In a recent article published by the prestigious German newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung,” journalist Michael Martens has shed light on Serbia’s strategic games over the years, connecting them to the recent incident in Banjska where an armed and uniformed group of Serbs killed Kosovo police officer Afrim Bunjaku.
Martens, in his exposé on what he termed cynical games, first delves into the beginning of the conflicts in Yugoslavia. He highlighted the era when killings in Croatia and Bosnia were instigated by troops financed and sent by Belgrade. At that time, the then-President, Slobodan Milosevic, claimed innocence, describing the wars as “conflicts between local Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia with the governments in Zagreb and Sarajevo.”
The article further points out that the current Russian President, Vladimir Putin, successfully emulated Milosevic’s method to annex Crimea in 2014. Russian troops were sent without identifiable emblems. “Officially, the Kremlin claimed it had nothing to do with these troops. Now, when this old lie is no longer necessary, Moscow proudly celebrates how its young soldiers seized Crimea. Yesterday’s lies have become heroic acts today,” FAZ added.
“Something similar is happening in the Balkans over the years. While it is not entirely clear whether the recent bloodshed was a provocation by Belgrade that spiraled out of control and what the purpose of the action was, one thing is certain: ordinary citizens in northern Kosovo don’t own armoured vehicles or hand grenades. The armed group that killed the police officer and then sought refuge in the Monastery is part of a well-equipped strategy supported by Belgrade,” the article continues.
Martens asserted that while Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vucic, claims ignorance, “one must be incredibly naive to believe him.”
“Because even if he might not have specific information about this particular action, the strategy of arming paramilitaries is his. He learned it from his teachers, Milosevic and Putin: Violence is systematically promoted but subcontracted. Simultaneously, on the European stage, he acts concerned and claims he is ready to engage in talks and negotiations,” Martens wrote about Vucic.
According to FAZ, Vucic’s “readiness” is merely a smokescreen. He said it’s Serbia’s president’s strategy to waste time, with the aim to control the territory and cling to the hope that Trump will return to the US presidency.
“In the background, Western politicians who believed Milosevic’s lies 30 years ago seem foolish, at least. Politicians who today believe or pretend to believe that Vucic is a man to trust might be judged similarly in ten years. Do they want to be part of history as another generation of naive Western fools, deceived by an exceptionally intelligent Serbian president who plays the game much faster and better than they do? Belgrade is playing a cynical game in Kosovo. It’s time this game is exposed. Not in retrospect, when it’s too late, as was the case with Milosevic and Putin, but now. Distorting facts is Vucic’s game. Nobody forces the EU or Berlin to play along,” FAZ concluded.
As separately stated on Twitter by Martens, there are now two ideas that could work: the first being an international investigation into Serbia and resuming negotiations for Serbia’s EU membership.
Additionally, according to him, dialogue is a dead process, and the intermediaries are aware.
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