President Vladimir Putin of Russia has some deeply emotional views about the recent history of Yugoslavia. And on this subject, his words are very compelling.
Yugoslavia was aligned with the Soviet Union for a time after World War ii. The alignment didn’t last long, and Yugoslav-Soviet relations in the Cold War era were often rocky; however, when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985, they improved greatly. But that came to an end in the early 1990s when the Soviet Union broke up.
President Putin’s takeover of Crimea has Eastern Europe frightened and the Western world upset. But he explained his actions in an extremely revealing statement during an address to the Russian Federation on March 18 that we must examine.
Here is what Putin said: “As it declared independence and decided to hold a referendum, the Supreme Council of Crimea referred to the United Nations Charter, which speaks of the right of nations to self-determination. Incidentally, I would like to remind you that when Ukraine seceded from the ussr it did exactly the same thing, almost word for word. Ukraine used this right, yet the residents of Crimea are denied it. Why is that?” He is talking about Crimea’s vote on March 16 to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia. You can read more about this in my article on page 10 of this issue.
President Putin has labeled the breakup of the Soviet Union “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” He is still angry about that and is clearly trying to reconstruct that empire, of which Ukraine was a part. But something else fills him with wrath as well.
He continued: “Moreover, the Crimean authorities referred to the well-known Kosovo precedent—a precedent our Western colleagues created with their ownhands in a very similar situation—when they agreed that the unilateral separation of Kosovo from Serbia, exactly what Crimea is doing now, was legitimate and did not require any permission from the country’s central authorities” (emphasis mine throughout).
He is referring to what happened to Yugoslavia. What happened there, and why is he so upset about it?
From the early 1990s through the early part of 2000, the United States used its power and ultimately its military to dismantle Yugoslavia! And it did so at the behest of Germany. America and Germany would like to forget that history as it really happened, but Vladimir Putin has not forgotten. What occurred there is etched in his memory and enrages him to this day.
A Double Standard?
Putin continued by saying this about Kosovo: “Pursuant to Article 2, Chapter 1 of the United Nations Charter, the UN International Court agreed with this approach and made the following comment in its ruling of July 22, 2010, and I quote: ‘No general prohibition may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council with regard to declarations of independence,’ and, ‘General international law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence.‘”
He then quoted another official document: the Written Statement of the United States of America, April 17, 2009. This was submitted to the same UN International Court in regards to Kosovo: “Declarations of independence may, and often do, violate domestic legislation. However, this does not make them violations of international law.”
Putin explained that the U.S. “wrote this, disseminated it all over the world, had everyone agree, and now they are outraged. Over what? The actions of Crimean people completely fit inwith these instructions, as it were. For some reason, things that Kosovo Albanians (and we have full respect for them) were permitted to do, Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in Crimea are not allowed. Again, one wonders why.
“We keep hearing from the United States and Western Europe that Kosovo is some special case. What makes it so special in the eyes of our colleagues? It turns out that it is the fact that the conflict in Kosovo resulted in so many human casualties.”
Putin is right about that. Kosovo was tied to Serbia when the U.S. supported its breakaway. He is also right that American-led military intervention against Serbia—the leading state of Yugoslavia—led to many casualties.
‘The Rule of the Gun’
Putin’s next statement was aimed even more directly at the United States, and it is astounding. “Our Western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun.”
America, he said, is led by the ruleof the gun! And in this case he is right!
Yugoslavia was conquered by American military power. Under the banner of nato, the United States blasted the Serbs to smithereens so Kosovo and other states could break away. It was a terrible attack against the Serbs, who were America’s allies in World Wars i and ii!
But the most ominous part of all is that the United States conquered the Serbs basically on behalf of Germany—its bitter enemy in both world wars!
For proof that Germany orchestrated the destruction of the Serbs and Yugoslavia, it is critical that you request and read my free booklet Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans. I hope every single one of you will read it. It is a powerful explanation of world news and of what happened in Yugoslavia. And it is supported by facts—not opinions.
