Balkan wars and culture wars, from Slobodan Milošević to Trump

A woman touches the face of a bust of late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević at his grave in the town of Požarevac. Photo source: Radio Free Europe.

Misha Glenny reported on the 1989 revolutions and the wars in the former Yugoslavia for the BBC. He has written a number of bestselling books on Eastern European history, the Balkan wars, and organized crime, and is regularly consulted by governments and law enforcement agencies on the Balkans and Eastern Europe and on transnational organized crime.

In this wide-ranging episode we discuss:

• The fragmentation of Yugoslavia and the political and cultural factors behind the Balkan wars

• Slobodan Milošević's rise to power and his control of the media

• Scapegoating as a political tool

• The current political climate in the U.S. and historical patterns of authoritarianism and populism.

• Organized crime and state capture

• Cybercrime and cryptocurrencies

• The prognosis for America

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The Rhyming Chaos podcast is produced by Jeremy Goldkorn and Maria Repnikova, and edited by Cadre Scripts. The theme music is Paper Boy, composed and performed on the guzheng by Wu Fei. Our closing music is Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1, arranged and performed by Wu Fei. Our cover art is by Li Yunfei.

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