between serbia and their smaller neighbor, kosovo, even when the smaller neighbour seems to agitate the former take. for example, the issue of license place when comfortable was carved out of the former yugoslavia . after the turn of the millennium, many ethnic serbs still lived in the newly divided territory and the comfortable government said, serbian registered cars must also register in coal is the flow and then swap out plates any time they enter the territory. and that could get frustrating, right? think of it like this, while most people who work here in washington dc actually live in virginia and you would have to pull over each time you were about to enter the district. and screw your license plate on your car and put on the dc one before you can drive into work each morning. that's a nuisance, right? but to make it worse, what if the district said this is only a clickable to certain races of people?

nobody would stand for that, i imagine, but that's precisely what's happening at the serbian coast of our border. and that's just the trivial parts. it gets a lot heavier than that. to explain all the heavier stuff we're going to bring in our in studio guest. now boys are mileage, he is a serbian american writer. historian an analyst. he wrote a regular column for anti war com for nearly 20 years. he looks so young. he's dealt with senior writer for r t dot com. nope. so good to see you again live in in person. i think it's good to be here. so that's the 1st. can you give us an update as to the latest happenings between serbia and kosovo after you know, several violets spates and clashes between the 2 sites since last fall of 2022. so they're latest round of the unpleasant this really began last august. the end of july, when the i think i'll be in, in prime minister of, of kosovo,

which i refer to as a breakaway, serbian province. i've been quoted, the decided den um, those licensed lease had to go. and he's invoking a 2013 agreement with serbia regulating traffic across the boundary line, which was signed by now president to serve you marks on the voltage. the problem is that he quoted, these government has implemented any of the provisions from that agreement themselves. and so they're insisting on selective enforcement of things that are in their interpretation bolstered their state who didn't independence and they're going after things that are, you know, validating rule of law as they see it. meanwhile, they're refusing to carry out any of the obligations they took on themselves such as guarantee political autonomy to the actual ethnic serbs lived there. and things just got worse from there, because after the us specifically and most of the e u because they're still 5 members that don't recognize great,

wasn't an independent se, ironically including spain, which is where the current, the us for policy commissioners from the will, the pressure towards the end of the backing down and then he went ahead and started doing other things. and it, if it's not one thing, it's the other of late getting to the point where the serbs who were actually to participating. and of course, we will, government institutions decided to step away and we caught them as a legitimate as a sign of pro desk. at which point they will properly replaced in train of elections that have like a single digit turn out to floor. i left the companions and things just kept getting worse and worse and worse, and you had the rhetoric from the u. s. and, and you basically coast of those western protectors and condemning all sides into urging everybody to exercise restraint, but not actually doing anything to get cookie to stop friend. he, on the other hand, kept saying, well, we're a southern country, we do whatever we want. we,

we just want to apply the law on every inch from our territory and you know, fast forward almost a year. things have gotten so bad that, you know is that you've, you've got to serve the military on high alert. you've got good descending height and heavily armed special police to drag people off the street and you know, but he has it, he's making lists of prominence. serves to sort of decapitate the local community. and as he was the most share more crimes in a conscious efforts to basically destroy this community and get them removed and nobody's doing anything the, the us and the you are threatening sanctions. and i'm using air quotes because there are sanctions amount to a hill of beans. there are literally not enforcing their, their own rules and their own. so all the things better. and i've been on the record for years and years and years before that phrase was even put together condemn in kosovo as an example of how western who's don't work. right. right. so the serbian president, alexandra roche, which he has used some very strong language about what the cost of our government

is doing to the minority serbs there and things like where it's like programs ethnic cleansing. you know, these are trigger words usually in the west. but what evidence has he provided to back such claims? i mean, or are those choice of words really a fair characterization of what's actually happening on the ground can string that last summer when i'm at the height of the license plate business. uh the uh, coastal authorities literally went to a family winery, a certain family winery. it's been a family in the family for generations. and they insisted on confiscating all of their wine for alleged non payment of tax and brought in several tanker trucks to poured wine into and destroyed. and basically decided to move ahead with that, even though people offer to pay whatever fine was what they were supposed to pay,

