US Professor Argues Trump’s Victory Would Be Horrible for Serbia, primarily with regard to Kosovo

White house (Pixabay)

Although Serbia’s citizens are favoring Donald Trump, his potential win in the presidential race in the USA would be horrible for Serbia, primarily with regard to potential withdrawal of KFOR from Kosovo, because the survival of the local Serbs actually depends on the NATO-led peacekeeping forces, according to Edward Joseph, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University in the USA.  

He said that those were wrong who believed that Trump’s win would mean great things for the Balkans thinking the former US president was on their side, stressing that his victory would only bring uncertainty. “Suddenly, Washington’s commitment to the region and Europe, its commitment to NATO would vanish. There are so many people in Serbia saying: ‘NATO bombed us...’ Remember this – the Serbs in Kosovo depend on KFOR. Under Trump, there were threats that KFOR would be removed from Kosovo. What it would mean for Serbs in Kosovo?", Joseph said in an interview with TV N1.

Joseph also said he had lived in the Western Balkans for a number of years, and had seen Trump enjoyed a great backing in Serbia, but he would ask his supporters in Serbia whether they really wanted something like that in their own country. Joseph added he hoped that Serbia’s citizens would think carefully what it would mean for the most powerful country in the world to have such an authoritarian leader. “People think it would be good for Serbia, but it would be terrible for Serbia, it would be horrible for the region,” the professor said. 

“Do you really want a leader who would propose that journalists can be shot? I know that journalists in Serbia are under pressure. Do we really need that in the US? Do we need opinions marked with hostile tones where someone who does not favor one candidate is by default an enemy?", Joseph said, noting that the US was faced with “a very dangerous situation.”