Day: July 15, 2025
America’s better angels reside in Kosovo
I thought President Osmani’s talk at Hudson last week was first rate. But it was also unusual, so a comment is in order.
Rather than the now common pandering to President Trump, she mostly took a different tack. She appealed mainly to America’s better angels: liberty, democracy, rule of law, the rules-based international order. That’s an America I prefer, but I can’t say Washington is moving in that direction today. Instead, the Trump administration is jailing asylum seekers, denying citizenship to people born in the US, and intimidating news media. It is also violating the well-established rules of international trade. And the President is kowtowing to Russia’s autocrat and war criminal.
Even his threat to impose tariffs on Russia is vacuous, since Russian exports to the US are minimal. He also mumbled something about secondary sanctions on countries that trade with Russia. But I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for those.
NATO is the crux
I don’t expect people in the Trump Administration to find Osmani’s clarion call for American leadership entirely appealing. Many of the MAGAtes want to retreat from global responsibilities, not discharge them. She belongs to a cohort that is more in tune with American values than the Washington incumbents. But I do hope that they will take seriously her appeal for NATO membership.
The merits are clear. Kosovo will do pretty much anything NATO wants, within its limited capacities. Instead of only receiving US troops, Kosovo will then be contributing to Alliance missions. That is what Americans should want. The Kosovo Security Force (KSF) is arming itself with Blackhawk helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft missiles, and Turkish Bajraktar drones. Theirs won’t be a huge force–5000 or so, with a few thousand in reserve.
Once Pristina joins, Belgrade and Sarajevo will then be the only Balkan capitals outside the Alliance. The pressure on them to come to terms will be high, but it really doesn’t matter whether they join. If they prefer to occupy the hole in the doughnut, so be it.
The hurdles
The four NATO members that don’t recognize Kosovo (Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Greece) are the biggest hurdle. All of them would need to agree to its membership. That’s a diplomatic challenge, but not an insurmountable one. Greece has been friendly to Kosovo for years. It is a de facto but not a de jure recognizer. Spain is opting out of NATO’s latest military expenditure pledge. It would do well to lie low on the Kosovo issue. The United States would need to squeeze Romania and Slovakia hard.
KSF troops have already deployed with the US to Kuwait and with the UK to the Falklands. They have also participated in UK training for Ukrainian troops. A combat deployment with NATO forces should be high on its priorities. Demonstrating combat capability was vital to North Macedonia’s NATO bid and will be also for Kosovo. Among other roles, Macedonia’s troops fought integrated with the Vermont National Guard in Afghanistan.
Serbia’s objections
Serbia of course will cry foul as Kosovo approaches NATO membership. But Belgrade’s rhetoric and behavior have given most of the people of Kosovo reason to want a strong defense. Before the 1999 war it deprived them of their governing institutions. During the war, Belgrade’s forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. And after the war Serbia has continued its irredentist rhetoric as well as provocative behavior.
The KSF as presently conceived poses no threat to Serbia and cannot be used inside Kosovo, except in emergencies. The fastest way for Serbia to guarantee that it remains that way is mutual recognition with Kosovo.
Even short of that, establishing a military to military relationship would be a fine idea. All friendly neighbors make sure that their armies understand each other well. The time has come for the army commanders in Serbia and Kosovo to meet and exchange views and data. That might even hasten the day of mutual recognition.
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Let us hope it is not too late
Sonja Biserko, a leading light of Serbia’s human rights community, gave this talk “In the Spririt of the UN Resolution on Srebrenica (2024), at the UN in Vienna on July 11:
As we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, we do more than honor the victims. We are called to defend the truth.
The UN Resolution on Srebrenica, adopted in 2024, reminded the world of the legal and moral clarity surrounding this crime. It named what happened — genocide. And it urged all societies, especially those in the region, to confront that truth with courage, not denial.
Memory is a warning
In today’s world, where ethnonationalist rhetoric and authoritarian rule are on the rise, memory becomes a warning. A warning against scapegoating. A warning against exclusion.
Genocide remembrance gives us a framework. It helps us understand and respond to mass atrocities today — whether in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, or Ukraine. It compels international actors to act. Not to stand aside.
