Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, may have wanted to change his approach under President Joe Biden’s administration, said Edward P. Joseph, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, in an interview with Radio Free Europe following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. elections on November 5.
Joseph noted that Kurti will face difficult decisions, especially if Richard Grenell—who has been highly critical of Kurti—is appointed as Secretary of State or to another prominent foreign policy position.
“Serbia is celebrating Trump’s victory. Richard Grenell, whom Trump recently mentioned at a rally, could hold a high position, possibly even Secretary of State. Grenell has had disagreements with Albin Kurti for a long time, and he continued to criticize him this year,” Joseph said.
In 2020, Kurti accused Grenell, who was the U.S. special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue during the Trump administration, of being “directly involved” in the fall of his government, less than two months after he took office as Prime Minister. At the time, Grenell called Kurti “anti-American” and said he opposed American policies endorsed by former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.
“Prime Minister Kurti will wait for the elections in Kosovo, and then he will have to decide whether to continue his one-sided approach and disregard for the United States. He may have wanted to change his course under the Biden administration. Kurti’s best approach is one I’ve always advocated: be the prime minister of all citizens of Kosovo and show the Serbs that Pristina protects their interests more than Belgrade,” emphasized Joseph.
Commenting on Trump’s return to the White House, Joseph expressed surprise at how American voters seemed to ignore everything they knew about Trump.
“This is truly the most surprising point. It’s the ability of so many of Trump’s supporters to compartmentalize his past and ongoing scandals, insults, and even open incitements to violence. Three days ago, at a rally in Pennsylvania, he suggested that he wouldn’t care if journalists were shot. He said this as a ‘joke’—in a country where gun violence is no joke. There’s no anger or concern about such a comment among his supporters. And this is just one example,” Joseph explained.
Joseph also pointed to Trump’s foreign policy, which he said was “out of control.”
“Trump’s disastrous approach to negotiations with Kim Jong Un; his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal—a decision likely made just to harm Obama—was catastrophic. It was Trump who negotiated with the Taliban to hasten the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Biden himself disastrously executed,” said Joseph.
According to Joseph, the issues that concerned Trump voters the most were the economy and immigration.
“On inflation, Trump’s core policies, especially the tariffs on Chinese goods, will increase prices. That’s the point of tariffs: raising the price of imported goods. This obvious inconsistency is ignored,” he concluded.
