The information portal "Botasot.info" published on January 27 an article titled "'War is inevitable', Austrian expert gives dire prediction: Kosovo and this country should get ready - these are the plans of Serbian extremists!".
The content of this article includes a statement by Austrian Gunther Fehlinger, whom the aforementioned portal refers to as a "security expert".
After research through online search engines, conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that Fehlinger is not a security expert, as claimed in the Botasot.info article, but rather an economist.
Link to the article published on "Botasot.info":
Excerpt from Fehlinger's statement given to "Botasot.info":
"Kosovo and Bosnia should prepare for inevitable war in February 2024."
"War is inevitable. Kosovo and Bosnia must prepare. The West is asleep and focused on the US and EU elections. Russia needs a new distraction war. Like Hamas and Iran, Serbia must now react and ease the pressure on the Russians in the war against Ukraine. Ukraine is sure to win the war during 2024, so Russia is asking all its allies to engage the West on all fronts. The pressure on Belgrade and Banja Luka to become the Hamas and Houthis of the Balkans is irresistible, as is the ability of Serbian radicals. For 220 years they have been dreaming of the liberation and unification of all Serbs in one state government from Belgrade, and their goal was "broken" under the pressure of NATO bombs and Western diplomacy from 1995 to 2008," he declared. security expert.
Fehlinger's declaration of war in February, which he calls inevitable, is not based on any data that argues the claim made. And given the fact that he is not a relevant person to discuss security topics, a warning of this kind cannot be taken for granted.
Hibrid.info has researched through online search engines, where it has found that Gunther Fehlinger, among other things, is mainly known as a speaker at events of "IInvestment Management Exhibition" (The Investment Management Exhibition (IME), which is an international event dedicated to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that takes place every year in the heart of the investment city Frankfurt).
On the website of the “Investment Management Exhibition”, a biography of Gunther Fehlinger has also been found and published, which explains that he is an Austrian economist. (see here)
Gunther Fehlinger's biography translated into Albanian:
Gunther Fehlinger, Austrian economist, management and development consultant, Gunther was an Austrian student leader during the early 1990s, international officer of the Austrian Student Union, President of the European Student Democrats (96 -98) worked in Brussels from 1998 to 2004, initially for “BusinessEurope”. 4 years as Secretary General of the EPP SME Union, from 2005 until now Gunther is focused on economic reform and SME policies in European transition countries mainly in Kosovo, Albania, Ukraine, Gunther serves as Member of the Investment Commission for Technology Support of the Agency for the Development of the Economy of North Macedonia…
Even in the online encyclopedia "Wikipedia", it is explained that Gunther Fehlinger is an economist as well as a management and development consultant. (see here)
Hibrid.info has researched recent publications regarding a possible conflict or war in the Balkans. However, none of the statements made by senior representatives of international organizations or state bodies have given deadlines for the start of any war in the region, as Fehlinger did.
Hibrid.info brings some of the main statements made by Western officials and credible Western media about the possibility of a new conflict between Serbia and Kosovo. (see here)
Meanwhile, in an article published on November 18 by NewYorkPost.com, there is a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who warned that Russia may be planning to start a war in the Balkans to distract attention from its ongoing war with Ukraine. (see here)
Analyze:
The article by "Botasot.info", which raised the claim of war in the Balkans, turns out to be unsubstantiated. This claim is made solely based on the statement of the Austrian economist, Gunther Fehlinger, who had warned that during February Kosovo and Bosnia should prepare for inevitable war.
Fehlinger, in the article published by Botasot.info, is presented as a security expert, and after research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that he does not belong to this field, but is in fact an expert in economics and, as such, cannot be called a relevant person who can make such a prediction.
Apart from these facts, hibrid.info has not found any statement made by any relevant person regarding a possibility of war in February.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates the article published by "Botasot.info" as a "Conspiracy Theory".
Reasoning:
"Conspiracy theories" are media reports that disseminate a false or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event, or person, presenting it as part of or the result of a secret plan ("conspiracy"). A characteristic of these reports is that they present a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause-effect relationships are established, without providing any credible evidence.