just don't destroy a wind race. know they moved ahead and destroyed the wind to make a point. so that's just one example of what's been going on there. you've had people kidnapped from the workplace is just kind of was working at a car wash deal, half a dozen cops full battle dress long, barrel rifles like right. we're talking like a swat team whilst a converge on him from 7 directions to arrest him at one more wash. one guy shirtless work in the car wash for he didn't do anything but they they used to spin all day. they said, oh, well, he planned work crime of insurrection, against republic of coast of or whatever, whatever to hell. he came up, the, the arrest people for and t shirts. they arrested they've for the 1st time in, in years the serbian church had to move the sight of their annual commemoration of this 1389 battle against the autumn and turks from the actual site to a monastery nearby. because there's, there security couldn't be guaranteed. these are tiny little moves that add up to

death of a 1000 cards. they're not yet rampaging across the province, like they did the 1000 for. but they got away with that in the lesson of 2004 in the minds of ethnic albanians, specifically cruelty is that they can, if they can do this, they can get away with it. so are, are these people getting disappeared or what's, what's happening? cuz you've got a prominent community, not even community leaders, just prominent people in the community getting disappeared, or arrested on bogus charges or you know, they, they draw them up on more crimes charge from 20 years ago. and they find 3 witnesses who swear that you know, this person personally did something and there's nobody to corroborate it, but they don't care that's enough to throw them in jail, beat them up. they don't hold them indefinitely. and they, they do, they do the systematically to basically decapitate the local community to the point where the locals are actually making the joke. because which it said something like po, you'll be hunted like rabbits and they started calling themselves the rabbits. me as opposed to being with the resistance, but they are definitely not showing signs of pursuit, you know,

stopping resistance. they're basically saying this is our, this is our home. we're staying here. we don't care how much they're terrorizing us, but please do pay attention to the fact that we're being terrorized right. so you know, some of the latest tensions stem from, as you alluded to earlier, those elections in kosovo where the serbian population effective we all are, every single one of them boy caught and they didn't turn up to the poles in april. tell us what happened there to prompt, you know, a whole population of people to boycott elections. so the, there is, there are pockets of serbian serbs living throughout the province who stayed there after to mass ethnic cleansing of 1999. when nato occupied it and turn it over to the, the convenience of the largest contiguous population lives in the north, in several of the counties up there. and they had their own local municipal officials. and then these people resigned in protest over of course these abuses

last fall with the license plate business and, and other other things like sending special police to paralyzed people. and then courtney decided to use this and call a new election in which he ran ethnic albanian officials who would you know, get like 5 volts or even one percent. and i'll let her know when she, you know, we'd be, we'd carpet bag people in and then they would get votes of a little i think i'll be in use because maybe a dozen serbs altogether participated in this trade. and you said all of these are legitimate, you know, municipal officials now and they're taking their own, you know, it's of office, you know, being in there taken down serbian flags and putting up i'll be in the in ones and so on and so on. and when the local serbs protested at the end of may, there, the cookie called in his special forces. and when those special forces got too scared, she called and made a peacekeepers. right. and then those nato peacekeepers opened fire on the ethnic

serbs who told you tape case because that's how you yeah. and then to the shock and surprise of everybody, those local service walk back. and there's this iconic image of a local man who took the right baton from one of the peacekeepers. any beating if he's deeper with it as he's trying to trample one of his bodies on the ground. yeah . he's, he's, he's hurting the piece baton. back on to the 1st. yeah. it'd be basically, these people resisted and then of course, these order went out to find everybody responsible in rest and for terrorism. so it's just in this endless spiral. so instead of setting up the association of serbian disability, which he's been supposed to do, so right inside the 2013 um, she's basically said, well, there's no serbian disability. so there's no problem. right? she's literally trying to race these people that were real quickly now. but i mean, album, curtis seems to be now tacitly agreeing to you intervention or, or assistance. i mean, it is sort of like a,

