A Secret British 'Strategic Communication' Campaign Aims To Fracture The Balkans
In late 2018 we learned about the secret British government campaign to smear Russia. The campaign was run by the 'Integrity Initiative' - A Military Intelligence Operation, Disguised As Charity, To Create The "Russian Threat".
A year later the release of a number of British documents revealed systematic 'Strategic Communication' propaganda campaigns against Syria and in Iraq run by contractors who were working for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
A similar campaign, run by the same companies, created 'regime change' protests in Lebanon. This included infiltrating Lebanon's military intelligence as well as indoctrination of young Palestinian refugees. The recent campaign to regime change Belarus was likewise secretly supported by British government contractors. It is thus not astonishing to learn that the British government is running similar secret influence campaign in other regions of the world.
The release of a new batch of documents show that one of those campaigns has the aim of fracturing the Balkans.
An extensive narrative around those documents is available in three parts. All relevant documents - solicitations, company offers, contracts etc. - can be downloaded here.
After describing the secret British manipulation campaigns in detail the author(s) conclude:
The documents we have published reveal a large-scale neocolonial HMG operation in the region. The British employ various methods to achieve their goals: they support friendly regimes at the same time undermining those regimes they consider hostile. They strengthen or weaken governments as they deem necessary. And everything is done as part of a global plan.However the essence of the operations has not changed. They are still HMG Trojan Horses.
We believe the people have the right to know both the perpetrators and their accomplices (local politicians or organisations).
I agree with that. But as I am not well versed in the Balkans, and have few readers from there, I will study the documents and leave it at that.
If you have contacts in the area please make sure that they learn about the British campaign.
Posted by b on July 14, 2021 at 15:57 UTC | Permalink
Hasn't this always been the British way?
From what I remember, during and after the British Empire they always made lines between countries and provinces in the most politically divisive way possible.
The Middle East and Pakistan/India partition of India divides come to mind.
It was spiteful to divide people in such ways.
Posted by: Mar man | Jul 14 2021 16:23 utc | 2
It's often difficult to tell the junior partner from the senior in what's clearly an Outlaw Anglo Empire. There's easily enough evidence to evict them from the UNSC and severely sanction both, and such would be well deserved. Yes, that would escalate the crisis, but IMO it's beyond time for the world's nations to stand up and make a decision--either we're going to have Universal International Law or we're going to continue to have chaos and hybrid warfare that continues to go unpunished. The NATO Punks will vote as a Bloc, but they're greatly outnumbered. And on top of Putin's clear revelation that an Anti-Russia Project exists, that Anti-World and Anti-People Projects exist too isn't at all far fetched and can now be proven to not be a conspiracy theory.
The Outlaw Anglo Empire is a Cancer upon the planet that must be cured. And it must be treated as a Cancer as there's no appeasing such a disease. Often healthy tissue must be sacrificed to remove the cancer within individuals and this situation is no different when it's given deep thought. And given the long history of maniacal Anglo behavior of well over 400 years, I don't see any hope in asking, Please Change Your Ways.
Mar man @ 2
From what I remember, during and after the British Empire they always made lines between countries and provinces in the most politically divisive way possible
Divide et impera. Goes back to the Roman Empire .
The underlying aim of such a tactic is to divide and rule the targeted population . Playing the sides off against each other in that way it is easier to control them. You can use race, religion etc.
If they are too busy fighting each other they have no time or energy left to fight you,
In the US currently they are using wokeism to divide the population. Keeps the plebs at the bottom distracted from seeing what is happening at the top.
Posted by: Down South | Jul 14 2021 16:53 utc | 5
From one of the Part 1 documents:
Senior appointments are often political, to ensure the key institutions act in the interests of the elite
Which country are they referring to, again? /sarc
Posted by: c1ue | Jul 14 2021 17:00 utc | 6
Nothing new here, this is just a continuation of The Great Game.
The fight for Mackinder's World Island continues...
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jul 14 2021 17:42 utc | 7
The British have been using subversion, far and near, for generations. Perfidious Albion has developed these CRIMINAL skills over the decades. Part of such enterprises includes a thorough show of self-importance, an overwhelming degree of pharisaism, a relentless use of slander and cruel manipulation of foreign individuals and nations, in addition to widespread provocations through bombings and murder, whenever deemed most convenient.
Posted by: Gold Finch | Jul 14 2021 17:45 utc | 8
OT but same imperialist techniques
So a couple of hours after the US and Iran announced an exchange of prisoners,
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-says-it-is-holding-talks-prisoner-exchanges-with-us-2021-07-13/
the FBI comes up with arresting four 'agents' planning to 'kidnap' (sic... with PCR etc?) an activist.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57830677
Posted by: Mina | Jul 14 2021 17:52 utc | 9
What will the Anglos do now that they've lost Afghanistan? Easy; they'll launch an Anti-Afghan Project. But as I wrote above, they ought to be treated the same way they treat others. Here's what the head UK militarist had to say today:
"'Whatever the government of the day is, provided it adheres to certain international norms, the UK government will engage with it,' Wallace told The Telegraph. He warned that the 'relationship' would be reviewed 'if they behave in a way that is seriously against human rights'." [My Emphasis]
Well now, we have excellent evidence that the UK has worked against human rights in the Balkans, and most everywhere else on the planet, along with its Imperial partner the Outlaw US Empire. The other words spoken by the UK Outlaw demonstrate the amazing hypocrisy present in their criminal minds.
Those worried about Hitler nevertheless listened to what he had to say so some idea of what he had planned could be analyzed. The same goes for what's said by those at the helm of the Outlaw Anglo Empire. You can be sure BoJo's promise to "remain committed to Afghanistan" is the usual doubletalk just as the UK falsely claims to be friends with the Balkan peoples.
I know the region, because it once used to be my country, Yugoslavia. I took a quick look at the long document and will study it more.
I also have experience with foreiggn assistance to independent media, because am one of the founders of one such media, still in existence today.
This is a complex subject. The region is living the consequences of a terrible war that destroyed a wonderful country which had true prospects.These consequences are compounded by the imposition, and acceptance, of neoliberalism/colonialism characterised by pervasive corruption and overall degradation and regression. Domestic and international thieves and plunderers dominate. This horrible version of the EU, the UK and the US are treating the people of the Balkans as barbarians that need to be enlightened. They always have. The same formula is applied to media assistance projects.
Well meaning, honest professional assistance, and solidarity, is always helpful and sometimes necessary, even crucial, especially when media are faced with hostile power sturcutres. When we set up our independent news agency, in the midst of the war, the British Council gave us 5000 pounds. It was very helpful. So was the other assistance we received. No one ever interfered with our editorial policy. But that's because we would never allow such interference, and that was made very clear and practiced. Once financially secure, we offered to give back the 5000 pounds but the BC did not accept. We gave the money to an orphanage.
