Kosovo
see serbia
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Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Europe with partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the north and east, and North Macedonia to the southeast Continued in Wikipedia
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AN 10 26
President Donald Trump attempted to distance himself from two of his long-time political advisers, who cashed in by working for a Russia-aligned government got instant pushback.
After The New York Times reported that James Blair and Chris LaCivita had gone to Republika Srpska, a Serb-majority area in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to advise its government before the elections there, Trump reacted on Truth Social. The report states that the two men were each paid hundreds of thousands of dollars through a Washington-based law firm that had been hired by the government.
“Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants,” Trump wrote. “They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants.”
CNN anchor Dana Bash mentioned the post a minute later, calling it "pretty wild" and mentioning that Blair and LaCivita are two of Trump's "closest political advisers" and that the former "is literally running MAGA Inc"
While discussing Trump's effort to describe them as outside consultants, CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene gave a more detailed account of the president’s relationship with them, calling the president's denial "astonishing" due to their high profile within his close circle.
“They do work for the president, and they are very close,” Treene said. “They are very much considered part of his inner circle, very close with Susie Wiles.”
Treene said LaCivita and Wiles, the chief of staff to the White House, ran Trump's 2024 campaign together and that Blair was closely connected to both of them.
“And James Blair really is in charge of the president’s entire political operation, even though it’s being run on the outside of the White House,” she said.
Blair was political director of Trump's 2024 campaign and later became a deputy chief of staff in the White House. LaCivita was also one of the campaign managers for Trump in 2024, and both of them are still taking part in the Trump-associated political operation as the November midterms approach.
Treene described Trump’s threat as significant due to his close ties to both advisors, and she linked the president’s move to midterm anxiety.
“That is a huge deal for people who have been loyal to him from the beginning and comes. Of course, this comes less than 30 days away from the midterm elections. A lot of alarm bells, of course, going off across the country for republicans in some of these very vulnerable districts and these tight races.”
She also gave one possible reason why the president took public steps about the report, namely that Trump has in the past disliked his aides earning money in ways that could involve his name; she also pointed out the huge conflict of interest.
His current denial is now drawing focus to the relationship which he had aimed to limit, but CNN reports the pair are still firmly within his political circle, which could lead to some political blowback.
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dw
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US President Donald Trump's trio for the Balkans
Alexander Rhotert
02/18/2025February 18, 2025
President Trump's new team for the Balkans includes some familiar faces with close ties to Serbia: son-in-law Jared Kushner, former special envoy Richard Grenell and ex-governor Rod Blagojevich.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qdGO
Two men (Richard Grenell and Donald Trump) in blue suits stand in front of a US flag. Between them and the flag is a large blue banner with the words 'Protect our food from China' and 'Protecting America Initiative,' which are only partially visible
Richard Grenell (left) and Donald Trump at an event in Philadelphia in September 2024Image: AP Photo/Alex Brandon/picture alliance
The first weeks of Donald J. Trump's second presidency have shown that The New York Times hit the nail on the head with its Inauguration Day headline: "The Deal Maker in Chief Is Back."
Trump's foreign policy also seems to show that his beloved "deals" will remain a dominant theme of his second administration.
There have already been three indications of this: The US is willing to continue sending military aid to Ukraine in return for access to its reserves of raw materials such as rare earths and lithium, the "takeover" of the Gaza Strip to create a "Riviera of the Middle East," and — a Trump classic — a "Trump Tower" in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
The first attempt to get this last project off the ground stalled in 2012. The fact that construction is now about to begin 13 years later is largely due to Trump's close adviser, Richard "Ric" Grenell.
Grenell was special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations during the first Trump administration, and Trump recently named him presidential envoy for special missions.
Trump Tower No. 5
Grenell has close — almost friendly — relations with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Foreign Minister Marko Djuric, a former Serbian ambassador to the US.
Vucic even presented Grenell with the Order of the Serbian Flag in 2023 in recognition of his "balanced approach" to Europe's youngest state, the Republic of Kosovo, which Serbia still claims as part of its territory 26 years after the end of the Kosovo War.
