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Kosovo Again!
Geopolitical Futures ^ | 12/13/2022 | George Friedman

Posted on 12/13/2022 9:44:05 AM PST by SeekAndFind

There have been skirmishes between armed ethnic Serb protesters and Kosovo police. The reason is that a while ago, Kosovo ordered that drivers surrender Serbian-issued license plates and replace them with Kosovo plates. On Dec. 10, Serbs living in northern Kosovo started erecting barricades. Kosovo residents confronted them, and Kosovo police blocked the border checkpoints. A traffic jam ensued, and so did a small shootout, including the use of a stun grenade. The shooting has died down but the threats have mounted.

A shootout over license plates may seem excessive, but this is the Balkans. It is a relatively small area with multiple nationalities, and the political borders don’t match the ethnic borders. In the 1990s, there was a brutal civil war among those ethnic groups. For example, Serbs are Christians and Bosniaks are Muslims. Serbs and Bosnians live in proximity to each other. The civil war that broke out included concentration camps, where some estimate that 100,000 Bosnians died – a number denied by the Serbians. However, no one doubts it was a blood bath.

The fighting threatened to extend to Kosovo, south of Serbia. The Kosovars are ethnic Albanians and Muslims living in an area that Serbia claims. When Serbian forces began to enter Kosovo, U.S. and European governments, aware of the slaughter in Bosnia, were concerned that another blood bath would take place in Kosovo. NATO aircraft, primarily British and American, carried out airstrikes to force the Serbians to leave. The bombing was extended to Serbia, and included strikes against the capital, Belgrade. Those strikes caused substantial casualties on Serbian citizens.

The United States wanted to reach a cease-fire with the Serbians. The president of Serbia refused, partly out of anger over the bombing of Belgrade, and partly because he was afraid that he would face charges in The Hague – which he ultimately did. Unable to secure Serbia’s capitulation, the airstrikes continued.

The U.S. reached out to the Russians, who had close relations with the Serbians. The Russians persuaded them to accept a cease-fire. In return, the Russians expected to be treated as equal occupiers of Serbia and Kosovo, imposing the cease-fire on all regions as NATO’s equal. The Americans deny that they agreed to this with the Russians. The Russians say they had no reason to negotiate with NATO except for this. Russian troops arrived in Kosovo’s airport to serve as peacekeepers. They were surrounded by NATO troops and forced to leave. This event had a great deal of influence on the rise of Vladimir Putin and his distrust of the United States. It convinced him that the U.S. wanted to crush Russia, and he rose to the presidency on a promise not to allow Russia to be treated with contempt in the future.

So the Kosovars and Serbians are fighting over license plates and whatnot. What would appear trivial to others is not trivial here. In the Balkans, memories are long and unforgiving. The Balkans affect everything around them. World War I started in Bosnia. But for our time, the conclusion of the Kosovo war bred a deep Russian distrust of the United States.

Now there is a war involving Russia and the United States. It is not going well for Russia thus far. When fighting a war, forcing the enemy to divert his attention is critical, particularly when there is – at best for Russia – a stalemate. They have looked for other ways to distract the Ukrainians, but it is the Americans that must be distracted.

Serbia is close to Russia, as it has been for a long time. The United States has a deep history in the region. Another conflict between Serbia and Kosovo would not by itself change the course of the Ukrainian war, but it may, at low cost, cause the Americans to lose some focus if they were to divert forces to protect Kosovo, a sort of obligation going back to the 1990s. At any rate, Russia has little to lose and Serbia is always ready to tangle with Kosovo.

We began with a little gunplay between Serbia and Kosovo over matters too trivial to be believed. Consider that the reason for the gunfight had nothing to do with trivial matters, but with trying to recreate the Kosovo war. If the Russians wanted a low-cost, low-risk diversion, they had many chips to call in with Serbia. Of course, there have been clashes before this, but there are always clashes. The question is not how they start but what they lead to. So watching the Serbia-Kosovo border may be worthwhile.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: balkans; kosovo; russia; serbia; tensions; yugoslavia
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To: kiryandil

yep. where there is trouble, we smell neocon stink behind it.

Soros and the US is behind that stink in Brazil right now, Those people aren’t taking it friendly like.


21 posted on 12/13/2022 10:21:17 AM PST by dforest
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To: woodbutcher1963

I met a guy like that - went to Germany first, learned amazing wood working skills.
Told me taxes were too high and regulations were crippling to run a biz. Moved here.


22 posted on 12/13/2022 10:23:46 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything. )
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: dforest

“We are usually behind causing all the trouble because of our desire for never ending war and world dominence.”

I take no pleasure in pointing it out but the US is once again in default of an international treaty. This time it’s UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

It’s very interesting that Merkel came out and said what she said about Minsk II at this point in time. What it might suggest is that something is going on in the back rooms of Europe.

If it comes out that she was pressured into it that might open up a big can of worms. I think everybody knows there was pressure and everybody knows where it came from. Recall that her phones were tapped.

Everybody also knows who destroyed those gas pipelines and I think they might start saying it out loud.


24 posted on 12/13/2022 10:34:11 AM PST by Chunga85 (An arrogant govt combined with an ignorant population is a recipe for disaster.)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

This guys name was Marko.

He said we are all named Marko.


25 posted on 12/13/2022 10:34:31 AM PST by woodbutcher1963
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To: SeekAndFind; Navy Patriot; lightman

This article is completely cracked and full of disinformation!!!!

Kosovo is Serbia!!! Albanian muslim terrorists took it over with the aid of Tito’s communists, the clintons and their supporters, and ultimately feckless Bush who allowed the bogus “independence” of muslim “Kosovo”!!!!