Some of the news organisations mentioned in this document I know. They are professional and do not toe anyone's line. But other's might.
The point is this - at a time when the western media are de facto propaganada machines, I don't see the value of being assisted or trained by any of them. They operate in states that are major plundereres and human rights and international law violators, responsible for war crimes and other egregious criminality which has made the world highly unstable, unsafe and the future of humanity uncertain.
They have engineered a false pandemic and are forcing dangerous and harmful injections of spike proetin S1 into human beings under all kinds of threats, for financial gain and other perverse and criminal goals, as best evidenced by the statement given by Dr David Martin to the German lawyer Reiner Fuellmich on 9 July 2021.
They are enforcing global censorship never seen before in order to hide the Covid criminal conspiracy and to get as many experimental injections into as many human arms as possible, including children. May they rot in hell untill the end of time. They have nothing to teach anyone.
Judging by some names in the document, the main purpose of the proposed project is to spread and ensure an anti-Russian attitude in the Balkan media, and the continued attachment to western markets, products and ideology. The entrenchment of anti-Russian attitudes is important to the British ruling class and western interests because Sebia and Montenegro are traditonally more Russia leaning, and Serbia is the biggest republic of the former Yugoslavia and one of the biggest countries in the region.
Posted by: JB | Jul 14 2021 18:30 utc | 11
Gold Finch @8, agreed! I had written much the same thoughts before seeing your comment, just with the Perfidious Albion culture now metastasized and spread to include its progeny:
The Anglo/UK/US/Can/Aus/FiveEyes elite's culture is one that has shown over the course of history - going back centuries, with the phrase "Perfidious Albion" going back to at least the 13th century - that it has no compunction with doing whatever it takes to dominate/loot/plunder/exploit/rape others, including destroying entire societies, inflicting prolonged human suffering, and weaponizing/subverting everything and anything with no limits. Their list of crimes against humanity include:
- genocide/quasi-genocide (consider the indigenous populations of US/Can/Aus/NZ for starters, North Korea, Vietnam, etc.)
- cultural genocide (ex. Canada residential school system and equivalents in US/Aus)
- holding children hostage (ex. Canada residential school system)
- slavery, enslavement of entire populations (African, India, Opium Wars drug enslavement, Caribbean, Americas)
- imprisoning and dividing populations into smaller and smaller "reserves" or "territories" (US/Can, Palestine)
- starvation (Ireland, China, Korea, Syria)
- etc. (the list of wrongdoings is much, much longer than this ...)
Just a few of the places targeted by the Spawn of Perfidious Albion in just the past century or so:
China (19th century to 1970's), Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran, Honduras, Guatemala, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, etc.
Posted by: Canadian Cents | Jul 14 2021 18:33 utc | 12
During the Bolshevik era, only three peoples with full right of having their own nation were recognized by the Communists: Slovenes, Croats and Serbians. Other minor peoples, such as the Macedonians (there was still a debate between the entire Macedonia going to be part of Greece) and the Montenegrin, were also recognized, but not as "major" (national) peoples - they should have the right to their autonomous regions, but not nations. That was the debate that happened in Comintern, when it was still taken seriously (i.e. the early years, up to the mid-1920s).
Note that the criteria used by the Communists to determine if a people should have the right to form its own nation was not only cultural and ethnic, but mainly the development of their productive forces: very small, pre-capitalist peoples were not ready, didn't have the means to nation-build, therefore shouldn't form a nation.
Anything beyond those three nations is probably nation-building/color revolution. Kosovo and Albania are the most glaring cases, but I'm sure there are other cases. Bosnia-Herzogovina (which is also two countries, according to the liberal credo) is also probably an artificial construct.
Title says, in part, "fracture the Balkans".
Balkanize is a synonym for fracture, so this would be a British plan to splinter the splinters ?
The plan for Syria was always to balkanize it into "autonomous regions", to borrow the 2013 Kissinger term.
Each region by itself would be too weak to challenge Izrael and friends, and would forever be at odds
with each other, again, weakening the whole.
"The Devil is a gentleman" so the saying goes, and this is how Kissinger presents himself and his rationale.
"There are three possible outcomes an Assad victory,
a Sunni victory or on outcome in which the various nationalities agree to coexist together but in more or less autonomous regions
so that they can't oppress each other. That's the outcome I would prefer to see and that's the one but that's not the popular view."
Full text here: https://fordschool.umich.edu/video/2013/henry-kissinger-and-paul-oneill-ford-legacy
Video (26:30 mark) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVasCE1uOf4
(I believe the Saker is well versed in the Balkans if you want to ask him)
Posted by: librul | Jul 14 2021 18:44 utc | 14
Why does Russia fund Britain?
Russia trades with Britain in which currencies? Why does it invest in Britain (wealth fund - 5%) and holds British pounds in its currency holdings (6% of approx $600 billion?)? Aren’t there British investors in the Nord Stream 2? Britain has over centuries worked towards capturing Russia, and yet Russia continues to strengthen them. Why?
Britain has worked over centuries to prevent a strategic alliance between Germany and Russia. What is in between these two geographies? Balkans? The UK-U$A group has worked diligently to observe Balkans in the Euro-Atlantic institutions to limit Russia’s CIRCLE of INFLUENCE.
The Financial Empire will pursue PROXY wars against China and Russia (major powers). It did fight a proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Since then, the Six Eyes used the mercenaries to fight more proxy wars in the Balkans, Chechnya, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen,Ukraine... The Empire is working towards circling and containment of China and Russia’s spheres of influence. The Empire also wants interruptions of supply chains to cripple its adversaries economies. What will be China and Russia’s response? What is the vision of the Non-$ BLOC? In which currencies are the Non-$ Bloc trading?
The Non-$ Bloc will need to defeat the Financial Empire to gain their sovereignty. How will they address this challenge? Or the four great powers of geopolitical influence – U$A, EU, China and Russia – need to forge a great compromise that will re-imagine the world order and secure global peace and prosperity for the 21st century. It needs to start with demilitarization, de-dollarization, and diversification.
Will the Financial Empire give up its dream of a global empire?
Posted by: Max | Jul 14 2021 19:12 utc | 15
I'm not sure I quite understand what British aims in fracturing the Balkans are supposed to be. Anti-EU might be a possibility, otherwise I don't quite understand why.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jul 14 2021 19:19 utc | 16
Laguerre @16
My theory is that Her Majesty needs a port in the Mediterranean. What with Brexit and all that.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jul 14 2021 19:26 utc | 17
Posted by: Laguerre | Jul 14 2021 19:19 utc | 16
Yes, the Balkans seem quite fractured already. It's not even clear who the Brits would be able to annoy by fracturing them more. Just going through the motions maybe? I suppose the pay is still good.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 14 2021 19:27 utc | 18
Speak of the devil...
