Us and Eu created conflict at Kosovo by violent secession of SERBIAN southern territory Kosovo and Metohija is full name....anyone knowing history would be informed that Serbian army figth with Otomans 1389 at Kosovo field...where were Albanians at that time at Kosovo to protect borders of Europe from Otomans? Nowdays ungrateful Eu forgot that serbian army died fighting against Otomans ...how many ortodox serbian monasteries are there for centuries? Shame on you hypocritical EU for double standards for Serbia and for Ukraine

Serbia 🇷🇸 is doing exactly what the western civilization is doing! But somehow we pretend we don’t know 🙈

3:54 don't be affraid, say also that Macedonians were also native nation in Yugoslavia as you wrote there

The first argument is factually incorrect. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) explicitly ruled in 2010 that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not violate international law. This decision stemmed from a lawsuit initiated by Serbia, and it remains a definitive legal judgment on the matter. The subsequent arguments echo Russian propaganda regarding Ukraine, particularly the claim about “majority Russian areas.” In reality, no oblast in Ukraine (except Crimea) has a Russian-majority population. Even in Crimea, which had a significant Russian population, the majority voted for independence from the Soviet Union-and thus from Russia-in the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum. Moreover, the historical and sociopolitical contexts of Kosovo and Ukraine are fundamentally different. In Kosovo, Albanians constitute over 90% of the population, and their independence followed decades of severe oppression under Serbian rule. This included the systematic imprisonment of 30-40% of the male Albanian population, state-sponsored violence, and widespread human rights abuses. Every Albanian family suffered under this fascist regime, making their pursuit of self-determination both morally and legally justified. By contrast, Russian-speaking populations in Ukraine never faced anything resembling the systemic suppression endured by Albanians in Kosovo. Attempts to draw parallels between the two cases are not only misleading but also serve to whitewash Russia’s aggressive imperialism in Ukraine. The ICJ’s ruling on Kosovo affirms the legality of its independence, and its unique circumstances cannot be equated to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kosovo’s struggle was rooted in liberation from an oppressive state, while Russia’s actions in Ukraine are part of a broader expansionist agenda. Drawing false equivalences between the two only distorts history and undermines the legitimate rights of oppressed peoples like the Albanians in Kosovo.

Great video, I'm sure that the valuation of human rights in Kosovo by Serbia deserves more attention, also the killings done by the Yugoslav army towards Albanians are left out of the topic. This is a vital part of the conflict and yet barely mentioned. Also how Serbia deals with war crimes after the war is horrible. Unintentionally a bit one sided I think, anyways great content and thanks for bringing this case here.

If Serbs knew they can take it back they would . Two things: Mountain warfare is very hard. Attacking large US base means at war with them.

En étant du Kosovo et résident en France depuis 1999 c'est une description très fidèle de la situation appart que on parle jamais comment Kosovo a terminé comme territoire serb parce que c'était vraiment un cadeau amicale des puissances impérialiste aux proxis pour avoir défendu la chrétienté ce qu'il été absurde vu qu'une bonne parties des albanais été chrétiens des deux rite orthodoxe et catholique en étant ceux qui ont défendu et combattu pour gardé la religion jusqu'à créé l'ordre des Bektashli qui est beaucoup moins restrictives que l'islam traditionnel très fanatiques pour eux

So the ottoman empire kicked a certain people group and they came and took a piece of europe!🎉 Just like now in 2024 How long will this beautiful people called europeans will be around for? Maybe three generations. Wait that’s wayyyy to far into the future for the strong and confident european people 🙈 Sleeping while driving is Europe God Bless the people ❤🎉

the Professor talks about a good solution, but for the international community I think, he says that the compromise will be good for Serbia, maybe he means economically? that is not important to us, and the importance of that piece of land for us is difficult to describe in words. The national identity that we have been developing for centuries originates from Kosovo, it is ours, you cannot take someone else's land, we will never accept it, it is not right. The West is neither the first nor the last big bad, and other thugs came and robbed here, and theirs will pass to.

