Ante Gugo – Croatia, the War, and the Future

New Book In English On Croatian War of Independence By Ante Nazor

Front Cover of
Ante Nazor’s book

The Zvonko Busic Taik Foundation (Zaklada Zvonko Bušić) from Croatia, founded and molded by Zvonko Busic’s widow, the well-known American author and activist Julienne Eden Busic, is doing an authoritative job in the spreading of Croatian truth into the English language. Already, in its relatively short existence, the foundation has organised and facilitated the translation into English and publication of three major works that unmistakably make enormous contributions to recording the truth about the Croatian Homeland War and Croatian history. These are vital efforts towards spreading the truth about Croatia across the world, as there is, as a matter of anti-Croatian political propaganda, a great deal of disinformation, false information and half-truths out there.
As the Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation it relies on assistance and cooperation from institutes, businesses, government grants, individual donations. Julienne Busic has informed me that the strong start in 2015 of the Foundation’s translation work has been much helped via generous donations and good-will of Australian Croatians, especially via a radiothon hosted by Mr Pero Maric. Besides two more books currently in production the books so far translated and published by the Foundation are: “The Eye of the Storm”, by Ante Gugo about which I have written previously, the second “All Visible Things: Memoirs”, by Zvonko Busic, the third, just published is “The Croatian War of Independence: Serbia’s War of Conquest Against Croatia and the Defeat of Serbian Imperialism 1991-1995” by Ante Nazor.

Julienne Busic
Photo: Dino Stanin/Pixsell

Ante Nazor’s book is a must read and must have and, indeed, a perfect gift to local libraries, members of parliament, history departments at Universities across the world.

Dr Ante Nazor, Head of the Croatian Memorial Document Archives of the Homeland War in Zagreb, Croatia, a historian and Croatian war veteran, originally wrote the book in the Croatian language (“Velikosrpska agresija na Hrvatsku 1990-tih”).

„In reality, this book is the answer to many years of disinformation within the Croatian public space that attempts to neglect the cause of the war, equalise aggressor’s and victim’s responsibility, show the Homeland War as a ‘civil war’, and attempt to show the Croatian leadership, especially the President Franjo Tudjman, as responsible for deportation of Serbs from Croatia and aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Dr. Nazor at one of many presentations of his book across Croatia.

“The media’s picture of the Greater Serbian aggression (against Croatia) is completely different from the truth,” Nazor emphasises, hoping that the truth about the events will prevail in the end.

Ante Nazor
Photo: narod.hr

“Nazor’s book is a meticulous chronology of the political and military processes lading to Croatian independence and an unparalleled collection of documentation on the Serbian aggression against the Republic of Croatia, all of which easily debunk the oft-repeated and uninformed mantras that the conflict was a ‘civil war’ or a result of ‘ancient tribal feuds’. An indispensable resource for historians, researchers and the everyday reader,” writes Dr Miroslav Tudjman, founder and the former chief of Croatian Intelligence services currently serving as Member of Croatian Parliament, on the back cover of the book.

Ante Nazor book
back cover

“The Croatian War of Independence: Serbia’s War of Conquest Against Croatia and the Defeat of Serbian Imperialism 1991-1995 tells the compelling story of Croatia’s defeat, against all odds, of the Yugoslav People’s Army and numerous Serb paramilitary formations in defense of its independence and internationally recognized territory. This book offers in vivid detail many answers to the often-posed question ‘what happened in the Balkans in the first half of the 1990s?’ Ante Nazor’s blend of keen academic insight and extensive research shows irrefutably that Serbian imperialism, based on the might of the Yugoslav People’s Army and the aggressive concept of ‘Greater Serbia’, caused profound destruction and loss of life on a scale unseen on the continent since the end of WWII. The main importance of this book is that it clearly illustrates the danger Serbian imperialism would have posed to Europe had not the Croatian Armed Forces, forged in the desperate struggle to save the country, broken the back of the Yugoslav People’s Army and put an end to Serbia’s imperialistic aspirations,” writes Prof. Ivo Lucic PHD of the Croatian Institute of History.

