The news in recent days and weeks has been full of reports about the current wars, with Ukraine, Palestine, Venezuela, and Iran being the keywords. These are only the most important ones, but not the only ones—we must also include Yemen and Sudan, Western Sahara and Pakistan, and the intensified strangulation of Cuba.
This escalating international situation, with the potential to escalate into World War III at any moment, is like an update, a continuation of what began in the 1990s with the wars to destroy Yugoslavia. At that time, after the “victory in the Cold War,” the Global West considered itself the victor of history, the US as the “sole world power,” as Zbigniew Brzeziński wrote. In the struggle for US hegemony in Eurasia, Ukraine plays a key role as a geopolitical hub, which is why Russia must be seen as an adversary and pushed back.
The question of what the promises of the Global West are worth has been around since well before the current sham negotiations between the US and Iran, and well before the farce of the Minsk agreements. In 1990, NATO promised that it would not “advance one inch to the east.” In March 1999, just in time for its invasion of Yugoslavia, it quickly admitted Poland, Czechia, and Hungary into the military alliance.
Four years ago, the US, NATO, and the German government suddenly claimed to have rediscovered international law—but only for the purpose of accusing Russia of having “destroyed decades of peace in Europe.” They themselves destroyed this peace in 1999 with their NATO aggression against Yugoslavia—something they want to suppress from public consciousness. At the time, they did not even bring their decision to go to war before the UN Security Council, anticipating a veto by Russia and China: a clear violation of international law.
I said in various speeches at the time that this was a “door-opener” for further imperialist wars. The then commander-in-chief of the aggression forces, General Wesley Clark, confirmed this after a visit to the Pentagon in 2001, where he was told that the US would “take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and finally Iran.” Apart from the timetable, we have arrived at exactly this situation. No mention of “democracy” and “human rights”; the plain language is: anything that stands in the way of the interests of the US and the Zionists must be ruthlessly eliminated.
“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2026. There are a number of reasons for this development. For decades, the dollar served as a universal medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. This benefited the US, whose astronomical national debt was paid for by others. This dependence on a single country led to a multitude of risks and friction losses and has become an obstacle to global trade. Currencies, customs duties, and payment transactions are becoming increasingly politicized, and confidence in the dollar and Western financial instruments is declining. The hegemony of the US was essentially a dollar hegemony.
As the world moves toward a multipolar order, the trend toward de-dollarization continues, with emerging economies gaining confidence and influence, forcing Washington to relinquish its monetary throne. Key factors include new international alliances such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, formed in 2001, and the establishment of the BRICS in 2009.
The RAND Corporation is one of the largest US military think tanks. In a study, it concludes that the once unchallenged military superiority of the US is waning. However, this is not a signal for a peaceful, quiet retreat based on insight. Rather, the study calls for a “rethinking of defense strategy in order to preserve the US-led international order (dominance).” This orientation ties in with the 2019 RAND strategy document, which set out the goal of “Extending Russia – competing from advantageous ground.”
The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) in Paris argues that the EU must actively “disempower” Russia by reducing its ability to undermine European interests. The EU and the UK want dominance in Europe, and to achieve this they need a weak Russia. For their own global ambitions, they want a semi-colonial Russia as a hinterland and source of raw materials. They call this the “decolonization” of Russia—the dismantling of the country into many controllable parts, without a central power capable of acting. Germany, France, Poland, and Britain in particular are therefore pushing for the continuation of the war with Russia, and even its escalation.
Russian historians Trenin, Karaganov, and Avakjanz write in “From Passive to Active Deterrence”: “The transition from a failed partnership to a new confrontation and then to an open confrontation does not allow for a return to the original format of the ‘Cold War.’” “The ruling circles of Europe are already busy with political, moral, and military-economic preparations for a major war with Russia.”
Dmitri Trenin wrote on July 19, 2025: Many people today talk about humanity heading toward a “Third World War,” meaning that something similar to what happened in the 20th century lies ahead of us. However, war is constantly changing its appearance. … In reality, the world war is already here, even if not everyone has realized it. The pre-war period ended in 2014 for Russia, in 2017 for China, and in 2023 for Iran. Since then, the spread and intensity of modern warfare has been growing. Despite its changing appearance, the cause of this world war is traditional: the shift in the global balance of power. The West senses that the rise of new centers of power (especially China) and the resurgence of Russia as a great power threaten its dominance and has launched a counteroffensive.
The West is unable to accept the loss of its global hegemony. This is not just a matter of geopolitics. Western ideology (politically and economically globalism, socioculturally post-humanism) organically rejects diversity, national or civilizational identity, and tradition. The end of universalism spells disaster for the modern West—which is why it is trying to pool its considerable resources and rely on its shaken but still existing technological superiority to destroy those it has declared its rivals.
