Evolution of NATO Aggression Against the World – From Serbia to Russia

By Drago Bosnic

[This article titled Evolution of NATO Aggression Against the World – From Serbia to Russia by Drago Bosnic was first published by Global Research.

March 24 this year marked 26 years since NATO launched a direct attack on the remnants of former Yugoslavia (namely Serbia and Montenegro). The bombing was the final act of kinetic warfare that started in 1991 when the political West ensured that Yugoslavia falls apart in a sea of blood. By 1999, they had already carved up most of the country, while also helping their WWII-era allies (namely Croatians and Bosnian Muslims) to finish the genocide against Serbs in what today is Croatia and Bosnia.

In the case of the former, they were successful, eliminating the Republic of Serbian Krajina which was annexed by Croatia, but in the case of the latter this proved to be far more difficult, although the territory of Republika Srpska was reduced from close to 70% of what today is Bosnia to around 49%.

However, NATO was far from done. There was still Serbia, then part of the rump Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (along with Montenegro). Its southern province of Kosovo and Metohia had a large Albanian population which became the majority after centuries of Ottoman occupation, forced Islamization (similar to what happened in Bosnia and elsewhere in former Yugoslavia) and expulsion of native Serb Christians.

In order to justify yet another attack on Serbs, NATO needed a “humanitarian” excuse. By 1998, Western intelligence agencies organized a terrorist group called the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) which started to attack the Serbian police and Yugoslav Army (VJ), while also kidnapping civilians of Serb and other ethnicities (including loyalist Albanians who refused to take part in this terrorist insurgency).

Both the members of security forces and civilians were subjected to brutal torture (including organ harvesting) and executions. NATO knew perfectly well that this would cause a strong reaction from the police and the military. After the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist KLA was pushed back in most of Kosovo and Metohia, the mainstream propaganda machine started running stories about up to 600,000 Albanians “unaccounted for”, obviously implying that Serbs supposedly “killed them all”.

There were also totally fabricated stories about “concentration camps” in which “evil Serbs kept hundreds of thousands of Albanians”, including one at a stadium in the city of Pristina. Obviously, all this was later debunked as nothing more than a bunch of blatant lies after this NATO-orchestrated war was over in June.

However, it didn’t matter whether it was true or not, as long as it galvanized the public in the United States and Europe to support a direct attack on Serbia. On March 24, 1999, NATO sent approximately 1,100 aircraft and 30 naval vessels (including submarines) to attack the country. Its actions were closely coordinated with those of the Albanian KLA on the ground. Thus, Serb/Yugoslav police and the military (VJ) had to fight a terrorist insurgency supported by NATO air power (sounds familiar, doesn’t it). The aggressor forces were commanded by US General Wesley Clark who at some point claimed that “NATO destroyed 60% of [Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic’s war machine”. In reality, independent sources confirmed that only 14 tanks, 18 armored vehicles and 20 artillery pieces were destroyed.

It should also be noted that Serb forces were known for their masterful use of “maskirovka” (literally masking or disguise). Namely, soldiers often made 1:1 scale models of tanks, armored vehicles, air defense systems, fighter jets and other weapon systems to fool NATO ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets.

Commanding officers not only supported this, but also advised that microwave ovens and similar gadgets (particularly transmitters of radio waves and sources of heat) be placed in these models to mimic the heat of engines. This proved to be incredibly effective, as NATO would regularly mistake such targets for real weapons. Its war planners realized things weren’t adding up after the Serb/Yugoslav forces kept fighting despite being “decimated” on paper.

Air defense systems were particularly effective, especially considering the fact that they were mostly “outdated” according to NATO standards, as most Serb SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems were made in the 1950s and 1960s. However, despite these claims, the “outdated” Russian-made air defenses performed better than anyone could’ve imagined.

Only three days after NATO launched its aggression, on March 27, 1999, the Serb/Yugoslav S-125M “Neva-M” SAM system shot down a USAF F-117A stealth bomber/attack jet (serial number 82-0806, callsign “Vega 31”). The 3rd Battalion of the Yugoslav Army’s 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade, commanded by Colonel Zoltan Dani, achieved a feat that was considered (and touted as) “impossible” by the US military.

