Serb President Boris Tadic visited Washington last week. The outcome of the meetings was/ was not opportune for Belgrade, as he relayed it live from Washington to his home audience. One has to genuinely wonder whether he really believed that he would achieve anything.

Serb lobby had actually tried to soften up the stance in Washington by playing these infomercials on two DC radio stations inviting the public to write to their congressmen before Tadic's visit. Have a listen!


powered by ODEO

The problem with the message is that the DC population is awfully small and disinterested in the Balkans (it is mostly African-American) to care about whom Kosovo goes to, on top of their representative not carrying a vote in congress. Some senators did write to Bush on July 28 regarding Kosovo, although all they asked from him is not to withdraw from Kosovo, which I second. The lobby has received the money and it has to spend it lobbying for something.

On the other hand the Albanian lobby responded with another very public appeal to the administration to support an independent Kosovo. It made a deal with McDonald's and KFC restaurants across DC to send forth its message through the in-your-face, primary-colored signs like the one below.



There is this train of thought among dog breeders that the moment a fighting dog drops his tail, he will be too weak to be a fighter anymore. I have the same idea with the communist taint of current political actors in the Balkans. Albanian PM Sali Berisha has made a smart move by enlisting the help of the former US Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge for his government and Albania. The details are still vague, although Ridge seems to be an accomplished and honorable man. I hope that veteran government leaders like Berisha (and his montenegrin countepart Milo Djukanovic, who seems to have won another election yesterday) will draw power from Ridge's example and retire from government and politics. They may open their own political consulting firms, go into charity, or even do a blog, but please retire from politics. The political scene in the Balkans needs new blood from people that are less divisive and don't have their resumes begin and end with politics.

*Ok, I made up the part about signs on McDonald's. The rest is dead serious.