By Gefira
(Opinion) Little is written about this in the Western media – in fact, nothing – and meanwhile, tensions are rising in Kosovo.
Let us recall: Kosovo – part of Serbia, the historic cradle of Serbian statehood – was separated from Serbia by the West without a corresponding decision by the United Nations.
Most Western countries recognized Kosovo’s independence based on people’s right to self-determination.
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However, the same motivation did not work in the case of Crimea and Donbas, but let us leave these details aside.
(Serbian nationalists march to Jarinje border crossing with Kosovo as barbed wire erected amid tensions)
The direct triggers of the current tensions are as follows.
One is that the authorities in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, have ordered all drivers to change their license plates to Kosovar ones.
The Serbian minority still living in Kosovo has resisted.
The Serbs have the law on their side: as Kosovo is still part of Serbia, introducing license plates other than those of Serbia is illegal.
Another reason for tensions is the unclear case of a police officer of Serbian nationality who was arrested by the Kosovo authorities.
The Serb minority reacted very strongly: barricades were erected in the streets of towns where Serbs lived.
As if this were not enough – or perhaps precisely to escalate tensions – on Dec. 15 this year, Pristina applied for Kosovo’s admission to the European Union.
Although several members of the Union – Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain – do not recognize Kosovo’s independence, which blocks even the consideration of a membership application, for some reason, Pristina took this step and got the signal that such a step should be taken right now.
This begs the question: what is going on in the Balkans again? What is it all about?
Well, the answer is rather obvious.
In Europe, Serbia is the only country that has friendly relations with Russia. Despite pressure from the European Union, Belgrade has not joined the sanctions imposed by Brussels on Russia.
President Vučić – even if he wanted to – is not in a position to pursue a policy hostile to Moscow because the overwhelming majority of Serbs consider the Russians to be friends and Russia an ally.
This is because Serbs and Russians are Slavs, and Serbs and Russians are peoples who profess orthodox Christianity.
Finally, Serbs feel gratitude towards Russia for the fact that in the late 19th century, Russia fought against Turkey, which ruled over Serbia for centuries, and for the fact that Russia stepped in to defend little Serbia in 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Belgrade.
Anyone who has read and remembers Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” will recall that one of the main characters, Anna Karenina’s lover, a Russian officer, goes to war with Turkey precisely to defend the Serbs.
True, Russia did not help Serbia in 1999, when NATO bombed it for 78 days, because Russia was in a deep political, social and economic crisis.
What did the Berlin, Paris, London, and Washington policymakers have in mind?
They have thought of killing two birds with one stone. The powers are putting pressure on Belgrade through the unrest in Kosovo to force Serbia to join the sanctions.
(Hundreds protest in Belgrade in favor of deployment of troops in Kosovo amid tensions)
As long as Belgrade resists this, the unrest in Kosovo will continue to grow.
This is one of the goals the West wants to achieve. The other is to hit Russia in the one place in the Balkans where it has political and cultural influence.
Of course, it will be impossible for Moscow to help Serbia, as Serbia has become landlocked and surrounded by NATO members.
However, Russia will have to undertake something which will deplete the effort it is currently putting into defeating the West on the military training ground that goes by the name of Ukraine.
If Belgrade does not give in, i.e., if Belgrade does not join the sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, provocations in Kosovo will increase, which may lead to the Serbs wanting to station their own troops there.
Reports show that such decisions have been taken and that some Serbian units are moving towards Kosovo.
It is a well-known fact that if a state or even an individual is constantly provoked, no matter how peaceful and restrained the provoked state or individual is, sooner or later, that state or individual must give vent to psychological tensions and move to offensive actions, to aggressive actions.
And although these actions will be nothing more than self-defense, the so-called public opinion, which knows whom to condemn from the mass media, will be instructed by these media that the Serbs are misbehaving again.
The retaliatory actions, the aggressive actions provoked by the machinations in Kosovo, do not have to be carried out by the Belgrade government.
Such actions can be initiated by the people or, more precisely, by some organized group of Serbs.
