An agreement between the President of Serbia and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, signed Friday at the White House, shows the power that a vision of the future can have in resolving present problems. After decades of tension and fighting following the collapse of the Soviet Union, also involving outside forces, Kosovo declared complete independence from Serbia in 2008, an independence that Serbia has not recognized. A dozen years later, a significant step forward has now been made, one that recognizes the primacy of achieving economic development and infrastructural ties as the basis for improving the lives of people, leading towards a stable political settlement in the future.
The agreement, which includes road and rail development, mutual recognition of degrees and professional certificates, cooperative use of water resources, and freedom of movement between Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia, is reminiscent of Lyndon LaRouche’s call for an Oasis Plan for Southwest Asia: to achieve full economic development, to fight the desert, and to forge bonds of economic cooperation as a path towards achieving political peace.
President Donald Trump explained his approach: “After a violent and tragic history, and years of failed negotiations, my administration proposed a new way of bridging the divide. By focusing on job creation and economic growth, the two countries were able to reach a major breakthrough — something that nobody thought was going to be possible.”
National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien praised the approach of temporarily sidestepping the political issue and to start with “the opening up of border crossings; investment by the United States in both Kosovo and Serbia; deals between Kosovo and Serbia on recognizing each other’s diplomas and licenses so that a dentist who is trained in Kosovo can perform his practice, or her practice, in Serbia and vice versa.”
Ambassador Ric Grenell, the Special Presidential Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo Peace Negotiations, expressed his view: “I think everybody knows that we’ve been stuck politically in this issue for decades, and many times fighting about symbolic things. And what President Trump did from the very beginning is say: Let’s flip it. Let’s figure out how to do economics first. You can’t pay your rent and you can’t buy food with symbolism, but you can when you have a job.... Let’s see if the concentration on economics and job creation can unstick the political stuff.”
Both sides agreed to freeze attempts at recognition or non-recognition of Kosovo for one year while the agreement has time to create mutual understanding.
Sneaked into the agreement was one item that reflects the opposition to harmonious cooperation among nations: a bullet point on ensuring that no 5G technology from “untrusted vendors” is used. This shadow of the British Empire’s efforts to use the United States as a battering ram against the rise of China as an independent superpower in the world points to the need to eradicate the backwards-looking imperial outlook that seeks dominance rather than progress, power over profit.
Enormous and seemingly shocking global-scale changes are required to root out the idea that one’s gain is another’s loss — both among countries or among people — and to set the world on a path towards scientific and cultural progress. The Schiller Institute conference this weekend will provide as comprehensive a guide to that better world as is possible within a period of two days, and will be a useful roadmap for the summit meeting among the permanent five members of the UN Security Council. Will we task ourselves with the joyous responsibility of bringing about such change?
Participate in the conference at https://schillerinstitute.com
