Joe Biden Woos America’s Bosnian, Albanian Voters Before Polls

Former Vice-President Joe Biden, who is running for the presidency against Donald Trump, has published letters of support for Balkan communities whose diasporas he hopes will be a source of votes at the US election on November 3.

In one letter entitled "Joe Biden's vision for America's relationship with Bosnia and Herzegovina", the presidential candidate is described as "a proven friend of Bosnia and Herzegovina - from the country's darkest days of war and genocide to the continued struggle for stability and justice".

The latter says that as a senator, Biden worked for US intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-95 war "to stop [Serbian leader] Slobodan Milosevic's brutal campaign of genocide".

The massacres of more than 7,000 Bosniaks from Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995 have been classified by international and Bosnian courts as an act of genocide.

The letter states that the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina" and its "multi-ethnic character" is very important for Biden, and says that he intends to work for the country's future membership of EU and NATO.

A letter was also published addressing Albanian-Americans, similarly presenting Biden as a "long-time friend of Albania and Kosova and the Albanian-American community".

It cites his involvement in the intervention that ended the Kosovo war in 1999, including the introduction of "the resolution authorizing President Clinton "to conduct military air operations and missile strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)".

It also says that Biden has constantly pressurised Serbia over war crimes and missing persons, and vows to "support Albania's security".

Biden further...