Wednesday, June 17, 2020

American surprise and "Kosovo battle" on the eve of Vidovdan

SManalysis
EPA-EFE/ Alexander Becher
The news that the leaders of Serbia and Pristina institutions will meet on June 27 at the White House in Washington surprised everyone.

SOURCE: SPUTNIK WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2020 | 09:16

Richard Grenell, the Special Envoy of the President of the USA for Kosovo and Metohija, obviously has a feeling that there is a possibility to reach at least an agreement on economic cooperation, Sputnik reports.

The director of the Republika Srpska representation in Washington DC and analyst Obrad Kesic, on the occasion of Grenell's meeting announced for June 27, on the eve of Vidovdan, says for that portal:

"If we look at what Grenell has already made public, I think it's realistic to start with that - that an agreement is expected to be reached on opening economic co-operation between Belgrade and Pristina, so that would create some momentum before key stages of negotiations in the fall. At least, that's how it's estimated here", Kesic said.

At the State Department, those who worked on the Kosovo issue were surprised by the speed with which Grenell started to mediate between Belgrade and Pristina, Kesic added.

Any success in foreign policy negotiations can be overemphasized, but given the current state of affairs in the United States, foreign policy, according to Kesic's assessment, will not play a significant role in the presidential election campaign.

The combination of the coronavirus epidemic, the economic crisis associated with it and the riots caused by the murder of George Floyd made foreign policy not so appealing in the election campaign. In addition, Kesic emphasizes, the mainstream media, which are oriented against Donald Trump, will not emphasize any of his success in the foreign policy field.

He recalls the promise made by Trump a few days ago, when he said that he would not send the army to solve the problems of other states, as well as that America would no longer engage in experiments to create new states that are not capable of surviving on their own. In that context, I am not sure that there are more places in the campaign to place some foreign policy success, Kesic points out.

Grenel;'s statement that, if the parties are not satisfied with the talks on June 27, things will return to the status quo, Kesic interprets the increasingly loose support that Kosovo Albanians have in Washington. This statement grew out of the growing frustration of the White House, the State Department, and even Grenell himself, with the unstable political situation in Pristina.

"I think Albanians in the United States are losing ground; the only place where they still have some support remains in Congress, especially in the House of Commons, where one of their key allies, Eliot Engel, chairs the Foreign Policy Committee. He tried to impose views of the previous administrations through testimonies, writing letters and public appearances, criticizing the Trump administration's policy regarding negotiations," Kesic said.

However, the erosion of support for Pristina in Washington is evident, and if there is no progress in the negotiations or the agreement is not implemented, the still existing trust in Hashim Thaci and the entire political elite in Pristina will be doomed to destruction.

However, Kesic, as he says, does not believe that Grenell would have organized a meeting in the White House if he was not confident to a large extent that some form of agreement could be reached..

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