The Empire Never Ended

Rey begrudgingly guides TENE through wartime-Yugoslavia's own Jerky Boys, the infamous Chetniks! Renowned in Serbia and beyond as a 'monarchist anti-fascist resistance group', Rey ruins Chetniks for everyone by revealing them to be murderous collaborators on the one hand, and ridiculous clowns on the other. The boys elaborate on figures like Draža Mihailović, the Chetnik high commander with little authority and shrinking legitimacy, and Momčilo Đujić, Orthodox priest and Ustaša snitch still somehow lionized by Serbian nationalists today despite running a death camp known as "Little Jasenovac". It's not all blood and guts though, as Rey tells it, the Chetniks also had a penchant for pretty lame pranks, AKA, the height of their so-called 'resistance'. Also discussed: Chetnik style, a historic drinking contest, Operation Halyard, and the 'Urkel Defense' against war crimes. Credit: Canned laughter from Evil Ear, downloaded from freesound.org This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

Jumping forward a bit in time to the post-war Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), Boris takes The Empire Never Ended on a quick tour of Partisan Cinema and its historical context. Boris, Fritz, and Rey discuss some of the genre's most iconic films: Slavica (1947), Kozara (1962), Battle of Neretva (1969), Battle of Sutjeska (1973), and the epic Nazi-slaughter romp, Walter Defends Sarajevo (1972). Boris and Rey discuss Tito's cinephelia and his uncommon celebrity, while Fritz describes his favorite scenes and struggles to say "Sutjeska". Also, the uncanny similarities between Battle of Neretva and the Empire Strikes Back, the central role of music in Partisan films, the failure of Chetnik media, and a shitton of terrified horses. This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

TENE pod welcomes back Kemal to narrate some truly crazy shit that went down in the port town of Fiume, also known as Rijeka in today's Croatia, a little more than a century ago. Watch the fundaments of fascism flower from the cocaine-addled brain of celebrated war hero, poet, and daredevil, Gabriele D'Annunzio! Marvel at the sense-defying stunts of his nudist right-hand man and pig-thieving air pirate, Guido Keller! Weep at the tragic tale of shotgun-riding futurist donkey, Camellino! Somewhere between Porco Rosso and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the story of the Italian Regency of Carnaro and its flamboyant Comandante is not one to miss! Opening song: "Alba Separa Dalla Luce L'Ombra" written by Gabriele D'Annunzio, composed by Paolo Tosti, and sung by Enrico Caruso. English translation, "Day Man, (uwaaaahhh) Master of the Night Man". This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

Boris, Fritz, and Rey get loose to talk about their recent collision with the Astral Bone Gnawer's Lodge and TENE's bizarre but expected premier in Balkan tabloids. In order to avoid wrongly appearing like they're taking sides in an ecumenical battle by exposing the O9A's infiltration in the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, the fellas excoriate the rest of the major nationalist projects and their religious avatars in the region for good measure. Other topics: Varg Vikernes, martyrs against traffic safety, and some speculation about the future of the O9A. This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Check out our Medium article about the ABG here! Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

The conversation dives into the troubling connections between Nazi Satanists and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. They shine a light on the Order of Nine Angles, its extremist ideologies, and bizarre figures like a deacon editing their journals. Absurdities of Montenegrin politics emerge, including humorous anecdotes about a self-proclaimed 'spiritual advisor.' The hosts critique the intersections of nationalism, extremism, and idea propagation while revealing the dangers this poses in today's society. Expect insights and laughter amidst the darkness!

The TENE guys often talk about nationalist contradictions, and there are historical moments, usually quite obscure(d), in which these contradictions are made very clear and totally bizarre. Today, gather round and hear a tale of three such moments... yes kids, it's the Wacky Adventures of Ustašas! First, in a bid to compete with the far more popular Croatian Peasant Party, the rabidly nationalist Croatian Party of Rights seeks an alliance with the increasingly nationalist People's Radical Party in Belgrade. It's a bit of an embarrassment that key Ustašas like Milan Šufflay, Slavko Kvaternik, and even Ante Pavelić himself were begging for support and money from Serbia's most important conservative party. Failing to keep their attention or funds, the Party of Rights goes full-on Ustaša! Pondering this twist of fate, Rey is compelled to make a case for parallel universes. In his second tale, Rey narrates the lackluster "attack on the Brušane Precinct" which brought the Ustaša name to the headlines and kicked off the fascist career of bloodthirsty lawyer Andrija Artuković. Their so-called uprising fails to attract the peasantry but does garner some critically optimistic attention from the rising Yugoslav Communist Party. More importantly, it spurs the Yugoslav state to completely freak out and make everything a lot worse. In his third and final tale, Rey takes us all the way to Buenos Aires in the 1950s where escaped Serbian Nazi Milan Stojadinović and escaped Croatian Nazi Ante Pavelić develop a bizarre friendship. The story gets even weirder when Rey intimates a compelling State connection... This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