A time for giving is always but at Christmas – especially so. All the Foundation’s books can be ordered by title and author on Amazon, but if people don’t like to order that way, they can order in their local bookstore! The Foundation puts a great deal of effort into getting these books out and even purchases small numbers in America or as many as it can afford and has them sent to major universities and politicians in the United States. I think Croatian clubs and organisations and even individuals across the world could follow suit and send a Foundation book to their local politician, their local library, High school, university… So if you are a member of a Croatian club or an organisation out there, or a supporter of Croatia and its truth, make this Christmas and New Year Season a season for Croatian truth – purchase these books and ask for them to be shipped as gift to your nearest university, your local politician, your local library. Thank you. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps.(Syd)

Click on link and connect to Amazon or Createspace for these books this Christmas and New Year’s holiday season

Front Cover of
book by Ante Gugo
translated into English
“In The Eye Of The Storm”

LINK HERE

An Amazon Customer Review on “All Visible things”:
“This is one of those books that take the reader on a journey. The narrative has that rare power to transport the reader to another place, another reality, another spiritual realm. Those readers who have not sold their souls will be taken to the scariest place in all creation – the inner depths of their essence. Those readers who have jettisoned their souls will be given a chance to claim them back.

All Visible Things is a work of non fiction written by an adventurer and idealist. It is also a philosophical treatise on human values and morals. The cast of characters is huge and many a historical figure jumps unexpectedly from the pages, giving poignancy, credence and currency to Zvonko Busic’s philosophies and everything he stands for and represents.

This book will surely be, in time, recognised as one of the most important works of the 21st century. A must read.”

Front Cover of
Ante Nazor’s book

LINK HERE for Amazon

And

LINK HERE for Createspace (https://www.createspace.com/6722445) where at his stage printed version may be accessed for purchase

“In The Eye Of The Storm” – Ante Gugo Book – Bringing Of Peace To Southeast Europe

Cover of original book by Ante Gugo in the Croatian Language "The Storm Which We Could Not Avoid"

Cover of original book by Ante Gugo
in Croatian Language
“The Storm Which We Could Not Avoid”

Croatian war reporter’s, journalist’s and writer’s Ante Gugo’s best-selling non-fiction book in Croatia “Storm Which We Could Not Avoid” first released in 2015 in the Croatian language, twenty years after Croatia’s August 1995 swift and skillful Operation Storm liberated Krajina part of Croatia’s territory occupied and ethnically cleansed by Serb forces in early 1990’s, has now been translated into the English language and its title is “In the Eye of the Storm”.

Ante Gugo had said that his book on the Operation Storm in Croatia arose from a desire to answer the question as to whether it would have been possible to realise the independence of Croatia without a war, that is, where is and how deep does the root of Croatian-Serbian contentions run. “The search for the answer to that question could take the research centuries back or at least to the beginning of the 20th century, to the time of the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Given that such an exercise would result in too big a book, in which the process of the creation of the independent and sovereign Croatia, together with our brilliant military Operation Storm, would be drowned, I decided to draw a line somewhere closer. I decided to even skip over the open expressions of Greater Serbia tendencies within Yugoslavia … I had decided that 23 May 1985 was the spot in a timeline at which all political events except the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the creation of the Republic of Croatia become unimportant. On that day the first meeting of the Committee for the Memorandum of the Serb Academy of Sciences and Arts (widely known as Memorandum SANU) was held and brought the key document that defined Greater Serbia and a foundation for (Slobodan) Milosevic’s subsequent politics towards other nations of former Yugoslavia. That document was his Bible…”

Front Cover of
book by Ante Gugo
translated into English
“In The Eye Of The Storm”

Teeming with facts and clear-cut arguments this is a book of research and fact-based showcase of the political, diplomatic and military struggle for Croatia’s independence – secession from the former and communist Yugoslavia. In addition to presenting the chronology of the 1995 Operation Storm, Ante Gugo has collected and analysed all the crucial and most important events that marked the breakup of Yugoslavia and the creation of the Croatian state. “In the Eye of the Storm” book places the military liberating operation Storm into its deserved historical pedestal upon which the modern democratic Croatia rests. Besides writing this book as an actual witness to the war events Ante Gugo presents a wealth of documents, photographs and maps that strongly corroborate factual reporting of events.

“The author, Ante Gugo, has collected and painstakingly researched all the most significant events which characterized the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the creation of the Republic of Croatia, placing them in an impressive historical as well as political context. He deals not only with the Croatian War of Independence (known as the Homeland War) – which culminated in ‘Operation Storm’ and the liberation of a quarter of Croatian territory from four years of Serb military occupation – but also takes into account the five years preceding the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, dissecting the events from the second half of the 1980s that led directly to the Serbian war of aggression against Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” wrote Croatian leading newspaper Vecernji List editor Zarko Ivkovic in his Press Release on July 7th 2016.

Back Cover of book
by Ante Gugo
translated into English
“In The Eye Of The Storm”

Many have been a witness to Croatia’s Homeland War, including myself, but not many of us, if any at all, had been a witness to the events and political intricacies and plots and actions that went on at the other side of the war; in the background and in foundations from which the brutal assault and aggression against Croatia had arisen. Hence, Gugo’s book is all the more valuable than the visible and palpable facts of war because it takes the reader behind the scenes, into the political foundations of the horrendous ethnic cleansing and genocide across Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina not seen on European soil since WWII.