Now Germany controls what used to be Yugoslavia—and the entire Balkan Peninsula. It accomplished this feat while hardly even using its military; America did the bombing. That is why President Putin says America is guided by “the law of the gun.” If you look at the facts of what happened in Yugoslavia, you would have to agree.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia of living in the 19th century and not acting like someone living in the 21st century. But I submit to you that the crime against Yugoslavia wasfar worsethan that committed by the Russians against Crimea. The United States should be ashamed to have done that, and then to just bury the true history!
Serbia, the leading state within Yugoslavia, fought on the same side as the United States in two world wars. It has suffered terribly from German aggression for more than a century. It was our ally, and then we turned around and bombed it into defeat!
Why did we do that? Because we were unwilling to stand up to Germany—the very nation that wrought such destruction against us and much of the world by starting two world wars!
Anyone can see something is terribly wrong with America’s logic!
I challenge you to look honestly at the history Putin is citing and determine whether he is right! What was America doing bombing the country that was our ally in World Wars i and ii?
Then we gave Yugoslavia and the entire Balkan Peninsula over to the very nation that started the two world wars and was America’s bitter enemy.
Germany was the first country to perceive and demonstrate the depth of America’s broken will. Vladimir Putin also understands our horrendous weakness in foreign policy. He is going to exploit it as the Germans did.
Here is more of what Putin said during his speech: “To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organizations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council, and the UN overall.
“This happened in Yugoslavia. Weremember 1999 very well. It was hard tobelieve, even seeingit with my own eyes, that at the end of the 20th century, one of Europe’s capitals, Belgrade [capital of Serbia], was under missile attack for several weeks, and then came the real intervention. Was there a UN Security Council resolution on this matter, allowing for these actions? Nothing of the sort.”
Russia, a UN Security Council member that holds veto power, was extended no opportunity to give its input on what should happen in Yugoslavia. The Russians have notforgotten that!
Do you think they will now accept our input on their takeover of Crimea, which is mostly inhabited by Russians?
When Putin says Russians “remember 1999,” he’s saying that they have deep emotions about it to this day. That rage still burns within Vladimir Putin. He has a lot of power and a strong memory about what happened in Yugoslavia.
On March 19, Courcy’s Intelligence Brief highlighted the same sentiment: “It is amystery as to why Western policymakersdid not understand the resentments thathad been building upin Moscow and that Ukraine represented a red line for Russia.” It is a mystery why the West doesn’t understand why the Russians were so infuriated by what happened in Yugoslavia.
“These resentments and fears are genuine, not concocted,” Courcy continued, “andthey have been signaled for a long time. The only surprise is that the West seems to have been surprised by the Kremlin’s actions over Crimea.” Western leaders and analysts may have been surprised by what happened. We at the Trumpet were not.
Are you willing to examine President Putin’s accusation objectively? The facts are terribly condemning.
A German Plan
The Serbs see clearly that Germany was behind the breakup of Yugoslavia. Slovenia and Croatia wanted to break away in the 1990s. Initially, most of Europe, the United Nations and the United States were against that because they knew it would cause terrible problems. But Germany (and the Vatican) recognized and strongly supported Slovenia and Croatia. And against the rest of the world, the will of Germany prevailed. Croatia’s breakaway led to civil war. Then Germany managed to getAmerica and nato todo the dirty work!
Warren Christopher, the United States secretary of state at the time, said that “the Germans bear a particular responsibility” for the Yugoslav civil war. But he was quickly silenced! And no leader in our government has made such a statement since.
In Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans, I wrote: “How could this happen without an outcry of alarm from the rest of the world?”
The U.S. wants this history of how Germany manipulated us to be forgotten. Germany now has almost full control of the whole Balkan Peninsula on the Adriatic Sea, leading right out into the Mediterranean, where Bible prophecy indicates it has much greater ambitions.
The front cover of our June 2002 Philadelphia Trumpet had a map of Yugoslavia with this headline: “First Victim of World War iii.” We expanded this powerful cover story into the booklet because it was so important.
Atthe time, German leaders were crying outthat the Serbs werecommitting genocide—trying to destroy whole races of people. Almost every one of those statements long ago proved to be lies! That is the truth!
