American expert analysis: That's why the US and EU are being gentle with Serbia

Joseph has many years of work experience in the Balkans. He was deputy director of the O Mission The SEU in Kosovo and worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina for six years, three of them at war when, among other things, he was in the protected enclave of Zepas inside NATO in the summer of 1995 on the task of evacuation of women and children and wounded, where it had to negotiate directly with Serbian criminal Ratko Mladic.

He also witnessed two court trials before the international war crimes tribunal in the former Yugoslavia. He's authored by numerous scientific works, but also articles for world media such as “New The York Times”, and Klx.ba, the portal from Sarajevo, wrote about his views on Serbia.

“The US and the EU have had a very mild attitude towards Serbia because of Kosovo. People in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be aware that this is not only about Kosovo, but this complicates the situation both in BiH and Montenegro. Whether the West is good in Belgrade when Milorad Dodik has been under sanctions all this time, but we don't see that it has made any difference. Why? My response is due to Kosovo -- namely, the weakness of the West when it comes to Serbia -- since Belgrade's policy towards BiH is co-ordinated with Banja Luka”, he said in an interview for Al Jazeera.

It's very problematic, and all because of Western weakness. Why is this happening? People think Serbia is a bigger state, Kosovo is a smaller state, Russia and China have veto power at the UN Security Council and will use it in Serbia's favour, but none of them is the reason. The reason is that the five EU countries, meaning the four NATO members, because Cyprus is not, do not recognise Kosovo. That is why the mild stance and if you wonder why the Balkans still have all these problems with Kosovo, Republika Srpska and now with Montenegro, that is why, even if four of these five countries recognise Kosovo, the region would be transformed”, he says.

He asks why, as he says, Kosovo could thus join NATO and Serbia could not block it.

<x) Serbia's strategy would be completely useless”, the American professor said.

So Serbia will finally have to face an issue that is essential for the Balkans and all countries is Serbia with the West or Serbia with Russia and China? They will then have to choose, and in my opinion they can only choose the West, because Russia and China cannot economically or militarily replace what the West offers. China cannot compare economically to the EU, and Russia cannot be militarily compared to NATO”, he said.