Product Description

A soldier¹s harrowing journey into Bosnia¹s heart of darkness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1774518 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Review
³By far the best book to have come out of the Balkan wars.² -- THE SUNDAY TIMES

From the Publisher
This is the powerful, disturbing, highly acclaimed account of how a British officer, of part Yugoslav origin, became embroiled in the savage maelstrom of the Bosnian war. His work as interpreter and go-between for high British commanders propelled Milos Stankovic from one crisis to another as he helped negotiate cease-fires, secured the release of U.N. hostages, and organized the escape of stricken families from Sarajevo. Yet his close contacts with the Bosnian Serb leadership bred suspicion and paranoia on all sides ‹ not just in the Bosnian Muslim and Serb ranks, but in the minds of the Americans as well. In a final, horrific twist, the author was arrested by British authorities on suspicion of being a Serb spy ‹ more than two years after his return from Bosnia. Britain¹s Observer later wrote: ³This man was a hero, caught in the middle and discarded by a military bureaucracy that should be shot at dawn for its betrayal.²

About the Author
Milos Stankovic was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1962 -- a British citizen with Scottish and Royalist Yugoslav parents, themselves refugees from Yugoslavia. Educated in England, he enlisted in the Parachute Regiment in 1981; the Army sent him to university where he studied Russian at Manchester and in Minsk in the Soviet Union. He has served with the British Army in Belize, Northern Ireland and Africa, and with the UN in post-war Kuwait and Iraq, and two long tours in Bosnia between December 1992 and April 1995. Prior to his arrest at Staff College in October 1997, Major Stankovic served as a company commander with the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment.

Customer Reviews

Another glorious failure
As someone who was in the balkans at the same time as "Mike Stanley" i saw the same hopeless situation that the UN was placed into without the wholehearted support of the world community. To say that the UN is hopelessly bearucratic is to simplify the entire situation.The UN and UNPROFOR could not take resolute action against any of the 3 sides under the mandate which had been issued by the security council. a lack of wilingness on the part of the major members of the UN especially the USA to bolster the the presence of the UN and the forces which were there to PROTECT UN personnel NOT the indigenous population and the fact that the USA wanted to arm the croat and bosnian goverments against the wishes of the UN. This book shows the futility of sending military forces into an enviroment and expecting them to act as saviours to a population which are hell bent on butchering their neighbours mostly with arms provided by the good old US of A.The most inportant point from this book was that the UN is not and has never been a military organisation due in part to the intransigence of the superpowers at the end of WW2.The UN was not to blame for the war in the Balkans and as much as some countries have tried to militarise it this book shows that this is not only practically impossible but fundamentally dangerous.'Trusted mole' talks about world politics from the perspective of the balkans and it shows just how thin is the veneer of civilisation when it comes down to it .

My view of Trusted Mole
This book is by far, as Sunday Times put it, the best book to have come out of the Balkan War. I am a Serb myself, from Bosnia, and even though I do not approve of some Author's opinions and thoughts, I have to say that this book is most sincere that has ever been written on Yugoslav wars.
I like the book for there is no much preaching in it, no deep politics whatsoever, but true story and his perceptions. I think Mr.Stankovic is one of the very few people in this world that was able to describe and depict all the Balkan's hell due to his origins and background. To be honest, what I liked the best in this book were parts where the Author himself tries to perceive or understand something, which is quite normal or commonplace in Serbs' lives and culture, but fails for he grew up in the UK.
Nevertheless, the book is simply great! Well done, Milos Stankovic! Svaka cast!

spellbinding
This is the true story behind the true stories of the wars in bosnia. The Author was there for most of the major incidents, if you want to learn what a worthless and beauacratic organisation the UN is read this, Stankovic should be bemedaled and a general bynow, His descriptions of Sarajevo and surrounding areas was spot on and his description of the " little people " describing the ordinary people of the city and his journeys to the " dark side " remind me strongly of my time there. I have read most of the modern books detailing the Balkan conflict and I always assumed that martin Bell wrote the best one but now Bell is in second place. My one wish is that he writes the follow up and lets us all know who placed the spying charges against him and why and how did it all end. to summarise get the book now