false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171117665m/87923.jpg 87923 4 The history of the Balkan states, like that of so much of the world, has for centuries been marked by ethnocidal fracases, savage wars of conquest, and periods of eerie calm. The mountainous region's shifting alliances and divisions have long puzzled outside observers, writes journalist Misha Glenny, the author of <I>The Fall of Yugoslavia</I>: "For many decades, Westerners gazed on these lands as if [they were] an ill-charted zone separating Europe's well-ordered civilization from the chaos of the Orient."<p> Those outsiders, Glenny suggests, have been the source of much of the Balkans' misery. In only the last two centuries, the territory has been contested by the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires, the Third Reich, and the Allies, all of whom exploited and exacerbated existing ethnic conflict. (The Nazi occupiers of Croatia, he writes, even had to rein in the fascist Ustase militia for fear that their campaign against Serbs and Muslims would only strengthen resistance to their puppet government.) And, he continues, attempts to quell the recent conflict in Bosnia have created problems of their own. He argues that war will break out anew the moment international troops are withdrawn and that the Dayton Agreement is too "full of anomalies and frictions" to stand. The intervention in Kosovo has been no better, he adds, and the Allies' misguided efforts are sure to yield only further bloodshed if the only objective is to remove Slobodan Milosevic from power. "Should the West fail to address the effects, not merely of a three-month air war in 1999, but of 120 years of miscalculation and indifference since the Congress of Berlin, then there will be little to distinguish NATO's actions from any of its great-power predecessors," Glenny concludes.<p> Glenny's provocative book sheds much light on recent Balkan history--and on the region's likely future. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> 687004 1999 The Balkans: Nationalism, War & the Great Powers, 1804-1999 total:74|5:23|4:39|3:11|2:1|1:0| 74 306 152 12 4 1 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jul 16 17:57:31 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 18:02:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 04:50:21 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 04:54:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 11:44:07 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 17:14:01 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 16:26:56 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 16:31:09 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 08 07:52:56 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 08 08:08:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 31 11:12:32 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 11:14:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 04 23:15:56 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 23:15:56 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Jul 23 00:35:31 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 23 00:37:01 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Nov 16 19:14:44 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 16 19:15:36 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Tue Sep 02 03:37:56 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 03:38:19 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Fri Apr 04 06:19:08 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 06:19:32 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Oct 02 17:14:47 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 17:14:47 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Tue Nov 24 19:13:33 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 19:13:37 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Oct 22 22:19:09 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 21:29:08 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 21:29:25 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 12 12:15:53 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 12:15:53 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 07 12:14:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 12:14:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 06 02:48:40 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 02:48:40 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 29 09:15:39 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 09:15:50 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Sep 18 22:13:10 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 22:13:10 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 17 17:09:58 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 17:09:58 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=87923