Ray Olson in Booklist, [27] and "easily the most important (not to mention courageous) book written in response to 9/11 that I've read" by Jeffrey Rubin, Editor of the Conservative Book Club. Writing in The Spectator, Frank Johnson called it "the sort of book which the professional anti-racists, and the British mosques, might try to ban before long." "The arbiters of official Islam will not tell us what Islam is, only what they want it to be. For the truth, we must turn to Dr. Serge Trifkovic, a European historian of broad learning, sound philosophy and keen political insight," says Brian Mitchell, Washington Bureau Chief of Investors Business Daily. "[Trifkovic] examines, among many illuminating topics, the powerful anti-Semitism that is constantly promoted in the Islamic press," wrote Paul Weyrich in The Washington Dispatch.[28] In the opinion of Don Feder, "In his excellent new book… Serge Trifkovic documents how Muhammad, like a mafia don, put out contracts on those who dared to criticize his august personage. Trifkovic also describes Muhammad’s genocidal campaign against Arabia’s Jewish tribes." [29] "Dr. Trifkovic understands Islam... The problem of historical ignorance in today’s English-speaking world, where claims about far- away lands and cultures are made on the basis of domestic multiculturalist assumptions, are hit right on the head by the author," wrote Taki in The American Conservative.[30], while National Review Book Service warns that Trifkovic exposes what "Muslims, multiculturalists, and the media hope you never find out about Islam." [31] "Trifkovic gives us the unvarnished, 'politically incorrect' truth about Islam... and what we must do if we wish to survive," is the verdict of the Conservative Book Club [32]. According to a recent review, "Serge Trifkovic writes a calm and thoughtful tome... [H]e is arguing that a significant number of people subscribe to militant Islam, and that such militancy is a natural result of following the actual teachings of Muhammad and the Koran... If you want to wrestle with harsh truths rather than PC fiction, this book is a good place to start," concludes Steven Greenhut, The Orange County Register senior editorial writer. [33] Paul Eidelberg the president of the Yamin Israel party has called him a "man of extraordinary intellectual courage" in a review of his book.

He was called a "noted Islamophobe" by neoconservative author Stephen Schwartz. [34] In 2003 he was accused by Schwartz [35] of being a supporter of Slobodan Milošević, though he was a signatory to a letter which protested Milošević in 1996 and has condemned him in numerous publications.[1][2]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Views

  • He has said that the commonly quoted figure of victims of the Srebrenica massacre [37] was a "long-debunked myth".[3]
  • He maintains that the often-cited figure of 200-250,000 Bosnians killed in the entire conflict is incorrect, and that it is closer to 80-100,000 on all three sides (Serbs, Croats and Muslims), about one-half of them civilians, which is the figure confirmed by The Hague Tribunal research team. [38]
  • He has said that the Muslims in the UN-designated safe havens, like Srebrenica, led by Naser Orić, [39], were actually using them "as armed camps and springboards for offensives against the Serbs".050695.html.
  • He has said that the Bosnian Serb alleged "rape camps" were "entirely fictitious".[4]
  • Invoking Lord David Owen’s memoir, he has described the Breadline Massacre, where 22 people died, as a public relations "stunt" by the Izetbegovic regime.[5]
  • "Islam is a violent cult characterized by the fundamental lack of love"[6]
  • To many young Germans who convert to Islam Usama Bin Laden is "as admirable a figure today as Adolf Hitler was to many of their grandparents in 1929"[7]
  • "Rape of enslaved women came naturally to Muhammad."[40] - chronicles (magazine). 13 September 2004</ref>
  • "Islam is akin to fascism and bolshevism..."[8]
  • "For a Christian the real task is to help our fellow humans who are trapped in Islam and to help them become free."[9]

[edit] Dispute with CAIR

The Sword of the Prophet was subject to a dispute in 2005 between CAIR and National Review [41] whereby CAIR has sought to have the book withdrawn from sale [42] claiming that its content was Islamophobic. Trifković criticized the action as an effort to obstruct free speech.[10] His stand was supported by Robert Spencer of JihadWatch [43] and others.

[edit] References

  1. ^ copy of 1996 letter protesting Milošević
  2. ^ Trifkovic has provided a detailed and documented refutation of this charge [1] and he received a formal apology from the publisher of Schwartz's article. [2] Lies, Damn lies, and Stephen Schwartz: Self-Loathing "Jew for Allah" finally discredited by Srđa Trifković - Chronicles (magazine). 17 January 2003
  3. ^ Kosovo: Invented Massacres - No genocide, No justification - Liberty, The Official publication of the National Defense Council of America. 10 November 1999
  4. ^ Rapes in Beslan: In Muhammads Footsteps - chronicles (magazine). 13 September 2003
  5. ^ Slobadan Milosevic, Our S.O.B - www.balkan-archive.org.yu. "the famous "breadline massacre," stage-managed by Muslims for the benefit of the world media and politicians"
  6. ^ Islam and the west: The threat, the defense. Srdja Trifkovic interview with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio - 14 October 2004
  7. ^ Young Germans embracing Islam: Reichsfuhrer Himmler Delighted by Srđa Trifković - 29 October 2003.
  8. ^ Mr. Bush's two critical errors by Srđa Trifković - chronicles (magazine). February 17, 2000.
  9. ^ Islam and the West: The threat, the defense. Srdja Trifkovic interview with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio - chronicles (magazine). 14 October 2004.
  10. ^ Caving In to Jihad: National Review, CAIR, and My Book by Srđa Trifkovic - chronicles (magazine). 6 April 2005

[edit] External links

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