By Ryzhdi Baloku
These days in the local and world media as never before it is present the topic of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine, which once these two countries were part of a common state, which was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, etc., were too once part of a common state called the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, against which Serbia in the nineties carried out aggression, just like the Russian Federation against some Republics of the former USSR.
On this occasion I decided from my point of view to make a comparative analysis of the causes for the start of these wars, by putting them in a parallel, from the genesis of events related to the Serbian aggression to the current developments of the Russian aggression.
If we look closely at the state-building structures of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, we can see the differences and similarities between them, historically, politically and socially.
From this point of view we can freely say that Yugoslavia was originally a copy of the Soviet Union, both in terms of construction and operation. However, later, after the decentralization that took place with the Yugoslav constitution of 1974, fundamental differences were created compared to the functioning of the Soviet Union, economically, politically and socially.
Since the topic of this article is the current development of Russian aggression against Ukraine and its similarity to the Serbian aggression in the former Yugoslavia, I will try to include some of the causes of these aggressions.
To cure and heal the disease, the cause must be found, so I will try to find the reasons for the wars in the territory of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.
A spark is said to ignite a mountain, so even this aggression poses a great danger, which could ignite a global war that could destroy the world in a short time.
A proverb says: "Take out a straw, six come out"! In this context, we can say that the aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine also highlighted many issues, to which the international community had not paid due attention so far.
The Western world seems to have forgotten the Balkan Wars of 1912/13, which were instigated by Russia through the Slavo-Orthodox states it had formed itself, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1877.
Most of these newly created Balkan states, after a while, expanded into Albanian lands through mass deportations and massacres of the civilian population in the Sandzak of Nis, of eastern Kosovo.
This atrocity committed against Albanians, which had not been seen until then, can be considered as the first genocide in Europe, not forgetting the Greek one against the Albanians of Chameria.
The creation of these states in the Balkans was clear. Through them, Russia claimed to go to the hot seas, in order to extend its influence to Europe.
These Slavic-Orthodox states, Serbian, Montenegrin and Bulgarian, as well as the Greek, as Russian satellites, without any objection (at that time) approved the plans and directives of their state-builder, for the purpose of mutual benefit. In addition, we can also say that the outbreak of the First World War, which was started by Russia through the Serbian nationalists, with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in the center of Sarajevo, in 1914, was by no means a coincidence.
Serbia not only expanded its territory with the help of Russia through the participation of a considerable number of Cossack soldiers and officers, it also increased its population through the assimilation of other peoples, especially the Albanians of the Orthodox faith, whom it converted to Serbs, while those of Sandzak to Bosniaks. Certainly, a large part of the population of Montenegro consists of assimilated Albanians.
In addition, it should not be forgotten that after the end of World War II, Yugoslavia (read: Serbia and Russia) carried out ethnic cleansing (read: genocide) against the Germans of Vojvodina.
Later, even after the consolidation and economic & military strengthening of AVNOJ of Yugoslavia, in the republics of this country from time to time there were political upheavals, known in those years as: "IB", "MAS-POK", "PLAVA KNJIGA” etc., which were eliminated through the "strong hand" of the then head of state, Josip Broz Tito.
Even after the mentioned movements and a relatively long period of "calm before the political storm" in Yugoslavia, the demonstrations of 1981 in Kosovo followed. Serbia used this manifestation as a reason to launch an attack to suppress its autonomy, which it carried out in 1989 through Yugoslav Army tanks and fighter jets over the Kosovo Assembly, a session that stripped Kosovo of its statehood.
The vast majority of the Yugoslav leadership in some way supported this unconstitutional action of Serbia, making a "lamb" out of the Albanian population living in this country, with the intention that Serbia would end its appetite. However, it was later seen that she did not stop there. In the 1990s, Serbia launched aggression against the others, just like the Russian Federation that started the wars after the dissolution of the USSR.
Although initially the dissolution of the Soviet Union was carried out almost peacefully, there was later bloodshed, as the Russian Federation began to stir its compatriots, to secede from the new states in which this population lived as a minority. ethnically compact. With the help of Russia, South Ossetia seceded from Georgia, declaring its independence on November 28, 1991.
Despite efforts to regain lost territory, in August 2008 Georgia lost the war against South Ossetia, which was defended by soldiers of the Russian Federation.
