NATO & Russia Nearly Went to War - Kosovo 1999

"I will not start WWIII for you". Incredible and amazing how his judgement in that split moment prevent such a catastrophe...

Thank you Mark! This incident happened while I was serving in the Norwegian military as a dentist. I had the responsibility to get the dental status for all our 1250 Norwegian soldiers in the KFOR 1 deployment and our officers. I remember just before deployment having our commanding officer, Colonel R. Mood, in the chair, when he asked me if I too was ready to go to Kosovo? I had just met a girl and declined the proposal to see the Balkans wearing green uniform and blue beret. As it happens I came to marry this girl and we actually celebrate our 15th wedding day today❤️

"There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed." --Sun Tzu, "The Art of War."

james blunt diffused the situation by singing the opposing force "you're beautiful"

Absolutely loving this "modern history" about Russia and Europe. Keep giving us more!

That entire affair was utterly confusing to understand as a civilian in the US in 1999. Mark Felton has a tendency to keep it straightforward. 👍

My parents , who were divorced for a few years already, took me out of school and picked up my grandparents so we could all go camping for two weeks around my birthday in April 1999. I never thought strangely about it until watching this.

I was one of the first US forces to enter in June 1999. But I worked together with the Russian Army a year later to close the ground safety zone and to safeguard a Serbian village called Pasjane

I remember reading this story for the first time and being absolutely stunned that the Captain James Blunt I was reading about was also the musician!

"And the French pulled out leaving the British alone..." Another 1st rate video from Mark.

2:35 Fun fact: Monica Lewinsky was under the table.

Mate, you need to understand one thing, since you are refering to kosovo as a nation. Kosovo was not a republic in former yugoslavia, as was the case with montenegro. It was always a part of serbia with semi autonomy, same as vojvodina. Wont go into ethnic tensions, but once you see clintons in the picture, you get the idea who is the main culprit...

I remember when this happened. I was in basic training. Our instructor called about 15 names and we stood up. He said after basic training you guys are selected to work perimeter security at a military base in that region. It woke us up really quick to how we have to always be ready to go to war. Luckily it was a joke but it taught us all alot about being soldiers.

General Westley Clark now has a major financial interest in mining operations in Kosovo.

Kosovo is not a nation, even today. It's a part of Serbia under international law.

One thing you have forgotten, ONU has never approved the NATO operation (as it was done for Irak and Libya).

So sad. I remember when I was in Kosovo in 2001 I met a number of Russian soldiers. They had a BTR, and they allowed us to check it out. We exchanged patches and MREs. It's sad to see the state of affairs these days.

Just to add some further context to what happened: The Russians were able to get to Pristina because the actual NATO advance was delayed because the US forces were late and Clark wouldn't let anyone else start without them. So everyone waited, the Russians saw an opening and went for it. Great battlefield opportunism. What Mark missed out was not only did the French bail out of the operation to Pristina the Americans did as well. So we had an American General looking to have UK Paras and light armour go forward alone. So eventually Blunt got to Pristina and was leading his armoured recon squadron from D Company Blues and Royals but had hard nosed Paras itching for a fight with him as well. having recced the situation they stood back and referred to KFOR HQ by radio. In fact the order to attack the Russians came directly to Blunt from Clark not Jackson as expected and it was Blunt that refused. “The direct command came in from General Wesley Clark to overpower them.” Blunt said later. “Various other words were used that seemed unusual to us. Words such as ‘destroy’ came down the radio.” Where were the US troops at this point? “Bringing up the rear.” Blunt and the Bs & Rs officers queried the order twice and and resolved to disobey it if repeated a third time. However 'Word' had got back to UK command and as Clark himself was on the radio a third time to Blunt, General Jackson came on the radio and told Blunt to ignore the order and "Sugar off round the airport with 1 Para" which Blunt did. Jackson went to Pristina airport by helicopter and spoke with the Russian 2 star general there in fluent Russian. With a flask of whisky. He realised they would fight but were cornered. It was later that Jackson met Clark in Skopje NATO HQ and despite Jackson briefing Clark about the situation he had personally seen Clark still ordered an attack to which Jackson refused twice more and even made a call to UK Chief of the Defence Staff and when Clark yet again ordered an attack Jackson made the famous comment with cold formality: “Sir. I will not start World War Three for you.” The story doesn't end there but I have taken enough bandwidth!

US incompetence and arrogance at its finest, not only that but also risking serious diplomatic issues is the US finest ability xD

Spokesperson of the Chinese Mission to the EU said that as a Cold War remnant and the world's largest military alliance, NATO has not yet abandoned its thinking and practice of creating "enemies" and engaging in bloc confrontation 30 years after the end of the Cold War.