Our lobby is better than your lobby

As we near the moment of truth for Kosova, the fight in Washington has been taken to a new level (this is where pompous music is added). Serbs have established their own lobby group to present their side of the story to US administration and Congress.

The American Council for Kosovo is an activity of Venable LLP and Global Strategic Communications Group, which are registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as agents for the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija.

Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija is an umbrella organization created in 2002, I believe, and led by the Serb church in Kosovo. But Serb church is not rich. In fact, recently it had to give up its strategic domain kosovo.com after refusing to pay for using the domain for years without paying a dime. Or maybe this is the lobby that Tadic had promised on his last visit to Washington and then K-church head Artemije made it happen during his March visit to the US.

Browsing the site, there is no doubt who is behind it. The material reeks of Christian suffering on the hands of Albanian "Islamists/Fascists/Terrorists."* Whenever an Albanian leader is mentioned, an adjective (or a combination) of the sort is added to the name. I would love to see Parliament Speaker Kolë Berisha's name mentioned - he happens to be Catholic.

Will this lobby be able to make any impact? Relatively speaking, I doubt it:

First, their members are on the fringe of the Republican spectrum. With the tone used in mind, they might appeal to Americans who already subscribe to the East vs. West fallacy. However, none of the people are close to policy makers. Although one of its advisors, Admiral (Retired) James A. "Ace" Lyons, Jr., made it to the Washington Times op-ed page (a right-leaning paper), a few days ago, I doubt they will be able to go beyond Washington Times and Frontpage Magazine. Some of the other people from the board of advisors are fellow bloggers like Julia Gorin and Christopher Delisso.

Second, the strategy is deeply pessimistic. Americans don't like pessimism. Just study the 2004 elections and it will become apparent. Sure you can scare America with the Islamist threat and thus piggyback on the grand anti-terrorism campaign, but while Albanians remain vehemently anti-Serbia, they are the most pro-American people in Europe.

Third, I doubt they have the financial means to win it. Albanians have been working hard and methodically for their cause for years and with both administrations. Considering that many of the decisions about the future of Kosova seem to have already beenmade in the relevant circles, Serbs are entering the game about two years too late and with not enough money.

I suggest Serbs outsource the lobby to Beijing instead. They might stand a a chance there.

______________

*Never mind that Orthodox, Catholic, and Muslim leaders met a few days ago and jointly called to respect and rebuild "all" religious institutions. IMHO, hardly a proof for the impending jihad.