Given that each nationality of the Soviet Union had declared its independence within the existing borders of the Republics in which they lived, the Chechens also took such a step in 1994, thinking that it would result in the withdrawal of the Russian federal army from Chechnya. However, their prediction turned out to be wrong. Three Russian operational groups from three directions attacked Chechnya, to put the capital Grozny under siege, which was hit without any selection, with fierce attacks from the ground and air.
After the bloody wars and the liquidation of the Chechen leader, Dudayev, in 1996 an agreement was signed to end the war with the delegation of this nationality led by Mashadov. Despite this, the second war between the warring parties started again in 1999, while from 2000 to 2009 the conflict took the form of guerrilla and counter-guerrilla warfare.
According to the current constitution, the Russian Federation has 85 federal entities, of which 22 are republics, including Chechnya, 1 autonomous province called Zhidovska and 62 non-autonomous provinces; ("Oblast" - original name described in its constitution).
In addition to the direct wars of the Russian Federation against others within the territory of the former Soviet Union, we must not forget those instigated and supported by it, even transversely, such as the case of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the region. Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited by an Armenian majority, a conflict that started about 30 years ago and ended in a bloody war. However, with the mediation of the Russian Federation, in 2020 a peace agreement is reached between them, which is still overseen by the Russian army.
When it comes to Serbs in the SFRY, it can be easily documented that they have always dominated over others with the very fact that the commanding language in the army was its language. Despite this argument, their intent was much greater. All the evidence leads us to the conclusion that its dissolution had its genesis in Serbian hegemony, which has to do with their medieval dream of creating a Greater Serbia.
The (new) project process for Greater Serbia, prepared by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Belgrade, Milosevic started in Kosovo, as he considered it the "weakest link" in the Yugoslav federation. His ultimate goal was to dismantle one by one the elements of the Federation's decentralizing construct, with the claim to then create a system of absolute power dominated by them.
The mentioned scenario they started with rallies, which later degraded into violence and bloodshed. The aim of Milosevic and his clique was to intimidate others at the same time, so as not to hinder him in the actions he would later take against the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Yugoslav Republics, where with the exception of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbs were a national minority.
The mentioned rallies, the Serbian leadership called "revolution", in order to ignite the war, since the entire military arsenal of the Yugoslav Army was dominated by them.
In the eyes of the United Nations peacekeeping force, Serbs committed genocide in 1995 against the Bosniak population in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the international community was surprisingly silent.
Fortunately for us, such a genocide against Kosovo Albanians was thwarted by NATO, led by the United States of America.
When peace-loving humanity thought that a lasting peace had been achieved in the Western Balkans, Russia instigated and aided another fratricidal war in Syria, to finally reach out to its brotherlike population in Ukraine.
After this aggression, the world shook like never before and sided with the victim, except for Aleksandar Vucic's Serbia who sided with the aggressor. Even rallies were organized in Belgrade to support the Russian Federation.
The reason for Serbia's alignment with Russia is clear, they are old allies! Some time ago, with the approval of President Aleksandar Vucic, the Russian Federation built its base near the city of Nis. From this Federation, Serbia was supplied with the Kornet, Pancir missile system, then with reconnaissance armored vehicles, modern tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, etc.
In addition, it should not be forgotten that a few years ago, Serbian mercenaries went to Crimea and Donbas to help the Russians in the fight against the Ukrainian army. It is also not a coincidence the going of teenage groups (children of Serbian fighters) for combat trainings in Russian military camps, in order to be trained and perfected in the skill of professional assassins.
Despite the crimes committed and the heavy material damage caused by Serbs during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the international community did not force Serbia to pay war reparations. On the contrary, they caressed her new leadership that was elected after the end of the war in Kosovo, even though this political caste denied the crimes and genocide committed by their state.
Apparently, seeing this opportunistic attitude of the international community towards Serbia, even flattering towards its leadership, Russia as a great world power took courage and returned to the dream of bringing back the former Empire, with the aggression against Ukraine, which has about 45 million inhabitants, in an area of 603,628 km2.
In conclusion, I can emphasize that the recent events in Ukraine have made the international community more vigilant towards the Russian Federation and Serbia, as the proverb " This death happened and we got to see each other (Ra ky mort e u pamë)" says, so these developments also made it possible to see the true face of the Russian government led by Vladimir Putin and that of the Serbian government led by Aleksandar Vucic.
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