Thread by @DPC_global

1/ The events of the past days illustrate that the West is committed to a #WesternBalkans policy centered on @avucic, with willful blindness towards his depredations against independent media, justice, and public/civic life and his irridentist designs on neighbors.

2/ This has been the case for some time.
democratizationpolicy.org/gaslighting-de…

3/ Events in Kosovo and Serbia this Friday-Saturday – and the US and EU reaction – demonstrated just how low that policy has brought the West’s vaunted commitment to democratic values and rule of law. Statements of principal officials, including the US Secretary of State…

4/ …and prominent US senators, underscore the deviation from the Biden administration’s proclaimed “democracy vs. autocracy” framing.

5/ One 48-hour period illustrated this with a stark split-screen. In northern Kosovo, the Kurti government’s decision to secure access to municipal buildings for newly-elected mayors with the help of police triggered roadblocks and protests that turned violent.

6/ First the US Ambassador decried the Kosovo government’s actions. Then @SecBlinken followed suit. The Quint followed the US in condemning Prishtina’s move.

https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1662140360821227520?s=20

state.gov/joint-statemen…

7/ The strong wording towards Prishtina was not remotely matched by the expression of “concern” about Serbia’s raising the level of readiness of its Armed Forces at the border with Kosovo. It stands in strong contrast to the very weak language used by the West in response...

8/ …to Belgrade’s political moves that led to the current situation in the north – Serbs resigning from Kosovo institutions and the Serb boycott of the 4/23 local elections. (In some cases, no response was forthcoming at all.)

9/ Meanwhile, in Belgrade, Vučić ensured that thousands – including many compelled public employees as well as people from BiH, Kosovo and even North Macedonia – were bussed to a highly choreographed rally, reminiscent of the playbook used 30+ years ago.

10/ He needed the crowd to be there when he would announce plans for a new party movement, called for unity, and criticized the popular protests sparked by his and @anabrnabic’s (lack of) response to mass shootings earlier this month.

11/ The rally summoned @MiloradDodik (fresh from Moscow), Ivica Dačić (same), Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjarto – a veritable illiberal pantheon – as speakers.

12/ Yet US Senator Chris Murphy – even after a devastating article by the @nytimes outlining in literally gory detail Vučić’s ultranationalist pedigree and criminal links – still referred to Vučić as “my friend.”

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1661714188853551110?s=20

13/ Far from supporting and promoting liberal values in the Balkans, what matters seems to be to #pacify the region while pretending it’s a democratic success, through deals with those pursuing hegemonic designs and appetites. This is bad for the Western Balkans, and for...

14/ ...democracy supporters globally. The evident “theory of change” of US Balkan policy, as also underscored by the senators’ stops in North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo, is to bury disputes (by pressuring weaker parties to accept terms from predatory neighbors SRB and HR)

15/ ...with the goal of “accelerating” EU enlargement. The problem w/ this approach – aside from its tone deafness to intra-EU realities – is that it empowers those who least share democratic values while pressuring those championing individual rights and other liberal values...

16/ ...even to the point of framing THEM as the real problem. The perversity of such a policy: it paints those who espouse the broad human dignity values the West proclaims in the context of the war in Ukraine as irritants, if not outright obstacles, to process (and “progress”).

17/ To underscore the hypocrisy, many more demonstrators flooded into Belgrade on a rainy Saturday to protest against the Vucic regime, its unaccountability, and for justice. On these demonstrations, the West has been utterly silent.

https://twitter.com/ThomasVLinge/status/1662500871693844480?s=20

18/ In sum, the events of Friday/Saturday encapsulate a US/EU policy that has long since lost its way and needs urgent review and overhaul, based on first principles. Given the postures in Western capitals, it would appear that only...

19/ ...legislative scrutiny and media attention can generate the political cost for executives that is necessary to achieve this goal.