With the United States remaining the most powerful member of NATO and considering its history with Bosnia and Kosovo, its role will be key.
It could do so either by beefing up its troop presence or by accelerating Bosnia and Herzegovina’s and Kosovo’s entry into NATO. A recent survey shows support for NATO accession remains strong in both countries, except in Serb circles inflamed by disinformation.Ĭonsidering the increased tensions in the region – as illustrated this week by the street protests in Bosnia over a planned move by the internationally appointed High Representative to impose election law changes, NATO should seize on this interest and the momentum the alliance has gained from its unified backing for Ukraine to step back in more seriously in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The alliance has had a “ peace-support operation” in Kosovo since 1999, but ceded those responsibilities in Bosnia to a European Union force in 2004 while maintaining a presence to support Bosnia’s aspirations for membership. The prospect of similarly heightened threats of violent conflict, spurred to a significant extent by Putin, in the Western Balkans, especially in Bosnia and Kosovo, has renewed attention to the idea of NATO stepping up its role there. Images coming out of Ukraine of atrocities by Vladimir Putin’s forces have revived memories of the horrors Bosnia and Kosovo experienced in the 1990s at the hands of Slobodan Milošević’s Serbia. Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine has brought to the fore deep cleavages between pro-Western and pro-Russian voices across another part of Europe, too - the Western Balkans.
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