Donate
Follow TFF
Facebook-f X-twitter Linkedin-in Tiktok Telegram Weixin Vk
Blog

NATO’s destruction of Serbia: And where are Serbia, China and the West today?

By Jan Oberg

Lund, Sweden – March 24, 2020

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 hubris.

Boomerangs do exist.

Oh, what ignorance. Hardly 5 foreign ministry people in Europe knew a thing about the complexities of Yugoslavia.

And today – 21 years later?

alt="Jan Oberg"
Jan Oberg

Kosovo – the 2nd Albanian state in Europe – still doesn’t function. Hardliners in that war are still leaders, protected by the Americans who back then called Kosovo “ours” – I know because I interviewed them in Prishtina.

Serbia – moving ahead with no more illusions about a decent treatment by the EU or the US. It’s now Europe’s main friend of China (whose embassy NATO bombed by so-called accident). Huge Chinese air bridge of aid to Serbia these very corona days.

China – well you know what has happened there the last 20 years. And how it is the main builder of a new world order.

NATO – outdated and sharing little but inner conflicts because it should have been closed down when the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact dissolved.

The EU – unable to handle Yugoslavia, 2015 refugees, Iran/JCPOA or helping its Spanish and Italian brothers and sisters with the corona. China is able.

The US – moving towards (more) authoritarianism and inner dissolution, rioting and revolver violence: Wait and see how the coronavirus’ political dynamics will play out there…

For all the West – A world order loser in deep inner structural crisis.

Yugoslavia was a game-changer – TFF said it then and warned about all the Western actions in the most comprehensive ever peace and conflict study of Yugoslavia – a good 2000 A4 pages equivalent.

No, not written years after but while it happened. Predictions more precise than any government’s.

And with lots of alternatives and peace plans lined up too. Because there were alternatives to the destruction of that country and to the bombing for Kosovo. But everything done was – peace-prevention:

Yugoslavia – What Should Have Been Done?

Sadly, the West is destroying itself because of militarist hubris. There is no one it can blame for its manifest destiny downwards – except, of course, the Serbs, Russians, Chinese and Iranians and …

TFF is truly independent, receives no funds from any government or corporation. If this flashback was useful to you, please…









Note

Former foreign minister, Zivadin Jovanovic’ article on The Transnational a few days ago.

An interview with Serbia’s ambassador to China, Milan Bacevic, in the official Chinese magazine, Global Times (March 30, 2020).

Share

Blog

2 Responses

  1. Thank you. Remember also that Germany managed to grab Croatia out of Yugoslavia and commence the destruction, 9 days after “unification” ie the takeover of East Germany and its many beneficial aspects of life for its inhabitants. Serbia fought the Nazis very valiantly during WW2.

  2. Thanks, and – absolutely not. It’s only that a short text cannot take in everything. And it wasn’t only Croatia, it was Slovenia too. And with them gone, there war in Bosnia-Hercegovina turned unavoidable. One of the few times the EU spoke, as it should according to its Lisbon Treaty, it caused the most nasty war in post-1945 Europe and – later – got the Novel Peace Prize. If you are interested in all of Yugoslavia, its dissolution conflicts and wars, this is the most comprehensive that exists (about the equivalent of 2000 A4 pages, written while it took place and not changed since: https://yugoslavia-what-should-have-been-done.org/ Best – Jan

Related Posts

Blog
Of course, we can we abolish war before it destroys us!
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Blog
The World Beyond Global Disorder
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Blog
The PRIO & ISA Effort to Excommunicate Johan Galtung from Peace Research – And Why It Failed
How Oxford University Press allowed a personality‑driven narrative to masquerade as scholarship. Jan Oberg, dr hc, TFF director This article has also been published on TFF Substack where more readers react and withdraw their interviews from the project. A Special Issue in a scholarly journal is not an ordinary publication. It is a collective, curated […]

Recent Articles

Media
Nonviolent Journalism and the Collective Field of Human Freedom
Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
Blog
Of course, we can we abolish war before it destroys us!
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Blog
The World Beyond Global Disorder
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...

TFF on Substack

Discover and subscribe to more peace materials on TFF Substack

Posts
Videos
TFF Channel on Rumble

Most Popular

Media
Nonviolent Journalism and the Collective Field of Human Freedom
Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
Blog
Of course, we can we abolish war before it destroys us!
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Blog
The World Beyond Global Disorder
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Read More
Living-Peace-Sign-Budapest-copy
Media
Nonviolent Journalism and the Collective Field of Human Freedom
Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
b54a1f10-8c65-4f0b-9dd5-4abc0a7d04cc_2659x2659
Blog
Of course, we can we abolish war before it destroys us!
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
010
Blog
The World Beyond Global Disorder
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Screenshot 2026-10-02 011738
TFF Blog
Q & A for China Social Science Academy Journal: How to promote innovation?
Jan ObergPhD, director, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFFLund, Sweden October 2, 2026 This is my full original manuscript. The Chinese Academy of Social Science, CASS, makes two publications out if it. 1. China’s Five-year plan emphasized the capabilities of basic research and original innovation. It is regarded as the goal of the future social development, which, as required, should be significantly enhanced. Can you comment on the importance of original innovation in research and academic study? I believe it is easier to define “original innovation” in the natural sciences than in social sciences. The breaking points of what constitutes something new, or innovative, are not quite as sharp in the latter. But in both fields it is about opening up something that was closed, unseen, unexplored before – making manifest what was earlier latent. Innovations come in many forms and shapes – naming something that was not...
arctic-circle-map
Conflict analysis
US-Denmark-Greenland Agreement: The Winner Takes It All – Forever
The agreement is catastrophic both because of what it says and what it doesn’t mention. It reduces further the major asset of security policies: Freedom of action. Jan Oberg TFF director September 25, 2026 A couple of hours before the agreement was signed on September 22, 2026, I published the following 13 hypotheses about what it would most likely contain on TFF Substack (in English). I was wrong on only the first point. Contrary to what Trump had written on his Truth Social platform, it does not appear to come into force immediately. In fact, it turned out to be worse than even I had anticipated. After these hypotheses now come a number of reflections in light of what the agreement actually contains, and does not contain, as well as the way in which it has generally been presented by major media outlets and by the public-service broadcaster DR. My...
girl-5894831_1280
Media
✅ TFF Share Blog, News & Notes from 2021 till today
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...