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Comment by 3seashells | Hacker News Reader

Stirring up shit for Russia. Next level.

Not even close. Vucic got a lot of people angry by eroding the country with corruption and is now trying to stir up shit before yet another "sudden" election to continue his reign. The man is a bitch and nothing will come of this.

I'm not challenging this, but wondering if it's true; then, why have more British troops been commited to the region already; and why are the White House warning of the events already?

It's not a good look to not call out parties for obvious bullshit like this.

Imagine that NATO did not increase manning, and the White House did not mention the troop build up. The headline now reads "Serbian troop massing on border, NATO says 'don't worry about it'". Bad look for NATO, and maybe makes future bullshit more likely.

Note that the British troops that have been "committed" are already there in the region, on "exercises". The only change the Brits have made is to place those units under direct KFOR command.

I don't think there's any relation to the war in Ukraine. There just isn't really a mechanism for one to influence the other.

Yes there is. Western and EU attention will pivot to Kosovo. This could undermine the focus and resolve the of the west with Ukraine.

Distracting NATO with a second conflict doesn't influence the first? Come on.

NATO could send Serbia back to the Stone Age with their pinky finger. If anything, a second military conflict in Eastern Europe might further increase support and military budget in NATO countries.

> NATO could send Serbia back to the Stone Age with their pinky finger.

Yes, nuclear genocide is indeed quick, but not super viable. Even the limited air strikes in 1999 took months, and pretending it wouldn't all be a diplomatic and military distraction is just silly.

Nobody said anything about nukes.

"NATO could send Serbia back to the Stone Age with their pinky finger" isn't true without nukes.

If you don't use nukes, it's at least months of airstrikes. A ground operation would be even slower, and bloodier.

I don't understand why you are being downvoted. Modern Serbia is a Russian puppet state. Belgrade does nothing without the Kremlin's permission. Even its previous "good cop" posturing was all about becoming a member of the EU to push Russia's interests.

This couldn't be further from the truth. The whole Kosovo thing has nothing to do with Russia.

GP is getting downvoted because it's a shit take. ethnic tensions in Kosovo date back to before the break up of Yugoslavia -- like early 1980s at the latest. Serbia may feel that now is an opportune moment to stir shit up again, and Russia may be supportive, but to suggest that Kremlin is pulling all the strings here is plain wrong.

other commenters in this thread display much more nuanced and informed perspectives.

Modern imperialism... I remember in the late 90's at Uni I was hearing lectures refer to 'Information Warfare' and naively chuckling at how one could even have wars over information... and... The Kremlin's sphere of influence are masters of it. Money, weapons, murder, clickbait... in that order.

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