ADAM YAMEYs REVIEW OF

FOOLS CRUSADE
By
DIANA JOHNSTONE
When the Berlin Wall was destroyed in 1989 and
the USSR ceased to be a world power opposing the
West and the USA, Yugoslavia, which had been
considered a bulwar between the West and the
Soviet !"pire, ceased to be o# i"portance to the
West $by which % "ean the USA and its &A'(
allies)* +urther"ore, the ending o# the Soviet
!"pire re"oved the chie# obstacle to the e,pansion
o# the USA-s global i"perial a"bitions*
'his e,cellent boo by .iane /ohnstone describes
how the West was both "isled by irredentist
nationalistic groups in the #or"er Yugoslavia, and
how it allowed itsel# to deliberately "isinterpret
#acts which did not suit its own ai"s* 'he ai" o# the
West was to de"onise Serbia #or a "ultitude o#
reasons, so"e o# which were sel#0serving* Western
"ilitary and #inancial aid was given to anti0Serbian
#actions #or -hu"anitarian- reasons, to counter the
atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the Serbs against,
#or e,a"ple, the 1atholic 1roats, the Bosnian
2osle"s and the 3osovar Albanians* %n each o#
these e,a"ples, there were undoubtedly atrocities
perpetrated by both sides4 Serbs illing Albanians
or Bosnians A&. vice0versa* 5owever, "uch o# the
Western "edia only chose to recognise illings
carried out by the Serbs, or those that "ight have
been carried out by the" but were never proven*
Be#ore, international -hu"anitarian- assistance in
the #or" o# &A'( troops could be provided to the
so0called oppressed "inorities in Yugoslavia, it was
necessary to encourage the brea0up o# the
#ederation into s"aller nation states such as Bosnia,
1roatia, and Slovenia* 'his way, con#licts that
should have correctly have been considered as civil
wars within Yugoslavia suddenly beca"e
international disputes in which it was dee"ed
suitable to provide international "ilitary aid*
'he brea up o# Yugoslavia was aided and abetted
by the West, #or e,a"ple by 6er"any* 6er"any
during WW7 cha"pioned the #or"ation o# an
independent 1roatia and an enlarged Albania that
included large parts o# 3osovo* %n the 1988s and
1998s, this country, no longer led by the &a9is but
instead by social "inded liberals including the
6reen :arty, encouraged the re0#or"ation o# what
had been achieved in the early 19;8s* 'he 1roats
and Slovenians were considered by the 6er"ans
and others in the West as being -civilised-
!uropeans, whereas the Serbs were considered as
uncivilised barbarians* !ven worse, the Serbs,
thans to their poor public relations co"pared to
those o# the Bosnians, 1roats, and Albanians,
beca"e considered as the new -&a9is- o# !urope 0
purveyors o# -genocide- and a new -holocaust-*
/ohnstone goes to great pains to de"onstrate that
not only has the word -hu"anitarian- beco"e
corrupted in its usage, but also the #ar "ore e"otive
words -genocide- and -holocaust-* %n the #a"ous
Serbian -"assacre- at Srebrenica, not only were the
Bosnian wo"en and children spared by the Serbs,
but also wounded "en* 'his does not happen in
true genocide* +urther"ore, in the case o# this
particular un#ortunate incident, it see"s that the
Serbian "assacre o# the Bosnians "ight well have
been engineered by the leader o# the Bosnian
2osle"s in order to gain #urther -hu"anitarian- $i*e
"ilitary and #inancial) aid #ro" the West*
What was in it #or the West< Why was the bo"bing
o# Serbia so i"portant or even necessary< 5ad
Yugoslavia been allowed to continue as an
independent "ulti0cultural country as it had been
prior to the down#all o# the USSR, it "ight not have
been a"enable to the e,pansionist, power hungry
designs o# the West, #or which you should read
-USA-* (ne o# these was the construction o# an oil
pipe0line #ro" the Blac Sea to the Albanian port o#
=lora on the Adriatic coast* 'his would allow oil
#ro" the 1aspian to avoid travelling along the
already congested Bosphorus, and also to use the
larger taners which the port o# =lora would easily
acco""odate* %t is there#ore not surprising the the
USA have built 1a"p Bondsteel near to Uro>evac in
3osovo, conveniently located to guard the proposed
pipe0line*
!ven i# only ?@ o# what /ohnstone clai"s in her
"eticulously annotated te,t is true, then what she
writes should send shivers down the spine o#
anyone who values the true, old0#ashioned
"eanings o# words such as -#reedo"-,
-independence-, -hu"anitarian-, and that #avourite
A"erican word -liberty- as well as -genocide- and
-holocaust-* /ohnstone success#ully de"onstrates
how the citi9ens o# the West were duped into
believing a si"plistic version o# events in the Balan
peninsular, and were then ba"boo9led into
thining that aiding #orces hostile to the West $eg
1roatian #ascists and %sla"ic "uAahidin in Bosnia)
and bo"bing Serbia would so"ehow resolve the
proble"* %nstead o# resulting in a hu"anitarian
victory, the West wittingly and unwittingly
"agni#ied the su##ering o# the ordinary person, Serb
and otherwise, in the #or"er Yugoslav territories*
'his is a boo that is a "ust0read i# you are
interested in Balan "atters andBor the growing
"alevolent in#luence o# the USA on world a##airs*
'he author writes well, and apart #ro" achieving
her "ain ai"s, gives a re"arably lucid view o# the
co"ple, history o# the country that was once nown
as -Yugoslavia-*
Adam Yamey is the author of S1RABBC! W%'5
SC%=(=%'D, a nostalgic look at life in Yugoslavia
before its break-up began in 1991. His book is
available (paperback and indle! on Ama"on, and
also directly from the publisher on#
http://www.lulu.com/shop/adam-yamey/scrabble-with-slivovitz-once-upon-a-time-in-yugoslavia/paperback/product-
21153577.html