Remember the jubilation of many Serbian politicians when they learned that Donald Trump had won the US presidential election?
Very often, Balkan politicians operate based on misplaced assumptions and predictions. “The Trump case” is an apparent example.
Supported by Russian propaganda that called the new American president “Our Trump” – #TrumpNaš, he was the favourite among many Serbs, too. Serbian media portrayed him as a saviour of ‘Serbian Kosovo’, the man who would, along with the Russians, bring Kosovo back to Serbia proper and right the “injustice perpetrated by the West in 1999.”
In a corner of Europe where history never ends and where the Battle of Kosovo and World War II are unfinished, many recognised themselves in the new American president.
Trump’s “Russian music” echoed the nationalistic sentiments of Serbs all over the Balkans. His US-centric narrative against liberal democracy, globalisation, and political correctness resonated well with seditious rhetoric in the Balkans against the decadent West and its imperial politics epitomised in the process of globalisation.
Yet, they forget or they do not understand that the global picture has changed considerably, placing China in the forefront of the process of globalisation. China, not the US, is currently the most ardent promoter of global trade without national protectionism and tariffs.
Serbian nationalists did not receive the payoff they expected from the new US administration.
The US did not bring Kosovo back to Serbia proper; the sanctions against Russia are still in place and with recent personnel changes in the administration, Trump seems to be the only voice of support for Moscow within his national security & foreign policy team.
But the lack of US engagement in the region is not only disappointing for those who dream of a “natural correction” to what they see as temporary imbalances, who dream of changes to “unjust borders” or of another population exchange.
Neither has it satisfied those who wanted to see a strong US posture in synergy with the EU.
Other priorities
The EU role in the region is far from perfect. The enthusiasm sparked by the new EU strategy for the Western Balkans, released in February this year, did not last long, stifled by those who were supposed to keep it alive – the EU member states.
Recent messages that EU enlargement can be halted or slowed down, if coming from Paris or even Berlin, should be taken with due seriousness. Further delays or a potential termination of EU integration would have far-reaching and very negative consequences for security and stability in the region and in Europe as a whole.
Against this backdrop, many in the region expect the US to be agile. Almost since the end of Slobodan Milosevic’s rule, the US has been focused on other foreign policy priorities that it deems more important.
The world is as tempestuous as ever. First, it’s the war on terror and Afghanistan that takes away the attention of global powers; then it’s the Arab Spring or the strategic pivot to Asia, the crisis in Ukraine or the ever-lasting Middle East maelstrom.
To remain on the American foreign policy radar and to keep relations at a working level, countries from the region had to join the US and its allies in participating in global initiatives such as ISAF (NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan) or the Global Initiative to Defeat ISIS.
The US role in the region was more that of supporter to the EU-led process of democratic reforms.
It would appear that the current American approach –a sporadic case-by-case engagement in global affairs – can hardly result in a (desired) change in US policy in the Balkans.
Only a few officials deal with the Balkans in Washington. It has become established practice that the Deputy Assistant Secretary represents the highest level that Balkan politicians can access in the State Department. Frequent visits to our region of the former and current Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs confirm it.
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninsight
