The latest stand-offs follow a well-worn blueprint from Pristina to Taipei and beyond

It’s no doubt just an uncanny coincidence that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared in Kosovo on an official visit right before the trouble kicked off there last weekend. We can also wonder what are the odds that the “President” of the partially recognised state, Vjosa Osmani, is now talking about Russia, saying that “we will continue to need the steadfast support of the United States, as well as our European allies, to make sure that the plans of Russia as well as its proxies in the region are stopped.” Or that Blinken is also evoking Pristina’s “firm support for Ukraine” — which is amusing since Ukraine doesn’t even officially recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. Not to mention that Kosovo is home to a large NATO military base, and that NATO has issued an official statement citing its interest in “intervening” in Kosovo, if need be. How convenient.

It’s probably also just a total accident that Serbia just happens to refuse to back down in its support for Russia, seeks increased trade with Iran, and military cooperation with Russian-allied Belarus. And that its Interior Minister, Aleksandar Vulin, said just last week that it wouldn’t join sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, and won’t be NATO’s “foot soldier” against Russia. Or that NATO, in the late 90s, under the “moral” leadership of then-US President Bill Clinton, carved out the Serbian province of Kosovo on "humanitarian" grounds, and has been using it as a tool to dial up or down pressure on Serbia (and, to some degree, its friends in Moscow) ever since.

But if it can't possibly all be the result of chance, then a Western blueprint for regime change becomes a plausible explanation.

That blueprint involves the creation of a proxy state and/or fighters whom Western officials sell to the public as victims of the “regime” in question — that is, the geopolitical rival that the West has in its crosshairs.

The same pattern is playing out in Asia right now, as Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plays coy about any plans to travel to Taiwan amid her Asia tour. Only 13 countries recognize Taiwan as independent from China — and the US hasn’t been among them since 1979.

Of course, it’s probably just yet another total coincidence that the visit of the third highest ranking US government official to Taiwan against the express wishes of Beijing comes amid heightened tensions with China as it takes a jackhammer to the Western-dominated world order alongside Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine. Or that starting a destabilizing conflict inside China via Taiwan would serve Washington’s competitive interests.

Various "civil society" groups funded by the US government through programs like USAID, and strategically located in areas of primary importance for Washington regime change operations, are also part of the same machinery.

By the time a given hotspot is on the brink of war (like Taiwan or Kosovo) or already engulfed in conflict (like Ukraine), it's often too late to catch Washington by the hand. Instead, it's worth keeping an eye on other US proxies - if only to pick up on any eerily familiar vibrations which may have similar characteristics to previous Western regime change operations.