an election do over. is that going to be enough? know what, what she's, what he's trying to do is the, you gave him as much as that you can be straight about anything. v gave him, here's what you're supposed to do, instructions or else and the or else was less vague, you know or, or else we'll stop giving you as much money that that sort of thing. there sanctions are. sure. we won't support you. 110 percent only 99 percent. well, and she came up with a code of proposal in the account of proposals. i do whatever i want. and i'm going to organize a, a new election. but only if these people petition me on the official letterhead of my government and recognize and then the need to my, well i'm translating, obviously, but this is what it means and effect. and so far, that's where things stand. because obviously the point is not to have a municipal official, but the serve name. the point is to have

a municipal official that has not been the need to do to put these government. i say because every think he's been doing is been in a function of not necessarily making anything function but to break the local serbs and make them bend in need of his government, make them read, make them my way or the highway the clear. now it's that she's the legitimate ruler and, and you'll get recognition from serbia ethridge or what can you because he doesn't have that. and, and he wants it to, because everything he does, you know, the whole thing is, in the, to, into 2000 is after to nato occupation. the whole, well, all of these problems that we have in society, you know, from, from the following birth rates for economic collapse to be moving. everything was going to lack of independence, independence will fix it, independence will fix it, their dependents to fix everything, while they declare independence in 2008 and it doesn't fix anything, right? things keep getting worse and keep getting where we are and now. well, here's the thing they need just shifted. well it's not a lack of independence, just lack of sort of recognition. so now they're pushing. this isn't

a universal excuse. and now as the problem is that this is the cradle of serbian statehood. it's not just a piece of territory. if it was just a piece of territory, that would be bad enough. but it's it's, it's got multiple levels of meaning for the serbian people as a whole. nevermind the government. never mind that the republic of serbia to say that it's a home that thought because i wanna, i wanna dig into that this piece of real estate on the other side of this break or coming up next is serbia gearing up for war with its neighbor. we'll discuss it when we return more with no boys from mileage. so type the m o will be right back. the . the

russian states never is as tight as i'm one of the most sense community best ingles, all sense and the same assistance must be the one else calls question about this, even though we will then in the european union, the kremlin, the machine, the state on the russians cruising and split the ortiz full neck, keeping our video agency roughly all the band on youtube tv services. what question did you say a request for check the

we are in the darkest, on what is most ethically of culturally diverse regions on the entire planet? as you make your way through douglas don, you will discover each region is known for its own unique arts and traditions. the look forward to talking to you all that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings, except we're so shorter to conflict with the 1st law show your mind, anticipation. we should be very careful about our personal intelligence. the point obviously is to place a trust rather than fit the various things with artificial intelligence. we have so many of them in the of the robot must protect his phone. existence was alexis

the welcome back to the ammo. i'm a new one. chan, serbian president alexander boot, judge seems to be at his wits end on how to handle what he's described as a belligerent neighbor, and is calling on the un security council now to weigh it. so back with us to discuss is serbian american journalist negotiate mileage. so now while president boot judge says he's ready to work with the you to de escalate. he also said this, take a listen. service is not preparing for war. it is ready to protect the lives of our people to serve. he is ready to protect its country from all those who are potentially wants to jeopardize its integrity sovereignty and the lives of our people and our citizens. alright, and up. so we didn't play the lead up to that,

but boot judge made it a point to say that in belgrade has fulfilled all of the requests from the you. but judge implied that his coast of our counter parts have not. but now troops are on high alert, given what happened to serbia with nato bombings in the late ninety's. is that kind of fair to argue that the serbian government is, you know, worried it could happen again? and partly i think of which is keenly aware of the present situation in europe being sort of in a wider context. i think with what he's saying. and i think he's correct about this, that the cost of, of situation is being exploited both by towards the end, the west, each to the, for their own ends of as a way to pressure serbia to fall in line of over go over the ukranian question because serbia hasn't imposed sanctions on russia, it's trying to stay neutral, right? he cannot align politically with nato and stain power. no, president of serbia, china, there's mean 80 percent. 85 percent public opposition to this. you cannot govern in