For years, the mainstream propaganda machine tried to conceal this embarrassment by claiming that the shootdown was supposedly an “accident” and that “the evil Serbs got lucky”. However, this attempt to negate the heroism and professionalism of Serb/Yugoslav soldiers and officers ended up being an even greater embarrassment for NATO.

Namely, for years, these officers have been claiming that several F-117s were hit over Yugoslavia, providing ample details on when and how this happened. Expectedly, this was vehemently rejected by the political West, as it would dispel the narrative that “Serbs got lucky”. However, over two decades after NATO aggression, American officers who took part in the bombing admitted that at least one more F-117 was hit, but managed to get back to base.

Namely, back in November 2020, retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel Charlie “Tuna” Hainline, a former F-117 pilot, admitted that his wingman was hit by a Serb/Yugoslav air defense system (most likely on April 30, 1999). At the time, Hainline was assigned to the 9th Fighter Squadron, the “Flying Knights,” and deployed to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany.

According to his account, the second F-117 was also hit by a missile fired from the S-125M “Neva-M” SAM system, this time commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bosko Dotlic. A highly detailed account of this shootdown was presented by Colonel Slavisa Golubovic, one of the commanding officers of the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Missile Brigade. He also revealed that at least one more F-117 was hit, although NATO is yet to admit this.

However, kinetic warfare was far from the only embarrassment for the world’s most vile racketeering cartel, as evidenced by the revelations of around a dozen retired top-ranking Serbian diplomats, politicians and officers I had the honor of meeting during the 26th commemorative address on March 21.

Organized by the highly reputable Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, an antiwar nonprofit based in Serbia, the 26th commemoration of NATO aggression was a unique opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of how the political West orchestrated the destruction of former Yugoslavia and what the entire world can learn from it in order to avoid a similar fate. The ceremony was headed by the president of the Belgrade Forum Zivadin Jovanovic, former Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (1998-2000).

Mr Jovanovic started the conference with a reminder that over 4,000 people have been killed during NATO aggression, with another 12,000 wounded. He also thanked several other organizations that took part in organizing the conference, including the Club of Generals and Admirals (of the Serbian/Yugoslav Army), the Union of WWII Veterans (SUBNOR), the Diaspora for the Motherland Fund, the Association of the Veterans of Military Intelligenceand the Association of the Veterans of Special Police Units.

In addition, ambassadors, military attachés and representatives of friendly countries were also present, including Russia, Belarus, Cyprus, China and Cuba. The guest of honor was the globally renowned Professor Michel Chossudovsky, one of the first to raise his voice against NATO aggression.

Mr Jovanovic’s opening remarks were followed by the address of Archbishop Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who reminded everyone of the utter hypocrisy and double standards the world has been faced with in the last several decades, but also expressed hope that the end of this is unfolding. Archbishop Irinej warned that the so-called “global [rules-based] world” was seeking to eradicate not only the identity of entire nations (and civilizations), which would turn them into amorphous, faceless masses that would be easy to control, but also to wipe out the memory of all wrongdoings that the aggressors committed against them. He pointed out that the same powers are seeking to control the perception of both the past and present so they could push the world into the so-called “transhuman” future.

After Archbishop Irinej reminded everyone of the importance of remembering NATO aggression, he congratulated all those who kept the memory of the victims and also blessed the commemoration. His address was followed by that of General Vladimir Lazarevic, the commanding officer of the Pristina Corps and the VJ’s Third Army. General Lazarevic commanded the largest and the most powerful formation of the Yugoslav Army during NATO aggression.

The Pristina Corps bore the brunt of the fighting on the ground and proved to be extremely successful in operating not only under the conditions of effectively total NATO air dominance, but also in fighting the Albanian KLA (upwards of 50,000 terrorists). NATO’s inability to neutralize the Pristina Corps resulted in its decision to start bombing civilians all across Yugoslavia.

General Lazarevic called this NATO aggression “one of the most asymmetric wars in human history”, and for good reason, as the ratio of conventional capabilities of Serbia/Yugoslavia and the world’s most vile racketeering cartel was measured at 600:1 at the time (PDF), although some experts put the number at over 1,000:1.