Went to Digg just now (very much a Deep State leaning site)
and they have a map of the US that has been balkanized.
What are they selling to the masses now? answer: Whole new level stuff.
Planting more seeds of division.
Title: "Two-thirds of Southern Republicans want to secede"
https://thewhyaxis.substack.com/p/two-thirds-of-southern-republicans?utm_source=digg
Posted by: librul | Jul 14 2021 19:28 utc | 19
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jul 14 2021 19:26 utc | 17
Her Majesty already has a port in the Med, Gibraltar.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jul 14 2021 19:31 utc | 20
Look at a map of Europe March 1941, all of Europe is under Nazi rule except for Yugoslavia (really Serbia) Look at a map of 2021, all of Europe is under EU/NATO control except for Serbia. Why all this effort to destroy Serbia. here 's why:
file:///C:/Users/Robert/Desktop/Data/Desktop/World%20View/JRI/The%20West%20Long%20War%20Agaisnt%20Serbia%2012-23-2019.pdf
Posted by: Eyes Wide Open | Jul 14 2021 19:39 utc | 21
Posted by: Eyes Wide Open | Jul 14 2021 19:39 utc | 21
Britain is no longer member of EU, why would Serbia interest them?
Posted by: Laguerre | Jul 14 2021 19:45 utc | 22
A piece on eastern orthodoxy in the Balkans from Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Balkans
The Church of Rome, the English church derived from it vs orthidox church which has direct linage back to the very first churches in the middle east, a number of those very old orthodox church buildings being destroyed by the US war of terror.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 14 2021 19:50 utc | 23
I'm from Balkans. And I don't see a problem here nor I agree with comments in the documents.
For example, it comments:
"So, the true aim of the project is to weaken Serbia's positions in its territorial disputes with Kosovo, or in other words to push Belgrade to finally recognise the results of the breakup of Yugoslavia"
That would be useful, because Serbs are holding tension by not recognizing Kosovo independence which may lead to another war, so weakening Serbia's position is in the interest of peace. And Kosovo became independent after Serbian killings and atrocities. Belgrade initiated breakup of Yugoslavia by attacking Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
That doesn't mean that UK's role in some other countries wasn't contrary to peace, inciting war and agression. But not all situations are the same. Here, they want to weaken Serbia which is Russian partner, and that benefits to Kosovo and hopefully the whole region.
Kosovo feels the threat and their prime minister warned Belgrade that if at attacked, Nato would defend them. Even if they know that Nato attacked Syria or Afghanistan, it doesn't matter, in this case it would have a defensive role.
Posted by: Saraj | Jul 14 2021 19:51 utc | 24
@ Posted by: Saraj | Jul 14 2021 19:51 utc | 24
Look at Kosovo on the map. It is nonviable as a nation-state. Unless they dream about being some kind of Monaco, San Marino or Lichtenstein - principalities which were born out of very circumstantial conditions.
If you think it will be anything but a NATO outpost for perpetual war against whatever remains of Serbia, you're delusional.
Bosnia-Herzogovina (which is also two countries, according to the liberal credo) is also probably an artificial construct.
Posted by: vk | Jul 14 2021 18:43 utc | 13
Very wrong. Bosnia was mentioned in history 1.000 year ago and it was kingdom covering even larger area. Only during Ottoman rule did they added name Herzegovina, which was a province in Bosnia, to appease some local ruler.
Bosnia (officially called Bosnia and Herzegovina) has historical continuity.
But it also has a misfortune of having Serb people under the influence of Serbia as a neighbor, from XVIII century.
Using weaponry from former Yugoslavia and with support from Serbia, they made a genocide against Bosniaks and for the first time in thousand years managed to have ethnically cleansed areas in Bosnia. Now, Bosnia has two entities, one being in full Serbian control (90+% of population are Serbs) as a result of war and genocide (whereas before there also lived 50+% Bosniaks and Croats) .
Serbs want and keep weak central government, resulting in police forces being in entities, instead unified throughout country.
Posted by: Saraj | Jul 14 2021 20:06 utc | 26
Posted by: vk | Jul 14 2021 20:02 utc | 25
The Frankestein created by Nato, this is a machine translation of Zakharova Telegram commenting the dual personality of German politicians who praise Kosovo for its "independence" while advising Germans to stay away from such paradise:
Let us open the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany. Section of recommendations when visiting foreign countries. Page about Kosovo. We find the item "Criminal situation". We read: “Organized crime is widespread. Many hundreds of thousands of illegal small arms are in private hands in Kosovo. The constraints on their use are low. "
Posted by: Paco | Jul 14 2021 20:12 utc | 27
@ Posted by: Saraj | Jul 14 2021 20:06 utc | 26
1,000 years ago? That's a lot of time.
Either way, Herzegovina does exist now. By the liberal logic, it should separate from Bosnia and become its own country.
Peter AU1 | Jul 14 2021 19:50 utc | 23
The Church of Rome and the English Church have nothing to do with the US war of terror. Is there evidence thet any of the Orthodox churches destroyed in Kosovo been replaced with a Catholic/Anglican church?
Posted by: Alberto | Jul 14 2021 20:41 utc | 29
vk in 28, sorry bit you don't seem to have a clue.
Herzegovina is just a southern part of Bosnia-Herzegovina and there's no political divide between Bosnia and Herzegovina (Only climate is different).
Only divide is between entities created as a result of ethnically cleansed land. Republika Srpska entity wants to secede. Except, war was stopped by all signatories agreeing to keep Bosnia in historical borders, albeit with a weak central government.
If they do continue with a secession, that's a war again.
So, status quo is peace but Serbs with Russian support endanger it. Yes, they say that Russia intervened in Syria as invited by the government, supporting it. Here, they are disrupting the country giving support to Serbs.
Posted by: Saraj | Jul 14 2021 20:48 utc | 30
Look at the banner under which "global britain" sets sail.
"Honi soit qui mal y pense"
They give us some old bollocks about medieval chivalry, but the reality is that the translation of this Old French is "Shame on him who thinks ill of it".
Meaning "You can go fuck yourself if you don't like it."
In some ways that is the natural outcome from national sovereignty vested in a single individual.
It turns EVERYTHING upside down and inside out.
"The national interest"? It is whatever is in HER interest - the exact opposite of popular sovereignty.
Once that is understood, it all falls back into place.
Now there is, and always has been, a massive campaign to tell lies about this:
"The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous."
Joseph Goebbels, 12 January 1941. Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Munich
It continues today. Idiots listen to the television and repeat what they are told without corroboration. The Queen is a figurehead. The Queen has no powers. Her family are in no way personally responsible for all the crimes of the Empire.
