Of all the "scarecrows" to scare Serbia, the region and the EU regarding Kosovo, the least credible threat is the unification of the former Serbian province and Albania, i.e. the creation of a "great" or "ethnic" Albania, as the Albanians themselves prefer to call the pan-Albanian dream. We are already used to Albanian and Kosovar leaders in election campaigns, on the occasion of anniversaries or when it is necessary to divert attention from affairs and scandals, reaching for the story of unification. The qualitative shift is that the matrix on the unification of Kosovo and Albania began to be used by the promoters of Kosovo's independence in "Anglo-American" circles as a twisted threat to Serbia and the EU, what will happen if an agreement is not reached between Belgrade and Pristina, under the auspices of the EU.
There is no doubt that Washington and London, the main sponsors of the unilaterally declared independence of Pristina, are in an unfavorable situation because they have neither a "stick" nor a "carrot" for Belgrade. They cannot impose sanctions on Serbia for not recognizing Kosovo, and they have nothing to offer for possible recognition. The hypocrisy of the United States of America and Great Britain towards Pristina is reflected in their advocating that the EU allow the citizens of Kosovo to travel freely to the countries of the Schengen zone, while they do not think of giving Kosovars a visa-free regime. Neither Bibi Rex, nor Rita Ora, nor Dua Lipa help.
The EU, unlike the Americans and the English, has both a "stick" and a "carrot" in its hands for Serbia, but it does not want or cannot use them. The stick cannot be used because five EU member states do not recognize Kosovo, and at least ten more, despite the recognition of Pristina, have pro-Serbian views and would not approve any introduction of sanctions against Belgrade due to non-recognition of Kosovo. France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries do not want to use the carrot called membership in the EU, because it does not occur to them to "smuggle" Serbia into membership in order to solve the Kosovo issue, not even for the love of Washington, nor for fear of Moscow and Beijing.
The launch of the messages of the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and the future Prime Minister of Kosovo Aljbin Kurti about unification is a big bluff for several reasons. The first is that no country in the world would recognize the new entity, and the second is that the Albanians would pay for this type of unification with greater isolation than the communist regime of Enver Hoxha. His Albania at least had Mao Zedong's China on its side, Ramin and Kurti's "Great Albania" would have no one. Moreover, with the unification of Prishtina and Tirana, the Albanians in Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece would pay a heavy price because the borders would be hermetically sealed with their motherland and an embargo would be introduced that would be much more rigorous than was applied to FR Yugoslavia.
The unification of Kosovo and Albania is absolutely unacceptable for the EU, but also for the USA, because it would turn out that the bombing of Serbia and the entry of NATO forces into Kosovo was not in the service of protecting human rights, but the realization of the national goals of an ethnic group. A luxury that the US and the EU cannot afford at a historical moment when Russia is tearing off the territory of neighboring countries piece by piece, when China subjugates Hong Kong in violation of signed agreements and prepares to invade Taiwan, and when Turkey blatantly violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, Iraq and Libya. . One of the three main postulates of the Contact Group in the negotiations on the final status of Kosovo is that the former southern province of Serbia cannot be annexed or united with other countries or territories. What message would the EU, the US and the UK send if they trampled on the key rule they themselves set?
The answer to the creation of Greater Albania would not be the creation of Greater Serbia, Greater Croatia, Greater Bulgaria or changes in the ethnic composition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The realized dream of Greater Albania would become a much bigger nightmare for the Albanians themselves than for those who fear or wish for it. Albania and Kosovo are already geographically and geostrategically the appendix of Europe and the Western Balkans, united they would become in every sense, not only geographically, a "big appendix".
Aljbin Kurti is a typical hybrid Balkan politician who would implement 19th-century national ideas using modern technology. Edi Rama is pragmatic, he personally knows that the story of unification is a colorful lie, but very usable and useful when it is necessary to draw the attention of the public. Rama's last pan-Albanian performance aimed to suppress the explosive story about his ministers, advisers and close "businessmen" eating steaks in gold foil in Dubai, while Albania is going through an economic crisis and a scandalously bad fight against the coronavirus. Rama would not be too worried if parliamentary elections were not scheduled for two months.
Sali Berisha is an ideal example of how Greater Albania is manipulated. The former Albanian president and prime minister changed his position by 180 degrees on several occasions. As soon as he became the president of Albania in 1992, he received Ibrahim Rugova, the leader of the Kosovo Albanians, on a "state" visit and promised him all possible logistical support for Kosovo's independence. Indeed, Berisha's Albania wholeheartedly helped Serbia and Montenegro break through the economic embargo introduced due to the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. A year later, under pressure from the USA, which at that time had priority to resolve the issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Berisa advocated that Kosovo receive the widest possible autonomy within Serbia. And then, in the last elections in which he participated as a party leader, in 2013, he played the "Greater Albania" card. The current Prime Minister Rama, due to his style of government, arrogant behavior and the connections of his close associates with organized crime, has become the second face of the same medal.
Unlike other Balkan peoples who can glorify the past times when their states were, conditionally speaking, "great", Albanians have nothing to glorify. Excluding the Nazi-fascist period during the Second World War, Greater Albania never existed, and Kosovo and Albania, except for that short episode during the Italian-German occupation, never had common authorities. Not even within Turkey and the division into vilayets, since the Skadar and Janjin vilayets covered a large part of today's Albania, and the Kosovo and Bitola vilayets covered the territory of today's Kosovo, the Presevo Valley, Raška Oblast and western Macedonia.
Every nation is reflected in the state or states it created. What Albanians see in Albania and Kosovo is obviously not what they wanted. While waving the Albanian flag and forming an eagle in flight, happiness is sought far from the homeland. It was as if the prophecy of the Albanian exile recorded by Indro Montanelli had come true: "I wanted an Albania that would respect others and be respected, an Albania with laws, focused on the present and not on the past, a little big Albania that is not only brave and hospitable but also educated and civil." When my father, whom I hated, died, I took his place at the head of our tribes. I introduced new laws, new customs, I judged those who practiced blood revenge, I wanted to force everyone to clear the land of swamps and bushes. And then they tried to kill me. I forgave the conspirators. They tried again. Then I realized that I had no things and customs against me, but human nature: and then I wanted to change the nature of my people. Until one day my wise bannerman said to me: You are right, my lord, and we all make mistakes, but your "right" is foreign and our "wrong" is Albanian. Wisely spoke my flag bearer. The Albanians that I wanted to reform had many flaws, but they were Albanian, and the Albanians, with all their flaws, survived alone against everyone, against the Turks and against the Slavs. Now I understand that it is necessary that the virtues that I propagated become Albanian virtues because otherwise they would never be virtues for my people. But it is not going as fast as my son would like, or as you would like if you were Albanian, and you would hate me if you were my son. Because, you know, one loves one's own father only when he is dead, just as one loves one's fatherland only when it is lost."
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