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