("We're back. And this time we're not going away." - Andrew, Duke of York)
Posted by: John Cleary | Jul 14 2021 20:54 utc | 31
When it comes to the Balkans the Brits had Russia on their side. Russia (both Yeltsin and Putin) betrayed and sold their orthodox brothers to the "partners' and armed Serbian enemies.
Posted by: Barry | Jul 14 2021 20:55 utc | 32
@ Posted by: Saraj | Jul 14 2021 20:48 utc | 30
But if Serbia wishes to keep aligned with Russia, there's nothing the other republics can do, right? Which means that I could make the argument that, by denying Serbia the right to be aligned with Russia, the other republics are they themselves threatening peace. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.
@22 National prestige. They can't keep their fingers out of anything. Here they are encouraging Western Balkan countries to join the EU when they themselves just left. Typical British hypocrisy.
Posted by: dh | Jul 14 2021 21:03 utc | 34
@ John Cleary (#31),
“The natural outcome” will be determined by the Laws of Nature. Maybe she is alive to see her ultimate defeat. What a colossal failure. Time will tell...
Sauron, Saruman, and Orcs (individuals without conscience) are heading towards universal justice!
A reckoning with reality is on deck! How much later is a very good question. When Titanic was built they said it's the biggest ship in the world & it will never sink. In the end it stays at the sea bed.
Posted by: Max | Jul 14 2021 21:41 utc | 35
A characteristic inconsistency applied to the former Yugoslavia is that majority non-Serbian republics should have been allowed to secede from Yugoslavia, but Serbian majority areas of those republics should not be allowed to secede from those republics.
Strident anti-Serbian voices are almost guaranteed to pop up on the comments of any article on the internet that mentions the Balkans, so this is to be expected, especially from people whose sides enjoyed the military and very substantial propaganda support of the imperialists.
I will just counter that here with the assertion that the destruction of Yugoslavia was the will of powerful exterior forces, including the UK, but most prominently in the first instance, the US, Germany, and the Vatican. Germany and the Vatican recognised the secession of Croatia, legitimising war, and the US followed with recognising BiH.
The imperialists sold their approach in simple terms: Serbs bad. Muslims good. Croats good when fighting Serbs. Croats bad when fighting Muslims. The Serbian side were blamed exclusively for ethnic cleansing while actually suffering the most from it themselves, and often with the assistance of the NATO hypocrites (Operation Storm in Krajina, and post NATO-Kosovo)
Doubtless Kit Klarenberg will also get his teeth into these new documents soon, but a quick skim shows the detail of planning and resources that goes into these propaganda campaigns to promote colonial control and regime change.
Some were astonished and horrified at the BS that went on, and goes on, with the Syrian propaganda campaign, from the false flag gas attacks to the White Helmets and so on, but it was merely a refinement on the tools developed in the Balkan wars of the 90's, from false flag attacks on market places to the faked 'massacre' at Racak, the faked 'Operation Horseshoe' and all the rest.
The UCK/KLA were sold as plucky freedom fighters against the 'Butcher of Belgrade' whilst actually being terrorists and criminals. Sound familiar? All while NATO terrorised civilians by bombing bridges, trains, buses, schools, hospitals, electricity supply, the Chinese Embassy (they haven't forgotten) and more.
The SAS were involved in training the UCK, and the Blair government was prominent in the drive to war and the relentless, hysterical propaganda surrounding it that would have made Goebbels blush. That the UK ruling class is still meddling in that part of the world is no surprise. A harrowing aspects of the documents is the banality of the colonialists. Like all bourgeoise functionaries everywhere, they really think their divine right to intervene is a blessing for those benighted souls in the target populations that they convince themselves they are 'helping'.
Posted by: Ash Naz | Jul 14 2021 22:31 utc | 36
VK @ 13, 25 and so on ...
I would suggest you don't engage with and feed the troll who will only waste your time and disrupt the comments thread here by harping on about the supposed Serbian threat to a tiny "nation" whose economy is sustained by sex trafficking, distributing heroin from Central Asia and Afghanistan to Europe, being part of a trans-Atlantic cocaine supply chain, and hosting <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Bondsteel/>Camp Bondsteel. I believe a former President of this helpless nation is currently being investigated for past war crimes, and in the past he had been suspected of having links to organised crime.
You would surely think that Albania and Kosovo, with the bulk of their populations having language in common, would have considered unification years ago when Kosovo became independent. Then Kosovar Albanians would be able to share in and enjoy the gains of being part of a larger entity and economy. Why are Albania and Kosovo still separate and who benefits from the two nations being separate?
Posted by: Jen | Jul 14 2021 23:44 utc | 37
Re my comment @ 37: sorry, I didn't do that link to Camp Bondsteel properly. I've fixed it now.
Posted by: Jen | Jul 14 2021 23:47 utc | 38
@3 el Cid:
Scotland had its chance in 2013 and blew it. Chances are that if its given the chance it'll blow it again, but there is almost zero possibility of its being given the chance once more. And if it carries out a referendum on its own, well, we have seen the Catalan independence movement to know what Brutain will do about that.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jul 15 2021 0:06 utc | 39
Re South Africa:
I'm beginning to see distinct signs of a set up situation there.
Southfront posted an apocalyptic article drawn mainly from Polish sources that imply that it is basically being African which causes looting:
While I normally avoid linking to the sewer that is zerohedge, its own article which paints an even more apocalyptic picture of the situation can’t help pointing out that the unrest is only in two provinces, Kwazulu-Natal (around Durban) and Gauteng (around Johannesburg). What’s special about those two places? Oh right, they’re Zulu dominated areas and this is a Zulu tribal uprising. The rest of South Africa, including mixed population areas with large numbers of Zulu people, is peaceful.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/south-africa-crumbling-amid-widespread-looting
Once again the media are deliberately exaggerating severe but localised violent disturbances and raising it to a “nation might collapse” scenario. What next, Amerikastani troops with a “responsibility to protect”? South Africa is a considerable prize to occupy, which is why the Brutish colonised it, and Amerikastan would love to colonise it again.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jul 15 2021 0:10 utc | 40
Looks like practice/ testing/preparation for bigger fish in more complex waters. Maybe British/ American/French/German citizens/audiences next?
Posted by: Obiwan | Jul 15 2021 0:56 utc | 41
Awe ... the Empire is concerned about Chinese Debt traps https://www.the-sun.com/news/3281851/roads-to-nowhere-china-debt-traps/
They right these painfully slanted articles accusing China of being 'predatory' but fail to mention all of the actual cases where the U.S. actually violates sovereignty by implementing virtual blockades. The U.S. uses its financial status very abusively while we warn other countries about China.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jul 15 2021 1:02 utc | 42
On the Balkans, instructive to read Diana Johnstone's 2020 memoir Circle in the Darkness on the planned breakup of Yugoslavia. Johnstone, of course, is the author of the definitive 2003 Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, Nato, and Western Delusions.
