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Below is the press release from the Heritage Foundation, an organization with ties to the Trump administration, discussing Ambassador Michael Murphy’s pro-Muslim stance and his perceived anti-Croat and anti-Serb approach in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Croats remain steadfast in their resolve.
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Departing U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia-Hercegovina Michael Murphy is force feeding the country’s Christians to submit to a Muslim only backed gas law that would upend expanding markets for U.S. fossil fuel producers, lock in Russian energy dominance in Europe, and imperil the stability of the Balkans just weeks before President Trump retakes office. All in the name of a failed nation-building Bosnian project.
Heritage Foundation’s Balkan expert Max Primorac calls it “a last-ditch effort by the identity politics crazed Biden administration to lock in its leftwing ideology and spark yet another global crisis just weeks before President Trump retakes office.” He adds that, “the transition team should demand that Ambassador Murphy stand down….This is not in America’s energy interests.”
Background
In 2019, the conservative led government of Croatia built a floating liquified natural gas terminal on its coastline to meet Eastern Europe’s energy needs, end Russia’s energy stranglehold over the region, and expand markets for American natural gas exporters. Croatia boasts a major regional pipeline network to distribute natural gas and oil to Eastern Europe. The LNG project won strong backing from then President Trump.
The Southern Gas Interconnection part of the network is to connect Bosnia-Hercegovina. It would envelop the region into the U.S. energy fold and out of Moscow’s economic and political orbit. Yet the future of this strategic project is jeopardized by the State Department’s decades-long and failed nation-building project that would force Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs to adopt a fake Bosnian identity promoted by the country’s hardline Muslim faction that identifies itself as “Bosnjak.” The Sarajevo-based BH Gas state-owned company that would control the gas line is exclusively Muslim controlled. Bosnian Croats demand that BH Gas be co-managed as the line passes through their lands. Otherwise, Croatia, a NATO member, is certain to block the project.
State Pushes Energy Identity Politics
AMB Murphy is aggressively pushing a law before the end of this week that would lock in BH Gas’s control over the extension. Such laws are normally passed with Croat-Muslim agreement to ensure the political stability of the state. In an unprecedented move, Murphy is bull rushing Muslim parliamentarians to pass it without pro-West Croat participation.
Money and Political Lobbying
U.S. Democratic Party money and politics are in play, specifically the Albright Stonebridge Group, a lobbying firm founded by President Clinton’s Secretary of State Madeliene Albright and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. Politico noted that ten Albright alumni joined the Biden team including State’s Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador to the United Nation Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Current U.S. Assistant Secretary for Europe Jim O’Brien was ASG’s Vice-Chair. Murphy and O’Brien are set to be replaced soon. According to a pro-Trump Croatian news outlet Poskok Ambassador Murphy and O’Brien have teed up the firm’s outreach efforts to BH Gas.
Primorac calls this “a blatant conflict of interest for our diplomats. They should immediately recuse themselves from any further involvement in this gas issue and leave it to the next administration to manage.”
Winners and Losers
The winners? First, Russia that would maintain energy dominance in southeastern Europe should the project collapse because of Murphy’s political interference. Second, Turkey given its strong political and familial ties to Bosnian Muslim leaders. Third Iran. Senior leader of the largest Muslim Party for Democratic Action Sefik Dzaferovic was linked to Iranian run terrorist camps during the mid-1990s.
Losers? American natural gas producers that regard Croatia as a major importer. Also the incoming Trump administration that would be left with another Biden administration foreign policy blunder in the volatile Balkans.