As I covered just a few days ago, Serbia is fending off a color revolution.
TL;DR, Serbia suffered two mass shootings then “opposition parties” began blaming Vucic’s administration for private gun ownership. However, Vucic successfully seized control of the disinformation campaign and destabilized GAE’s plan to fix his upcoming election.
If I may channel Paul Harvey… ahem And now… the rest of the story!
Why did ethnic Serbs attack NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo? Here’s what we know
h ttps://www.yahoo.com/news/why-did-ethnic-serbs-attack-170142009.html
By Christian Edwards for CNN, 31 May 2023
More like, here’s what CNN will admit, but it’s good for background.
Dozens of NATO peacekeepers were injured after they were attacked by ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo, during protests over the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors.
Violence broke out after Serbian demonstrators tried to block the newly elected mayors from taking office in the northern town of Zvecan on Monday, following a disputed election in April.
While this sort of violence against peacekeepers is rare, tensions have spiked in the region in recent months, fueled by deep historical rifts.
Spoiler: those weren’t peacekeepers and they weren’t keeping no damn peace.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, following the 1998-99 war in which Kosovar Albanians attempted to break from what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, made up of today’s Serbia and Montenegro. NATO intervened in the war to protect Kosovo’s Albanian majority.
Albanian Muslims, if I recall the demographics correctly, who committed various atrocities against Serbian Christians. What you need to know about that conflict is, Serbian leader Milosevic was first acquitted of corruption by local courts, then a five-year international tribunal for war crimes returned no verdict after he died of Suddenly in prison.
Serbia views Kosovo as a breakaway state and does not recognize its independence. Kosovo’s Serbs view themselves as part of Serbia, and see Belgrade as their capital, rather than Pristina.
In March, the two countries signed a fresh deal in Ohrin, North Macedonia, aiming again to normalize ties. But this was followed by controversial local elections in four municipalities of northern Kosovo.
Fearing potential violence, Kosovo’s central election commission changed plans to put voting booths in local schools, instead setting up mobile huts patrolled by NATO peacekeepers.
Bullshit. “We don’t want any violence, so let’s invite back the army that won us the last war against the Serbs to fortify our democracy at gunpoint. Guess what, we won all four mayorships! Those Serbs must love & trust us after all!”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called on ethnic Serbs in the region to boycott the elections, saying that they should no longer tolerate a foreign “occupation.”
After polls closed, election officials said only around 1,567 had voted across the four municipalities – a turnout of 3.5%, according to local media.
The diminished turnout was a mark of the boycott’s success in these majority Serb regions. The Zvecan municipality has a population of around 16,800. Of these, more than 16,000 are ethnic Serbs – with only around 500 ethnic Albanians.
The newly-elected Albanian mayor in Zvecan won with scarcely over 100 votes, prompting cries that his authority is illegitimate.
Huh, so that’s what a boycotted election looks like. Rather hard to claim a People’s Mandate, with a voter turnout of F.U.
The peacekeeping mission said that it had increased its presence in northern Kosovo after the newly elected ethnically Albanian mayors took office in majority Kosovo Serb areas. Its aim was to “reduce the risk of escalation,” KFOR said, but troops were “subsequently attacked by increasingly aggressive crowds.”
As confirmed by other accounts, “increased its presence in majority Serb areas” means “NATO troops escorted the Albanian mayors into their new offices to rule over the local Serbs”, which was when they encountered those “increasingly aggressive crowds”.
This is typical color revolution stuff… but here’s what CNN didn’t tell you.
Largest military exercise “Defender Europe ‘23” officially starts in Kosovo
h ttps://euronews.al/en/largest-military-exercise-defender-europe-23-officially-starts-in-kosovo/
By Euronews Albania, 21 May 2023
Kosovo hosted the opening ceremony of the joint military exercise “Defender Europe 2023” this Sunday, an event organized in Pristina.
Present in the opening ceremony were Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani, Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Defense Minister Armend Mehaj, Commander of the Kosovo Security Force Bashkim Jashari, American Ambassador to Pristina Jeff Hovenier and other public figures.
Speaking to the Kosovo Security Force soldiers, President Osmani said they are “guardians of peace and stability, in an ever complex and challenging world”.
…PM Kurti called this the biggest military exercise to ever have happened in Kosovo.
“More than 1,300 military forces of the Kosovo Security Force will perform military training tasks, alongside 24 thousand soldiers of the armed forces of the 25 NATO countries and partner countries of the United States.”
On the other hand, Ambassador Hovenier emphasized the importance of exercises such as “Defender Europe 2023”, while the Russian aggression in Ukraine continues.
“One of the goals of this training is to demonstrate the ability of the U.S. military forces to quickly deploy combat-ready troops and equipment to reassure allies, deter those who might threaten peace in Europe and protect this continent from aggression.”
