Part III — The Bulldozer Revolution and the Price of Staying
NATO’s bombs may have ended Milošević’s campaign in Kosovo, but they didn’t end him. He clung to power in Belgrade until October 5, 2000, when the people he’d impoverished finally had enough. That uprising—called the Bulldozer Revolution—was Serbia’s own version of the non-violent, optics-driven “color revolutions” that later rippled through Georgia and Ukraine.
The name came from the literal bulldozer a protester drove through police lines to seize the state-TV headquarters in Belgrade. Student activists from the Otpor! movement had spent months organizing, plastering clenched-fist logos, and teaching non-violent resistance techniques. Western NGOs and U.S. democracy-promotion outfits quietly funneled funds, radios, and training materials, but the spark was domestic outrage—rigged elections, inflation, and war fatigue. When security forces refused to fire on the crowd, Milošević fled.
To Washington and Brussels, it was vindication: proof that “soft power” could finish what airstrikes began. To Moscow, it was a warning: the West had found a new way to dismantle unfriendly regimes without tanks. Within a few years the script would replay in Tbilisi’s Rose Revolution (2003) and Kyiv’s Orange Revolution (2004).
And yet, through all of that, U.S. and NATO troops never left Kosovo. Under the United Nations’ Resolution 1244, the Kosovo Force (KFOR) remains—currently about 3,700 troops, including 600–800 Americans rotating through Camp Bondsteel. Officially they safeguard peace; unofficially they serve as a permanent reminder of who won the 1990s. The base endures as a logistics hub, a deterrent, and a monument to mission creep.
Two and a half decades later, the moral clarity of 1999 has faded. Kosovo is independent but fragile; Serbia remains resentful; Russia still points to the precedent whenever NATO lectures about sovereignty. The longer we stay, the more our “humanitarian victory” looks like an unacknowledged occupation.
History calls that guilt.
This is Part 3 of a 3 part series. Links below become active as each segment is published and on the date indicated:
October 9: Part I — When NATO Went to War for Peace
October 10: Part II — The Pristina Standoff: How to Nearly Start World War III
October 11: Part III — The Bulldozer Revolution and the Price of Staying
⸻
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA