A short, informative video on the Western Balkans energy geo-politics.

• Trump's Balkan Union

• U.S energy interests in Prishtina-Belgrade normalization of relations [Why Albin Kurti, with his firm policy of reciprocity, was ousted with U.S backing]

Kosovo possesses around 14.7 billion tons of lignite coal, giving it 5th place for largest lignite reserves in the world.

The problem is transporting the coal to Western Europe. The train line goes through Serbia being mostly flat terrain.

An alternate export route utilising the newly built motorway from KS to Durres Port -> Italy would be too expensive and time consuming, in the context of coal (heavy & suitable for rail transport). Unfortunately the best option is through Serbia by rail. Serbia has leverage here.

U.S doesnt care about KS shouting reciprocity, it wants Prishtina and Belgrade to normalize relations at any cost to allow their companies to export the coal cheaply. It would be very naive to think America would treat Albanians any different than Iraqis for their oil.

Since our route West is being blocked, what about a Kosovo-North Macedonia-Bulgaria-Turkey rail link? This would allow KS to sell it's coal to less renewable Middle Eastern and Asian buyers and remove Serbia's leverage over Kosovo, geographically and infrastructure-wise.

It is still debatable whether renewable sources of energy can replace traditional fossil fuels. Currently 80% of the world's power comes from fossil fuel. Solar and wind power still forms less than 1% of the world's energy, even after 50 years of government subsidies.