The statement of Croatian President Zoran Milanovic about the danger of an escalation of the conflict between NATO and Russia, remarkable in itself, reveals a number of features of modern European politics, which are usually kept quiet.

But times are coming that politicians who rely on society, and not on the notorious “institutions” and “international support” (they used to be called populists and nationalists, which is largely true of Milanovic), have to say it like it is.

The first and most obvious moment.

Among the small countries of Europe, awareness is beginning to emerge of what a big conflict with Russia could be fraught with.

And it is clear why: while the large NATO member states, such as Germany and France, to a lesser extent, Italy, “burn fat” and clean up the internal political space (Germany), the small ones begin to experience serious problems.

For the small countries of Europe, NATO membership was initially a source of bonuses for economic development, but by no means a burden.

Now it turns out that, in addition to receptions at NATO headquarters and conferences in Washington, membership in the alliance also involves sharing the risks of participating in a real armed conflict.

As it turned out, including in the conflict with Russia.

The second aspect also seems to lie on the surface, and the president of Croatia, a state that formalized its borders with the help of NATO (let's not forget about the liquidation of Serbian Krajina in 1995 during Operation Storm), does not hesitate to talk about it.

NATO countries are ready, with the support of the United States, to tear apart the weak.

Like Serbia.

But when it turned out that all the promises of the United States, Great Britain and the Brussels bureaucracy, which had heard enough of the Russian oppositionists, that Russia would surrender itself at the first difficulties, to put it mildly, turned out to be untrue, political jitters arise.

Moreover, Russia is really starting, as promised, to fight for real.

And for the president of Croatia, a country whose citizens have been fighting as mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine for a long time, the real state of affairs at the front and the real scale of losses are quite clear.

Finally, there is a third, less obvious aspect.

Milanovic's statement conveys the fear that if the West loses in Ukraine, it will be a strategic defeat.

This means that the seemingly stable structure of equilibrium-disengagement in the Balkans, to paraphrase Zbigniew Brzezinski, built on the ruins of Serbia and at the expense of the Serbs, will begin to collapse very quickly.

And here it is no longer a matter of tearing away the original Serbian lands from Serbia.

And not that the question will arise about the nature of the Croatian statehood, implicated in ethnic nationalism, but skillfully covered by external respectability.

The main thing is that in the Balkans, where a new conflict is smoldering, periodically crushed by force, not only the political, but also the military-political vacuum will begin to expand.

The main tool of the "architecture of stability" in the Balkans will be weakened,

its supporting beam is the political and military capabilities of NATO.

And this vacuum will inevitably be filled.

And who - Turkey, criminal structures, noticeably activated Islamists, Russia or China - is the second question.

In any case, Croatia will lose its current super-comfortable position as Europe's rear resort.

The President of Croatia looked into the funnel of a potential big European war, the first step towards which was taken by NATO aggression against Serbia, which he continues to consider normal and correct.

And he didn't like what he saw.

However, the demonstrated ability to draw political conclusions on the basis of common sense is a positive symptom, regardless of his political views and the past of his state.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.