Talk of resetting Balkan borders risks backlash

Albanian officials are not very convincing when they denounce talk about a Greater Albania as Serbian and Russian propaganda designed to cultivate fear of Albania.

The facts speak for themselves. A recent Facebook post by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci naturally stirred controversy. Thaci said that, during a recent meeting, he and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama discussed "the necessity of the full opening of the Kosovo-Albanian border and creation of an Albanian area without borders, under the Euro-Atlantic umbrella." This area, he added, should include areas in southern Serbia with an ethnic Albanian majority.
Albanians have for years systematically pursued a policy of "national unification" with the aim of creating what is usually referred to as a "Natural Albania" (essentially another way of saying Greater Albania, to dampen reactions from neighboring countries and...