The Rockford Institute's Center for International Affairs Presents An International Conference and Luncheon
THE WAR ON TERROR: THE BALKAN CONNECTION Saturday, April 16, 2005 9:00 AM-5:00 PM Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, Illinois http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/www/NewAds/030905AdWinningWar.html The Rockford Institute has long warned that the "War on Terror" suffers from certain structural weaknesses that threaten to jeopardize its outcome. It is self-defeating to fight global jihad in some areas and to pander to its ambitions in others, most notably in the Balkans. The Balkans have for centuries been Islam's European springboard. Now, proposed independence for Kosovo and the centralizing of Bosnia-Herzegovina - to the point of the abolition of the Republika Srpska - threaten to facilitate the spread of jihad into the heart of Europe. The continuing failure of our political leaders to take adequate heed of such warnings is a matter of deep concern. Persevering in our Balkan errors today may cost American lives tomorrow. To increase public awareness of the problem and to consider different ways of dealing with it, we have assembled a panel of prominent scholars, diplomats, and public-affairs analysts from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In the course of a day's conference they will consider the continuing threat that we all face, Europeans and Americans. They will also recommend specific policies and legislative proposals concerning the Western policy in the former Yugoslavia that may prove essential to Western security and to the survival of our common civilization. Registration begins at 8:30. Panels begin promptly at 9:30. Speakers Wayne Allensworth â Russian-affairs analyst and author of The Russian Question: Nationalism, Modernization, and Post-Communist Russia The Honorable James Bissett â Former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia and former director of Canada's Immigration Service; Chairman of The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies Dr. Thomas FlemingâPresident of The Rockford Institute, editor-in-chief of Chronicles, author of The Politics of Human Nature, Montenegro: The Divided Land, and, most recently, The Morality of Everyday Life Col. Ronald Hatchett, USAF Ret.âFormer Reagan administration arms control negotiator, former director of the Center of International Studies, University of Saint Thomas, Houston Thomas W. PaukenâFormer Reagan administration official, former chairman of the Republican Party of the State of Texas, and author of The Thirty Years War: The Politics of the Sixties Generation Frederick Peterson III, LCol (Ret) USMC - An expert on national security and defense issues, advisor to Rep. Tom Tancredo, and a policy analyst who takes an active interest in Southeast European affairs. Dr. Stephen Presser â Legal-affairs editor for Chronicles and Raoul Berger Professor of Legal History at Northwestern University School of Law The Honorable Dr. Darko TanaskovicâAmbassador of Serbia and Montengro to the Holy See, Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Belgrade and a leading authority on Islam Dr. Srdja TrifkovicâForeign-affairs editor for Chronicles, director of The Rockford Institute's Center for International Affairs, and author, most recently, of The Sword of the Prophet: IslamâHistory, Theology, Impact on the World. * * * The War on Terrorism makes strange bedfellows. The neoconservatives back Islamic terrorists in Chechnya and Bosnia and Kosovo. No one in this administration grasps what we are up against, either in the Middle East or in the entire Islamic world. While it is perfectly true that our one-sided policy in favor of Israel has contributed to Islamic hatred of the US, the other side of the coin is 1300 years of Islamic violence against Christians and Jews. We are entirely in favor of a peace process that will protect Israel's survival and vital interests while doing justice to the Palestinians; but we have continuously insisted that from the world-historical point of view militant Islam represents a greater threat to the West than the combined forces of Communism and Nazism. This administration has it backwards. In pretending that there are nice imams and mullahs that want peace â we call some of them Shia to distinguish them from the evil Shiites we are supposed to kill in Iran â our government is exposing us to a threat that few Americans can even conceive of. We are serious about this issue and have been for 15 years at least. No one listened to before 911, and few are prepared to hear the truth today. That is why we have arranged a top-drawer conference in Chicago on April 16. * * * S. Trifkovic, Foreign Affairs Editor, CHRONICLES 928 N Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103, USA voice (815) 964-5054 fax (815) 964-9403 cell (312) 375-4044 www.chroniclesmagazine.org/www/News/Trifkovic/NewsViews.htm Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