Also, Jean-Arnault Dérens & Laurent Geslin publish a lot of stuff on the Balkans in Le Monde Diplomatique, a lot of which is translated in the English edition of LMD (paywall). Not as penetrating as Johnstone, however.
Posted by: Farthington | Jul 15 2021 1:52 utc | 43
karlof1@4said;"The Outlaw Anglo Empire is a Cancer upon the planet that must be cured.:"
YEP!!!
Posted by: vetinLA | Jul 15 2021 2:06 utc | 44
Not sure why, but this Balkans Plot reminded me that The West convened a Tax Haven Summit a few years ago to decide which Tax Havens should be deemed 'legal' and which should not. If Western Governments were influenced by We The Taxpayers instead of Those Rich Tax Evaders, ALL Tax Havens would be illegal.
So whatever this plot may or may not be about, Looting will be at the top of the wish-list. Whether it's about looting the UK Treasury or stealing Balkan assets/ opportunities, should become clearer soon after the 'unrest' is unleashed.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 15 2021 3:18 utc | 45
Has there ever been an entity as perverse as the British empire, that forments perversion around the world as a means to enslave people?
...all while claiming moral superiority?
Perhaps one....
Perversion sabotages moral reformation. Russia is currently in a moral reformation. Imagine! orthodox revival, plummeting abortion rates, 1/3 are now alcohol free.
The perverse power seeks to turn brothers against each other (ukraine), and turn fellow believers against each other(serbs)
If the moral revolution can be subverted, Russia will fall.
Posted by: les7 | Jul 15 2021 3:35 utc | 46
b - "...The release of a new batch of documents show that one of those campaigns has the aim of fracturing the Balkans..."
How on earth did you arrive at that 'aim'? The documents clearly detail yet another clownish UK influence operation to salvage something exploitable (or at least anti-Russian) out of the smoking ruins of their previous Balkanization 'successes'. The fracturing part has already been accomplished. This is the part where they save the unstable states from evil Russian influence and steer the UK's neo-colonial fake democracy-building narrative. This is the part where Brit spooks usurp the victim nations' media, courts and government via intelligence cutouts and Government Owned NGOs to prepare the sheep for shearing. In fact, HMG has assembled pretty much the same team of ZATO PSYOP knucklehead loser organizations that failed decisively in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Yemen. At the same time, Her Majesty's Government is painfully aware of the risk of being seen as the sponsor of these doomed influence operations and gets contracted grifter NGOs to sign NDAs before they get their sacks of UK taxpayer gold. The only thing missing from this imperial freakshow is the USA. Suspicious!
Posted by: PavewayIV | Jul 15 2021 5:14 utc | 47
PavewayIV
The Brits have been delegated the task of keeping Europe under control whilst US takes down China.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 15 2021 5:52 utc | 48
Biswapriya Purkayast @ 40
This isn’t a “Zulu uprising” even though the violence is limited to areas where Zulus live. Most of KZN stayed peaceful especially Ulundi and the areas where the violence started in Johannesburg is dominated by hostels housing Zulu migrants from KZN
It’s an attempted coup by one faction of the ANC led by Zuma, against another faction of the ANC led by Ramaphosa.
The aim was to destroy enough critical infrastructure (water, electricity etc.) , create havoc through disruption of the food supply, disruption to transport routes (Durban harbour is the busiest port in Africa) to paralyse the country forcing Ramaphosa to resign.
Posted by: Down South | Jul 15 2021 6:32 utc | 49
Breaking up of the Balkans was a NAZI master plan, called Weisung 21, if the Russians release the archive of captured documents, it is there, the whole project is continued by fourth Reich, it was done when they pushed in Yeltsin, and Libya was done with Medvedov around , Iran has banned him entering the country, after he cancelled the S-300 missile system, he was going to be Yeltsin No2, but Putin and the crew were lurking in the background. Pushing the big red reset button screwed up badly!
Posted by: Grishka | Jul 15 2021 6:37 utc | 50
We can see the history of Perfidious Albion, but what of the future?
The world will split, decouple from each other and we will then have our war, on earth and in space.
Biswapriya Purkayast
I clicked on your username to see what was there - learn a bit more about you.
"Raghead The Friendly Neighborhood Terrorist" I like your comic strip. Cheers.
For anyone else hasn't clicked on Biswapriya Purkayast's username link its worth a look.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 15 2021 7:23 utc | 52
PavewayIV, all those wars you mention were failures on one level but surely the whole point for these wars is that someone is making money out of them? The questions for me are who is making the money and why are our so called security services so suborned from any public oversight that these activities can be perpetuated without comment here in UK. Is it really for the benefit of Her Maj or the network spawned from Eton et al? To me this is the continuation of Piracy by modern methods. The technique that allowed the British empire to develop over the last 500 years. The British masses while providing the thuggish muscle element when required, remain oblivious to this reality.
Posted by: Phil Espin | Jul 15 2021 7:36 utc | 53
Linh Dinh has been traveling in Albania. The Unz Review posts his writings about his travel. Here's his latest on Albania:
https://www.unz.com/ldinh/librazhd-paradise-on-earth/
Posted by: Mark Gaughan | Jul 15 2021 7:52 utc | 54
Saraj and VK
Kosovo was created by the US. The effective capital of the "country" is Camp Bondsteel. Organized crime in Kosovo is promoted by the US to control the country.
The UK is meddling in the Balkans for the same reason the US is - to keep the Germans down and the Russians out. There game is to control this strategically located area to threaten or control its neighbors.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Jul 15 2021 8:37 utc | 55
Blue Dotterel | Jul 15 2021 8:37 utc | 55
"Kosovo was created by the US. The effective capital of the "country" is Camp Bondsteel. Organized crime in Kosovo is promoted by the US to control the country."
Organized crime in Kosovo is promoted by the US to control Europe. There fixed it for you.
Bondsteel was also at one time considered the principal drug road into Europe. (Well, not by the MSM evidently.) Now "after Afghanistan" we will see.
The other major supplier of criminals is Albania.
Posted by: Stonebird | Jul 15 2021 9:04 utc | 56
Obiwan | Jul 15 2021 0:56 utc | 41
Things are calming down a little. Hopefully we will get back to "normal" soon.
We are not important enough, I think, for the Empire or its minions to take much of an interest at the moment. The "elites" are in their pocket already.
You are right, of course, about the uprising being in mostly Zulu areas. However, they are being used by those who loot and steal more than a mob can ever loot and steal. I am referring to the ANC government. The issue is simply who can steal the most. Simples.
The price for my opportunities being limited, or me being held accountable, is violence on the streets. The ANC has elevated the instigation of street violence to a fine art.
I wonder who taught them that?
Posted by: E | Jul 15 2021 9:10 utc | 57
Phil Espin @ 53
"To me this is the continuation of Piracy by modern methods."
