Artan Behrami, Richard Grenell, and the Politics of Reinvention

Grenell is no ambassador, he’s a discarded operative, repackaged by Behrami to deceive a nation and resurrect a disinformation war against Kosovo’s justice system.

In a region where politics is often performed in 280-character bursts and diplomatic façades are curated on social media, a single word can alter perceptions, obscure truths, and manipulate reality. When Artan Behrami, a former journalist and political operative linked to Hashim Thaçi’s inner circle, declared he had met with “Ambassador Richard Grenell,”¹ he was not merely sharing a pleasantry or echoing outdated protocol. He was engaging in an intentional act of misdirection, one with serious implications for Kosovo’s fragile democracy.

Richard Grenell is not an ambassador: He has not held any official diplomatic title since (forced) resigning in 2020 as U.S. Ambassador to Germany, following intense pressure from Berlin and open calls for his expulsion². Nor does he have any formal role within the current or former U.S. administration related to Kosovo, Serbia, or the Balkans at large. Yet, in Behrami’s tweet “Great meeting with Ambassador @RichardGrenell — a steadfast supporter of #Kos…