The REAL genocide was the clinton’s 1999 “NATO bombing”!!!!

The current conflict is about a lot more than license plates!! Victory to the brave Christian Serbian warriors!!!!


26 posted on 12/13/2022 10:39:35 AM PST by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: tlozo

Ukes started their mass murder in Odessa and sent Right Sector and Svoboda out east. Ethnic Russians opted out, got armed, and got help from friends in Russia. And thank god they did.


27 posted on 12/13/2022 10:41:35 AM PST by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: DesertRhino
and got help from friends in Russia. And thank god they did.

'Friends in Russia' conscripted them and used them as canon fodder.

28 posted on 12/13/2022 10:48:15 AM PST by tlozo (Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees)
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To: tlozo

You Poles are as incapable of learning as ever. Adios...


29 posted on 12/13/2022 10:53:02 AM PST by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: tlozo

” or was it a shooting war that was started, funded and supported by Putin...”

Well, somehow, magically, the insurgents in Donbas were equipped with Russian military equipment (and not just old Soviet remnants). Including surface to air missile batteries... remember when they shot down Maylasian Air flight 17?

Not quite what you see in a popular uprising without foreign support.


30 posted on 12/13/2022 10:53:35 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: DesertRhino
Serbia has not forgotten...
31 posted on 12/13/2022 11:42:06 AM PST by cranked
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To: Honorary Serb
The REAL genocide was the clinton’s 1999 “NATO bombing”!!!!

The current conflict is about a lot more than license plates!!

Agree.

Historically, it appears that the Western False Flag demonization of Serbia, the NATO Genocide of Christian Serbs and the Western Ethnic Cleansing of Kosovo Christians, was at the behest of Germany (angry that the Serbs beat them back in WWII, Germans Conned the emerging US controlled NATO Bully into doing what they couldn't).

Additionally, NATO and the UN covertly installed a Puppet Government that still does the bidding of NATO and the EU rather than represent the Serbian People.

Thus the misdirection of "a tiff over license plates" for the benefit of the Puppet Government.

32 posted on 12/13/2022 12:35:19 PM PST by Navy Patriot (Celebrate Decivilization)
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To: tlozo

KLA Kosovo Hashim Thaci

Serb Demonization as Propaganda Coup (March 19, 2009)

https://fpif.org/serb_demonization_as_propaganda_coup/

The joint Pulitzer winner in 1993 was Roy Gutman


The Syrian Kurds and Allegations of War Crimes (February 21, 2017 )

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-syrian-kurds-and-allegations-of-war-crimes/

Albri again spewing lies and propaganda for money.


The US chose very poorly by supporting the KLA in Kosovo.

The Serbs were blamed for massacre’s they did not commit.

(There were losses and atrocities on both side of the dispute.)


33 posted on 12/13/2022 12:37:34 PM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: Texas Fossil
The Serbs were blamed for massacre’s they did not commit.

People can have different views about the recent history of that area. But I balk when people try to change history. I was in Albania during the Kosovo Crisis. I know a bit more than is sometimes recorded in the media. I stop listening when people try to whitewash Serbian atrocities.

34 posted on 12/13/2022 12:59:18 PM PST by Engraved-on-His-hands
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

“It looks like the current Islamic assault on Europe started a long time before the current waves sailed over from the burned-out wreckage of Libya.”

It started in the 8th century and lasted for 1,000 years. But we have to hear constant crying about the Crusades.


35 posted on 12/13/2022 8:31:54 PM PST by nyc1
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To: Engraved-on-His-hands

If you were in Albania in that time frame you were probably in the military or possibly the State Department.


I first became aware of the Serbs and their history in the early 1980’s.

They are remembered annually here by a few, remembering the execution of Gen. Draza Mihailovic. After WWII and the tragedy that took place at Yalta.

I’m not good at remembering dates, do much better with chronology.

In WWI the Serbs were referred to by some as out Little Brother. I know about the story of their military being pulled to Corfu in Greece. Have read that some of their descendants are still there.

They were good allies during WWII, but at Yalta they were condemned to being turned over to Stalin.

When Teto’s Yugoslavia broke up old conflicts returned.

When NATO entered into the war and in my opinion chose poorly which side to believe. Remember it was B J Clinton wagging the dog over the Lewinski

Cast of players:
B J Clinton (Monica Lewinsky)
Wesley (aka Weasley) Clark
Medline Albright (I remember her smooching on Hashim Thaci)
Slobodan Miloševic (was not a monster)
Hashim Thaci (was far worse than portrayed by the media)
Carla del Ponte (she stepped out at the right moment and went south to cush job)
Roy Gutman (continued practicing propaganda)

->enter Roy Gutman, and his Pulitzer propaganda (it continues)

And repeat

“The Syrian Kurds and Allegations of War Crimes (Feb 21, 2017)
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-syrian-kurds-and-allegations-of-war-crimes/


Yes, I followed the Serbs and the Kurds a long time. It is a flaw in my makeup. I admire those who struggle for freedom and liberty.

I mentioned this once to a Kurdish friend I had in N. Syria, she never commented on the Serbs. She helped me understand the reality of the Syrian Kurd conflict. She was always truthful and knowledgeable, from being there. I’ve not found a trace of her for over 2 years. Her web presence is still there, but silent.

But we also discussed Roy Gutman’s lying crap. I told here that I had seen his technique that got him a Pulitzer. (LIES)

OK. I got that out. What else do we have to discuss?


36 posted on 12/14/2022 4:20:33 AM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: cranked

forgotten?

Nor have I. (and I am OLD)


37 posted on 12/14/2022 4:22:44 AM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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