Thanks for talking about my country But I still think You will never understand the truth of it , If one nation been thrown around the world for only one reason so Albanian’s as a nation to not exist anymore or disappear, is been idea of the sllavic , turks and the rest of the western Europe . This sad truth led to the rest of the story( hisory) of what happened in that region. History of Albanian’s the most homogeneous people in the world still , people who been always occupied by it’s neighbors, people that belong to those regions as long as this world began are still being divided in 5 countries,, Why is Albania surrounded by its own people,.or all it’s neighbors are again Albanian,, Kosova , Macedonia, greece , Montenegro ,,, All the nonsense by the UN to be or not to be excepted by Them is A Game of the powerful people towards one Nation that gave the world a lot of Gems unrecognized .Thousands of years being occupied by others but we still kept our language untouched , our pride is something that kept us united and I think it’s time for the World to know that We exist, we breathe, we live and We have our rights to declare that Dardania( Kosova) is been always the land of Shqipetar(Albanian’s)and All we want is Peace cause we are not going anywhere else .🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱

Kosovo is not a real country. Its US military base / Drug cartel / Human organ trafficking territory illegally taken from Serbia.

At 12:50 Montenegro did not split from Serbia but from the state union Serbia and Montenegro, a federation comprising the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro.

Dear Professor James, your version of history is very shallow and full of gaps / tendencies. History of Kosovo can’t start from 14th century and coming of Ottomans as Serbian kings and dukes were ruling across Helm region (Balkan). They have built beaten monasteries and churches elder than 800 years which you could find them even today. Albania was never ever existing, and was created by Austrian -Hungary monarchy to prevent Serbian kings to exit on Adriatic sea having in mind that could be window to Russia to exit on warm sea and be more dominant in south east of Europe. Moreover, Serbian tribes were present across the Helm /Balkan many thousands years before and you could find old civilizations in place “Vinca” which is 8k years old, ather just few tribes in mountain area. That’s why you could find years of construction on old churches and monasteries starting with 5xxx, while according to new calendar would 1200year. Importantly, after 2 raises against Ottomans in 1693 and 1738 ten thousands of Serbs escaped revenge of Ottomans and left Kosovo. Read turkish “defters” which are their administrative records for taking taxes and you will not find any names except Serbian . But after this two rises , no one left there and Othomans brought tribes from Albania to get land and pay taxes. Than those tribes converted to Muslim religion as that was ensuring free of taxes in Ottoman empire. I can’t teach a professor his job, but he might be exploring more books into a depth and not publishing selective, incomplete and misleading video bringing ordinary people into confusion and future misunderstanding.

Аfter the war ended in June 1999 - 1,078 people disappeared or were killed in Kosovo and Metohija, 701 Serbs and non-Albanians and 377 people of Albanian nationality. 4,792 attacks on the lives and property of Serbs were carried out, about 45,000 buildings, mostly houses and apartments, were destroyed either partially or completely, 112 churches and monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church were destroyed or severely damaged. Due to terror and fear, 242,380 people, mostly Serbs and Gypsies, left Kosovo and Metohija.

My question for you, professor, is: did Milosevic, the now-known convicted war criminal, have the right to abolish Kosovo's autonomy at that time?

Axaxaxax man, indeed great advices, not! You can freely return everything that England occupied in the past 200-300 years, but leave us alone, please, and do not ‘help’ us in any way.

Why than Great Britain do not accept North Ireland independancy?There are lots of simmilar examples.

Yes, stealing Serbian land was a huge mistake.

Should the international community gather together and force Kosovo back into Serbia? I have never understood the idea that if free votes and referendums are held that show a clear wish to be independent that those areas and peoples have to be forced to stay in unions they desire to leave. Albania itself as a country was created pretty much simply to deny Serbia at the time access to the sea. Most countries grow out of other unions of one type of another. I guess I'm just wooden headed.

While Serbia is giving away Kosmet and getting literally nothingbin return, why don't we give away Vojvodina away too? If we give away all of our teritorry will that be enough? Should we all offer our asses too? What a load of BS.

