Doing the right thing

Belgrade daily Blic asked this afternoon:

We would like your short[ly] comment on the statement of president of Serbia Mr. Tomislav Nikolic that vicepresident of USA Mr Joseph Biden is not well informed about Serbian politics on Kosovo.

I responded:

That just means Mr. Biden said something Mr. Nikolic did not like.  It would be surprising if it were otherwise:  Mr. Biden knows the Balkans better than any other prominent American politician.  He has been a strong supporter of Kosovo independence and a united Bosnia and Herzegovina.  What could he have possibly said that would please Mr. Nikolic?

A word or two more may be in order.

Joe Biden has also been an advocate of a softer approach to Serbia, which the Obama Administration assiduously pursued for its entire first term.  It got nothing, so far as I can tell, in return.  That of course corresponded mainly to Boris Tadic’s presidency, when both Europeans and Americans tredded lightly so as not to weaken the relatively moderate Tadic, who was challenged only from the nationalist right (principally by Nikolic).

Now that  Nikolic is in power, there really is no reason to tred lightly.  Neither Europeans nor Americans are inclined to do so.  The Germans have been particularly forceful in insisting on the dismantling of Serbian parallel structures in northern Kosovo.  The result has been realy progress, though no final agreement yet, in the Belgrade/Pristina talks.

There is some hope in Washington that Nikolic will also prove more pliable on Bosnia.  He is not tied, as Boris Tadic was, to the Republika Srpska president, Milorad Dodik.  My guess is that Dodik is doing his best to remedy that.  The Americans likely figure that they will get more from Nikolic on Bosnia with a tough line these days than with the failed soft line they used without success in the past.

The Balkans do not rank high on Washington’s list of priorities these days.  Even Joe Biden may not be so well-informed about Serbian politics on Kosovo, as Nikolic suggested.  But the Vice President is still doing the right thing to insist that Serbia accept reality in Kosovo and Bosnia.