6 hours agoO'Brien for Kosovo and Serbia: In the north, space was created for young people, Europeans to take a firm, united stand
Periskopi(6 months ago)
(6 months ago)James O'Brien was one of the leading American diplomats who travelled across the Balkans in an effort to end bilateral conflicts and then tripartite in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then war in Kosovo. This lawyer emerged on the diplomatic stage as part of former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's team, and [...]
This lawyer emerged on the diplomatic stage as part of former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's team, which firmly shaped US policy towards the Balkans.
At the start of his career, he played a key role in ending the hostilities between Bosniaks and Croats in Herzegovina in 1994, which was a sign of the Dayton Agreement a year later.
He played a similar role, but much less successfully, in Rambouille, where the international community made its latest effort in 1999 to end peacefully the war between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians.
Ten days before the final diplomatic mandate officially began, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe James O'Brien, in September 2023 a Kosovo police officer was killed in an attack by a group of Kosovo Serbs and armed confrontation at the Banjska monastery that followed radically changed the situation in northern Kosovo, wrote the BBC in Serbian language, Report Express broadcast.
Two years later, O'Brien spoke of events in the north using it as an example of a positive change in which space was created for action by, as he says, “young people”.
However, he is aware that changes in the Balkans are sometimes slower and because there is no unified approach to solving problems in the West.
The problem in the Balkans is that each side always has its own protector often one or two in Europe, the United States sometimes changes sides”.
However, in this case, it is up to Europeans to take a firm and united stance”, says O'Brien, who since Trump came to power not only has been part of official American politics but has openly criticised Washington's stances.
He is relying his hopes on the European integration process, which, along with economic reforms he says “particularly like”, can resolve some open Balkan issues.
The “is very good that Albania and Montenegro are moving towards EU membership and that they are being rewarded for their efforts, and for others, including Bosnia, it is a motivation to have something to achieve”.
“I hope this can also encourage Serbia to build an internal coalition for reforms that are needed to move ahead of”, O'Brien says. /Periscopi/
