{"id":250477,"date":"2022-03-05T07:49:54","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T07:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=250477"},"modified":"2022-03-06T09:11:35","modified_gmt":"2022-03-06T09:11:35","slug":"understanding-the-ukraine-crisis-from-the-last-free-enclave-in-europe-outside-of-russia-and-belarus-that-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=250477","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Ukraine Crisis From the Last Free Enclave in Europe \u2013 Outside of Russia and Belarus, That Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aleksandar Pavic \u2013 Strategic Review March 3, 2022<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

USAF F-15E Strike Eagle drop 2000lbs munitions. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

To any Serb who has not lost his mind or has just become numb from three decades of relentless anti-Serbian propaganda and lies emanating from the \u201cfree and democratic\u201d West\u2019s power centers and media \u2013 the speed and totalitarian scope of anti-Russian measures and the intensity of anti-Russian propaganda censorship that has captured the West cannot come as a surprise. As Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic stated<\/a> a few days before the beginning of Russia\u2019s denazification and demilitarization campaign in the Ukraine, about 85% of Serbs are \u201calways\u201d on the side of Russia. Even as Serbia has, over the past several days, come under immense Western pressure as the lone independent enclave in Europe, a sort of a West Berlin of the new multipolar world in the making, surrounded by NATO and\/or EU countries that have been, with varying degrees of voluntarity, sucked into the ongoing anti-Russian hysteria and the accompanying sanctions, closing of airspace to Russian planes, etc.<\/p>\n

The reason is simple, even if one sets aside the centuries-old spiritual, ethnic and just plain fraternal ties between the two peoples. For the Serbs were, so to speak, the canaries in the coal mine in the years that followed George Bush Senior\u2019s proclamation of a \u201cnew world order<\/a>.\u201d Early on after the fall of the Berlin Wall, at the beginning of the 1990s, while innocents and just plain people of good will were still enamored with the announced \u201cend of history<\/a>\u201d and the glorious triumph of \u201cliberal democracy,\u201d in the Serbian parts of Yugoslavia, we were experiencing, firsthand, something completely different, dark and ominous. We were witnessing the gradual return of pure, cynical power politics, only this time couched in the clothing of politically correct, sugarcoated homilies invoking \u201chuman rights,\u201d \u201cdemocracy,\u201d \u201cEuropean integration\u201d and \u201cpeace,\u201d which, as it soon enough turned out, served as a mere \u201cliberal\u201d fog of war, as a preparatory rhetorical, diplomatic and media artillery fire for legitimizing the West\u2019s self-anointed right to define what is good and what is not and to, on the basis of the newly prescribed definitions, interfere and expand its purely pragmatic, base interests wherever it could. The world was the victorious West\u2019s oyster, \u201cdemocracy expansion<\/a>\u201d its new quasi-religion, putting a moral veneer on its newest geopolitical outreach, a modernized version of the \u201cwhite man\u2019s burden\u201d couched in the newfangled terminology of a supposedly post-ideological era.<\/p>\n

Thus, during the violent dismemberment of Yugoslavia, its chief external instigators and facilitators \u2013 led by Germany and Austria, with essential help from the U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia \u2013 could, thanks to their vast domination of the media-informational space, present themselves as \u201cpeace brokers\u201d and, even more sickening, as moral arbiters. The new-old expansionist West could portray itself to the uninformed and the gullible as some sort of force for good, while painting the enemy \u2013 the Serbs then, the Russians today \u2013 as evil incarnate. It was on the ashes of the Western-fomented destruction of Yugoslavia that the myth of \u201cindispensable NATO\u201d, \u201cbenevolent EU\u201d and the \u201cgood West\u201d received much of their subsequent affirmation and post-Cold War soft power. And therein lies much of the reason why Russia\u2019s \u2013 and not only Russia\u2019s \u2013 endless polite requests and pleas to halt the North Atlantic military pact\u2019s steady expansion to the east, were not taken seriously, or at least seriously enough, by a critical mass of those who had no direct contact with the Western wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing, like the Serbs (and the Syrians, Libyans, Iraqis, Afghans, Yemenis, Somalis, Venezuelans, etc.) did. Simply put, the West was only starting to spend the huge surplus moral value it had accrued as victor of a global struggle with an \u201cevil empire<\/a>,\u201d the chinks in the (artificially manufactured) armor were still too microscopic for the ordinary, inexperienced, well-meaning eye to detect.<\/p>\n

Even NATO\u2019s illegal bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in spring of 1999, in the name of \u201cprevention of genocide\u201d in Serbia\u2019s historic and sacred Kosovo province \u2013 of which no evidence has ever been presented over the ensuing 23 years \u2013 did not awaken the critical mass of Western public opinion and decision-makers necessary to reexamine the wisdom and necessity of continuing on the path of, essentially, a new Drang nach Osten (however, seeing what happened with Trump, much later in the game, it\u2019s beyond obvious that election outcomes and decision-making in the West have been captured by the military-industrial complex even then, just as Eisenhower had warned back in 1961) .<\/p>\n

