Aleksandar Vučić boasts that Serbia is a tank superpower. America will therefore deliver Javelin anti-tank missiles and accompanying equipment worth 75 million dollars to Kosovo. Arming the Kosovo Security Forces is nothing new
Serbia has more tanks than Germany, 323 compared to 226, "Politika" wrote in March last year. And this year, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, boasted that "we are today a tank superpower", that "we have a huge number of tanks". He admitted, however, that the Serbian Army lack of manpower.
That something like that could be a problem was written in lyrical form half a century ago by Bertold Brecht: "General, your tank is a powerful vehicle. He destroys forests and grinds hundreds of people. But it has one flaw: it needs a driver." At the end of the poem, he concludes: "General, the man is very useful." He can fly and he can kill. But he has one fault: he can think."
The great German poet, playwright and thinker's faith in humanity did not prove to be justified, so in the spirit of that unjustification, Vučić stated the other day that the whole world, including our region, is rapidly arming itself, but that Serbia is not lagging behind in this.
"Everyone here in the region is also arming themselves." And it is our duty not to fall behind. And all I can tell you is that we are not lagging behind," said the "Supreme Commander" of the Serbian Armed Forces. And to what extent we are not behind "you will be able to see that soon, we will just inform you about the precise date".
American anti-tank missiles for Kosovo
The army of Kosovo, which is not called that, will not be left behind either, because Kosovo is not allowed to have an army based on the resolution 1244 of the United Nations, so we have been informed that the United States of America will deliver to Pristina anti-tank missiles "Javelin" with all accompanying equipment worth 75 million dollars for the Kosovo Security Forces.
That's for Kosovo online an unnamed State Department spokesman confirmed. Nowhere is it mentioned that it has anything to do with "tank superpower Serbia", but the statement specifies that "the sale of 'Javelin' anti-tank missiles to Kosovo supports US foreign policy and national security goals". So it is added that this "improvement of Kosovo's security" does not affect "the change in the basic military balance in the region".
And so that there is no confusion about what Washington's plans are in Kosovo, it was also stated that the US "continues to fully support the transparent transition of the Kosovo Security Forces into a multi-ethnic, territorial defense force that is under civilian control and interoperable with NATO." .
US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill informed Vucic about all this on Thursday, who expressed his "great disappointment". In a terse announcement about that conversation, it is stated that (despite the "Javelins") "our country, together with the USA, will work to preserve Serbian-American relations."
That's why Hill was not at all disappointed with how the elections on December 17th went, so he looks forward to cooperation with the new Vučić Government, and he was also very pleased that Serbia recognized the license plates of the "Republic of Kosovo", the so-called RKS plates.
Arming Kosovo is nothing new
Whenever Aleksandar Vučić raises the Serbian army towards Kosovo, because that is in his competence as the "commander-in-chief", and Ana Brnabić the police (her competence), the authorities in Priština rub their hands because that is NATO's explanation for why it materially and technically helps the not yet officially formed, but and how the existing Kosovo army - the moves of the top authorities in Serbia practically enable the strengthening, modernization and arming of a potential enemy, "Vreme" wrote in the text Only you arm yourselves.
The Kosovo Army has been being created since 2018 under the eyes of Serbia and its government, which has not taken any steps to prevent it, but on the contrary, its actions are strengthening its creation.
In the supply of weapons and other military equipment to Kosovo, the USA leads the way, followed by Turkey, obviously as an important exponent of NATO, then Croatia, Germany, Great Britain. From Turkey, Pristina received four to six "Vuran" armored wheeled vehicles with installed 120 mm mortars - they are practically mobile mortar batteries, and the delivery of more than 10 more has been contracted. They are armored, have covers (turrets) on top, which open when the action is taken, and then quickly escape from the scene, before the enemies manage to discover them.
There is also a version with a remotely controlled combat station - a 12,7 mm machine gun. There are also 80 "Cobra" armored vehicles, a gift from Turkey, and 55 American M-1117 "Guardian" armored vehicles. About 200 "Hummers", very usable and mobile maneuverable vehicles, were received from the USA, and 150 "Mercedes" ("Puch") all-terrain vehicles from Germany.
Due to the constant movements of Serbian tanks towards the border, the Kosovo forces received from NATO members a large number of hand-held rocket launchers, intended for destroying tanks and transporters, as well as "omtas" anti-armor systems, which operate at a distance of 200 to 4000 meters and " "killers" are tanks, because they attack them from above, through the upper part of the turret, which is the most vulnerable.
In the announcements from Vučić's meetings with the US and EU envoys for Kosovo, as well as with the Secretary General of NATO in the past years, there is not a word that he resented the creation and equipping of the Kosovo army. He does this for domestic use, when he appears in multi-hour monologues on national television
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