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Analyze

Withdrawal of the Serbian Armed Forces: As America Says

October 03, 2023, 07:58 p.m Andrei Ivanji
Photo: Strahinja Aćimović/Tanjug
"Supreme Commander" and Chief of the General Staff: Aleksandar Vučić and Milan Mojsilović
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On Monday evening, the President of Serbia assured the host Christian Amanpour on CNN that the Serbian Army has reduced the number of soldiers in the security zone along the administrative line with Kosovo. He repeated it in "Ćirilica" by Marić on TV Happy two hours later, but with a different intonation

After both Washington and Brussels expressed "concern" about the "accumulation of Serbian troops" along the dividing line with Kosovo, urgent assurances arrived from Belgrade that the number of soldiers in that zone had decreased to normal. The expressed "concern" of Serbia's western "partners" had an ultimate intonation.

The decision of the President of Serbia in his capacity as "commander-in-chief" to stop rattling weapons near Kosovo is, on the one hand, a reasonable move in the direction of de-escalation, on the other hand, a reduction of the pressure that has been focused on Serbia after the "event" in the village of Banjska, and on the third hand, the emergence of arguments to the authorities in Pristina that Belgrade is allegedly flirting with an incursion into the territory of Kosovo.

A reasonable move, therefore, with the aim of reducing tensions, but in complete disproportion with the statements of the top Serbian authorities on the domestic scene: if it is true, as claimed, that "psychopath Kurti" is planning ethnic cleansing and persecution of Serbs from the north of Kosovo and that Serbs "liquidated in cold blood" in Banjska, and if we are to take seriously the numerous statements of Vučić that Serbia "will not sit idly by" and watch the "persecution and killing" of Serbs in Kosovo, then why is it decreasing the number of troops along the dividing line with Kosovo? Shouldn't it be increasing?

This was done immediately after September 24, but the first objections from the West were followed by Vučić's apologetic explanation that, well, a year ago there were 14.000 soldiers in the same zone - and that nobody was bothered by that then, but that on this occasion they were at the peak there were only 8.400, and everyone immediately rebelled, so the situation was reduced to the regular 4.400 faster.

It seems that in some Western circles, the threshold of tolerance for Vučić's inciting rhetoric of chest-beating and giving the appearance, if necessary, of military intervention in Kosovo for domestic use, which can have an incendiary effect on Serbs living under very difficult conditions, has been crossed. in Kosovo and are exposed to great pressure from the authorities in Pristina, who intend to "put the Serbs in their place". And Vučić also understood that.

So "Western liars and hypocrites", terms that Vučić regularly uses when appearing on Serbian television, on CNN on Sunday became "our friends and partners".

It is unlikely that in the security circles of Western countries and in NATO, it is estimated that several thousand Serbian soldiers are more or less deployed near the dividing line with Kosovo with the intention of actually crossing that line. But it seems that Washington will no longer tolerate Vučić's constant threats and insults, even if they were intended only for Serbian voters.

Thus, the Army of "independent and libertarian" Serbia, as Vučić said in his "historic" speech at the UN, was put in the humiliating situation of reacting to the wishes of "liars and hypocrites" from Washington.

Although everything was immediately clear, although it can be seen very quickly from satellites, the spokesman of the State Department, Matthew Miller, stated that the US "has not yet confirmed the information" that Serbia has withdrawn its troops and equipment from the area near the border with Kosovo, that it will continue to "they are looking for further confirmation", and if this is true, if the "supreme commander" ordered the withdrawal of part of the troops, it would be a "welcome step". That's when someone apologizes, and the other side asks for additional apologies in order not to humiliate him.

It is to be expected that Vučić will now soften his rhetoric at the expense of "Western partners", and let "domestic traitors and mercenaries" prepare for increased barrage fire from the direction of Andrić's mountain range.

 

Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com

Tags:

Crisis The Army of Serbia CNN Spa Withdrawal safety zone dividing line number of soldiers Aleksandar Vučić Kosovo Washington
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