the face of those numbers. if, if you try to run this policy problem, is that the is u n. d u s. and need a really want him to and they're trying to pressure him using kosovo as, as a way to freak is. will there a grandchild? great britain. yes. track there was what they've been using, close them as a cultural for years. and the voltage has formulated this way. he says, basically says, why are you depict demanding of us to recognize, to give up our territorial integrity and sovereignty in the name of protecting ukraine's. it makes some sense. this is not just a policy, this is just nonsense. you know, we support ukraine sovereignty and territory integrity. but the very least, we demand that you, you respect our site and that hasn't happened. and so he's been sort of bouncing this ball back into their faces. now, course he's not making it easy,

or i think he's sort of off the reservation. and i'm very deliberately using this turn of phrase, because he's actually been ousted once before by the americans. a couple of years ago when he tried to do things that they didn't necessarily prove off, right? a essentially a good rule or of course, of always the one who does whatever the american and masters says. it is what independence we're talking about, right? it's actually a pretty humiliating position for ethnic albanians as well. and i think court, he actually what he wants to do and what he's pledged to do. and would you be where he's been trying to do was get some sort of de facto and even to your a union with helping you? and i think he was hardest hit when the i'll be in and president of prime minister rama said, well, you know, as long as you're doing this an incognito behavior, i'm not going to hold a joint meeting of our government. so i'm going to back away. i can't, i can't, you know, collaborate with you with, if you're going to of anger might need

a master's. but they didn't stop him from organizing as nato loved fast. the other day of, you know, trying out all of these kids named bill clinton, nor hillary or whatever to honor bill clinton's visit. yeah. and, and basically, you know, do some pretty pathetic things. an independent country wouldn't really stupid down to doing in north carolina. no. naturally, well, hang onto that thought of bill clinton because i'd like for you to take us back to serbia. in the late 19 ninety's, bill clinton was president of the united states. back then, he told the media here that you know, the serves, are caring out ethnic, cleansing of albanians, the media here, 8 that up, and be propagated. those narratives. happily nato jumped in, bombed, what was then yugoslavia even striking, the chinese consul at their killing chinese nationals, you live to through those events. how is that shape the situation that we're seeing

now as well, that's fine. large determine where we're at now. the fact that the intervened in cost will, based on the lie of genocide that was never substantiated, they is later emerged that all of these tall tales were essentially fabrications by intelligence officials. they could never be substantiated. total number of depths was something like 2000. they keep talking about 10000, that's a, that's a ballpark estimate that they never substantiated. the nato literally started the completely illegal war of aggression on, based on a lie. and that we were, we saw that repeated a few years later in the rock. we should, we saw sure, perpetuated later enough to understand and now we're having situation ukrainian or as a matter of fact, the ukraine situations i would argue as a direct consequence of what happened in 1999. because nato went from what was

supposed to be a defensive alliance to an unmistakable, the aggressive one sounds that was, that sent a very clear message for russia that the west can be trusted. you actually had boris hilton's government for he resigned at the end of that year and put and became president up multiple people have said that this is not just me making this up, that the cost of a war had a lot to do with that. and so this is sort of the route of this is where if you're into offering history, this is the branch off. this is the, this is the inflection point. this is where things fall in the road before can row . this is the worst things go in a certain direction and you know, the chinese embassy bombing that was of the chinese have never forgiven and never forgot. sure. it was officially the only mission that the c i itself planned. they send some blood money to the chinese, but the chinese government and just recently memorialize that in a, in a very unmistakably, we're still mad about this way. sure. so that sort of, you know, defined relationships with china for years. and you centrally,

you know, some years ago i was trying to tongue in cheek make a suggestion to the trump administration. that the way to disarm rochelle and this whole ukraine issue was to and recognized kosovo, and get rid of that precedent because, you know, and it was trump, he could do crazy things and get away with that because he's just now that's the one usual. and just unrecognized kosovo sort of press the reset button. sure. everybody's going to shriek, but they're gonna shriek anyway and they did. right. but you're, you're essentially removing the biggest argument from the table, right? you're, you're taking that off the board, right? and of course, you would almost be all of it, right. and nobody took my advice because, you know, when you're a nurse has a pop of powerful drug power. more powerful than cocaine, apparently. and you know, they went ahead and kept doing what they were doing. and then now they ended up with some sort of tree deal that nobody ended up caring for. and the only beneficiary and that being israel. but,