Nailed it!
Posted by: Seer | Jul 15 2021 9:18 utc | 58
Yuogoslavia was a Tito Land. Serbia was choosen by the Russians before many hundret years to represent them on the Balkans. They are nearer to Habsburg the enemy of Russia.
Serbia is land of nutty people, wanting to grab everythimg from others. Russia has his culture from Bulgaria. And that is not pleasant for them. Russia is as grabing land as Serbia is grabing land from his neighbours.
Russia and Serbia made up a land like Macedonia by killing as many bulgarians as possible. So fear is the main weapon of Serbia and Russia. Therefore the two countries are hated in the Balkjans.
Russia is an empire and as evil as the english one. There is no difference.
Posted by: az | Jul 15 2021 9:24 utc | 59
I was wondering why the deepstate Guardian newspaper just published this bunch of bullshit
“ Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House
Exclusive: Documents suggest Russia launched secret multi-agency effort to interfere in US democracy
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the G-20 summit in Hamburg in 2017
Luke Harding, Julian Borger and Dan Sabbagh
Thu 15 Jul 2021 11.00 BST
Last modified on Thu 15 Jul 2021 11.12 BST”
like some rehash of the Steele Dissiers that was launched as soon as Trump was elected . I was thinking it had something to do with the out of control Covid wave and insanity of removing all social distancing on Monday.
But this story explains exactly why the house spooks have spewed more cold vomit. That’s the paper that had never published any story in the integrity initiative leaks/hacks that showed their efforts at Russophobia going back to just befor the deadly Novichok, the disappeared Skripals and the Football World Cup in Russia they attempted to stop fans travelling to.
It seems they are now responding to b’s post as damage limitation- idiots they just shot themselves in their other foot.
Posted by: DG | Jul 15 2021 10:45 utc | 60
If you thought you knew why Yugoslavia broke up, get ready for 2 hours of shocking facts that will shed a different light on Western intervention in the Balkans. Nicknamed the "Serbian Michael Moore" by the oldest daily newspaper in the Balkans, Malagurski will expose the root causes of the Yugoslav wars and explain that the goal was for the West to create economic and geopolitical colonies in that part of the world.
The Weight of Chains (youtube)
Posted by: medved | Jul 15 2021 11:21 utc | 61
'The Weight of Chains 2' is a Canadian documentary film by Boris Malagurski dealing with neoliberal reforms in the Balkans and the effects of these reforms on all aspects of life in the former Yugoslavia, from politics, economics, military, culture and education to the media. Through stories of sold off companies, corrupt politicians, fictional tribunals and various military alliances, the film deconstructs modern myths about everything the people have been told will bring them a better life. Featuring Noam Chomsky, Oliver Stone, Michael Parenti, Carla Del Ponte and others.
Posted by: medved | Jul 15 2021 11:27 utc | 62
az | Jul 15 2021 9:24 utc | 59
To my understanding, Russia and Serbia have no interest in grabbing "land" but just in protecting their nationals, identified as the people speaking their national languages. This is a feeling that lays at very root of those two peoples, and allowed them to survive and resurge in the darkest moments of their histories, when every other value seemed lost. And there is a great affinity between the Russian and the Serbian languages. Orthodoxy still plays an important role as well, but in the modern secularised society that is maybe less important now than in the past. The Habsburg and Russia were not necessarily enemies. On the contrary, they were allied in almost all wars against the Ottomans, Prussia and Napoleon, and the revolution of 1848-49 Russian troops were sent to help the Habsburg. This ended only when the Ottomans were driven out of the Balkans and a conflict between Austria and Serbia began. Then Russia took the Serbian side.
Posted by: Alberto | Jul 15 2021 11:56 utc | 63
John Cleary @ 31=> Now there is, and always has been, a massive campaign to tell lies about this:
"The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous." Joseph Goebbels, 12 January 1941. Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Munich <= Yes, it was propaganda from England that started the war and fueled the South against the North in the American Civil War (1865), and it was the same that brought the USA governed Americans into both WWI and WWII..
Karlov1 @ 4 IMO says => it's beyond time for the world's nations to stand up and make a decision--either we're going to have Universal International Law or we're going to continue to have chaos and hybrid warfare that continues to go unpunished. The NATO Punks will vote as a Bloc, but they're greatly outnumbered. And on top of Putin's clear revelation that an Anti-Russia Project exists, that Anti-World and Anti-People Projects exist too isn't at all far fetched and can now be proven to not be a conspiracy theory.
<= but the nation states are the tools of the manipulators. The criminal and oligarch elements that control the nation state system will never never ever subject their misinformation powers or their divide conquer strategies to international law, god's law, or any law but the law laid down by the God of Corruption.
Unless the 8 billion people in the world collectively rise to force out of existence the nation state system, and move to impose on the world a bottom up, democratic system organized to improve the human condition, to replace the managed by a few, top down system, which is intent on making a few wealthy at the expense of everyone else, nothing will ever change, all will tend to get worse.
The nation state system differentiates the humans born to it from birth; this is so that the manipulators can make targets of some and aggressors of others. MSM merely manipulates: the when, where, how, and who. So information is like blood, it oozes between and within the nation states to selectively deliver its messages to activate/deactivate the behaviors of the various nations as directed by the manipulators.
Top down government has never, ever delivered peace. and it never ever will.
Thanks to both B for the download and to
Jen @ 38 for Camp Bondsteel
Posted by: snake | Jul 15 2021 11:58 utc | 64
posted by Saraj @24
Everything you said are lies. I was in Zagreb when the war started. The break up was initiated by Croats and Muslims in Bosnia, with a little help from Albanians from Kosovo. You must be the second generation who got the info from the parents who don't have a clue what was happening.
Posted by: tera798 | Jul 15 2021 12:22 utc | 65
Peter AU1@48 - Why do the Brits get the easy 'Bellingcat the Balkans' job? Not fair! The US has 1.4 billion Chinese laborers and their CCP masters building plastic and electronic crap for us. It's not like our State Department can just roll out a few GONGOs and 'influential vloggers' to take that place down. We're probably going to need some kind of smartphone app to get the job done. Everyone knows how long those kind of IT projects take. Swift on iOS? Java on Android? What if we need to use some weird programming language like objective C or C++? We'll have to hire Russian programmers, for Christ's sake!
Posted by: PavewayIV | Jul 15 2021 12:43 utc | 67
Saraj @30
Serbs bad again, Croats and Bosnian Muslims are good guys again. Bad Russia is supporting Serbs, while nice and inoccent Croats (Hrvati) and Bosnian Muslims don't get any help from the US, GB, and Germany. Really?
Well at least Serbs as Slavs (Slaveni) are keeping in touch with Slavic Russians, while the Croats are always trying to be German lackeys.
