FLASH
Shkruar nga Max Primorac dhe Gordan Akrap
That Montenegro, a NATO ally, could thus be seized by Russia reflects the failure of Western diplomats to resolve outstanding Balkan issues since the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia 30 years ago...
As if the war in Ukraine, a pending conflict between Iran and Israel and the Red Sea on fire were not enough, the fuse of the powder keg in the Balkans has been lit. And the Russia-China-Iran troika is behind it.
A recent diplomatic spat between Croatia and Montenegro, just as the latter was poised to join the European Union, would not normally make front-page news. But Russia's fingerprints are all over it, and the White House needs to pay attention.
The dispute stems from the Montenegrin parliament's recent vote to indict Croatia for World War II crimes committed by a pro-Nazi German regime. But Montenegro must obtain the approval of EU member Croatia to continue its membership in that organization. The vote was a deliberate attempt to thwart efforts by the country's pro-Western prime minister to withdraw the tiny republic of 600,000 from Moscow's political orbit.
It worked.
That Montenegro, a NATO ally, could be so captured by Russia reflects the failure of Western diplomats to resolve outstanding Balkan issues from the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia 30 years ago.
With America's resources already stretched thin to deal with other conflicts, there can be no more tolerance for such nonsense.
We are familiar with Moscow's brutal efforts to block Ukraine's integration with the West. The same motivation underlies the Kremlin's efforts to improve stability in the Balkans. Russia began targeting Montenegro when it joined NATO in 2017. Through coup attempts, cyber attacks, funding of pro-Russian political parties and disinformation campaigns through Russian-controlled media, the country has been under siege from continuous.
Montenegrin officers assigned to NATO were dismissed as Russian spies. Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandic, who led the smear campaign against Croatia, was previously indicted for taking part in a Kremlin-instigated coup.
None of Russia's actions would be possible, however, without the support of its regional proxy Serbia, which remains wedded to the Great Serbia ideology that caused the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Serbia recently held an All-Serbian Assembly, claiming that "the Serbian people [are] a single entity". It is a blow to Vladimir Putin's Russian world doctrine that justifies aggression against countries where Russian minorities reside.
This is a direct threat to Serbia's neighbors, home to Serbian communities in Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo and North Macedonia. Serbian chauvinism has prompted Bosnia-Herzegovina's Muslim leaders to revive past relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, issue pro-Hamas statements and host Iran's foreign minister. The Serbian Orthodox Church, playing the same destructive role as its Russian counterpart, reinforces these divisions.
For decades, Europe and the US sought to help Serbia enter the 21st century. The US alone gave it over $1 billion in aid. It is time to admit that the effort has failed and to punish Belgrade for its machinations.
There are four things American leaders can do today:
First, they can openly support Kosovo and reject Serbian efforts to destabilize it by agitating the Serbs living there. We must expand US government programs that catalyze private sector investment to strengthen this pro-US country. All future US aid to Serbia must be suspended until it ends its threats of military occupation and recognizes Kosovo's independence. This will diminish the ahistorical concept of the Serbian world and deny its Russian puppet masters a regional wedge issue.
Second , they should support Croatia as a solution to ending Eastern Europe's energy dependence on Russian oil and gas. Croatia's unused national pipeline JANAF and LNG terminal in the northern Adriatic can easily meet the energy needs of Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and others. There is no excuse for these countries to continue to fund the Russian war machine to the tune of billions of dollars. That Moscow offers them a discount - a bribe - is unacceptable.
Third , our leaders can strengthen our diplomatic tools by expanding the sanctions regime in the Balkans against Serbian actors who promote Russia's destabilizing activities in Montenegro and the region. This should include Russian-controlled local media. Serbia has yet to join Europe in imposing sanctions against Russia and instead recently signed a free trade agreement with communist China. Its lax immigration laws have allowed terrorists to control people-smuggling operations in Europe. Until it reverses course, the European Union must remove Serbia from visa-free travel to the rest of Europe.
Fourth , US leaders should engage the government-appointed US Commission on International Religious Freedom to find ways to break the pro-Russian Serbian Orthodox Church's grip on the Orthodox community in Montenegro. It is important to help the Montenegrin Orthodox Church to restore its former independence from Mother Serbia, in the same way that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has broken away from the Russian Patriarch, who is a former KGB agent.
As international politics heat up, the White House and our European allies have a unique chance to contain this pending explosion in Europe's powder keg. History warns us, we must seize this opportunity. /Adapted "Pamphlet" from "The Hill"
Lini një Përgjigje