When the ottoman empire came to the ballkan 500 years a go they controlled the whole region end they made deals with the serbs When they left they handed Kosova to the serbs it was never Serbian land but the beef between serbs and Albanians is all about money northern Kosova is rich ni minerals it's worth about 2 trillion dollars today so all the crying from Serbian government is all about money but that's Kosova land end there was never ethnic tension it's all made up by Serbian government belive me I am albanian but I have 2 Serbian aunties we always got a long it's all propaganda

Secondly, the world is less and less divided over the recognition of Kosovo; many countries have withdrawn their recognition, and more will do so in the future. It would also be good to note that Great Britain and America have always treated the UCK as the terrorists as they are, only to declare overnight the UCK as liberation army and begin arming and training these criminals. Similar to what they did and do all over the world. The Serbian police and army defended Serbia against separatists who were killing and kidnapping entire Serbian families in Kosovo, but the Western media blatantly ignored this. Similar as today! Today Gaza conflic in media started on October the 7th, not a decades ago and war in Ukraine started in February 2022, not 2014. The wold will be much better place when the truth finally come to the Western people.

All these comments in these section show that no one really knows anything about Kosovo except from what they heard in this video. USA and the majority of European countries didn't intervene in Kosovo because they could, and they didn't recognize Kosovo because it was a "special case". They did it because Serbia killed over than 15 thousands Albanian civilians and expelled from Kosovo over than 1 million Albanians from their houses to seek asylum in Europe, USA and Australia. It was considered as a genocide and ethnical cleansing. There was no way that the Albanians could live under Serbian rule in these conditions. The only solution was for Serbia to accept Kosovo's separation from Yugoslavia. The West waited 8 years for Serbia to accept and they didn't. They cannot wait forever. Hence the declaration of independence came in 2008. Putin's intentions to make Kosovo look the same with Crimea, do not stand, because they are not similar. Ukraine didn't kill any Russian civilians and they were not threatened by the Ukrainian state. Also, Albania as a country didn't go to war with Serbia for Kosovo to claim any land. Russia is attacking another country (Ukraine) to claim more land.

A couple of observations. Tito was a Croat and always worked to suppress Serbia, and for the welfare of Croatia. Just look at the borders of Croatia, they don't make much sense. Tito also declared 2 autonomous provinces in Serbia, and unfortunately he should have done the same in Croatia because at that time, parts of Croatia were 95% Serb and had been for centuries. But there are no autonomous provinces there, right?

Let me introduce you to a state called, Republika Srpska.... Please make the same video where you will convince Bosnian muslims that it's in their best interest to let the Serbs of Bosnia have self determination and that it's better for us to split up. Thanks

Exactly as you Said in video ... Kosovo was historically allways part of Serbia, long before Ottomans concured Serbia, Serbia was a kingdom and Kosovo was part of it ... Todays problem in Balkans is that Albanians lie about their own history and are trying to make it seem Like Serbia never existed before WW1 ... Hahhah those People act like the World starts in WW1 with Ottomans falling apart and claiming that Serbia took Kosovo in WW1 🤣

First white nation in the balkan pellasgo illyrian many years of history was written and than serbians come from jrall mountains ...

Go to Montenegro, ask a person what their nationality is, and they will say Montenegrin (if not Serbian). Go to Kosovo, ask thr same question, they will say Albanian. There isnt such a thing as Kosovo nationality. It is a forceful taking of territory, end of story