Countries that refuse to submit to Western command are attacked militarily, most recently Venezuela, a close trading partner of China, Cuba, and Iran. The US invasion of Venezuela and the abduction of its president, Nicholas Maduro, show parallels to the regime change coup d’état led by US NGOs in 2000, when President Slobodan Milošević was kidnapped by the new puppet government, taken to The Hague, and put on trial before a kangaroo court.
This ICTY (International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia) was established in violation of the UN Charter, as it would only have been possible following a resolution by the UN General Assembly and through an international treaty. It was also not paid for from the UN budget, but mainly by “philanthropic” US foundations, in this respect resembling the financing model of the WHO (World Health Organization). Milošević was killed in Scheveningen prison on March 11, 2006, due to failure to provide medical assistance.
Another parallel can be seen in the preparations for war against Iran. Here, the US demands were designed from the outset to obstruct a diplomatic solution, in the expectation that Iran would capitulate to US military power due to its weakness. In 1999, NATO’s aggression was preceded by the so-called “Rambouillet negotiations,” which were intended to force Yugoslavia, in a secret annex to an agreement, to grant NATO complete freedom of action and movement on its territory, thereby surrendering its sovereignty. It is to President Milošević’s lasting credit that he did not play along with this false game.
Contrary to his campaign promises to end wars and not start new ones, especially regime change operations, US President Trump has shown with the attack on Iran in the summer of 2025, the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro, the strangulation measures against Cuba, and most recently the renewed war against Iran and other neighboring countries: He is “worthily” following in the footsteps of his war criminal predecessors in the presidency. His movement deserves a new name: MAFA – Make America Fail Again!
The German militarists’ rhetoric on Ukraine and international law becomes a complete farce in light of the official attitude toward Israel. According to Chancellor Merz, Israel is currently doing the “dirty work” for “us,” and “we” are supplying weapons for this purpose. Currently, they are accomplices in the imperialist-Zionist aggression against Iran. This week, the German chancellor visited Washington and, sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office, declared: “We agree that we must overthrow this terrible regime in Tehran.“
The EU enters into numerous cooperation agreements with NATO, and they march in lockstep. Their war plans also serve to criminalize international solidarity. One means of warfare is the elimination of political opponents by legal means. With media support, aggressive campaigns are launched against “target individuals,” which can create an atmosphere of pogrom. The brutal enforcement of NATO’s exclusive propaganda view is directed against citizens, media, organizations, and anyone who holds a different view.
The EU has now placed more than 2,700 individuals and organizations on sanctions lists. Most of those affected are Russians, but there are also EU citizens, including Hüseyin Dogru, a left-wing German of Kurdish origin from Berlin, and journalists Alina Lipp and Thomas Röper, who live in Russia. The most recent and prominent example is Jacques Baud, a former colonel in the Swiss army. Those sanctioned lose all their rights: confiscation of assets, account freezing, passport surrender, prohibition of assistance from close associates – all without trial, i.e. without charges, hearing or defense. This repressive policy is a mockery of the Sunday speeches about democracy, freedom of expression and the rule of law; on the contrary, it points the way to an authoritarian state, if not a new form of fascism.
The EU defends free elections, but only as long as the results suit it. In the presidential election in Romania, it had the first round of voting annulled because the “wrong” candidate was in the lead, and in the repeat election, the most promising candidate was barred from running again. While the EU accuses Russia of “interfering in elections,” it is massively supporting the “pro-Western head of state” Maia Sandu in the Moldovan elections, who had the “pro-Russian” head of government Evghenia Gutul arrested and thrown into prison in the autonomous region of Gagauzia in 2025. In Hungary and Slovakia, too, the EU Commission wants to bring forces loyal to the EU and NATO back to power.
Any country that joins the EU can expect to be subjugated and lose its sovereignty. The demands on Serbia to recognize its province, which was separated in violation of international law, as a “separate state” and to end its friendly relations with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China give a foretaste of what the country can expect under the definitive yoke of Brussels.
Let us preserve the heritage and legacy of our friend and comrade, the great Slobodan Milošević: Let us defend freedom and national sovereignty, solidarity with all anti-imperialists and fighters for liberation and independence, friendship with Russia and China!
Klaus Hartmann is co-chair of the International Milošević Committee
and President of the World Union of Freethinkers. A shorter version of this text was read at the International Roundtable “Slobodan Milošević, Free Serbia and the New World”, held on March 10, 2026, at the Press Center of the UNS (Association of Journalists of Serbia) in Belgrade.