Posted by: tera798 | Jul 15 2021 12:56 utc | 68
at Sarah @26
Your view of the world is too simplistic. Re Bosnia that was mentioned 1000 years ago, I really doubt it, but even if it was, nobody knows what was the genetic make up of those people. Ilirians also lived in these lands before. The Slavic tribes were coming in waves from 5th or 6th century on, and they went even to Greece. All the nations in the former Yugoslavia are total mix. Even the genetic tests give results that they are only around 30 percent Slavs. The English are maybe 30 percent Anglo Saxons. And later Croats were leaving to other parts of the world and other people were coming in. There is no such a thing as a pure Croat, or pure Serb. I really don't care, I am about 50 percent Rusyn, and 50 percent German, but was unlucky that the both branches of my ancestors decided to come to that land.
Posted by: tera798 | Jul 15 2021 13:26 utc | 69
It turns EVERYTHING upside down and inside out.
I was ruminating on a good example to highlight this process. I thought again about my post on the "Rules-based world order" as critiqued by FM Lavrov
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/06/warmongering-british-actions-in-the-black-sea/comment-page-4/#comment-995065
(with links intact)
A story related to me was that every year Buxton, the Duke of Edinburgh and others would carve through the North Norfolk nature reserve waters blasting everything in sight.Because they could.
And only they.There is nobody to control these people, and they can’t help themselves.
And here is about as much corroboration as you will find in the British media. The marvelous Steve Bell.
https://belltoons.co.uk/bellworks/index.php/if/1983/0638_P096-SHOOTINGDUKE1
A look at Buxton's wiki page is quite interesting.
Baron Buxton of Alsa KCVO MC DLIn 1964, he was Extra Equerry to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and in 1972 High Sheriff of Essex. He became Deputy Lieutenant of Essex in 1975 and held this office until 1985.
On 11 May 1978, he was created a life peer as Baron Buxton of Alsa, of Stiffkey in the County of Norfolk.[6] In 1996, Buxton, was invested as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO).[7]
The DL is interesting, as it represents the pinacle of the county court system in Essex - he is the monarch's representative so his word is law.
More interesting is the KCVO.
Let's go to wiki again
The Royal Victorian Order (French: Ordre royal de Victoria)[note 1] is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch of the Commonwealth realms,[1] members of the monarch's family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the monarch.[2][3] The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is the sovereign of the order, the order's motto is Victoria, and its official day is 20 June.[note 2] The order's chapel is the Savoy Chapel in London.
"Distinguished personal service to .... members of the monarch's family ..."
So Buxton received his KCVO for facilitating the murder of thousands of protected and scarce wildlife by the Duke of Edinburgh. How's that for upside down and inside out?
There is other information of interest, most particularly for karlof1 if you are reading, for example
Prior to the close of the 19th century, most general honours within the British Empire were bestowed by the sovereign on the advice of her British ministers, who sometimes forwarded advice from ministers of the Crown in the Dominions and colonies (appointments to the then most senior orders of chivalry, the Most Noble Order of the Garter and the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, had been made on ministerial advice since the 18th century and were not restored to the personal gift of the sovereign until 1946 and 1947, respectively[4]). Queen Victoria thus established on 21 April 1896 the Royal Victorian Order as a junior and personal order of knighthood that allowed her to bestow directly to an empire-wide community honours for personal services
This provides a sort of answer to your question about how the crown regained supremacy over parliament following the English civil war. It was done very carefully, very slowly, as only a dynasty is capable.
In 1848 came the Treason Felony Act.
In 1877 she became Empress of India.
In 1896 she had become powerful enough to establish a personal sovereign order outwith the control of parliament.
In 1931 came the Statute of Westminster which reduced the UK to just one of her many realms
"After 1931, when the Statute of Westminster came into being and the Dominions of the British Empire became independent states, equal in status to Britain,[8][9]" (wiki)
In 1946 and 1947 they took back sole control over the Order of the Garter and the Order of the Thistle.
And in the 21st Century it is these personal sovereign orders, primarily the Garter and the Victorian, which are the lynchpins of the Windsor assault on the post war settlement.
Posted by: John Cleary | Jul 15 2021 13:28 utc | 70
Firstly, I am very pleased to read Paveway IV here again. Always the best, always to the point.
Jen @37, you and I do not agree much, but let me try to answer your question why Kosovo and Albania are still separate. Just because this is an interesting question.
The leadership of Kosovo is quite criminal as you say, but these individuals have the national hero status in the wider Albanian ethnicity, especially in the financially powerful diaspora in US, Switzerland and Germany. They managed to wrestle (with NATO help) a large additional piece of land for the Albanian nation. Their high popularity creates a problem for the leadership of Albania proper. At the same time, if Kosovo were to become part of Albania, the criminal leadership of Kosovo would be constrained by the Albanian law. Kosovo is still a NATO protectorate, it does not have such established legal system and is still heaven for all kinds of criminal activity (all kinds, except they may have given up on organ harvesting for now). Therefore, for NATO, Kosovo is a bit of Afghanistan in Europe, for the usual off books profiteering. Plus nobody there shoots at them and there is a famous Bill Klingon (Clinton) monument in Pristina. Kosovo leadership has amply rewarded the US Democratic Party politicians and generals (Wesley Clarke) with mining concessions, mobile telco licences and so on. Those could get questioned or challenged in a united country. Although both Kosovo and Albania belong to NATO, NATO does not encourage a union.
As Saraj says above - if the Russians do not intervene when US and NATO decline then Kosovo and Albania will unite once Kosovo leadership acquires enough moolah and their hero aura fades.
All this is rather typical for the life in any NATO creation until it gets kicked out.
Posted by: Kiza | Jul 15 2021 13:51 utc | 71
Alberto | Jul 15 2021 11:56 utc
the serbian alfabet has mo letters like ъ, ь. the serbs have grabed the lands of vojvodina. Ungar territory. the serbs have a history of cowards. they lost the war against bulgaria in 1885, which they begann.
The language close to russian is bulgarian because the bible by which the language was introduced in Russia was by the bible translated by the bulgarians in cirillic.
The Russians have gain such a big country only by peace? you are not serios.
Posted by: az | Jul 15 2021 13:54 utc | 72
at tera798 | 69
Re Bosnia that was mentioned 1000 years ago, I really doubt it
I see that's easier for you to type then to check and learn and accept.
