Daniel Serwer, an American professor at Johns Hopkins University, has given some ideas to the United States of America for, as he said, correcting the mistakes they have made in the Balkan region during the three years of President Joe Biden's mandate.
"We are entering the final phase before the elections in the USA", begins Serwer's article on the "Peacefare" platform on Saturday. "This means a lean period for parts of the world with lower priority (from the US) like the Balkans until January 20. Neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump are likely to say anything about the region before November 5. Even after Inauguration Day, it will be some time before the administration focuses on the Balkans."
Harris' views on the Balkans are unknown while Trump tried to divide Kosovo, writes Serweri.
"But she (Harris) has spent a career chasing down criminals and defending equal rights. That probably tells you something about her attitude towards corruption and ethno-nationalism. Trump is a corrupt white supremacist who tried to divide Kosovo while in the White House. If elected, he will undoubtedly empower Ric Grenell to try again to split Kosovo and Bosnia. Serbia has influence over Trump. Jared Kushner (Trump's son-in-law) has been looking for investment opportunities there," the professor who knows the Balkan region wrote further.
According to him, people in the State Department and in the White House in this "poor period" should seek to correct the mistakes of the last three years, which have produced, as Serwer says, mainly diplomatic failure in the Balkans.
"The Biden administration mistakenly focused on creating a statutory Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority in Kosovo. In Bosnia, it rightly tried to disempower ethno-nationalist politicians, but it mostly succeeded with Bosniaks. These priorities condemned Biden's policies in the Balkans to strategic losses. They also broke relations with Kosovars and Bosniaks, America's best friends in the region," he wrote.
The server then gives some ideas to "correct the course". He assumes that Harris will win the election, as he wants, and his ideas are aimed at reducing the influence of ethnic nationalism. They would also increase the functionality of governance in the still fragile Kosovo as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Serwer.
Server Ideas for USA:
1. Consult with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Kurti, for a joint plan to establish without a doubt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of his country. This includes ending Belgrade's intimidation of Serbs joining Kosovo's security institutions and gaining wider international recognition.
2. Adoption as official US position of conditional support for a non-governmental Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities. The municipalities themselves must form this Association in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo. The conditions must include the fulfillment of Belgrade's obligations under the agreement in which Pristina has agreed with the Association.
3. Tell Belgrade publicly that it must account for the Serbian government's misdeeds of the past year. This includes the kidnapping of the Kosovo police, riots against KFOR and the Banjska terrorist plot.
4. Stop badmouthing Serbian environmentalists who oppose Rio Tinto's lithium plant. Start publicly criticizing the growing corruption and autocracy in Belgrade.
5. The conclusion of the intervention of the High Representative of Bosnia to change the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the Kovačević case. The ECtHR's decision promises a major step in reducing ethnic nationalist control of state institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
6. File criminal charges in the US against Serb and Croat lawyers (Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović) for ethno-national division in Bosnia.
"There are some big orders on this list. But the failure of three years of misguided US and EU diplomatic efforts suggests that a dramatic turnaround is needed," Serwer wrote.
Serweri has warned of "strong resistance" to these ideas from Serbia's president, Vucic, who says he is committed to the "Serbian world" goal of governing Serbs in neighboring countries. It has been successful in Montenegro, says Serwer.
"The government in Podgorica is under the control of Serbia. In Bosnia and Kosovo, only de facto separation can bring success to Serbia. Belgrade will resist all the above movements, as well as their representatives in neighboring countries".
Belgrade risks falling irreversibly under the influence of Russia and China, and Serwer writes that the US must counter this influence with sticks and carrots. The approach to appease him "with only carrots" has failed, he adds.
"Here's the bottom line: The Americans will be much more effective in all of this if the EU and Great Britain act together. Britain is likely to follow the US lead," Serwer wrote at the end.