German Defense Minister Volker Rühe pressed for a firm deadline to deploy the military into Yugoslavia as quickly as possible. He said the Serbs were running concentration camps and ordering mass killings. He emphasized that the nations involvedneeded to avoid a situation where the Russians could veto the war. He went on to say that when natoneeds to do something, we don’t need tolook to Russia for support—just do it! And he convinced America, the rest of Europe and the UN thatthat’s the way it should be.
The Russians remember that. Vladimir Putin knows what really happened there. He just doesn’t talk about Germany as much because he knows it was America’s power that shattered Yugoslavia in the end.
What is wrong with American foreign policy when Germany can single-handedly bend us (and much of the world) to its will? What weakness there is in America!
This is a startling fulfillment of the curse God warns of in Leviticus 26:19. God promised that He would “break the pride of [our] power”—and so He has! When you know that God is cursing our power because of our sins, it becomes clear how we shift so dramatically—from disagreeing with Germany and having most of the world on our side, to then giving our former allies, the Serbs, over to our former enemies, the Germans—even providing them with the power to destroy Yugoslavia!
You can see why Vladimir Putin says America is guided by the “rule of the gun.” That is our history in Yugoslavia—a shameful part of our history—and it is coming back to haunt us.
What Vladimir Putin did in Crimea was a great crime! But I say to you, Americacommitted a greaterone in Yugoslavia. Just look at the facts! I’m trying to be as objective as I possibly can. This is not my emotional opinion—these are facts! Most people will not face the truth. They would rather not talk about it.
German Conquest
Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans states, “The nato attack on Belgrade in 1999 succeeded in forcing the Yugoslav government to make peace with the Kosovo separatists.” The separation of Croatia, Slovenia and Kosovo was forced on Yugoslavia and the Serbs. Can the U.S. and other nations now criticize Putin for forcing Ukraine to part with Crimea?
State by state, Yugoslavia has been conquered. Even the name Yugoslavia has been discarded—it isn’t on the map anymore! That nation has been blotted out! And all because Germany wanted it done. Germany, which made Nazi puppets of Croatia and Slovenia in World War ii. Germany, which came back and recognized those two states years later and caused them to break away from Yugoslavia. Germany, which turned the world and even former allies against the Serbs and crushed them.
These facts of recent history ought to scare people, if they would just open their eyes. Forget about Bible prophecy for a moment and just look at history. An obvious and terrible warning is embedded in our own recent history! These are facts.
We wrote all about this as it happened in a booklet 15 years ago! It was exactly what we called it: Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans.
Here is what Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, said at the time: “But in the long run, Balkans belong strictly to the EU.” German-led Europe persuaded America to do its dirty work, but then made it clear to whom the spoils belonged: not to America—not to the Serbs—not to the United Nations.
Stratfor, the best intelligence reporters around, pointed out in 2002 that as America disengaged from the Balkans and Germany took over, Berlin would become the dominant power not only in that region but in European defense policy as a whole. Why has Germany yearned for more than a century to control the Balkans in the first place? It is to project power far beyond that peninsula.
Stratfor even called this “a rebirth of German fascism.”
But who is really listening?
In 1999, the New York Times wrote, “Strong German support for Croatian independence from Yugoslavia, and Croatia’s adoption of the hymn ‘Danke Deutschland’ when that independence came in 1991, only reinforced Serbian misgivings” (March 26, 1999). Croatia clearly knew its revolt succeeded because of Germany. After all, they didn’t sing “Danke nato”! They didn’t sing “Danke America”! They thanked the Germans, because the Germans orchestrated all of it! And if you think Germany doesn’t have ambitions beyond the Balkans, then you don’t realize what is happening.
Many people wonder why Germany has been so quiet about Putin’s takeover of Crimea. I think there is a very good reason: The Germans know what they did. And they know that Vladimir Putin also clearly understands what they did and that he is not about to back down in Ukraine! They know how they manipulated the whole world. Our marvelous booklet will explain all this for you. I hope you will request it and read it: Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans.
