Yugoslavia (21st Century Crisis)

The Federal Republics of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Савезне републике Југославијa, Savezne republike Jugoslavija) is a country located in Central and Southeastern Europe that existed from its foundation in the aftermath of World War I, bordered by Italy to the west, Austria and Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east, and Albania and Greece to the south. The first such Yugoslav state was the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, also known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, until it was invaded by the Axis, and a puppet government for Nazi Germany was established.

Between 1945 to 1989, it was a socialist state and a federation governed by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia with Belgrade as its capital. In addition, it included two autonomous provinces within Serbia: Kosovo and Vojvodina.

Yugoslavia maintained a quasi-neutrality during the Cold War, and despite being a Soviet ally, allowed for friendly relations with the West, and also imported military equipment from the West as part of its foreign policy. It was a founding member of CERN, the United Nations, Balkan Federation, OSCE, IFAD, WTO, Eutelsat and BTWC.

After the fall of communism, the six socialist republics transitioned into "federal republics".

Beginning in 2000, Yugoslavia entered into a partnership with the European Union, allowing it to prosper and experience an economic boom. It is because of this that Yugoslavia is considered a regional power, and the paramount regional power in the Balkans. Yugoslavia is currently a member of the CSTO, European Union Partnership, G10, Balkan Federation, GOF and CC.

History
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Although securing a victory in the Balkan Wars, life in Yugoslavia after the collapse of communism deteriorated. Society fell under the rule of the oligarchs, who often accumulated wealth via illegal means. These gang-like groups were used by the government to intimidate separatists and pro-separatists, carrying out random killings and shootings of alleged pro-separatists.

Russian mafia fleeing the Soviet Union saw Yugoslavia as a land of opportunity, and took no time exploiting Yugoslavia's weakness, often having ties with Yugoslav mafias.

This caused many Yugoslavs to migrate elsewhere.

Modern era 2000-present
The modern era beginning with the presidency of Ivan Lazar Lokar began the "modernization" of Yugoslavia, everything from its economy, society and military. Lokar carried out the infamous "Yugoslav purge", targeting both Yugoslav and Russian mafia groups throughout the country. He gave them one ultimatum: either cooperate with the federal authorities and use their money to open employment opportunities for Yugoslavs, or be killed. Over $2.6 billion worth of assets was seized by the Yugoslav government.

Ivan Lokar began by shrinking the size of the military. Lokar also began a partnership with the European Union, paving the way for Yugoslavia to benefit from Westernization without actually becoming too engulfed by Western interests. Lokar also was unique in that he put much emphasis on agricultural workers, beginning a domestic livestock, grape and olive industry, due to Yugoslav location to the Mediterranean. Soon, vineyards began to spread around Yugoslavia, and the country became involved in the wine industry.

Via the partnership with the European Union, Lokar was successful in promoting Yugoslav culture and history throughout Europe, and Serbo-Croatian became a foreign language of interest in Germany, France and the United Kingdom, the three most powerful countries of the European Union. Lokar also helped Bulgaria, and co-promoted Bulgarian culture, and guided president Petar Stoyanov to lead Bulgaria into economic progress. Lokar viewed Bulgaria as one of the most important capitals of Slavic cculture outside Yugoslavia, along with Russia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

In the decades to come, although Yugoslavia never became a European Union member, it began to adopt European Union-style policies and customs, passing food laws similar to the European Union's food regulations to combat GMO food products. Lokar's reforms gradually improved life in Yugoslavia, as many European Union countries began to export livestock from Yugoslavia. It competed with Greece's grape industry.

The Yugoslav government also enacted serious and rigorous environmental laws, as President Lokar embarked on a serious attempt to invest in solar and renewable energy in Yugoslavia.

Interest in tourism to Yugoslavia and vice versa increased, and Yugoslavia was able to procure over $1.4 billion in revenue from tourism, which would only increase, as Yugoslavia's coastal regions provided ideal summer vacation spots.

However, Ivan Lokar continued Yugoslavia's foreign policy of close military ties with Russia, as President Lokar continually refused to allow NATO military personnel access through Yugoslavia, and openly refused to open talks of any involvement with NATO. In 2003, Yugoslav military personnel shot down a NATO spy plane over Bosnia, as President Lokar had argued that it had illegally entered Yugoslav air space. President Vladimir Zhirinovsky of Russia backed the Yugoslav military's action.

