They weren’t looking for offensive weapons. They were attacked by Billy Jeff Clinton and NATO in the past.
Boy was that one a field day propaganda mess.
That was a messed up situation.
Slovenia got the drop on Serbia’s army and, so, gained independence bloodlessly.
Croatia got into a rough and tumble war with Serbia to gain its independence.
Bosnia was a complete mess, and remains a mess, partitioned more or less three ways. But, at least shooting has stopped. Maybe someday in the future, somebody will be able to figure this out.
Montenegro and Macedonia played it cool, and gained their independence without bloodshed.
Then came Kosovo. Historically, a sacred place for Serbia (and all of Europe). You’d think Serbia could have bargained for recognition of the historical sites in return for peaceful independence. But, no, there was no bargaining. It was another g-damned war.
Some people have to be persuaded they don’t own territories because of past conquests and past treaties. Rather, as we put it in our Declaration of Independence, governments gain their just powers from the consent of the governed. Woodrow Wilson tried to get the Europeans at Versailles to accept self-determination, but that was too utopian at the time.
The day is coming when self-determination won’t be utopian at all, but the democracies will be so overwhelmingly powerful, we will just arrest those who try to rule over people.