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Both Dodik and Berisha, in addition to being sanctioned for their serious acts against their respective countries, have also been political opponents of the US.
A few days ago, the media close to Sali Berisha, or rather very close to him, shouted “Bingo.” Their headlines included an announcement that the US had removed four Bosnian Serb politicians from previously imposed sanctions.
“ The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it has removed four allies of former Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik from a sanctions list, in a move praised by Dodik, who is campaigning for the lifting of U.S. sanctions against him ,” these media outlets wrote.
A very careful drafting of phrases by the establishment of the leader of the Democratic Party. To convey the idea to the public that US sanctions are not phrases written in stone, but decisions that can be revised, rewritten, and removed.
So, the doctor will finally, together with his family, have the Non Grata removed. A fable that has been told since the election of Donald Trump, when they even set deadlines. January 2025 at first, then March and so on. Sali Berisha, respectively the DP lobbied a huge amount in American politics to bring this about, but so far this has not happened. So the American and British Non Grata has not been changed.
Sali Berisha was declared Non Grata on May 19, 2021 by the US Department of State under the 7031C law, with an explosive motivation: "Grand corruption, undermining democracy and obstruction of justice". A decision that does not only include Sali Berisha, but his entire family. After this decision, as is known, that shocking and traumatic process took place in the Albanian opposition.
Where a political and financial elite prevented political change, supporting the reinstatement of Sali Berisha as leader of the DP. A clearly ahistorical and completely non-dialectical process. However, in the momentum of the podium that began in 2021, much was said and the Milorad Dodik argument was used.
A year later, in June 2022, Dodik was sanctioned by the US government and banned from entering America. Along with his family, Dodik, at that time a member of the collective Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not move from his duties.
Dodik was not punished in the same way as Sali Berisha. He was not declared Non Grata by the State Department under 7031/C, but by the US Treasury Department. This is not a technicality at all, as the reference to the relevant law or its nature is fundamental to its analysis. 7031/C is a legal designation for foreign figures that, at least so far, has not had a return.
Meanwhile, there have been several claims about another act, namely the blacklisting of the Department of the Treasury or DASH.
When Dodik was sanctioned, shortly afterwards he was present at a meeting that the senior US State Department official for the Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, held in late summer 2022 with members of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Immediately after this meeting, the eyes of the establishment in Tiana lit up: "You see, he supports those the people love, Non Grata is in vain", they said. Since then, we have been 3 years later, many tears have flowed. In the US, it is no longer the Biden administration but Donald Trump. Meanwhile, in Congress, MAGA is the majority. In this administration or majority, people like Milorad Dodik and Sali Berisha have lobbied heavily. Dodik even managed to persuade Trump's former lawyer, a once great figure of the Republicans, Rudy Guliani, to become his personal lawyer.
Sali Berisha, on the other hand, hired Chris Lacivita, one of Trump's campaign managers in the 2024 elections, as a campaign advisor. Although the amounts lobbied were zero, here we are. But why are these sanctions irreversible?
Everything is clear and does not require any great science. Both Dodik and Berisha, in addition to being sanctioned for their serious acts in the direction of their respective states, have also been political opponents of the US. Dodik is known to be an ally of Putin, while Berisha has inspired and activated several times at the head of the DP, policies against the US. Examples? 1997, when in the Albanian Parliament, Blerim Çela and Bashkim Gazidede directly accused the US of confessing to Berisha's power. Of course, they did not do it in their own minds.
Meanwhile, after 2016, Sali Berisha has inspired and led a political aggression against US officials in Tirana and sponsored an anti-American spirit. Is he pro-Trump? In fact, Seselj, Dodik and many anti-American figures are also like that, but they have this stance as a political signal, which does not mean that they erase the past so easily.
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