Yugoslavia then and now

It’s produced by The China Academy in Shanghai and speaks for itself with no need for an introduction.

The issue of state sovereignty under international law and its inconsistencies and duplicities has become more complex than ever, especially after the outbreak of the Ukraine war and the “Ukrainization” of the Taiwan issue (even though Taiwan is not a sovereign state like Ukraine). However, the focus of this analysis is relatively modest: we examine a region of the Western Balkans in which the countries have already (more or less voluntarily) lost or given up their statehood and sovereignty. The concept of the so-called “Western Balkans” (WB) – comprising Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina – was concocted in the corridors of power in Brussels and Washington. This artificial sub-region, with its flexible geography and borders, lacks logical coherence. It effectively creates a buffer zone of weak states that are unlikely to ever meet the criteria for EU integration despite being offered European perspectives and hopes. However, these...

. He first tells why he was in Belgrade during the bombing and then explains how that bombing was a turning point towards the new multipolar – and better – world we are now approaching. First Beoforum’s version on YouTube. Then you can always find it on TFF’s Vimeo Channel – because we boycott Goggle-owned YouTube as much as we can.

Neutrality Studies is an excellent YouTube platform and homepage. TFF recommends it highly. NATO turned 75 on April 4, 2024. The only problem is that it should have been dissolved when its historical raisin d’etre – the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact – disappeared completely. But Western militarists exploited the opportunity and expanded it right up to the border of Russia – while Russia was on its knees. Against all Western promises to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand “one inch,” NATO helped greatly in destroying neutral Yugoslavia. Then it wooed the former Warsaw Pact countries to join, the 11th in that process being Ukraine. The autistic hubris alliance listened to no warnings from Western experts, former US ambassadors in Moscow or scholars. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was certainly a counterproductive move that NATO could use to its own advantage, it doesn’t take a professor of political...

A video conversation about those three connected themes was published in December 2023 on various Chinese Channels and on two YouTube channels, Wave Media and Thinkers Forum, where you may also see the viewers’ comments. In the first two months, they were seen by around 100,000 people and stimulated 1200 positive, even moving, comments. These days, such an interest in peace – and in Western historical wrongdoings – is unusual and can be found almost exclusively outside the Western world. It was recorded and produced in November 2023 by The China Academy, a media syndicating organisation in Shanghai. Please also consult the TFF report Yugoslavia – What Should Have Been Done? It contains all texts – the equivalent of 2000+ A4 pages – by Johan Galtung, Håkan Wiberg and Jan Oberg and published as written back then and not changed or editor ex-post, so everyone can see where they were...

8,”sizeSlug”:”large”,”linkDestination”:”none”} –> I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to think back on the dissolution conflicts and wars of the 1990s and reflect on what it was NATO illegal bombings in the spring of 1999 – when I was there under the bombs – turned out later to have set in motion into the Second Cold War. Also, it was indeed an honour to participate in this world-renowned daily’s 120th anniversary. It’s the oldest daily in the Balkans. I shall participate in a commemorative conference in Belgrade in March 2024 when it is 25 years ago, NATO committed its crimes and began its out-of-area – and out-of-Treaty – activities, from which there is a straight line to the foolish NATO expansion and attempts to get NATO into Ukraine and Ukraine into NATO. I’d like to direct the reader’s attention toward TFF’s study – 2000+ A4 equivalent and probably the largest...

Time magazine, March 24, 1999 Živadin Jovanović, Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs 1998-2000 January 29, 2023 If the wording of the ‘Basic Agreement’ presented by the western “Great Five” (EU, USA, Germany, France, Italy) on Kosovo and Metohija, which has been circulated for a while in the Albanian media and as of January 20 in the Serbian social networks as well, is anywhere close to the authentic one, it cannot be viewed as any sort of an agreement. It’s rather an ultimatum compelling Serbia to de facto recognize the enforced secession of her Province. The document, originally attributed to French President Macron and German Chancellor Scholz (1), leaders of two largest European democracies, stands out as another gross violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, the basic principles of democratic international relations, the UN Charter, the Paris Charter, and the OSCE’s Helsinki Final Act. Inspired by their own power and greatness,...

There is a comprehensive, independent-minded “alternative” analysis of NATO’s crisis in general and the membership of North Macedonia in it. Dr Vankovska writes in the intro to her analysis that: “North Macedonia (hereafter in the text, Macedonia) was officially admitted to NATO on 27 March 2020 as its 30th member state. It was supposed to look like a dream come true for generations of Macedonian citizens and the political elites across the ethnic divides. However, the act was hardly met with any euphoria… Although Macedonia has joined NATO the political narrative and public (media and intellectual) rhetoric have not changed a bit. The military alliance is still seen through rose-coloured eyeglasses with not much relation to the objective state of affairs. It shows that the submissive and even naïve position in the mind and behaviour of the political elites is unlikely to change any time soon. Actually, they are still...

“It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning. They shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid the general applause from all the wits who believe that it is a joke.” Søren Kierkegaard’s quote is the first thought that comes to mind while thinking of the developments on the global scene and simultaneously trying to figure out the place where the Macedonian part of the puzzle fits the best. Or maybe this thought is more appropriate to describe the current dilemma the majority is facing: “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Let’s start with the alleged fascist attempt of coup d’état and/or terrorist...

TFF Associate, professor The objective of this paper is to outline and analyse the manner in which governments on the EU’s southeastern periphery (i.e. the Western Balkans) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and its possible after-effects. The author seeks to shed light on three particular aspects of the crisis: the (de)securitization process of COVID-19, the geopolitics of the EU enlargement process in the post-corona world, and the Balkan way of dealing with the pandemic. Following a prologue that tries to decipher what is behind the façade of this dramatic episode, the article proceeds to characterize both the securitization of COVID-19 and the “gaslighting turnaround”. It then looks at the Balkan version of the so-called “COVID-1984”, i.e. the autocratic tendencies that have blossomed amid (and thanks to) strong security concerns.The central premise is that although the current crisis seems to have been provoked by the spread of an unprecedented disease, COVID-19,...

Text in TFF PressInfo # 560 It was NATO’s first out-of-area operation, against its own Treaty and without a UN mandate. On March 24, 1999. Independent Kosovo was established – against UN SC resolution 1244. Thanks to the Clinton administration and Madeleine Albright. CNN’s Amanpour endorsed it generously on TV with her State Department husband, James Rubin, a chief operator in the non-negotiations at Rambouillet. And TIME, of course, knew the truth too. Serbia suffered tremendously from the 78 days of indiscriminate, hard bombing. I know because I was there. Finally, Serbia and its president Milosevic was threatened with total destruction of Belgrade. And gave in. Western hubris after the Cold War was won? Of course! Russia was on its knees. International law and the UN Charter sidelined. Militarism embraced. Full-spectrum dominance. The winner takes it all! Right – but with the risk of losing it all later. It’s called...