Joe Biden, the American vice president, is visiting Zagreb today. He came to discuss migrants and terrorism with Croatian politicians. This meeting will take place on the sidelines of the summit of Southeastern European leaders hosted by Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the president of Croatia, and Borut Pahor, the president of Slovenia. The leaders of these two countries together with those from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Albania will focus primarily on the migrant issue. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, and Heinz Fisher, the president of Austria, will also be at the gathering. Biden’s presence is widely interpreted in terms of America’s continuing interest in the Balkans. Given that the European Union has no military muscle, it means that the American protectorate is still alive and well. As well as that the Balkan peninsula remains the fraught region on the subcontinent. From my own vantage point, his visit means that there is much less traffic in the Croatian capital than on a normal day. Welcome, Biden! Zagreb minus cars is very to my liking. Would that politicians of this ilk visited every day.