Grenell’s False Authority and the Protocol Failure of the Balkans

Balkan leaders, duped into Serbia’s shadow meeting, legitimised Grenell’s deception. Protocol failures demand accountability, or risk poisoning ties with Trump, Rubio, and true U.S. institutions.

The New York meetings that drew Western Balkan leaders into a room with Richard Grenell were not convened by Washington. They were organised by Serbia, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, and framed as a “U.S.-Western Balkans Roundtable.” The framing was deliberate: it lent the impression of official U.S. government involvement when, in reality, none existed¹.

Grenell, a former envoy under first Donald Trump administration, no longer holds a government post². His security clearance was revoked in 2023, and he has been absent from any formal role in foreign policy since³. What remains is a figure operating through Serbian lobbying channels⁴, leveraging his past title to project influence.

This is Richard Grenell’s current X profile. NOTICE: no mention of ‘diplomat’ or ‘special envoy.’ If he truly held such a role, it would be stated here, or on official U.S. government sites. He lets others spin the title, while he shrugs: ‘I never said that.

Symbolism in the photographs