It did, however, finally awaken Moscow, opening the way to Vladimir Putin\u2019s ascendance to Russia\u2019s highest office on the last day of that fateful year. Like the Serbs, the Russians still remembered the true horrors of the last world war and could recognize the all-too-familiar patterns far more easily than most on the European continent. Unfortunately, Moscow could not do much about them initially, other than to ceaselessly warn, beginning with Munich in early 2007, ask for a general reassessment and renegotiation of common European security and \u2013 aware that its tactful warnings, suggestions and proposals were being blithely ignored in the key Western capitals \u2013 rearm and prepare itself for the inevitable. Which finally came with the collective West\u2019s refusal to talk about Ukraine\u2019s neutrality and the halting of NATO\u2019s further expansion, in parallel with the Ukrainian puppet president\u2019s raising of the threat<\/a> of Ukraine becoming a nuclear state.<\/p>\n

Why would Moscow agree to the very real possibility of nuclear missiles deployed at its borders, which could reach it in 7-8 minutes (and, in the case of future hypersonic missiles, in 5-6 minutes)? Why would it trust NATO\u2019s (true) power centers, whose leading figures had assured it that not one further inch would be taken to the east as the Warsaw pact self-dissolved \u2013 and then proceeded to do precisely the opposite?<\/p>\n

So, no, the endless verbal assurances and endless empty talk of the past three decades would no longer work, as all Russia had gotten out of it was a hostile, Axis-like alliance at its borders and a campaign of steadily rising demonization that had, of late, in many aspects exceeded that experienced by the U.S.S.R. at the height of the Cold War. When threatened with nuclear missiles under its nose in Cuba, the U.S. was willing to launch nuclear war to prevent it. Russia has threatened no such thing.<\/p>\n

A day after the beginning of the Russian demilitarization and denazification campaign, Serbia\u2019s president announced Serbia\u2019s official position regarding the situation in Ukraine, as outlined in the conclusions of the Serbian National Security Council. In essence, Serbia\u2019s position is that it respects Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity as it respects the territorial integrity of all states in accordance with the UN Charter and the Helsinki Act of 1975, that it considers the violation of the territorial integrity of any state, including Ukraine \u201cvery wrong,\u201d but that it will not impose sanctions<\/a> against the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

It is enough just to look at a current political map of Europe to see the significance, courage and difficulty of Serbia\u2019s decision. Serbia and neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are islands in the NATO sea that surrounds them \u2013 and BiH is not a NATO member only due to the opposition of the Serbs in that country, led by the Serbian member of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik. In addition, all the surrounding states have joined the Western condemnations of Russia\u2019s intervention in Ukraine and have joined or voiced support for the newest sanctions imposed on Russia, including the EU\u2019s closure<\/a> of air space to Russian planes.<\/p>\n

As expected, over the past few days, as testified by Vucic himself, Serbia has been subjected to \u201cintense\u201d Western pressure to join the sanctions and condemnations front against Russia. The EU Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimir Bilchik has already stated<\/a> that Serbia\u2019s decision not to join the EU\u2019s sanctions against Russia is a \u201cdefining foreign policy decision for much broader relations between the EU and Serbia.\u201d Former Swedish foreign and prime minister and the first High Representative for BiH Carl Bildt Tweeted<\/a> that Serbia has \u201cde facto disqualified itself from the EU accession process,\u201d as new members are expected to share in the EU\u2019s \u201cfundamental values and interests.\u201d European Commission spokespeople Ana Pisonero and Eric Mamer have also voiced expectations<\/a> that Serbia would join the EU sanctions policy.<\/p>\n

These are all rather ominous words \u2013 and not because anyone in Serbia, other than a handful of well-paid diehards and hopeless cases, truly believes that the country will ever be admitted to the self-proclaimed<\/a> \u201cmost successful peace project in human history\u201d (which expressly approved<\/a> the sending of fighter jets to neo-Nazi \u201cdemocrats\u201d in Ukraine), but because the out-of-control Western elites\u2019 \u201ceither you\u2019re with us or against us\u201d mentality is certain to find ways to make its displeasure known to all dissidents. Especially to an encircled, friendly-to-Russia enclave that stubbornly refuses to join the anti-Russian hysteria being fanned all over the Western \u201cliberal\u201d landscape. After all, Serbia was viciously and illegally bombed by NATO in 1999 for not voluntarily agreeing to its own occupation by the alliance of \u201cdemocratic values<\/a>.\u201d Since then, the alliance has gained 11 more members and about a thousand kilometers to the east. So, we shall wait and see in the coming days and weeks what practical measures of punishment or censure will be applied by the EU (and NATO) against Serbia, which has been an official candidate for EU membership since 2012 and is, thus, obliged to gradually harmonize its policies, including foreign policy, with the \u201cpeace loving\u201d union.<\/p>\n