1) Principles of International Relations vs. Law Things should be called by their true names. Instead of speaking about "international principles" and "rules", it should be clearly stated that International law and the UN Charter have been violated. This undermines the UN itself, one of the key institutions maintaining peace since World War II, where the consequenses are felt today more then ever. 2) Two States for One Nation Kosovo and Metohija is a unique case in that one nation-the Albanians-seeks to establish two states: Kosovo and Albania. In Kosovo, there is no population identifying as “Kosovars,” and so there is no “Kosovan nation.” Nowhere else in the world do we see such a situation, especially when there are stateless nations, such as the Kurds, Palestinians or the Roma. In this context, and without concealment, the ultimate goal of Albanians is unification and the creation of the so-called "Greater Albania," a fact that is openly acknowledged. This opens yet another Pandora’s box. 3) AVNOJ Borders One argument cited in the video involves borders artificially drawn by the communist, anti-Serbian dictator Tito and the autonomy granted to the autonomous region of Kosovo and Metohija in the last 80 years as being legitimate and foundational. However, ethnic composition maps, such as the one presented in the video at 4:10 titled "Ethnic Diversity of Former Yugoslavia c. 1990" , reveal that Albanians were not even a majority in Priština itself, let alone across broader territories of the province, as recently as 35 years ago. This is further evidenced by the cultural heritage in the area, which is almost exclusively Serbian, apart from the restored house of Nazi ally Xhafer Deva (balkaninsight.com/2022/03/15/glorified-and-vilified-who-was-kosovos-nazi-ally-xhafer-deva/), representing one of the rare Albanian cultural legacies in Kosovo. 4) Freedom Fighter or Terrorist? Again, things should be called by their true names-freedom fighters work within the institutions of their country to further their rights. The moment they take up arms, by the very definition of terrorism, they become terrorists. Politics cannot be separated from geopolitics, and it must be acknowledged that Albanians did not organize themselves independently. They were armed and organized by others pursuing their own geopolitical goals. Whether a militarized group is deemed terrorist or liberatory depends on whether Western powers are the one arming them, reflecting broader narratives and propaganda mechanisms. 5) Hurt Pride To reach the current situation, the most powerful military alliance in human history, at its peak, was deployed against Serbia. Never before in human history has there been such a stark imbalance in military power between two sides in a military conflict. In this sense, Serbia’s "pride" was not wounded, as the narrator claim. Rather, Serbs are outraged by the injustice inflicted, particularly as it the injustice was inflicted by former allies from World War I and II. 6) Montenegro Case Examining the map at 4:10 may provide answers where Serbs lived less than 35 years ago and how the secession of Montenegro was orchestrated, and how yet another "Nation building" project started. Looking at the rest of the map could raise further uncomfortable questions. 7) Why Recognizing Kosovo would be a Mistake Recognizing Kosovo would not only represent a spiritual defeat for the Serbian people but also risk igniting new hotspots in Serbia, where national minorities peaefully reside enjoing full rights, much like every minority can if it respects it's coutry of Serbia and it's laws. __________________________ Serbs perceive the Kosovo situation and the NATO bombing that preceded it as a continuation of the West's wars against the Serbian people during the 1990s. In a broader context, they see it as an extension of the ideologies of World War I and II World War aimed at reducing Serbia's influence in the Balkans, at best, or outhright destroying Serbian people and their state, at worst. In these difficult times, Serbs rely on their deep, centuries old historical roots and state-building capacity, which remain singular in the former Yugoslav territories.

very well explained one complicated situation and why the western countries need explicitly from serbia to recognize kosovo

I wonder if French policy had prior to the war’s?? Just curious that’s all

You mean serbia?

Question is why are you mentioning any entity for Croats ? First they fought to dissolve Yugoslavia together with Bosniaks Secondly they are making about 15% of population Finally they got the entity of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina already.

double standards as standard policy of great powers who can bully small nations as they pleased. would it be the case if Serbia had nuclear bombs?

Before Turkish aggression in Serbia, there was no Albanian population in Kosovo. Kosovo is the Serb word for Serb land, and it doesn't mean anything in Albanian. Kosovo Polje is a place where the Serbian and Turkish army had a big battle in 1389. Kosovo Polje in Serbian means "blacbirds field." Albanians came together with Turkish aggressors, and they helped Turks terrorize non-Muslim polulation. The second big mistake is that there were no Bosnians in Yugoslav federations. There were Muslims, Croats, and Serbs in Bosnia. The term "Bosnian" refers only to the people who live in Bosnia; it does not refer to any particular ethnic group, any more than Belgians or Sczweitz do.

Imagine saying that Serbia should have accepted the independence of a terrorist state... oh... you did say that... oh well

In 100 years in Bosnia and Herzegovina we had and still have Otoman empire Austria Hungary Nazzi Croatia / Germany Eu ombudsman Foreign haegemony that just doesn't give up.

With all due respect ,you have said the truth, but you are not understanding it. You are saying in 10:17 that "the right of self-determination leading to independence only applies to colonial territories or areas under military occupation", but in fact it was a military ocuppation in the first and second Balkan wars in the early 1900, since then it was a military occupation from Serbia, also it was a very worse one! For 100 years Kosovo Albanians were killed, prosecuted, massacred, their rights have been violated, the Albanian people of Kosovo were seen as a second or third class of mankind, they were not even considered Humans. You tell me if this is not an occupation!!