TENE tackles the Ustaša movement of wartime Croatia and their bloody wake. Boris begins with the establishment of the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH) with German tanks in Zagreb and their poglavnik (fuhrer), Ante Pavelić chilling out of the country... and it pretty much goes right downhill from there. Much to their surprise, creating extermination camps for children did not endear the fanatically murderous Ustaša to their countrymen and thus the Partisan movement was fully formed. Boris narrates the downfall of the short-lived Ustaša State, which by the end of the war was essentially Zagreb. The crew reflects on the brutalities of the Ustasha methods and concentration camps and marvel at the absurd attempts to attract Serbs into the new State as ‘Catholic Serbs’ and, failing to win anyone over what with all the massacring and such, inventing the ridiculous Orthodox Croatian Church run by the White Russian, Germogen. Boris also recounts the Bleiburg massacre of escaping Ustaša, as well as their traveling companions, and he introduces the Cossack SS. Finally, Rey and Boris discuss contemporary reverberations of the Ustaša’s psychotic reign and tease a future arc. This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

TEASER Straight from the archives of UDBA, Socialist Yugoslavia's state security agency, this episode follows Lazar Prokic (law student turned Nazi intelligence agent) and Strahinja Janić (all-around psychopath and founder of the Serbian Gestapo). Rey explains how Prokić found himself at the confluence of several fascist intelligence streams, returning to Belgrade first as a Nazi propagandist and second with the Ustaša invasion forces, only to end up as a valuable asset for Tito's Yugoslavia. Compare his career to ultraviolent bandit and official arm of the Nazis in Serbia, Janjić, "one of the worst pieces of shit covered so far", who gets himself booted out of the royal Yugoslav army for being a drunken idiot and calling everyone "gay" only to find himself pillaging Serbian cities for the Nazis. Rey recounts some of Janjić's worst deeds, including his participation in the massacre at Kragujevac and subsequent appointment as its mayor, and his ultimate escape from justice. Also featured: the bizarre Anti-Masonic Exhibition in 1941, some bonus tidbits from the OSS, and some surprising revelations from the UDBA archives concerning some very successful Nazi infiltrators in the Partisan movement and Tito's fledgling state. This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

In TENE's 28th episode, Rey gives a detailed look at the collaborationist regime of Nazi-occupied Serbia (1941-1944). The regime was led by Milan Nedić, a former general and Yugoslav government minister, close to the fascist politics of his relative Dimtrije Ljotić, leader of the Zbor movement. The boys discuss various collaborationist armed forces, such as the Serbian Volunteer Corps (Ljotić’s ideological army), the Serbian State Guard (formed out of gendarmerie loyal to Nedić), Chetniks of Kosta Pećanac (a veteran chetnik leader, tight with fascists since the ‘20s), and the Special Police (a former Belgrade anti-communist police unit that effectively joined the Nedić regime). The crew also mentions the relationship these forces had with the royalist Chetniks of Draža Mihailović, as well as their role in the Holocaust and other reprisals against the civilian population. To conclude, Rey covers how the regime tried to implement the "Ljotić plan", gathering all of the collaborationist forces in Slovenia, to establish a kind of "white", anticommunist Yugoslavia there. This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube

Boris guides TENE through the twists and turns of Montenegrin nationalism and fascist collaboration in the 20th century. He tells how politician and general Krsto Popović turned rebel in support of Montenegrin King Nikola, only to be exiled himself in Italy, forms the inept Lovćen Brigade for the fascists. Boris introduces quisling leader of the occupied Montenegrin state, Sekula Drljević and his ideological inspiration, Savić Marković Štedimlija to our collection of fascist weirdos and their bizarre race theory transforming Montenegrins from a "special kind of Serb" into a "special kind of Croat". The boys follow the convoluted attempts of Mussolini and Hitler to get shit under control by, in the latter case, combining Montenegrin super Serbian Četniks with Montenegrin Serbian-hating Ustaša only to get stomped by the partisans and devour each other. Boris and Rey remind the listener that the legacy of these misadventures which pitted family members against each other in opposing nationalist identities continues to guide politics in Montenegro today. This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that... Subscribe to our Patreon for weekly premium episodes! And check out our social media for updates and whatnot: Twitter + Facebook + Instagram + YouTube