April 26, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Will the conflict in the Balkans escalate into war?

The conflict on the border of Serbia and Kosovo has subsided for the moment, but most likely only for a while. It can resume at any moment with renewed vigor, they believe in Belgrade.

The current prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, wants to return to his demands for Serbs crossing the border from 1 September. This is regarded as nothing more than an attempt to squeeze the Serbs out of their historically ancestral territories. Serbia will never accept their people being banned from moving between Serbia and Kosovo, given the many family ties that remain on both sides of the border.

In the event of a military conflict, despite the superior military force of Serbia, NATO will fight on the side of the Albanians, since Kosovo is of great military-strategic importance for the West. The situation can and most likely will be very tense.

“The government of the self-proclaimed Kosovo listened to the American ambassador and decided to postpone the application of the controversial decisions on car numbers and Serbian passports for 30 days – until September 1, the Serbs are offered to remove the barricades,” the telegram channel writes. Serbian Herald.

“I think a delay in implementation will be necessary as there seems to be misinformation and misunderstanding of this decision. We look forward to working with our partners in EUto reduce tension. We are not asking for the decision to be rescinded, that is clear, but we ask for it to be postponed,” US Ambassador Jeff Hovenier said after meeting with Prime Minister and President of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti and Vyosa Osmani.

“In a month, the situation may repeat itself if Belgrade does not take more decisive steps, I think in Belgrade. The main thing that Serbia needs to do is to demand compliance with resolution 1244. And also call on China and Russia to resolve the issue, saying along the way that the West has not coped with the task .

Why did the US still put pressure on the Albanians? Apparently, they realized that the Albanians themselves are not able to either intimidate the Serbian population of the region, or solve the task. Note that even without pulling the Army of Serbia to the administrative line. This is a good sign.

The United States gave back (for now), and the Albanians realized that Washington would not stand up for them at every such provocation. The more the Serbs of Kosmet and official Belgrade will snap back, the better.

The dumbest thing in this situation is KFOR. The “peacekeepers” made a number of populist statements, but again they did nothing sensible, confining themselves to only arriving in Kosovska Mitrovica to guard the empty bridge,” Serbian Vestnik emphasizes.

Despite the fact that Kosovo is a small disputed territory, there are deposits of valuable minerals on its territory. Price reserves lead, zinc, silver, nickel, manganese, molybdenum and boron (seven strategic ores) in Kosmet is estimated at 1,000 billion US dollars, and this is not counting the large reserves of brown coal, which acquires strategic importance in the era of the energy crisis.

In addition, Kosovo is of strategic importance to NATO and Washington as a transshipment air and land base for NATO forces in a place called Bonsteel. This military base has been repeatedly used, such as in the war with Iraq and Syria. In addition, NATO has established a joint command post with the Kosovo police.

According to Vladimir Kozin, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences, Kosovo appeared on the map EVEN not by a referendum, but by a decision of the parliament, where Kosovo deputies made up only 10%. That is, de jure, such a country does not exist. But! It doesn’t matter if it is recognized by the US and its satellites.

However, the situation has another point of view. According to another expert from London, analyst, historian and author of books, Dr. Markos Papadopoulos, there will be no war between Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo.

Marcos believes that both sides are now American colonies and will therefore have to reckon with each other. In his opinion, the speeches of Serbian President Vučić are just a decoration to create an impression of the independence and sovereignty of his country.



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