and i stand by that date. he could have actually diffuse that situation by on recognizing cost of all because that would have essentially domino effect. it all the way to your brain and maybe maybe maybe minutes made the mistake agreements work. but it's one of those. what could have been because we'll never know. right, cool. so from those ashes, we know, obviously kosovo was officially carved out. you know, this tiny nation created just instantly, just like that. now for all the new surrounding that area, you and i were talking about this before the break. um you would think that this is some vitally important piece of real estate to the west that it had oil or it had cobalt or something like that. and that the entire world recognized its sovereignty, but that's just simply not the case. there is mineral wealth there, but that's not why it's important. it's important because for the west, for the us, for nato. so it's a set the precedent that they can create countries that they can bomb,

whoever they want whenever they want, wherever they want and make yeah. exceptions to the rule, suffering to see who decides exceptions kind of just like i look what i can do, right to the i think i'll be news. it's important because it of it forms the nexus of this greater i'll be any of that they've been trying to set up since the 18 seventy's even though they have a nation state as of a 1913 for the serbs. it is not the real estate. it is, i mean obviously it is a real estate because it's part of the constitution and you don't give up a part of the territory. but this is the territory that the, the recession, the re establish their state to regain. oh i say it's me when they say that, i'm sorry i miss right. this is our drawers one, this is the, this is uh, you know, when service say this is our jerusalem, the mean? this is the holiest of holies. this is the place where would that we need to retake

as a resurrection of our statehood. without it, we don't exist, no matter what territory we hold with it. no matter if we have no territory, we can, we can continue to exist. it's just, it's a spiritual issue and you complete me. it's that it is not just a territorial dispute, even though i don't want to minimize that territorial. this be a great question. but so it, it's multiple things to multiple people. and unfortunately with the western involvement, it's one of those will look here what, what we can do is creating the rules. and the rules based ordered doesn't actually function. last thing. now we're running out of time, but looking at u. s. foreign policy. taiwan, for example, the us says it's a biased by the one china policy, while at the same time, you know, selling missile arms to taiwan convoluted mixed messages from bite. and then direct contradiction from blinking is kosovo. comparable to the taiwan situation, while in so far as you can use the way the us is behaving with regard to kosovo. to

understand that none of these words matter. none of these treaties matter, nothing you you hear from the state department or the white house actually matters . at the end of the day, you have to look what the, what they're doing and not what they're saying. right? right, absolutely. i gotta leave it right there. unfortunately, the boys and the boys are malice. geo political analyst senior writer at r t dot com. thank you so much for sharing your insight and some of your personal story with us that is going to do it for today's episode of modus operandi. the show that digs deep into foreign policy and current affairs. i'm your host manila. chad. thank you for tuning in. we'll see you again next time to figure out the ammo the the

on the phone from the start. i mean is how could i escape again? that's to be resolved to not get bored. i see someone you off because of them during the 1st of all you do, i do this. it needs to be the most of the way of giving this new do the business to do everything on the job. so yesterday,

the 1st one being unemployed, so i see me in nevada because i'm just using the she left for the so they brought in the colored unit. and if i say instead of case, i'm just going to see what the process is when they just go to depaula system, i'm put you to on. yeah. but as on your part from sri, the funded pretty good unit is the briefcase. another process for this night they push up people to the level of quoting and useful previously on these items, you know, participate. so unfortunately, they also kind of phone. i'm asking, but it's not. the real thing to do is i have to go a little of videos and they'll go over what's going on. so before one of them will work on your cell phones allowing me and you have that because that gives you really the, the

ukraine and demands that the west adult legislation, the guarantees of money and weapons flow into key of on and you saw and sconces. meanwhile, all correspondence witnesses, yes, not the use of those alms. again, jessica hung upon the children's playground now especially to be scouring the area for unexploded cassette on sunday morning. they often light on detected for use. south africa opens investigation into us pharmaceutical, john johnson and johnson accusing it of sky high prices for a flight to drug treats the tip of children and pat applicant activities can be several and his colleagues are we.