Abstract

The decade-long armed conflict in the Balkans from 1991 to 2001, greatly misrepresented in the Western public, were the biggest defeat for the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, a great defeat for Europe - but a victory for global jihad. Radical Islamists used the wars to recruit a large number of Sunni Muslims in the Balkans for the cause of political Islam and militant Jihad. Converts to Wahhabi Islam not only provide recruits for the so-called “White Al-Qaeda,” but also exhibit growing territorial claims and seek the establishment of a “Balkan Caliphate.” Powers outside the Balkans regard this with indifference or even tacit approval. Radical Islamist activity is endangering the security of not only Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and BosniaHerzegovina, but also Europe and the world.