https://www.reuters.com/world/us-monitoring-large-serbian-force-along-kosovo-border-white-house-2023-09-29/
The United States is monitoring a troubling Serbian military deployment along the border of Kosovo that is destabilizing the area, the White House said on Friday and called for the forces to be withdrawn.
Russia is probably also egging them on thinking it'll serve as a distraction speed bump for them to sneak in something that'd otherwise be on the more provocative side.
Jesus Christ how do people even come up with this?
In the past 10+ years, every time the current government had a scandal that received wider attention (they potentially have more scandals than the rest of Europe combined, and by "scandals" I mean the biggest marijuanna plantation in Europe being helped by the government, a Serb political leader in Kosovo getting killed to keep the control over the Serbs living there, a minister with a salary of 1300 euros buying a 250000 euro house after a month and a half, and then explaining that he went to his wife's aunt in Canada to get most of the money, bringing back 9000€ by 9000€, which is why it wasn't reported, etc), or if mass protests happen (as is currently the state), or the elections are nearing (which they are), they shake the Kosovo can and thus draw the attention away.
Pulling random events from memory: they sent a train with "Kosovo is Serbia" written on it, they sent a minister without permission so that he would get arrested, they ordered all Serbs to boycott the elections so that trouble would start when Albanians take office in Serb majority areas.
Of course, often times they get a crisis for free like when Kosovo decided to put a 100% tax on all Serb exports, when they unconstitutionally decided to form a Kosovo army, and by refusing to implement what they signed in 2013.
So as you can see, whenever the government needs free political points or to draw attention away, it has a plethora of options. So they proclaim how they will protect the Serbs, how the situation is very tense, they'll march the police and army back and forth, and so on. But everyone in Serbia knows that if one armed person crosses the Kosovo border, the few Serbs that are left on Kosovo would be expelled again, and Serbia itself would get bombed to hell again. And as I said, there have been mass protests since may, elections are nearing, and the worst opposition in the world will potentially unite, and as soon as this government falls, I doubt 10% of them will escape prison, so they're parading with the army to make it seem as if they're relevant at all.
Official state propaganda said almost nothing about the latest incident, so they either really weren't involved, or whatever they planned failed, in any case they obviously don't know how to respond.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The United States is monitoring a troubling Serbian military deployment along the border of Kosovo that is destabilizing the area, the White House said on Friday and called for the forces to be withdrawn.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Kosovo's peacekeeping force is going to be increasing its presence of NATO forces in northern Kosovo as a result of the tensions.
Kosovo authorities said police fought around 30 heavily armed Serbs who stormed the Kosovo village of Banjska on Sunday and barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery.
The gunbattle has prompted new international concern over stability in Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority and declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and a 1999 NATO intervention.
Kirby called "a large Serbian military deployment along the Kosovo border" a destabilizing development and called on Serbia to withdraw those forces and contribute to lowering tensions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Friday spoke to Serbia's president by phone to convey U.S. concerns, and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Kosovo's prime minister to discuss the events and stressed the importance of dialogue, Kirby said.
The original article contains 270 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 25%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Kosovo authorities said police fought around 30 heavily armed Serbs who stormed the Kosovo village of Banjska on Sunday and barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery.
That sounds pretty crazy to me, is that the norm in this area?
No, this is a new (re-)development. The last decade was mostly quiet. There were some skirmishes iirc. but not with a large serbian army amassed on the border.