@SKOJ

https://www.euractiv.com/section/enl...n-the-balkans/

The ‘European way’ in the Balkans has led to an excessive waste of time in achieving the strategic goals of bringing the region into the Western structures, and consequently, the new US administration will now try to make up for it, writes Orhan Dragaš.

Major personnel reset of the American diplomatic team in charge of the Balkans is underway......New ambassadors are arriving in Belgrade, Pristina, Sarajevo, and possibly in Podgorica, and they are being sent from Washington by the newly appointed “boss” for the Balkans at the State Department, Gabriel Escobar. These few people have more than a hundred years of joint experience in the Balkans.We should not say that America is “returning to the Balkans”, not only because the wording is worn out, but also because it is incorrect.If America had not really been in the region in recent years, Croatia would not have become a member of the EU, nor would the entire Western Balkans, except Serbia and BiH, be in NATO today.

....Leaving it to the European Union in the past, America tried to leave the “calming” in the post-conflict period in the Balkans to the master of “soft power”, who has the greatest interest in it.However, the European way led to an excessive waste of time, and consequently to the blurring of a goal that should have remained crystal clear until its final fulfilment, and that for the entire Balkans to be integrated into the EU and/or NATO, which is America’s long-standing undisguised interest.

.....That is why Gabriel Escobar recently stated very openly that the United States (therefore not NATO) had various diplomatic and political mechanisms to oppose Russia’s influence (but also Serbia’s destructive actions) in Montenegro, mentioning individual sanctions and political isolation.