Growing Serb Resistance to NATO’s Kosovo Occupation Shows Fading U.S. Power

It would be a shame for Serbs not to seize their opportunities with regard to righting the wrongs of NATO’s dismemberment of their historic lands and the illegal occupation of the Kosovo province in particular.

An intriguing paradigm shift is apparent with the onward marching multipolar world. It would surely be a shame for Serbs not to seize their opportunities with regard to righting the wrongs of NATO’s dismemberment of their historic lands and the illegal occupation of the Kosovo province in particular.

Historical bitter-sweet irony abounds in the following paradox: of all the countries in the world, it was the United States that orchestrated the quasi-self-declaration of independence by Kosovo in 2008; yet recent angry protests by the local Serb population amid a violent crackdown by the NATO-backed regime in Pristina necessitated Washington to censure the Kosovan regime – proving that Kosovo is not actually a sovereign independent state, but rather a NATO protectorate enclave of Serbia.

The recent fiasco stems from electoral games that the Kosovan-Albanian leader Albin Kurti tried to impose on the Serb population in contested northern districts of Kosovo. Kosovo is not recognized as a separate state by Russia, China and several other nations. It only exists because it is propped up by NATO and so-called NATO “peacekeepers” known as KFOR.

The government of Serbia in Belgrade contests the splitting of Kosovo from its territory. A large Serb population has found itself cut off in an unrecognized state – Kosovo. Recent local elections were repudiated by these Serbs as illegitimate. In their absence, the Kurti regime in Pristina tried to impose Albanian mayors in their municipalities. That sleight of hand provoked violent clashes between protesting Serbs and the NATO forces in conjunction with Kosovo’s paramilitary police. Eventually, the violence necessitated a strange reprimand to Pristina from Washington.

The starting point in this realpolitik local case study is the elections for officials of the three municipalities in Serbia’s southern province of Kosovo and Metohija. Dubious Albanian politicians apparently won the bogus elections. Washington had tried to lend some legitimacy to the poll even though the massive boycotting of the process by the local Serb majority made the elections look farcical and illegal.

Elsewhere, there did not seem to be any problems in the districts of Prizren, Urosevac, Pec or Pristina largely owing to the historical crimes of Albanians who had brutally obliterated the local Serbs during almost a century-long continual purge. (An ethnic-cleansing process sponsored by the U.S., Britain and Germany after the Second World War merits a separate long article).

Washington and its NATO allies did not seem to mind when Pristina’s special forces (paramilitary police) used violence against Serb protesters to occupy the municipality buildings on May 26. There are also claims that KFOR/NATO snipers shot at unarmed Serbs from the rooftops and inflicted severe wounds on a number of people.

Then there was an abrupt change in U.S. stance. Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija successfully resisted on May 29 the occupation of the municipal buildings by the NATO “peacekeepers” and their Pristina goons. Several NATO soldiers were injured in the melee. Chaos then descended but the unarmed Serbs succeeded in overcoming the heavily armed NATO forces.

Of course, the NATO ambassadors in Pristina, as if they were a part of the Nazi Gleichschaltung, one after another issued urgent calls that the violence against the NATO soldiers will not be tolerated.

However, there came a significant shift shortly afterwards. Washington and its NATO partners refrained from trying to lay all the blame on the Serbs and smearing them as Russian agents.

Remarkably, Albin Kurti (aptly named the Zelensky of Kosovo) was censured. In particular, he was instructed that the dubiously elected Albanian mayors were not permitted to occupy the municipality buildings in the northern districts. What a turnaround! Clown Kurti was rebuked by the very same U.S. and NATO officials who assisted him militarily to illegally occupy the said buildings in the first place.

We can only speculate at this stage about the U.S. and NATO U-turn. Perhaps the unexpected resistance by the Serbs threatened greater instability in the NATO protectorate. Or perhaps NATO soldiers were fired at by Kurti’s paramilitary snipers, whilst blaming the Serbs, yet they were now caught red-handed in their blatant lies.

More was to come. There was then a list of official U.S. sanctions issued against Albin Kurti because he was refusing to obey NATO commands. In that way, the U.S. and NATO bosses inadvertently admitted that their unconstitutional recognition of Kosovo does not mean a thing, not even to themselves; because their pulling rank on Kurti like a messenger boy demonstrated that they do not consider Kosovo to be a sovereign state.

In effect, they consider Kosovo to be their own NATO protectorate, the supposed sovereignty of which does not apply to this handful of hapless municipal buildings.

Moreover, Kurti’s truculent refusal to obey U.S. orders is instructive in another way. It spotlights the limits of Washington’s power and its imperial decline.

If the U.S. Empire really retained its former power, Kurti would never dare to disobey in such a publicly insolent manner. The irony is rich. A minor stooge and henchman in Kosovo defies Uncle Sam and in doing so shows up Washington’s frailty.

The United States is unlikely to all of a sudden stop pressurizing Serbia to recognize Kosovo – something that Serbia will never do. Still, an intriguing paradigm shift is being established with the onward marching multipolar world globally; it would surely be a shame for Serbs to not seize the opportunities.

Strangely enough, Ramush Haradinai (yes, that organ-harvesting Albanian terrorist) appears to be initiating the procedures of the official recall of Albin Kurti’s mandate.

What if extraordinary, real self-determining elections in Kosovo and Metohija follow in all this chaos that has been unleashed? Secondly, what if extraordinary elections ensue in the rest of Serbia? And given that EU parliamentary and U.S. presidential elections are approaching, one has to wonder, with a glimmer of hope, if Kosovo and Metohija can take advantage of the changing geopolitical landscape.

The past few days have come as an encouragement that the Serbian resistance to the NATO/KFOR/Albanian alliance is alive and kicking. Serbs will push back if attacked again. The Serbian resistance will have to be reckoned with.

On top of that, there is emerging, stronger support from Russia and China for Serbian national rights. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had urgent meetings with U.S. officials in Belgrade over the recent turmoil. Significantly, too, Vucic was met by the ambassadors of Russia and China immediately afterwards. There may well be a very good reason for the U.S. rapid U-turn in trying to appease Belgrade while muzzling the NATO-backed regime in Pristina.

As a closing note, an apt quote from Milan Knezevic, a Serbian politician in neighboring Montenegro: “If Kosovo is not ours, why do they [NATO] keep demanding to take it away from us?”

Original article: https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/06/14/growing-serb-resistance-to-nato-kosovo-occupation-shows-fading-us-power/