Kosovo wurde 1912 durch eine genocid von serbija an albanern verübt anektiert die Bevölkerung kosovo war albanisch und bleibt albanisch mit über 95% serben sind 3% und kosovo hies dardanien hat mit slaven nichts zu tun authoktone volk sind die albaner

Well the armed rebellion againts the Yugosllavian army came as a result of the genocide which was being commited towards the civillian population. I believe this is very important to mention as the movement for the separation was political and it escalated only after horrific crimes were commited towards the albanians where paramilitary groups were send to butcher the civillian population and with the purpose of ethnic cleansing. The narrative on the video states the mistakes of the west and somehow I think tends to justify the reaction of the Yugoslavian government despite similar action happened in Bosnia just right before the Kosovo conflict.

12:58 So if Montenegro left Serbia then it is ok for Kosovo to leave Serbia too because the cultures are different - This argument is very weak for me. Lets take Canada as an example. If Vancouver leaves Canada then Quebec should automatically leave too because they are French and culturally have less in common with Canada then Vancouver. That is not a very good argument for independence. Novi Pazar is a city in Serbia that is over 80% Muslim with it's own culture. So when Montenegro left Serbia, should Novi Pazar leave too and became a micro state automatically? Kosovo is just gerrymandering of the West.

It is special case becouse USA stands for it, there was no referendum, they cleansed the land of Serbian population and called it Kosovo. That is blatant violation of international law. But who cares when its USA that decides.

Sorry, You have a PhD? Did you buy it on the flee market? Your logic is so bad and your fact checking is 0. Where did you buy your diploma and for how much?

Wow, first time I see someone talk about this issue AND mention that it does break the established rules and the general implications of this act, I applaud you for that! However, what compromise can be made if Serbia accepts Kosovo's independence? Kosovo getting independence can't be a compromise, that's a one sided solution whatever is offered to Serbia in return for accepting this. It's the same as saying Ukraine should accept Crimea go away (and majority of the population doesn't want to live in Ukraine too, so quite similar to Kosovo).

I notice you support reunification of Cyprus and federation of Bosnia. But you think Serbia should agree to Kosovo independence. Even though Serbia supports a federation system with a high degree of autonomy for Kosovo. Just an observation of a pro-west bias.

In the end, the Russian federation will become Russia ( much more smaller ) and more than 10 states will born.

Your maps are lawed. Vojvodina was part of Austro-Hungary until uniting with Serbia, also your ''kingdom of Macedonia'' never existed. From the 12th century ''Kosovo'' was always part of the Serbian state (or its different names like Rashka). Also, you're pushing Western propaganda for the incident. This is not an independent nor a real report. You've opened Pandora's box so no crying now. As there is a saying there is no regret after s*x. For example the reasons for ''Special Case'' are false, as determined by UN investigators, 1- there were no human rights abuses and ''those abused'' were designated as Terrorist organizations by USA - FACTS, 2- Status in Yugoslavia WAS NEVER AS A STATE so that falls also, 3- it was never ''self-ruled'' it was Serbian institutions with UN overseers . And it's not recognized by half of UN members... maybe by one third of members you can see that also it is public information easily found in UN. P.S. Why don't you tell us how that ''independant decision'' come to be executed? Anything to do with killing Serbian civilians while KFOR and UN peacekeepers stood watch and did nothing while Albanians killed Serbians and burned their houses?

Analysis is made with some false or left out premises, but there are few fair points. Personally, I am interested in keeping what is most valuable to Serbs - Monasteries and their land, cultural heritage sights, as a form of ex-territory of Serbia. They can keep the rest.

Hold a referendum and see the results of the population, that will show 95% will vote to never ever be part of Serbia, as the Kosovo population is Albanian, a landgrab under first Balkan war was carried out by Serbia and a genocide against Albanians, as Kosovo was almost double the size of what you see today, a second genocide was carried out in 1999 to forever expell the Albanian population but in this case NATO interwined and stop it, the result is that today we have a new independent country with over 92% population being Albanians and the 7% are Turks, Serbians, Bosnian and Roman. But Serbia has threatened that if it was to be hold referendum in Kosovo they will intervine militarily, in other words start a war and only that is a special case.

Bosnia was not an ethnic republic for the Bosnians because a people called the Bosnians do not exist. The ehnic groups in Bosnia were the Muslims, Serbs and Croats. The Muslims took the name Bosniaks in the 1990s. A Bosnian is a person born in Bosnia, not a nationality! I don't understand this logic: why can't the Serbs in Kosovo secede from the Albanians? Kosovo was artificially created. By separating 5 municipalities all ethnic problems would be solved.