Remembering genocide is not a backward-looking act—it is a profoundly forward-looking responsibility. In today’s unstable international environment, where power politics often trumps principles, remembrance becomes a form of resistance, a defense of truth, and a call to uphold the values of humanity.
Serbia is stuck in denial
Yet, three decades later, we face a harsh reality. Serbia not only denies the genocide — it continues to justify and politically reproduce the very ideology that made it possible.
Denial in Serbia does not stop with political leaders. It is embedded in academic institutions, in the media, in intellectual circles, and in the church.
Serbian elites — writers, professors, historians, clergy — continue to promote the idea of a “Serb world.” This is nothing less than a euphemism for the old Greater Serbia project. A project pursued through war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and ultimately, genocide.
The “Serb world” is not merely a cultural aspiration. It is a geopolitical ambition. It is built on the erasure of non-Serb communities from territories claimed as “historically Serb.”
Bosnia is still at risk
Srebrenica was the most brutal expression of that logic. The killing of over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys was meant to ensure that a future Republika Srpska would be ethnically pure, safe zone free.
In that sense, the ongoing secessionist policy of Republika Srpska is not new. It is not separate. It is the political finalization of the genocide.
It aims to legitimize the territorial outcome of ethnic cleansing. To cement the results of violence. To institutionalize apartheid through laws, symbols, and a false narrative of victimhood.
By denying genocide while glorifying its perpetrators — Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić — Serbia insults the memory of the victims. But more than that, it sustains the ideological infrastructure that made the genocide possible.
So too is the region
This is not only dangerous for Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is dangerous for the region. It undermines the credibility of international law.
In the spirit of the UN Resolution on Srebrenica, we must state clearly:
There can be no reconciliation without truth.
There can be no peace while war criminals are celebrated.
And there can be no stability if the results of genocide are normalized through secession.
The international community must not allow Republika Srpska’s push for independence to go unchallenged. To allow it would be to reward genocide. It would permanently fracture Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It would send a dangerous message to the world: that crimes against humanity can succeed, if pursued with enough persistence.
What Serbia needs to do
In the spirit of the UN Resolution on Srebrenica, we must insist: Serbia must confront its past honestly.
This means acknowledging the genocide. But it also means dismantling state-sponsored narratives that glorify its perpetrators.
It means introducing genocide education into school curricula. Removing war criminals from the pantheon of national “heroes.” Supporting civil society actors who courageously speak the truth.
Meanwhile, civil society in Serbia — along with the brave individuals who stand against denial — must be supported.
They are few. Often silenced. But they are the future.
They hold the key to an honest reckoning. And to a Serbia that can one day return to Europe. Not as a revisionist force, but as a democratic partner rooted in truth and accountability.
True reconciliation begins with truth. Without it, peace remains superficial. A fragile pause, not a durable foundation.
Serbia resists, but Europe should insist
However, Serbia has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of political will and institutional capacity to confront its own past. Instead of fostering accountability and reconciliation, the political elite continues to engage in historical revisionism, the glorification of war criminals, and the denial of atrocities such as the Srebrenica genocide.
In this context, the role of the European Union and the Council of Europe is not only important—it is irreplaceable. These institutions hold a unique responsibility and capacity to shape the normative and institutional frameworks that Serbia has so far failed to establish on its own.
In the spheres of education, culture, and media, their involvement is crucial.
By reinforcing these three pillars, the EU and the Council of Europe can help lay the foundation for a democratic and self-reflective Serbian society. This is essential not only for Serbia’s own future, but also for the stability and democratic integrity of the wider region.
Srebrenica is not only a place of mourning — it is a call to action for all international organizations and institutions whose mandate is to uphold fundamental human rights and freedoms.
In commemorating the genocide in Srebrenica, they confront one of the greatest challenges of the post-1995 world: the imperative to prevent further descent into human rights atrocities and genocidal violence. These horrors, as we are painfully aware — and as the UN Secretary-General has described — are “beyond atrocious, beyond inhuman.”
So far, we have failed to truly “learn the lessons” of Srebrenica. Let us hope it is not too late.
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