Opinion

Comedy and Richard Grenellit

Comedy and Richard Grenellit

By Enver Robelli / Grenell also mentions the Schengen area, for which Edi Rama almost lost his soul - if you remember he is the same one who praises Trump today, and in 2016 he said that winning this pizza would be a disaster for the world, especially for Muslims. (How is it possible that before this Serbian offensive for the Balkan Schengen both governments surrender, in Pristina and Tirana, without asking anything from Serbia? The Serbian president before going to Washington said that "for us the Balkan Schengen is very important" So, favors are created for Serbia to penetrate the markets of Kosovo and Albania without asking for any concessions in relation to Kosovo that goes in the direction of recognition).

In his article, Grenell says that the Washington agreement envisages a one-year moratorium on Kosovo's requirements for membership in international organizations. At the same time, Serbia promised to stop the campaign for the recognition of Kosovo for a year. The comedy continues: Grenell thinks these two issues are "two of the biggest wounds of the conflict." A logical question: how can Kosovo's requests for entry into Interpol or UNESCO be a wound? To whom was Kosovo causing these wounds? Interpol helps fight crime. (Grenell almost never talks about the real wounds of the Balkans: misgovernance, crime and corruption). UNESCO protects cultural heritage. Why ban Kosovo from applying? And why was the application, being made, causing wounds?

Grenell, who also acts as a gay rights activist and this is a legitimate issue, writes that both countries, Kosovo and Serbia, are obliged to work with the US to decriminalize homosexuality in 69 countries, where still is criminalized. First: how will Serbia fight for gay rights when in Serbia the church and a large part of society are highly homophobic and gay parades are arenas of bloodshed caused by hooligans? Imagine a Serbian cleric or Ivica Dacic going to Iran to try to persuade mullahs not to treat homosexuals badly? Secondly: Does Grenell expect Kosovo to appoint Skënder Hyseni as special envoy for the rights of marginalized groups in the Muslim world? Like many points of agreement (which is not an agreement) this point also makes no sense.

Grenell writes that probably the most important point of the agreement is Serbia's promise to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (why the most important?) - while Kosovo has promised that it will have mutual recognition with Israel. As for Serbia: the Serbian president said he would first open an economic office in Jerusalem. It remains to be seen whether Serbia will open an embassy in Jerusalem, because it would anger the Arab states, some of which have allocated millions to the Serbian president for carrying out his "Belgrade on Water" project. A recording is circulating on social media where the Serbian president changes his face when he hears Donald Trump saying that Serbia will move the embassy to Jerusalem. In Serbia and among Balkan diplomats and experts circulating on Twitter, this scene has become a hit:

Regarding Kosovo and Israel: when he says that Kosovo has promised to have mutual recognition with Israel, Grenell gives the impression that Kosovo has been the one that has refused recognition from Israel - not the other way around. Why does he do this? Because this is how the narrative can be spread that "a Muslim-majority country" (Kosovo) accepted Israel - and this leads to the electoral mill of the "stable genius" (Trump for himself) as a "peace mediator" in the Middle East. "Israel accepts Kosovo" - this does not sell well to some Trump evangelical supporters, who believe that one day all people will find refuge in Israel, because in the "holy land" (where there is no place for Palestinians) Jesus, the Savior of the world and of mankind, will return.

To return to the beginning of this text: Grenell is complaining that the serious American media is not paying attention to Trump's "deal" in the Balkans. The reason why the serious American media is not dealing with this "shopping" is given by Grenell himself with his pale, ridiculous and contradictory text. But maybe all this Balkan comedy pays off for Grenell after November 3rd. If Donald Trump wins the election that day, Grenell can hope to climb the State Department ladder.