The Trump Tower Belgrade deal — which, according to The New York Times, comes with a price tag of half a billion dollars — was concluded by the Serbian government, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Arab investors in March 2024.
A man in a blue suit (Richard Grenell) holds a box containing an order. Beside him is a taller man (Aleksandar Vucic). The two men are standing in front of a row of flagsA man in a blue suit (Richard Grenell) holds a box containing an order. Beside him is a taller man (Aleksandar Vucic). The two men are standing in front of a row of flags
Grenell (left) received the Order of the Serbian Flag from Serbian President Vucic (right) in Belgrade on October 25, 2023Image: Darko Vojinovic/dpa/picture alliance
The plan is to turn the former headquarters of the Armed Forces of Serbia (then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) into a hotel complex with luxury apartments, including a memorial to the victims of the NATO bombardment of Belgrade in 1999, during which the building was damaged.
After New York, Chicago, Manila and Istanbul, this would be the fifth Trump Tower worldwide.
'The perfect man for Belgrade'
On February 7, Politico reported that Trump was considering making Rod "Blago" Blagojevich US ambassador to Serbia. The former Democratic governor of Illinois is a colorful political figure — even by Trump's standards.
Blagojevich, the son of Serbian immigrants, was removed from office in 2009 and sentenced three years later to 14 years in prison for corruption.
When Trump commuted his sentence during his first term in office, Blagojevich was released from prison in 2020.
A man (Rod Blagojevich) wearing a black coat and a gray roll-neck sweater looks past the cameraA man (Rod Blagojevich) wearing a black coat and a gray roll-neck sweater looks past the camera
Rod 'Blago' Blagojevich is being touted as the next US ambassador to SerbiaImage: Vincent Alban/REUTERS
This makes the Democrat an ideal ally for the Republican president, says Daniel Serwer, Balkans expert at Johns Hopkins University and US Balkans negotiator under former US President Bill Clinton. "Blago is the perfect man for Belgrade: a profoundly corrupt politician who will be willing to do anything Trump wants to be rehabilitated," Serwer told DW.
Trump popular with Serbs — at home and abroad
After his removal from office, Blagojevich appeared on Donald Trump's show "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2010.
When Trump was nominated presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, Blagojevich and Grenell made several electoral appearances together, especially in parts of the USA with large Serbian communities, where Trump had high approval ratings — as he did among nationalist Serbian politicians in Serbia and in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, which also have Serbian communities.
A US coastguard boat with a gun on the front sails past a residence with peach-colored walls surrounded by palm trees. There is a large American flag in the grounds of the residenceA US coastguard boat with a gun on the front sails past a residence with peach-colored walls surrounded by palm trees. There is a large American flag in the grounds of the residence
According to a businessman who attended an event at Mar-a-Lago (pictured here), Trump called Blagojevich a 'great friend' and 'close associate'Image: Jen Golbeck/picture alliance/Sipa USA
In early 2024, five US businessmen with Serbian roots attended a reception at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. One of them was Ranko Ristic, founder of the company Zastava Arms USA, which has the exclusive right to import to the US firearms produced by the Serbian company Zastava Oruzje.
According to Ristic, Trump referred to Blagojevich during the event as a "great friend" and "close associate." Ristic said that he himself had told Trump that during the 1991–95 Bosnian War, Bosnian Serbs had had to defend themselves against 3,000 mujahedeen.
Criticism of Kosovo's prime minister
Blagojevich met President Vucic in Belgrade in early February. During his visit, he was highly critical in the media of Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, saying that Serbs in Kosovo were the target of "ethnic cleansing" that was taking place there.
In 1999, the USA and other NATO countries bombarded Serbia to force it to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, which was then part of Serbia, to prevent the expulsion of the majority ethnic Albanian population from the province.
25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
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Blagojevich apologized to Vucic for the USA's involvement in this intervention in the Kosovo War. "My country did a terrible thing to your country in the 1990s," Trump's potential ambassador to Serbia told Vucic, adding: "It's no different from what Russia is doing in Ukraine (...) I think President Trump will work on improving our countries' relations."
