He also clams in his manifesto to have drawn “true inspiration” from Anders Breivik, the neo-Nazi who killed 77 people in Norway. What is striking about Breivik’s manifesto also is what the UK Economist referred to as his “strange obsession” with the Balkans. His 1,500-page “European Declaration of Independence” contains nearly 1,000 direct mentions of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

Karadzic, who was first convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in 2016 and then given a life sentence at the Hague war crimes tribunal on Wednesday, is singled out for special praise.

Anyone who has researched the rhetoric and narratives of contemporary white supremacists will know also that this fixation with Serb nationalism is not isolated to Breivik and Tarrant.

Its narratives and violent culture have become an ideological pillar for many present-day far-right extremists, along with Nazism and the Holocaust, the apartheid regimes in South Africa and Zimbabwe, the Confederacy in the US, and other racist-nationalist movements.

Meanwhile, contemporary Serb nationalists such as Milorad Dodik in Bosnia, enjoy widespread support among European far-rightists.

The source of Dodik’s popularity among Western reactionaries is his own virulent Islamophobia, his draconian anti-refugee policies, his close ties to the Russian financial patrons of the European far right and, above all, his steadfast denialism of the genocide in Bosnia.

In essence, Dodik has taken up the mantle of being a latter-day Karadzic, and has won the admiration of the far right in the West as a result.

The Western far right has latched on to Serb ultra-nationalism because, in their collective imaginations, the Yugoslav wars were the opening salvo in a civilizational conflict between the white Christian West and the Islamic East.

This narrative is often appended to a fixation with the Crusades as the first chapter of this millennial contest. Accordingly, Milosevic and Karadzic and the Greater Serbia project are recast as latter-day Byzantines, “defending Europe” from Islamic invasion.

Equally important to the Western far right in this regard is both that these conflicts occurred before 9/11 and the onset of widespread Western concerns with Islamic extremism, and that NATO sided “with the Muslims” in the Balkans.

To Tarrant and Breivik, Milosevic, Karadzic and their associates understood the true nature of the Islamic threat and also understood that genocide is the only way to deal with the threat.

Yet the West betrayed these Christian heroes, bombing them in Bosnia and Kosovo for taking a courageous stand against the invaders.

The 9/11 attacks and everything that has followed showed the foresight of Milosevic and his pogroms, they argue. That is why NATO, in its current form, which rejects the idea of a civilizational struggle against the Islamic world, must be imploded.

However bizarre and historically illiterate, we must understand these claims. This is because, in comparison to many of the above examples, while Serb nationalist mythologies are less known and understood in the West, they have become ever more prominent in the worldview of the Western far right.

As law enforcement and social media companies seek ways to identify and de-platform extremist online and real-world hubs, recognizing the tell-tale references and iconography of Serb ultra-nationalism may help root out these individuals.

Jasmin Mujanovic is a political scientist specializing in the politics of Southeastern Europe. His first book, ‘Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans’, is now available.

The opinions expressed in the Comment section are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.