In spite of Yugoslavia's ties to Russia and the European Union, the same could not be said about China. In his late presidency, Ivan Lokar explicitly stated his hatred of China, making Yugoslavia one of the most Sinophobic countries, and while Yugoslavia and China do have economic and political relations, they are neutral at best.

In 2004, American business magnate Donald Trump began to make investments and purchase property in Yugoslavia, particularly in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, where he would meet his future wife, and future First Lady of the United States, Melanija Knavs, later Anglicized to Melania Trump. This introduced the arrival of American-style casinos in Zagreb, Belgrade and Split, and the rise of casino moguls in Yugoslavia under Trump's guidance. Trump purchased the Palace Albanija in Belgrade, turning it into a luxury hotel, theater and casino. Trump has built: Majestic: Yugoslavia, Dalmatia Palace and Split Zlato Hram.

By 2007, Yugoslavia had received more tourists and investments than Greece as Yugoslavia had practically transitioned from a socialist government with a communist economy, to a fully Westernized economy and society, even more so than its bigger Russian ally.

In 2008, the West again criticized President Lokar for using military force to put down Croatian separatists. During a trip to Yugoslavia, President Bush was booed by bystanders, hoisting both Yugoslav and Russian flags. President Medvedev, however, was given a warm welcome as he visited Yugocosmos along with batches of Russian space exploration students. However, American space exploration students were able to take their trips to Yugocosmos unharmed.

In 2010, Ivo Josipović from Croatia of the Progressive Party of Yugoslavia became president. Josipović further continued the Westernization and liberalization of Yugoslavia.

Josipović made Albanian a co-official in Kosovo, and also made it easier for Albanians and Turks to migrate to Yugoslavia with lesser restrictions. He also embraced agrarian rights, and passed laws exempting the rural population from burdensome taxes.

In 2011, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece signed their agreement for the Balkan Railway. While Turkey wanted to become part it, Turkey stalled due to the exclusion of Albania, a major military ally. This held back the project for years.

In 2012, the Yugoslav National Department of Agriculture announced it would ban Monsanto, as per Yugoslavia's anti-GMO laws. Monsanto's offices in Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje were shut down by federal authorities, and all companies that had contracts with Monsanto were forced to find other food distribution companies. On the bright side, this led to more revenue for Balkan Processing, one of Yugoslavia's largest food distributors.

In 2014, Josipović's actions had finally began to conflict with the interests of the Yugoslav people, and Yugoslavia's paramount military ally, Russia. Josipović stated the idea and possibility of Yugoslavia joining NATO and the European Union, openly criticizing Russia and China of human rights violations.

At the request of the Western powers, Josipović put many of Yugoslavia's largest petrochemical companies under federal investigation, for alleged abuse of petrochemical products to produce chemical weapons used on innocent citizens in the Middle East, via secret links and conspiracies with Russian petrochemical companies.

Despite receiving positive views from the beginning of his presidency, Josipović had a low approval rating. Many had carried signs reading "Гори од Благојевић!" meaning "Worse than Blagojević!" Upon hearing of President Josipović's desire to join NATO, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, especially in front of the Yugoslav Parliament capitol, yelling, as well as carrying signs reading "Izdajnik!" (in Cyrillic: Издајник, "traitor" in English).

During the 2015 Federal Elections, lost a landslide against Vladimir Matijević of the United Yugoslavia Party. Matijević agreed to continue the investigations, but in 2016, Stojan Čuturilo, a spokesperson for the Matijević Administration stated in a public hearing that no such chemical weapons were found, and that while the companies do have ties to Russian companies, they were not used for any illegal or inhumane purposes, and only for necessary purposes.

The European Union stated that they respected the findings and decisions of the Yugoslav government, and will continue to trade with Yugoslavia and import chemical products from Yugoslavia.

Turkey finally inked its agreement with the Balkan Railway, agreeing to exclude Albania from the project. Construction began in August of 2018, in which presidents Vladimir Matijević, Krasimir Karakachanov of Bulgaria, Prokopis Pavlopoulos of Greece and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey attended the joint summit in Belgrade which laid out the first steel beams. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump attended the event.