Do Washington and Brussels really want to stop Kurti's provocative decisions and the persecution of Serbs?

"In the past two years, many times the most important voices from the West have 'announced, warned, and threatened' Albin Kurti, yet on the ground, things continue to unfold according to the decisions of his government and the wishes of extreme Albanians"

Prepared by: Milos Garic

By banning the operations of the Serbian Post branches in northern Kosovo municipalities and insisting on the opening of the bridge on the Ibar River in recent days, the authorities in Kosovo have confirmed what has long been clear: they will not stop making unilateral decisions, no matter how many new problems and tensions these decisions cause in Serbian-Albanian relations, and despite the series of messages of disapproval coming from Washington and Brussels.

Last week, the Quint ambassadors told Albin Kurti not to take unilateral actions and not to open the bridge, but it seems that this did not have much of an impact on him. Statements and behavior from the representatives of the Kosovo government clearly indicate that they are not concerned and are prepared to further deepen instability and the potential for conflict in the north in the coming days.

European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano reiterated that the issue of opening the main bridge on the Ibar, like all other problematic issues, must be resolved through dialogue and not through unilateral decisions. However, when asked whether the EU could take a more proactive stance and do something more concrete, he responded that "the European Union is not a force that intervenes and does not want to impose things on its partners that local populations might perceive as interference in internal affairs."

Albin Kurti interprets this in his own way. As an "EU partner," he behaves as if Western support for the Albanian side cannot be jeopardized, not even by his increasingly frequent unilateral actions.

At the same time, a slightly "sharper" statement came from the State Department, noting that they are concerned about the uncoordinated decisions of the Kosovo authorities and warning that "Pristina is jeopardizing American support."

Imposing solutions by force

All of this, however, has already been "announced, warned, and threatened" many times over the past two years, yet on the ground, things continue to unfold according to the wishes of extreme Albanians, led by Kurti.

This raises the question of how serious and determined the West really is to prevent the unilateral and dangerous decisions of the Kosovo authorities, which are leading to the complete disenfranchisement of the Serbian community and the persecution of the population. How much do the mediators from the U.S. and EU truly care? How sincere are they?

Veteran diplomat Zoran Milivojevic points out that the way leading EU countries and the U.S. have responded to Kurti's policies from the beginning suggests that the West is biased in favor of Pristina.

"It has become evident that the West is biased, and for nearly three years now, Kurti has been implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing of all elements of the Serbian state and the Serbian people from Kosovo. The reactions show that Kurti, in fact, has the tacit support of the West," Milivojevic said in an interview with Kontekst.

He assesses that the reasons for this disregard of the problem lie in the shared goals of the West and Pristina. By supporting Kurti's policies, he explains, the factual situation in Kosovo is being altered—Serbia is being pushed out.

"The action involving the postal service is just a continuation of the policy of expelling Serbia, which has been ongoing since the beginning," Milivojevic emphasized.

He points out that such a policy exerts pressure on the Serbian people, aiming to discourage them from remaining on their land and from recognizing the "state of Kosovo."

Additionally, he argues that by supporting Kurti's policies, the West is trying to impose a solution by force that would serve the purpose of establishing Kosovo's statehood.

"Unfortunately, these goals pursued by Kurti and his policies align with the goals of certain Western powers, who are the architects of Kosovo's statehood, in their attempt to validate that statehood. There is no other reason for the tolerance of the violations of rights, the disregard for assumed obligations, the risking of dialogue, and the risking of security and stability on the ground. All of this is being risked by supporting Kurti's policies," Milivojevic stressed.

Beyond the shared goals between Pristina and the West, Milivojevic notes that Western powers are not reacting to Kurti's behavior because it would call into question the project of Kosovo as a state. Thus, they avoid influencing the policies of the Kosovo Prime Minister through measures and actions.

"They have tolerated repression and baseless arrests. Serbs have been held in pretrial detention for more than two years, something that doesn't happen anywhere else in the world. The abolition of Serbian institutions, the elimination of the dinar, and now the postal service. I'm sorry to say, but I think education and healthcare are next. In other words, the closing of institutions to undermine the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) and, in general, the presence of Serbs in those areas. The tolerance of all this can only be considered tacit support and the pursuit of shared goals. The West does not want to challenge Kurti because it would call into question the notion of Kosovo as a state, with institutions that act in accordance with sovereignty and territorial integrity," Milivojevic stated.

The Political Offspring of the West

One of the reasons for the West's lack of response to Kurti's behavior, Milivojevic notes, is the new geopolitical situation in the world.

"Interests are tied to geopolitical conflicts and the resolution of regional issues, as well as the West's interest in integrating this region into the transatlantic community, which includes the recognition of Kosovo as a state and the establishment of new borders in the Balkans," Milivojevic concluded.

Historian and political analyst Ognjen Karanovic points out that it cannot be said that the United States, even under the current Biden administration, has a particularly favorable view of Kurti personally, but that other factors are at play.

"He is not their protégé. But Kosovo and Metohija, specifically the Albanian separatist project and the resulting entity in Kosovo and Metohija, in the form of this false and non-existent state, is indeed the offspring of the U.S. and the political West. They will do everything and tolerate everything, including all of Albin Kurti's misdeeds, until they achieve their ultimate goal in the region: for Kosovo and Metohija to become a full-fledged member with the status of a state within the international community. But that will not happen. There is no mechanism within the United Nations that would recognize this illegal and irrational situation as a state in the southern Serbian province," Karanovic told Kontekst.

He emphasizes that Serbia will certainly not allow Kosovo and Metohija, or the temporary institutions in Pristina, to gain any kind of statehood or independence.

"That will not happen in this way. However, it is clear that the political West, despite being in a hurry, has enough patience to wait for the moment when they can finally achieve this goal. They believe that encouraging or tolerating the violence and terror of Albin Kurti will bring them one or two steps closer to achieving that goal. And that’s how they interpret it. So, all the misdeeds, terror, and crimes that Albin Kurti commits by occupying the institutions of the Serbian state and the Serbian people in Kosovo, expelling Serbs, arresting and imprisoning them, they euphemistically interpret as some sort of establishment of order and democracy. This is how they view, for instance, the potential opening of the bridge on the Ibar or the illegal appropriation of the Serbian Post's properties, or other institutions. They see it as an act of state-building; they view Pristina as a state, and thus tolerate the illegal takeover of properties that are supposedly under the jurisdiction of Pristina's institutions," Karanovic explained.

Of course, he adds, in doing so, they "violate all divine and human laws, rules, norms, and agreements," but concludes that this does not concern them much.

"They weren't concerned in 1999, when they created this situation, nor in 2008, when they began illegally seizing part of Serbia's state territory. None of that interests them. And they will find a justification for everything. Accordingly, we must continue to support the wise statesmanship of Aleksandar Vucic and give him our full support. This is a policy that protects the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, but also maintains the peace and stability that Serbia desperately needs. We must not allow the terror of the criminal Albin Kurti to drag Serbia into a conflict with NATO, now that we are on the verge of both economic and political, as well as geopolitical, triumph. We must continue our policy of peace and stability while continuously protecting the integrity, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of the southern Serbian province and the martyred Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija," Karanovic concluded.