Biden arriving in Belgrade on Wednesday

U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden will be arriving in Belgrade next Wednesday, B92 has learned. His visit to the region, which begins on Monday, will take in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and then back to Serbia proper. Biden arriving in Belgrade on Wednesday Biden will be the most senior U.S. official to visit Serbia in last 30 years. The goal of his visit is to encourage cooperation between the U.S. and Serbia, but also to warn the entire region that it must maintain stability, it was stated at the Center for Democracy during a conference on Serbo-American relations. Biden’s visit will be the most significant by an American diplomat since June 1980, when then President Jimmy Carter visited Yugoslavia. The American embassy in Belgrade stated that this visit showed how important stability in this region was to the U.S. “Vice President Biden will be meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic. The goal of the talks is to revive bilateral relations between the two countries. As has already been stated, we agree to disagree over Kosovo, but there are many other fields that we should talk about and intensively work on in the coming period,” said a U.S. embassy spokeswoman. Zivorad Kovacevic, president of the European Movement in Serbia, said that Biden’s visit was a good opportunity for improving relations between Belgrade and Washington. Kovacevic said that Biden was bringing messages to both the Serbian and Kosovo governments. “To encourage Belgrade, to tone down the rhetoric regarding Kosovo, and Pristina too. Also to do more to protect Serbs and to discourage both sides from seeking solutions through inciting conflict,” Kovacevic said. Political analyst Slobodan Markovic said, however, that the essence of Biden’s visit was a warning to the entire region to maintain stability. According to B92’s sources, hundreds of U.S. operatives are already preparing the groundwork for Biden’s visit. Security measures will be raised to a maximum in Serbia, Interior Ministry officials say. The Serb Radical Party does not view Biden’s visit kindly. They say that Biden supported the occupation of Serbia ten years ago, and called the Serbs a bunch of illiterate rapists and baby killers. Biden visited Belgrade 16 years ago, as president of the U.S. Senate sub-committee for Europe. In two of former President Bill Clinton’s administrations, Biden was one of the main supporters of American military intervention during the wars in the former Yugoslavia and a leading lobbyist for Kosovo independence. Joe Biden (FoNet) "Conditioning to continue" Analyst Obrad Kesic says that Biden’s visit should be viewed in terms of the U.S.’s policy of setting Serbia conditions. He told Voice of America that that kind of policy continued to be the main foundation for the Washington administration’s relationship with Belgrade. “I believe that the vice-president will attempt to perform a minor miracle and show that the U.S. is completely open to Serbia, completely ready for not just amicable, but even good relations, but it will be a major challenge in the context of political conditioning, particularly with regards to Kosovo’s independence,“ said Kesic. Besides the issues of Kosovo and cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, the analyst said that there were a number of other open issues between the two countries that needed to be addressed. “We have the issue of relations between Belgrade and Banja Luka, where more and more NGOs lobbyists representing only one of the sides—the Bosniaks—are trying to link the issue of Serbia’s cooperation with the international community with exerting pressure on the Republic of Srpska government in order for Belgrade to normalize relations not only with America, but the EU too,“ Kesic surmised. He said that he believed that Biden would have his work cut out, as, on the one hand, he would have to speak about the need to preserve Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo’s territorial integrity, and “simultaneously send some kind of reconciliatory message to Serbia.“ “That’s going to be very difficult, because we have a situation where Serbia will be told that, unlike the rest of the world, it is not entitled to its territorial integrity and sovereignty, and that the issue of Kosovo’s independence is an exception in international relations, while, at the same time, the U.S. strongly endorses Bosnia and Kosovo’s territorial integrity,“ said Kesic.

Biden arriving in Belgrade on Wednesday

Biden will be the most senior U.S. official to visit Serbia in last 30 years. The goal of his visit is to encourage cooperation between the U.S. and Serbia, but also to warn the entire region that it must maintain stability, it was stated at the Center for Democracy during a conference on Serbo-American relations.

Biden’s visit will be the most significant by an American diplomat since June 1980, when then President Jimmy Carter visited Yugoslavia.

The American embassy in Belgrade stated that this visit showed how important stability in this region was to the U.S.

“Vice President Biden will be meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadić. The goal of the talks is to revive bilateral relations between the two countries. As has already been stated, we agree to disagree over Kosovo, but there are many other fields that we should talk about and intensively work on in the coming period,” said a U.S. embassy spokeswoman.

Živorad Kovačević, president of the European Movement in Serbia, said that Biden’s visit was a good opportunity for improving relations between Belgrade and Washington. Kovačević said that Biden was bringing messages to both the Serbian and Kosovo governments.

“To encourage Belgrade, to tone down the rhetoric regarding Kosovo, and Priština too. Also to do more to protect Serbs and to discourage both sides from seeking solutions through inciting conflict,” Kovačević said.

Political analyst Slobodan Marković said, however, that the essence of Biden’s visit was a warning to the entire region to maintain stability.

According to B92’s sources, hundreds of U.S. operatives are already preparing the groundwork for Biden’s visit.

Security measures will be raised to a maximum in Serbia, Interior Ministry officials say.

The Serb Radical Party does not view Biden’s visit kindly. They say that Biden supported the occupation of Serbia ten years ago, and called the Serbs a bunch of illiterate rapists and baby killers.

Biden visited Belgrade 16 years ago, as president of the U.S. Senate sub-committee for Europe.

In two of former President Bill Clinton’s administrations, Biden was one of the main supporters of American military intervention during the wars in the former Yugoslavia and a leading lobbyist for Kosovo independence.

"Conditioning to continue"

Analyst Obrad Kesić says that Biden’s visit should be viewed in terms of the U.S.’s policy of setting Serbia conditions.

He told Voice of America that that kind of policy continued to be the main foundation for the Washington administration’s relationship with Belgrade.

“I believe that the vice-president will attempt to perform a minor miracle and show that the U.S. is completely open to Serbia, completely ready for not just amicable, but even good relations, but it will be a major challenge in the context of political conditioning, particularly with regards to Kosovo’s independence,“ said Kesić.

Besides the issues of Kosovo and cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, the analyst said that there were a number of other open issues between the two countries that needed to be addressed.

“We have the issue of relations between Belgrade and Banja Luka, where more and more NGOs lobbyists representing only one of the sides—the Bosniaks—are trying to link the issue of Serbia’s cooperation with the international community with exerting pressure on the Republic of Srpska government in order for Belgrade to normalize relations not only with America, but the EU too,“ Kesić surmised.

He said that he believed that Biden would have his work cut out, as, on the one hand, he would have to speak about the need to preserve Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo’s territorial integrity, and “simultaneously send some kind of reconciliatory message to Serbia.“

“That’s going to be very difficult, because we have a situation where Serbia will be told that, unlike the rest of the world, it is not entitled to its territorial integrity and sovereignty, and that the issue of Kosovo’s independence is an exception in international relations, while, at the same time, the U.S. strongly endorses Bosnia and Kosovo’s territorial integrity,“ said Kesić.