Russia has shown appreciation and understanding for Serbia\u2019s position. In his reaction to Serbia\u2019s official stance, the Russian ambassador in Belgrade stated<\/a> that Russia \u201cunderstands that Serbia is being pressured and does not ask anything of Serbia,\u201d being well aware of the mutual respect and trust that exist between President Vucic and Russia\u2019s President Putin, that Serbia \u201crespects Russia\u2019s national interest,\u201d and that Russia is \u201cat peace\u201d with Serbia\u2019s position and its foreign policy.<\/p>\n

In addition, as stated in the National Security Council conclusions, Serbia was itself a victim of Western sanctions during the 1990s and, even more importantly, aggression on the part of 19 NATO states in 1999 precisely for defending its own territorial integrity. In other words, Serbia is not only refusing to join Western sanctions against a traditional friend and ally but also to be a part of traditional Western double standards, which it has felt on its own skin both in the past and in the present. Towards that end, the speaker of the Serbian parliament, Ivica Dacic, clearly stated that, unlike the rest of \u201cdemocratic\u201d Europe, Serbia would not join in the \u201ctotalitarian<\/a>\u201d methods and close or censor either Sputnik or RT. So, as things stand, Sputnik\u2019s last non-Russian European outpost now sits in Belgrade, which is, nevertheless, still not sufficiently \u201cdemocratic\u201d to pass muster with the free-thinking bureaucrats in Brussels<\/p>\n

On that same tangent, because you can never have too much trans-Atlantic hypocrisy, the U.S. embassy in Belgrade also reacted to Serbia\u2019s position regarding the Russian intervention in Ukraine by Tweeting<\/a> that the U.S. \u201csalute Serbia\u2019s and President Aleksandar Vucic\u2019s repeated position of support for Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity, which was violated by Russia\u2019s illegal and completely unprovoked attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from the brazen twisting and pure invention in which the U.S. embassy engaged \u2013 as no Serbian official has used any remotely harsh words to describe Russia\u2019s intervention \u2013 American diplomats are conveniently ignoring the fact that their own country has been consistently and aggressively violating Serbia\u2019s own territorial integrity since February 2008, when the U.S. recognized the independence of Serbia\u2019s historical and sacred province of Kosovo (Kosovo and Metohija is the full name of the province, in accordance with the Serbian constitution). And, of course, except for the 5 EU states that have refused to recognize the secession of so-called Kosovo from Serbia (Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Spain and Slovakia) \u2013 the rest of the EU, headed by its most powerful members (Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries), is also being its usual hypocritical self in expecting Serbia to condemn violations of other\u2019s territories when the majority of its own member states have also recognized the violation of Serbia\u2019s territorial integrity by recognizing \u201cKosovo\u201d and, indeed, actively promoting its \u201cindependence\u201d which, in practice, is non-existent, as the territory is a black hole of drug and human trafficking, whose politicians take orders from abroad, as well as home to a large U.S. military base built on land stolen from Serbs.<\/p>\n

The Serbian leadership\u2019s initial decision met with the support of the great majority of the Serbian public, which is, nevertheless, well aware of Serbia\u2019s difficult position. \u00a0However, on March 2, Serbia joined the majority in the UN General Assembly and condemned the Russian \u201caggression against Ukraine.\u201d In a rather sorry display of public self-pity, Vucic tried to justify the vote at a press conference by explaining that Serbia still refused calls to join the anti-Russian sanctions, as well as resisting new Western pressures to nationalize Russian-owned property in Serbia. However, his popularity will suffer as a result, so it\u2019s still a win-win for Western interests in Belgrade, because they always prefer to weak(ened) leaderships, as they are more pliable and, thus, sensitive to outside pressure.<\/p>\n

Serbia\u2019s current position is eerily reminiscent of the country\u2019s position in the spring of 1941. At that time as well, the Serbian elite in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was the lone voice of opposition in the country against joining the Axis powers, even though Yugoslavia itself was, along with Greece, surrounded by countries that had fallen under the occupation or political domination of the Axis powers. As a result of the coup of March 27, 1941, organized by Serbian officers opposed to a pact with the Axis, Yugoslavia was attacked by Germany and its allies on April 6, 1941, the country itself dismembered and occupied, and the Serbian population subjected to political repression and genocidal annihilation over the next four years. Although the Serbs organized two large guerilla liberation fronts, it was only with the aid of the Soviet Red Army that the territory of Yugoslavia was fully liberated in the fall of 1944. Alone among the former peoples that made up Yugoslavia (which also included Croats, Slovenes and Slavic Muslims, along with substantial Albanian and Hungarian minorities), the Serbs still remember this, just as many Russians remember that only the Serbs refused to join Nazi German troops on the Eastern Front against the U.S.S.R.<\/p>\n

Might this be, in Yogi Berra\u2019s immortal words, d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why would Moscow agree to the very real possibility of nuclear missiles deployed at its borders, which could reach it in 7-8 minutes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91,116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-russia","category-ukraine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250477"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250508,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250477\/revisions\/250508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}