Biden to Bosnia: Join Europe or die!

The parliamentarians apparently cheered at the end of the speech, but given that Biden is already not exactly loved by ethnic Serbs who resent the strong anti-Serbian stance he took during the 1990s, I’m not sure that this kind of lecture is exactly productive.

What the vice president said is probably correct (and as Edward Joseph points out, he’s probably the only one in a position to say it) but this is precisely the sort of thing you normally say in a closed-door meeting with a country’s leaders, not in a public address before its parliament. 

Biden’s boss said last month that the United States has, in the past, “shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive” toward Europe and vowed to change the tone. But Biden essentially telling Bosnia to follow his recommendations or continue to be known as a violent, poverty-stricken hellhole is American arrogance of near-Rumsfeldian levels and seems very much at odds with the administration’s stated approach to foreign policy.