Has the United States’ foreign policy failed in the Western Balkans?
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Agim Nesho
The establishment of Serbia’s new government and the emergence of ultra-nationalist pro-Russian figures like Vulin deal a heavy blow to Western policy and its strategy to bring Serbia closer to the EU.
Despite Ambassador Hill’s assertion that “Serbia is closer to NATO than Kosovo,” Vucic’s nationalists responded with unrestrained arrogance by promoting Vulin, a Serbian nationalist advocating for Serbian interests, a recent recipient of Putin’s highest decoration, a nationalist openly seeking Serbia’s alignment with the Global South alliance and anti-Western agenda.
The US policy towards the Western Balkans has failed to the extent that it urgently needs to rebuild a new strategy.
It failed to acknowledge Serbia’s extreme armament with Chinese missiles, airplanes, and the expansion of Russian intelligence in the Balkans; it failed to sanction Serbia for the terrorist attack in Banjskë and its efforts to maintain Northern Kosovo as a frozen conflict; it showed tolerance by allowing Serbia to be the only European state not to sanction Russia; it failed by trusting Alex Soros’ projects and Balkan autocrats Vucic-Rama for stability and peace in the Balkans.
With the lack of strategy for the Balkans, indifference, naivety, and reliance on preferential and sponsored policies of interest groups like Open Society, it silently favored autocratic and corrupt regimes in the Balkans, which have undermined democracy and the rule of law.
Favoring these regimes has led to the destruction of any democratic alternative, as in Albania, where the opposition leader was arrested without charge, other opposition leaders are under pressure, elections that should be free and fair are manipulated and stolen, and the lack of democracy promotion and support for autocratic regimes undermines trust in the US role.
This foreign policy has hit Albanian patriotism, a necessary balance against primitive Serbian nationalism and the preservation of American and Western interests in the region. Further misalignment of this foreign policy will lead to increased Serbian dominance in the region and its henchmen, as well as increased Russian influence to disrupt European defense architecture.
The United States is the world’s most powerful democracy and will remain so because America is a spirit, an inspiration for all freedom-loving forces and peoples. Its strength lies in correcting erroneous policies and defending its grand mission.
Therefore, it is time for US policy to break ties with mafia-like regimes linked to organized crime that influence Balkan politics, change its stance, and acknowledge its influence on its position towards the Albanian opposition and its leader, and return to promoting democracy in the Balkans.
Only then will clientelist mafia regimes, which pretend to be pro-Western but ultimately promote autocracy and the interests of their corrupt powers, disappear, bringing an end to anti-American sentiment in the region.
- Agim Nesho is a former Albanian ambassador to United States and UN.