Ante Gugo sourced factual material for his book from a variety of sources such as newspapers, memoirs, military publications, Croatian ministry of defence archives and compiled a chronology spanning ten years – from 23 May 1985 when Serbian academics decided to put together the Memorandum SANU to 8 August 1995 when the whole Serb 21st Kordun corpus surrendered to Croatian forces. That was the end of Serbia’s dream for a Greater Serbia spread to Croatia’s territory – at least for the time being.

Ante Gugo, 2015

When asked in an interview in 2015 what prompted him to write the book, Ante Gugo replied:
“…A few things prompted me to write the book ‘The storm which we could not avoid.’ The first was the fact that, shamefully, even after 20 years after the Homeland War we have very little prose and research works written on the topic of the creation of the Croatian state and the military victory over the invaders and rebels.

The second was the fact that we have a disastrous educational system that does not respect our basic national values. Our children know almost nothing about the Homeland War, the creation of the independent and sovereign Republic of Croatian and the political processes that preceded it.

The third reason is something that happened when I had already started researching for a book about the military-police operation Storm. I realised then that there were so many unknown or little-known details that influenced those events. Based on those facts we even have a continuance of political aggression against Croatia from both Serbia and Slovenia today. The fact that UN publicly stated in 1993 that there were about 80,000 people living in the occupied territories begs the question of how then was it possible for 250,000 Serbs to have been expelled from those occipied areas as has been alleged.

It is even less known that on 24 January 1991 Slovenian President Kucan signed an agreement by which he gives (Serbia’s) Milosevic the right to realise his idea that all Serbs should live in one state. This agreement meant that approval was given for aggression against Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, although only four days earlier Kucan signed an agreement with (Croatia’s) Tudjman on cooperation in defense in case of intervention by the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army).

Hence, I wanted the reality that points to the fact that we were deliberately led into war under the hope that we would finally through war be destroyed as a nation to become more readily available to the public. We simply could not avoid the Storm. Others planned it regardless of how much they may regret it.”

Even after the International Criminal Tribunal For the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague (ICTY) had in November 2012 acquitted Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac (and the whole of Croatia’s leadership at the time) and found then not guilty of charges of joint criminal enterprise of forceful deportation of Serbs from Croatia in August 1995 Serbia and Serbs still to this day continue ignoring the ICTY judgment and continue with spreading lies and myths about forceful deportation of Serbs. Gugo considers that the ease with which Serbs tend to play with and manipulate historic data, especially numbers, is something that needs to be taken seriously… The problem is not in the fact that Serbs lie, the problem is in the fact that we are keeping quiet about it – i.e. “that our (Croatian) diplomacy doesn’t respond to the lies and that they (Serbs) have not yet been shown up to the world as untrustworthy and unprepared for a democratic Europe,” stated Gugo at an interview.

6 August 1995 at Knin, Croatia
Operation Storm had liberated Croatia from
Serb Occupation
From left: Gojko Susak (Croatia’s defence minister), Ante Gugo (war correspondent.reporter),
Franjo Tudjman (president of Croatia)

With the US born and bred acclaimed author Julienne (Eden) Busic as editor of the translated book by Ante Gugo, and Michael Durgo as the translator, one can be assured of high quality writing and a relative ease to understanding the sense of the times and important issues and sufferings that precursed today’s proud independent Croatia. One can find out how and why the 1995 Operation Storm in Croatia actually brought peace to the whole of Southeastern Europe at the time.
Besides various bookshops the book can be purchased from all Amazon online stores including US and UK as well as on CreateSpace. Kindle and Paperback available.

Links are:
https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Storm-Political-Diplomatic-Independence/dp/1535118687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468119248&sr=1-1&keywords=ante+gugo

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_4?ie=UTF8&text=Michael+Durgo&search-alias=books-uk&field-author=Michael+Durgo&sort=relevancerank

https://www.createspace.com/6378168

A book – absolutely worthwhile having and reading! It’s not a book only about the creation of the modern Croatian independent state amidst enormous political rage and murderous furor from communist Yugoslavia and Serbia but it’s a book that also shows how political ambitions can lead to untold horrors in modern times in which most would like to think they uphold the ways of peace. The dangers to security and safety in today’s world lurk from around almost every corner, it seems – no matter where we live. «In the Eye of the Storm» should indeed be a compulsory read not only for High Schools in Croatia but also for Universities and Colleges everywhere, especially in the studies of social and political sciences and relations. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)