What a Cohencidence, eh? that Kosovo imposing foreign rule over ethnic Serbs having sudden “active shooter” problems, just happens to coincide with Kosovo hosting the largest NATO mobilization in NATO history. A mobilization explicitly intended to “demonstrate the ability of the U.S. military forces to quickly deploy… to… deter those who might threaten peace in Europe.”
And as we know from the 1990s, GAE already counts Serbia as one of those “threats”. Serbia’s refusal to sanction Russia hasn’t changed any hearts and minds.
Vox Day already called the shot, that the long-anticipated Ukraine offensive will happen about June 11, so I can’t really take credit for calling it now… but take a look at these other two headlines I found while researching this latest scuffle in former Yugoslavia.
Air Defender 23: The Huge Military Air Defence Exercise Planned In Europe Next Month
h ttps://simpleflying.com/air-defender-23-huge-military-airspace-excercise-june-2023/
By Giacomo Amati, 24 May 2023
This is unprecedented. Between June 12-23, twenty-five nations will participate in the largest-ever military exercise in the European airspace.
Air Defender 23 will be the most significant military exercise ever carried out over the European skies. The event will take place from June 12th until June 23rd, involving the air forces of 25 nations.
More specifically, Air Defender 23 will represent the most extensive deployment exercise of air forces in the history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, commonly known as NATO. The unprecedented event will involve up to 10,000 exercise participants who will train their flying skills with approximately 220 aircraft. The military exercise will take place in European airspace and under the command of the German Air Force, or Luftwaffe.
Hermann Goering spins in his grave. Yay Luftwaffe! THIS time you’ll beat that Russian bear! You and the Red Sox, for the WIN!
Although I admit, no exercises are scheduled near the Russian border per this article.
NATO Launches Arctic Maneuvers, Vowing To Protect Newest Member Finland
h ttps://www.rferl.org/a/nato-arctic-exercises-finland/32435765.html
By Reuters, 30 May 2023
NATO countries are in the middle of Arctic military maneuvers, vowing on May 30 to defend their newest member, Finland, which is hosting its first joint NATO exercise since becoming the 31st member of the Western alliance in April. Nearly 1,000 allied forces from the United States, Britain, Norway, and Sweden joined some 6,500 Finnish troops for the Northern Forest exercise at an artillery training ground above the Arctic Circle just a two-hour drive from the Russian border. U.S. Army Major General Gregory Anderson is overseeing the exercise, which continues through June 2.
That’s three major, even unprecedented, exercises for early June in mid- or Eastern Europe. Hat tip to VD for this last headline:
US has been preparing Ukrainian counteroffensive ‘for months’ – Nuland
h ttps://www.rt.com/news/576926-us-ukraine-counteroffensive-nuland/
25 May 2023
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told an audience in Kiev on Thursday that Washington has been helping plan the Ukrainian ‘counteroffensive’ against Russia for almost half a year.
“Even as you plan for the counteroffensive, which we have been working on with you for some 4-5 months, we are already beginning our discussions with [the] Ukrainian government and with friends in Kiev – both on the civilian side and on the military side – about Ukraine’s long-term future,” Nuland told the Kiev Security Forum via video-link from the State Department.
Returning to the State Department in 2021 as part of Joe Biden’s administration, Nuland was once again put in charge of Ukraine policy. Speaking at a Carnegie Foundation event in February, she said the conquest of Crimea and regime change in Moscow would be the ideal outcome of the current conflict.
[GQ pulls up Google Earth] Finnish border to Moscow isn’t too far… ain’t no roads through Ukraine now… Serbia to Crimea, hmm, that would be an amphibious operation…
Segue
h ttps://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/03/30/nato-us-forces-join-romania-led-black-sea-military-drills/
MAHMUDIA, Romania — Romania’s navy led multinational military drills in the Black Sea region Thursday that brought together U.S. and NATO troops as the 30-nation alliance looks to boost security on its southeastern flank amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
More than 30 naval ships, 14 aircraft and 15 “fast intervention” boats and other patrol vessels are taking part in Sea Shield 2023, which started [March 20, 2023] and runs until April 2. Anti-explosive divers have participated in drills, as have chemical, biological, and nuclear defense specialists.
These naval drills are almost monthly, but not in eye-catching numbers. Regardless, there’s certainly some capability for a Romania-to-Crimea amphibious operation and such a plan could explain why some of those drone attacks happening over the Black Sea in recent months were huge headlines ‘for no reason at all’.
End segue
She added that the attack will be “likely starting and moving concurrently” with events such as the NATO summit in Lithuania, scheduled for July 11.
I agree with VD, that announcing July 11 and “surprise!” on June 11 is probably the game, since large troop movements can no longer be concealed…
…and “exercises” have placed NATO forces for a three-prong invasion…
…and no way would NATO light this firecracker with its leadership concentrated in border-nation Lithuania…
…and it’s traditional for World Wars to start in the Balkans.