Trump's confidant Grenell has also criticized Kosovo's Prime Minister Kurti on multiple occasions. In addition, he met with an archenemy of Kurti, former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, in Washington the day before Trump's inauguration.
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According to a post by KosovoOnline on X, Haradinaj said that Grenell had confirmed to him that it would "not be good for Kosovo if Kurti remains in power."
Kurti has been in Grenell's bad books since 2020 when he rejected an ethnically motivated exchange of territory between Kosovo and Serbia proposed by Grenell. Kurti's Vetevendosje party won Kosovo's parliamentary election on February 9.
More radical rhetoric on Kosovo
These developments, which are extremely positive for Vucic, stand in stark contrast to the mass protests that have been rocking Serbia since early November.
In recent weeks, the Serbian president's rhetoric regarding Kosovo has taken a more radical turn, undoubtedly to divert attention from his obvious domestic problems.
In an interview with the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric referred to Kosovo as "our southern province," where Serbs were exposed to "permanent discrimination and harassment."
A man (Albin Kurti) dressed in a dark green winter coat smiles broadly as he speaks into a microphoneA man (Albin Kurti) dressed in a dark green winter coat smiles broadly as he speaks into a microphone
The party of Albin Kurti (pictured here) won the parliamentary election in Kosovo on February 9Image: Florion Goga/REUTERS
Milan Mojsilovic, chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, told the Serbian daily newspaper Vecernje novosti that Serbia's armed forces were at the ready to "protect Serbs and other non-Albanians on the territory of our southern province." There were, he said, "indicators for potential destabilization" in Kosovo.
Vucic, who has in the past referred to Kurti as "terrorist scum," described him recently on Serbia's Happy TV as a "villain" who "hates Serbs."
What does this mean for Bosnia?
Kurt Bassuener, director of the Berlin think tank Democratization Policy Council, told DW that Greater Serbian aspirations pose a threat not only to the territorial integrity of Kosovo but also to that of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The EU could, he said, respond to Belgrade's aggression toward its neighbors by "significantly beefing up" the EUFOR Althea mission, which protects peace in Bosnia, with combat troops.
Were this to happen, a US-Balkan team comprising Grenell, Kushner and Blagojevich — including a direct line to the White House — would be a gift for Belgrade. It would also mean that an improvement in Serbia-Kosovo relations — already unlikely as it is — would slip further away.
A large crowd fills a square in Nis, Serbia. Several people are holding up Serbian flags A large crowd fills a square in Nis, Serbia. Several people are holding up Serbian flags
Protests have been taking place across Serbia at regular intervals since last NovemberImage: Jelena Djukic Pejic/DW
The EU responded in 2023 to the last Kosovo Serb attacks on NATO and Kosovo security forces and a Serb military buildup on the Serbia-Kosovo border with sanctions — paradoxically, against Kosovo.
It was only the personal intervention of the then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spoke to President Vucic, and the enormous pressure exerted by NATO that were able to get Serbian tanks to turn back.
Today, both Western Balkans experts Serwer and Bassuener doubt that the US would stop Vucic's army should the worst come to the worst. Serwer also warns that even the discussion of the breakup of Kosovo or Ukraine would animate Serbian secessionists in Bosnia to take corresponding action.
"It will be up to Bosnians to react to that," Serwer told DW. "The Javelins are Kosovo's best defense at this point." Without the delivery of the highly effective US Javelin anti-tank weapon system, Ukraine's successful resistance to Russia's all-out invasion in 2022 would have been inconceivable.
In view of the current security policy situation, an escalation of potential conflicts in the Western Balkans is certainly becoming increasingly likely.
This article was originally published in German.
Head shot of a man (Alexander Rhotert) with glasses in front of a pale wallHead shot of a man (Alexander Rhotert) with glasses in front of a pale wall
Alexander Rhotert Political scientist, author and expert on the Western Balkans
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