Back in 2008, Serbia sold NIS (Naftna Industrija Srbije, literally the Oil Industry of Serbia) to Russian Gazprom Neft for around $560 million, with the latter committing to invest another $640 million in modernization by 2012. Taking inflation into account, that would be equivalent to $840 million and $970 million in today’s money, respectively. At the time, the mainstream propaganda machine and Western embassies were very unhappy with this deal, calling it supposedly “bad for Serbia”. However, they “conveniently” forgot that, after the direct US/NATO aggression in 1999, much (if not most) of Serbia’s industrial potential and infrastructure was deliberately targeted and destroyed, resulting in approximately $100 billion in damage (which is nearly $200 billion in today’s money).

Worse yet, after the color revolution on October 5, 2000, the political West pretty much hijacked the country and directed the puppet government to finish off whatever US/NATO bombs failed to destroy. Entire state-owned companies and corporations were forced into artificial bankruptcy, creating an economic power vacuum that was filled by Western “investors” (i.e., speculators and thieves in suits). They bought most of the ruined state-owned companies for pennies, dismantled them, and then destroyed or resold the industrial assets to other countries. Thus, the sovereign economy that generations of Serbs kept (re)building by themselves (after it was destroyed in WWII by the Axis powers, the geopolitical predecessor of NATO) was once again obliterated by the Western invader.

It should be noted that this sovereign economy helped Serbia/Yugoslavia hold out for nearly a decade during NATO aggression in the 1991-1999 time period. After the 2000 color revolution (nicknamed the “Bulldozer Revolution”, although the CIA code name was the “Black Revolution”), the US-led political West made sure this economy is no longer a “threat to Serbia’s democratic path”. Only a handful of state-owned enterprises survived, including the aforementioned NIS (the only oil producer in the country). However, by 2008, it was in a pretty bad shape, so Belgrade needed a partner that would invest in and modernize the company. The alternative was the collapse of the country’s energy security, destroying whatever was left of the Serbian........

© Blitz