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U.S. analyst tells N1: Nothing Washington has done has brought Vučić closer to the West
🇷🇸 Serbia /Elections & Politics

U.S. analyst tells N1: Nothing Washington has done has brought Vučić closer to the West

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Context piece
  • Johns Hopkins lecturer David Kanin said U.S. policy toward Serbia has strengthened the political model that Washington has traditionally criticized.
  • His comments followed a bipartisan congressional proposal calling for sanctions and visa restrictions against Serbian officials accused of undermining democratic processes and Balkan stability.
  • Kanin said Vučić has heard similar messages before and may ignore them while Donald Trump and business figures close to him pursue deals with Serbia.

Aleksandar Vučić has heard Washington’s warnings before, and he may ignore them again, according to David Kanin, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. Kanin told N1 that nothing the United States has done has brought the Serbian president closer to the West.

Nothing the United States has done has brought Vučić closer to the West.

— David KaninKanin’s overall assessment of U.S. policy toward Serbia.

Kanin argued that Vučić’s strategic dialogue with Washington is designed to create conditions in which Serbia and the Balkans attract Americans focused mainly on business and personal interests. In that environment, he said, issues such as the rule of law, media freedom, Kosovo and Ratko Mladić become less important.

His comments came after Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Democratic Congressman William Keating of Massachusetts submitted a bill criticizing Serbia’s authorities over democratic backsliding and their relations with Russia, China and Iran. The proposal calls for sanctions and visa restrictions against people who undermine democratic processes and stability in the Western Balkans.

In Congress there is actually no consensus on anything concerning Serbia, just as there is no consensus on anything else.

— David KaninHis response to a question about bipartisan concern over Serbia.

Kanin rejected the idea that the bill reflected a broad congressional consensus on Serbia. He said concern instead stemmed from fears that businesspeople and individuals making specific deals were neglecting geopolitical and human-rights issues in Serbia and the Balkans. He also said successive U.S. administrations had treated Vučić as an essential interlocutor on Kosovo, regional stability, energy and economic cooperation, an approach that had strengthened the very political model that had long concerned Washington.

Vučić has already heard that message and ignored it.

— David KaninHis assessment of whether the Serbian president will heed congressional warnings.

Whether the current administration still cares about those issues is less clear, Kanin said. He added that neither the executive nor legislative branches could be satisfied with everything coming from Serbia, but said Donald Trump likes Vučić, and Trump is pleased with anyone who likes him. Kanin also pointed to tensions over NIS, the Russian-owned oil company, noting that Belgrade has repeatedly received licenses whenever it requested them.

Trump certainly likes Vučić, and Trump is pleased with anyone who likes him.

— David KaninKanin’s explanation of why pressure from Washington may not change U.S.-Serbia relations.
About this summary

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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