Media report on an extensive interview of former Yugoslav Ambassador in the U.S. and Switzerland as well as lecturer at universities in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany and Greece, Milan St. Protic.
Asked about the recent opinion of Serbian diplomats that Washington has changed its policy and that it is ready for the proposals of the Serbian party to resolve the Kosovo issue, Protic said ‘this sounds quite infantile. Great powers do not change their policies, ore they do so with a lot of difficulty. There is not a single sign that the U.S. have changed policy towards Balkans, and in this sense, the position on Kosovo, and especially not in the sense of returning it to the Serbian party. We behaved childishly also in the beginning, when expectations from Trump are concerned. When you have a Dacic leading with diplomacy, who does not speak a single word in English, for whom politics in Washington is as unknown as March surface, you cannot expect anything better. We do not want to change our policy, while we expect America to do so. I do not know how should I call this behavior. It is clear that Russia as well, as it is already doing, will use Kosovo as a precedent for its own interests.
This unfounded optimism is based on fundamental ignorance. People here deal with matters t hat they do not have a clue about, and think that politics can be made by reading books, without analyses. This is how we destroyed school and underestimated knowledge. We have reached a point where everyone can do any job. We now have even ambassadors who do not even speak Serbian well, let alone some other language.
However, the chief of the Sebian diplomacy, Ivica Dacic claims that they have allocated half a million dollars to lobby and that this has resulted with major changes of U.S. policy.
Someone has heard that there is lobbying in America. Of course there are many deceivers there, who promise things that want to take a lot of money. To lobby in America you need to have a lot of money and it is almost impossible to change American policy with money. The U.S. policy cannot be bought. Lobbying serves for something else. What can be done is presentation of healthy political arguments to the opinion, through people with influence, and this does not require money but craftiness. You can pay and take a picture with the U.S. President, but not to discuss political issues with him. The President does not decide himself about this after all. So this should not be discussed with Trump, because he has no idea about these things.
Serious politics is made in other places – universities, media, U.S. Congress, diplomats…. And for this, you only need money for fuel and a vehicle. If someone invited you for a lecture at some serious school, this could have more impact than discussing with Trump. Here is another example: serious perception of the Serbian opposition in the U.S. happened after an appearance at Harvard in spring 2000, where 1000 students and no politician participated. We have received the invitation from a Greek foundation and we used it well,” Protic said.