This group, we can be sure, is already being prepared by the intelligence services of Western countries.
We can also be sure that some Azov battalions are being formed in Serbia too (as in Ukraine): they will spin out of Belgrade’s control and attack Kosovo.
This is what the West is just waiting for.
Then – the scenario we should already know by heart – voices of feigned horror and outright condemnation will be raised, and there will be a pretext – sorry: a good reason – to attack Serbia.
This would be done under the pretext of protecting the poor, innocent Kosovo Albanians from the Serbian aggressors.
The government in Belgrade could be overthrown by holding a Maidan in the Serbian capital to put a ruler on the Serbian throne (think of Belarus’ Tsikhanouskaya) who would impose sanctions on Russia, recognize Kosovo’s independence, and make nice with the European Union.
Isn’t that what happened in Ukraine?
Let us recall. Yugoslavia was a federation of republics: the Soviet Union was also a federation.
Serbia was the largest and most important Republic within this federation; within the USSR, Russia was the largest and most important Republic.
Kosovo is to Serbia what Ukraine is to Russia: Kosovo was the cradle of the Serbian state – Ukraine was the cradle of the Russian state.
Today in Kosovo, Serbs are a persecuted minority; in Ukraine, Russians are a persecuted minority.
The West supports Kosovo against Serbia; the West supports Ukraine against Russia.
Kosovo would like to belong to the European Union and – probably later – to NATO just as much as Ukraine would like to belong to both.
The West uses Kosovo to put pressure on Belgrade; the West uses Ukraine to put pressure on Moscow.
Only the Serbs are to blame in the conflict between themselves and the Albanians – this is how the Western media portray it.
Only the Russians are to blame in the battle between themselves and the Ukrainians – this is how the Western media portray it.
No major countries outside the European Union and NATO – such as China, India, or Brazil – are hostile to the Serbs.
The same significant countries are not hostile to Russia, even though the Western media want to impress upon their audiences and readers that the whole world condemns Serbia and Russia.
Let us not forget that on the territory of Kosovo, the Americans have set up a vast war base for themselves – Camp Bondsteel.
To give the impression that the base is international and belongs to the Kosovo Force or KFOR, they have invited small units from Turkey, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Switzerland, and Finland to cooperate.
Voilà, look, it is an international force now.
This fact alone sufficiently explains why Kosovo must be separated from pro-Russian Serbia.
Something similar is what Washington wanted for Ukraine. Alas, big Russia is not little Serbia, hence the current war in Ukraine.
Will it be the only war in Europe currently?
The tension in the Balkans could also lead to another outbreak of hostilities though in a location far away from Ukraine.
If it comes to this, it will be like opening a second front in the West’s collective war against Russia, a front against Serbia, Russia’s ally.
Admittedly, Russia does not have physical access to Serbia to send it armaments, ammunition, and fuel.
But let us remember that in 1914, when the First World War broke out, Russia had no direct access to Serbian either.
Western politicians thought the Balkan conflict would remain confined to the Balkans.
(Why do Russians and Serbs like each other so much)
It turned out to have spread to the whole of Europe, to the whole world. Have contemporary politicians forgotten this?
One could say that they have failed if they had anything in their minds to remember. One must assume that knowledge of the past is not their strong point.
Nor are they adept at concluding. If those who play the great game on the geopolitical chessboard know the history and can learn from it and yet act as they do, then clearly, they care nothing about the fate of millions of people.
Besides, why should they?
They and their families will not suffer from the war due to their actions.
Ursula von der Leyen will continue to wear her fashionable outfits and impeccable hairdo and will continue to proclaim with feigned concern how sorry she is for the casualties and the refugees and how she would like to bring the villains Putin, Lavrov, and Vučić before an international tribunal.
And who knows? Maybe even her colleagues will arrange for her to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for her actions.
And you know what?
She will accept this price wearing yet another fashionable costume and yet another chic hairdo while millions of people will continue to suffer severely and… needlessly.
This post was published first here.
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