Short source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banate_of_Bosnia
Posted by: Saraj | Jul 15 2021 14:18 utc | 73
Ash Naz | 36
The imperialists sold their approach in simple terms: Serbs bad. Muslims good. Croats good when fighting Serbs. Croats bad when fighting Muslims. The Serbian side were blamed exclusively for ethnic cleansing while actually suffering the most from it themselves, and often with the assistance of the NATO hypocrites (Operation Storm in Krajina, and post NATO-Kosovo)
Those simple explanation are correct. Serbs are monsters who made genocide. Muslims/Bosniaks are good, didn't have organized crimes, entered into war without weapons and lost 100.000 people, mostly civilians in Serbian slaugthers, plus rapes. Croats were defendant in Croatia when attacked by Serbs and I'm glad they managed to defend, but later they saw they could grab a piece of Bosnia-Herzegovina and attacked Muslims/Bosniaks and made a deal with Milošević (their majority with president Tuđman, not all were for that). The Serbian side did ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina and later were joined by Croats. Croats later did ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Croatia, so what they suffered there they started themselves. Same for Kosovo.
@ Blue Dotterel 55
Kosovo was created by the US. The effective capital of the "country" is Camp Bondsteel.
Yes and Stonebird | 56 may be right, likely US didn't do it because of some love to Albanians but to get a stronghold there and it's base. But that had a reason or pretext, Serbian attack on Albanian in Kosovo and their atrocities.
Folks who have luck not to be smaller nation near by Serbs cannot figure out lunatics who in just 8 years attacked Slovenia (very small war), Croatia (rather long war), Bosnia-Herzegovina (4 years of was and genocide by Serbia) and Kosovo. Macedonia somehow escaped Serbian attack I think it feared (it had problems with Albanian minority).
@ tera798 | 65
I was in Zagreb when the war started. The break up was initiated by Croats and Muslims in Bosnia, with a little help from Albanians from Kosovo. You must be the second generation who got the info from the parents who don't have a clue what was happening.
You may have not understood the basics. Serbia started breakup of Yugoslavia by extreme nationalism and wanting to dominate all (politics, economy, army, culture,..). Slovenia was first to leave. Croatia also wanted to leave and they could because they had German support. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia feared the war they knew Serbia was preparing, because Serbia controlled Yugoslav army and it's weaponry. War doesn't start with a whim, it takes years and we all had evicence that Serbia was preparing it in Bosnia-Herzegovina years before 1992. So Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia in 1991 proposed a compromise for Yugoslavia remain organized as a confederation. But, Croatia already decided to leave so refused confederation and Serbia wanted only federation with exclusive domination. Only then Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia searched independance. Montenegro was with Serbia at that time, but later even them couldn't bear Serbia so also became independent.
Long before Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina existed as states (see Bosnian kingdom) regardless that Bosnia-Herzegovina for 500 years was occupied by Ottomans, similar to Serbia for shorter period, so it was democratic to vote independence in the existing borders. Whole point is that Serbs started wars.
Alberto | 63
To my understanding, Russia and Serbia have no interest in grabbing "land" but just in protecting their nationals, identified as the people speaking their national languages.
Sorry, you don't have a clue. Far from some language protection, Serbia has a 200 years old plan to create Greater Serbia. Old plan was Načertanije and new one SANU memorandum. Borders were defined to cover all Bosnia-Herzegovina and part of Croatia. They were expelled from Croatia and lost Kosovo in 1990s so now they have a new goal: to secede part of Bosnia-Herzegovina they ethnically cleansed in war. That really means they killed, raped, destroyed, plundered.
And I ask those who think it's somehow good because they were opposed to Nato: would you kill or rape for no reason?
az | 59
Serbia is land of nutty people, wanting to grab everything from others.
Very simple and true.
Posted by: Saraj | Jul 15 2021 14:20 utc | 74
It seems to me that some people look just in 2 colors: if western imperialists wage unjust war now in 2000+, in all wars where must've been at the wrong side. No. They were helpful to Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, just because Serbia was openly attacking them. Nato used the opportunity to find it's new meaning in 1990s by doing the right thing and to get some bases there. Only later in 2000s started offensive wars.
I also think that West wanted socialist Yugoslavia to split-up. But only Serbs made it finally happen with their actions in 1980s which resulted with independence of other republics in 1990s. And it's only them to really blame.
Posted by: Saraj | Jul 15 2021 14:22 utc | 75
Putin may have come to power in part due to the Russian outrage at the 79 day NATO bombardment of Serbia in 1999, at the time when Russian soldiers were growing cabbage to feed themselves and survive thanks to neoliberalism introduced by Western advisers to Yeltsin’s Russia. But Putin is an extreme pragmatist, the leader who ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from their untenable position at Pristina Airport. The Russian Military presence there almost sparked a nuclear war when the mad hillbilly US general from Arkansas, Wesley Clark, ordered his subordinated British general Michael Jackson to attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Pristina_airport
One day when Putin is gone, if the Russian nationalist happen to take over, they would almost certainly look at issues of the Bosphorus being given to the Turks by the British and Kosovo being carved out of Serbia by all of the usual Russian enemies ganged together.
Finally, one slightly funny point - if you think that it is only the British Government that wants to splinter the Balkans further then you must have missed the shameless behaviour of the elite British public at recent Wimbledon, against Novak Djokovic a tennis player one Grandslam win away from being the best tennis player of all time. The deepest irony is that this British nation invented the word FairPlay, which exists in few other languages. Most likely because it is something they never had, so they invented a term for something that other peoples find just natural. What is then a little more meddling in someone else’s business in the Balkans?
Posted by: Kiza | Jul 15 2021 14:23 utc | 76
thanks b... this is what we have come to expect from her Majesty's government... constant propaganda and lies are what they excel at..
best post on this thread hands down -> Ash Naz | Jul 14 2021 22:31 utc | 36
runner up! - > Blue Dotterel | Jul 15 2021 8:37 utc | 55
Posted by: james | Jul 15 2021 15:45 utc | 77
I recall reading some posts on the internet at the time from a fairly young man who that was shocked at what the US was doing bombing his country. He was like many other people in awe of the US and its "freedoms and blue jeans" and could not believe what they were doing to his beloved country.
Posted by: arby | Jul 15 2021 19:32 utc | 78
The same disruptive game is underway in Thailand with the red vs blue fakery to resist the OBOR network.
https://journal-neo.org/2021/07/13/belt-road-the-china-laos-thailand-corridor/
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jul 15 2021 22:14 utc | 80
Kiza @ 71:
Thanks for your explanation about why Albania and Kosovo remain separate.
The general public in Albania and Kosovo seem in favour of unification (though not overwhelmingly so) so the continued separation may be, as you say, due to the whims of NATO and/or the EU.
Posted by: Jen | Jul 16 2021 3:19 utc | 81
They have one target in Balkan - the Serbs. Serbia and Republic of Srpska, a part of B&H.
Posted by: TheJomu | Jul 16 2021 11:26 utc | 82
The comments to this entry are closed.
Divide and conquer still works.
Map of the Balkan countries. https://mk0mapprpkwwgngeq1o.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/image-84.jpeg
Former Yugoslavia https://online.seterra.com/images/system/yugoslavia.jpg
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 14 2021 16:15 utc | 1