Biden Eats Ice Cream in Kosovo

The Vice President of the United States Joe Biden concluded a three day visit to the Balkans aimed at demonstrating an intensified US engagement in the region. He visited Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo before ending his journey in the Western Balkans. I am curious about the particular order of the visit, as it does resemble the order of the NATO involvment.

The United Press International reported that on his first visit to Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, the US Vice President Biden went to the U.S. Bondsteel military camp for lunch, which included his favorite ice-cream. The hope of the people from the region is to see the etnic tensions and divisions melting as fast as the ice cream when consumed; however, the unlikely chances for short term integration in the EU and NATO are refrigerating those hopes quickly.

Biden told the American troops they protected innocent people in Kosovo exactly 10 years ago and now they are providing Kosovars the security to construct an independent, democratic and multiethnic state. He also paid tribute to the families of 4,295 soldiers killed in Iraq, 679 fallen soldiers in Afghanistan and 34,084 wounded in the two countries.