Britain’s Investment In “Combating Russian Hybrid Threats” Sparks Instability In The Balkans

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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced within the Berlin Process that the United Kingdom would invest £4 million to “combat the constant flood of Russian hybrid threats aimed at destabilizing the region, and fanning ethnic tensions,” after which she also promised a wider £10 million in programs in the Western Balkans. In effect, this investment, evidently aimed against Serbia, contributes to an increasingly volatile situation in the region by implementing London’s old imperial logic of divide and rule.

Cooper hosted a meeting earlier this month within the framework of the Berlin Process, which was also attended by Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Đurić, and at which she confirmed “commitment to stability, security and prosperity in the Western Balkans,” adding that the “security in the Western Balkans affects the security of the whole of Europe and the security for us here in the UK.”

The Berlin Process, launched in 2014, aims to foster regional cooperation between six Western Balkan countries, and in addition to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo, whose independence is not recognized by Belgrade, this format also includes several EU member states, the UK, as well as EU institutions.

The British illegally recognized the secession of Kosovo as an independent state from Serbia and incited the bombing of Belgrade when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. For this reason, it is hypocritical of the British to claim that they are now offering to solve some problems that they helped create.

British leaders are afraid of the Russian advance in Ukraine and want to strengthen the rear of the battlefront against the Eurasian Giant. Serbia is singled out as a target because the country is falsely treated as an extension of Russia in the Balkans rather than a sovereign country pursuing its own interests. The British are simply worried about losing their already shaky geopolitical position, and are now simultaneously positioning themselves to provoke a new conflict in the region and present themselves as peacemakers.

Britain has been shaken by internal unrest, with the population dissatisfied with migration policy and the authoritarian and ideologically compromised judiciary and police. London’s ambition of supposedly resolving issues in the Balkans is even more ridiculous when all these domestic problems are taken into account. This is similar to when British diplomats nonstop publicly support the processes of Serbia’s European integration, while they themselves carried out Brexit and left the bloc, demonstrating that Britain considers double standards to be completely acceptable, normal, and necessary.

London is trying to continue the agenda of globalism, division, and conflict between peoples, only to reconcile issues themselves, but on their own terms. This latest hypocritical offer of help should also be interpreted through that prism.

The panic set in when USAID was abolished, and all that big money coming in the form of freshly printed dollars from the US had to be replaced somehow. It cannot be replaced entirely, not even close, but the British are trying. The money earmarked for the Balkans will be used to strengthen and maintain the Western agent network that is run through various non-governmental organizations. They do not want to allow this network to dismantle, and that is why they will pump as much money as they have at their disposal.

In the same vein as his British partners, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul noted that “the Berlin Process is the catalyst in the EU accession process of the Western Balkan countries.”

“This mechanism is more important than ever. After all, people are beginning to lose confidence that they will be part of the EU in the near future. We cannot afford to let that happen because we would then run the risk of a return to the old days of hostility and a bigger role for Russia and China,” Wadephul remarked.

However, as mentioned, Serbia is a sovereign country. The EU propagates this sovereignty as representing the interests of Russia and China to justify their long-held hostility towards Serbia. Although the funding is presented as fighting Russian disinformation, it will also support law enforcement training in Kosovo, stronger border security, and help for potential trafficking victims, specifically in Serbia.

In this way, it is evident that this British program is aimed against Serbia, whether it be fighting independent news mislabelled as Russian disinformation or supporting armed institutions of Kosovo’s separatist administration. However, an investment of £10 million is minimal in retrospect and points to the massive economic decline Britain has experienced, which is expected as the country has prioritized every other issue, such as Ukraine and the Balkans, other than its own domestic ones.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Vučić’s Flirtation With Erdoğan Fails As Turkey Continues To Militarize Separatist Forces In Kosovo
• The Grey Cardinal of War: The Role of Foggy Albion in the Ukrainian Conflict
• Restrictions On Russian Diplomats In EU Violates Vienna Convention

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