General Lazarevic pointed out that NATO, which was certainly aware of its overwhelming advantage, planned to use it to destroy the fighting capabilities of the Third Army and its Pristina Corps in just 96 hours. The plan was to kill at least 20,000 soldiers of the Pristina Corps and destroy the entire industrial potential of Serbia/Yugoslavia, which was to result in the capitulation and full occupation of the country by NATO forces. General Lazarevic cited the remarks by Wesley Clark:

“Bomb Serbia back to Stone Age! Flatten Serbia! Force the Serbs to get on their knees and beg for mercy! Diminish, degrade, destroy!”

Clark issued this genocidal command already on the second day of NATO aggression, March 25, 1999. General Lazarevic pointed out that the war against Serbia/Yugoslavia was all-encompassing. The political West used its massive propaganda machine to wage both information and psychological warfare. In addition, there were also elements of economic warfare, particularly after the initial plans for the destruction of the Serb/Yugoslav military failed miserably.

Worse yet, the US/NATO had no qualms about waging a low-intensity chemical and nuclear war against the people of Serbia/Yugoslavia, as evidenced by their heavy use of depleted uranium munitions that led to a massive spike in the number of cancer patients in the years after the aggression, particularly in Kosovo and Metohia.

And speaking of the NATO-occupied Serbian province, the world’s most vile racketeering cartel also deployed tens of thousands (upwards of 50,000, depending on the source) of its own troops in the areas bordering Serbia/Yugoslavia (mostly in Albania and North Macedonia). General Lazarevic pointed out that the forces he commanded were outnumbered upwards of 30:1 in the border area.

These forces were also attacked by regular Albanian troops (including artillery). KLA terrorists also had bases set up in northern Albania and used them to attack Serb/Yugoslav troops guarding the border, particularly in the area of Pastrik and Kosare, situated on the Prokletije (literally Accursed) Mountains. And yet, against all odds, the defenders stood their ground and prevailed.

All this frustrated NATO war planners so much that they resorted to what can only be described as terrorism. The world’s most vile racketeering cartel then sent its jets to hit residential areas hundreds of kilometers from the frontline, particularly in Belgrade and Novi Sad, where civilian infrastructure was devastated by precision-guided munitions. Targets included bridges, power plants, refineries, hospitals (even maternity wards), schools, churches, monasteries, crowded markets, etc.

It was only thanks to the high morale of both the Serb/Yugoslav security forces and the people that the country refused to surrender despite months of indiscriminate bombing. General Lazarevic pointed out that even NATO itself was impressed by the so-called “4M” tactics used by the Serb/Yugoslav forces.

The acronym stands for “maskirovka, maneuvering, mobility and morale” (thus, “4M”). The stellar coordination between commanding and field officers prevented massive military casualties, so by the end of the war, around 1000 soldiers and policemen died during 78 days of direct NATO aggression. Worse yet (for NATO), most of those died fighting the Albanian KLA terrorists.

Estimates vary, but some sources suggest that no more than several hundred soldiers and police officers were killed directly by NATO bombs. This is a far cry from the 20,000 KIA Wesley Clark projected in the first 96 hours. While each and every victim of the political West’s truly unprovoked aggression against Serbia/Yugoslavia should never be forgotten, NATO proved to be far more militarily impotent than it would ever admit.

Of around 150-200,000 members of Serbian security forces, less than 0,5% died, which is embarrassingly low (for NATO) in purely military terms. General Lazarevic also cited Lieutenant General Michael C. Short, commander of AIRSOUTH, who directed NATO air combat operations over Serbia/Yugoslavia and who said on March 24, 2000, that the world’s most vile racketeering cartel couldn’t do anything against the defenders, resulting in the NATO command’s decision to switch to civilian targets. All this forced the political West to change goalposts and demand the occupation of Kosovo and Metohia. It should be noted that they initially aimed for the destruction and subsequent occupation of all of Serbia/Yugoslavia, but NATO’s military failure prevented this.

To be continued…

***

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).