On some Facebook accounts (see here, here and here) a statement attributed to former British diplomat John Stewart Duncan, who during the war in Kosovo was a political advisor to NATO commander General Wesley Clark, has been published.
The posts claim that Duncan said:
"If some Albanians had had the motivation to fight against Serbia during 1990-1999, just as they have had to fight Thaçi from 1999 to the present, Kosovo would have been liberated without NATO's help."
What do the facts show?
From searches in Albanian and English, including searches with the full name of John Stewart Duncan and various parts of the alleged statement, no credible source such as media, interview, document, court testimony or other public source documenting this statement has been found (see here and here).
Meanwhile, Duncan's statements that have been widely reported by the media regarding his testimony in The Hague are documented and do not contain the claim that "Albanians would have liberated Kosovo without NATO if they had had more motivation to fight Thaçi."
John Stewart Duncan testified in September 2025 at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, in the trial of Hashim Thaçi and others. In the late 90s, he was a political advisor to Wesley Clark, then Supreme Allied Commander NATO. This piece of information is documented by several media outlets that reported directly on his testimony (see here and here).
Similarly, the UNMIK Media Observer, which summarized the main media reports for the first day of Duncan's testimony, lists the main statements reported by the media, but the claim in question does not appear there either (see here).
Analyze
Several Facebook accounts have published a statement attributed to John Stewart Duncan, according to which Kosovo would have been liberated without NATO assistance if Albanians had had the same motive to fight Serbia as they had to fight Hashim Thaçi after 1999.
Searches in Albanian and English, including searches on Duncan's name and parts of the statement, have not yielded any credible sources documenting this quote.
Meanwhile, reports on Duncan's testimony in The Hague in 2025 and the UNMIK Media Observer summary do not contain this statement.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Fake News".
rationale
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.