Smajlovic: Quint has the means, but not the will to discipline Kurti

The Quint has the means to discipline Albin Kurti, but there is no will for such action, journalist Ljiljana Smajlovic says for Kosovo Online, adding that even the Quint itself is not unified in its approach toward the Kosovo Prime Minister, which works in his favor.

According to her, Americans find Kurti "more irritating" than Germans, who seem completely satisfied with Kurti.

"Of course, those powers have ways to discipline someone, Richard Grenell showed us that, it is easy. Where there is a will, there is a way. Here, if there is no way, it means there is no will or no unified will within the Quint. Look, when they wanted something from us, they immediately bombed us. If they had walked in our shoes, they would have said, 'Wait a minute, we immediately bombed the Serbs, maybe we should threaten them with bombing.' Of course, that's out of the question, and I wouldn't suggest it either, but this hypocrisy is truly disgusting and intolerable," Smajlovic emphasizes.

She notes that they behave "as if the five strongest countries in the world cannot persuade that one Kurti into anything."

"The most they can persuade him is to send a draft of some decision to his Constitutional Court where it might stay for 20 years. That is ridiculous, none of us believes that, but that's their policy. They have a policy in the Balkans – they support Bosniaks, Croats, and Albanians, they don't support Serbs, but they have to maintain as good relations as possible with Serbs as the largest and most important country in the Balkans, and that is all they are doing now. This is the idle ride until these major issues in Ukraine are resolved," Smajlovic says.

When reminded of informal messages from the Quint to Kosovo Serbs that mayors in the north will withdraw voluntarily if Serbs start a petition, Smajlovic evaluates it as a known tactic.

"That is what's called the salami tactic in politics – you slice small, thin slices of salami, bit by bit, and when everything is already senseless, when Serbs have done what the Quint previously asked of them, then with what justification won't they just take this one more little step, and so many small steps and you end up a complete deceived fool who no longer has any criterion to defend. In the beginning, you defended one principle, the Quint persuaded you to make a small concession around that principle, then a little slice of salami around another concession, and in the end, you don't even remember why you advocated and what you were right about. And that is a very skillful way to completely discredit one side in a conflict; they no longer have anything to hold on to," Smajlovic concludes, adding that it is easy for the stronger ones to find something cunning and clever against a small and weak national community like the Serbian community in Kosovo, and that "that is why Serbia must always stand behind these people."