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Kosovo President Thaci responded to Shaun Byrnes’
post on peacefare.net from Saturday with these tweets:
Hashim Thaçi@HashimThaciRKS· Mar 13
Disappointed to see friends of Kosovo & mine @DanielSerwer & Byrnes
being deceived by fake news. There is no secret deal or whatever btw
Kosovo & Serbia. One can be achieved through a transparent process
w/ US leadership & I invite u to help. @RichardGrenell is doing a
great job
Hashim Thaçi@HashimThaciRKS·Mar 13 Washington
has full attention on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. It is the burden of
our generation to end the conflict & open path for Euro-Atlantic
integration & economic prosperity. We need support for this process,
not obstacles, nor opposition. It’s about our children.
This is my response to the President, whom I have
known since his first, post-war visit to the US in 1999:
Dear Hashim,
I’m entirely sympathetic to the Euro-Atlantic
ambitions of Kosovo and have repeatedly lent my efforts to that
cause. But it is not wise to believe that Washington pays “full
attention” to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, which has been an entirely
opaque process. Few in Washington even know it is happening, and
fewer care. This inattention has given Belgrade-hired lobbyists the
opportunity to influence an Administration that cares little about
the Balkans and not at all about Kosovo, which it regards as a
product of the despised Clinton Administration.
Worse than American inattention and pro-Serb bias
is that the people of Kosovo and Serbia know nothing about what is
being discussed in your repeated meetings with President Vucic. Your
citizens have been demanding transparency. I have asked more than
once for an update. Nothing is forthcoming. That leaves you open to
rumors, which aren’t necessarily accurate. Only the transparency you
promise can fix that problem.
Richard Grenell is a man who has failed as
Ambassador to Germany and is failing as a temporary Director of
National Intelligence. He is however doing a great snow job in the
Balkans, flaunting minor transportation agreements as big steps
forward. He is also working hard to pressure Prime Minister Kurti
with threats of withdrawing US troops and aid. Albin has bent but
not yet broken to the US demand that he end the tariffs on Serbian
goods. Grenell’s ultimate objective is the land/people swap the
Trump Administration has been pushing and you have indicated you
might accept. A majority of your population, including the Serbs
south of the Ibar, are opposed to this ignoble idea, which would
make Kosovo a source of instability throughout the Balkans and
beyond.
You can of course prove me wrong in thinking you
are ready to trade slices of Serb-populated Kosovo for slices of
Albanian-populated Serbia: give the Kosovo parliament a full and
honest account of the talks with Vucic. This should include the
agendas, any drafts or proposals from either side, and a full
transcript of the dialogue at the highest level and in any working
groups. Then turn over responsibility for the dialogue to the
government, as the Constitutional Court decided is correct and the
parliament has now confirmed. Making Albin the lead will take the
heat off you and put the Serbs in a difficult position, since their
prime minister–a protégé of the president–cannot pretend to have the
kind of popular mandate Albin has.
You are no doubt disappointed in the results
election that brought Albin to power, as they left your party in
third place. But working with the second place finishers to bring
down the Prime Minister will do Kosovo no good at all. It risks
igniting a storm that will end any prospect of suspending the
tariffs or moving ahead even incrementally with the dialogue with
Serbia.
To a Kosovo patriot, and I hope I am right in
assuming you would like to be considered one, speed should not be
the priority. There is no advantage in pursuing an agreement before
Serbia’s April 26 election. President Vucic will be freer to make
concessions to Kosovo after the election than before. Kosovo would
be wise to wait even longer: until after the Americans go to the
polls November 3.
If there is then a President Biden–a true friend
of Kosovo–you can expect him to empower a serious envoy to
collaborate with Europe, something Grenell can never do because had
and President Trump loathe the European Union, in reaching serious
agreements between Kosovo and Serbia. Joint US/EU action is a
prerequisite for bringing irresistible pressure to bear on Belgrade.
Grenell isn’t even trying. If Trump is re-elected, whoever is in
power in Kosovo will have to hunker down again to shield your
country from the onslaught of bad partition ideas the likes of
Grenell will continue to generate.
Most of your citizens want a deal with Serbia that
recognizes the Kosovo state as sovereign and independent within its
current borders and enables it to enter the United Nations. That
isn’t on offer yet. Kosovo needs to be ready to walk away from a bad
deal in order to get a good one, in the right time and with the help
of both the US and EU. Until then, incremental improvements are all
that can be hoped for. Successful statecraft requires that you
encourage your citizens to be patient. Good things come to those who
can wait.
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