Having read your article about Serbia and Kosovo, in which Montenegro also pops up in the first few sentences, leaves me none the wiser (“Dreams of Brussels,” March 26, 2011). Of course, Serbia’s main goal at present is to win the status of candidate to join the European Union, but Kosovo remains an insurmountable obstacle. Neither side can agree on anything but that membership would be a swell thing. Membership is a pipedream, though. Montenegro is less of a problem in this regard, but it, too, used to be part of Serbia in former Yugoslavia. The Gordian knot of Serbia’s dismemberment can be untangled only by cutting it. And no-one in the region can cut it. The solution to the riddle must come from the outside. Say, Brussels. Or, perhaps a bit more likely, Washington. But Brussels is incapable of anything except bureaucratic haggling that leave all sides confused. Under Barack Obama, America seems to be in the same position, as the president who used to offer hope both at home and abroad keeps pondering every single move until it is too late to attempt it. In short, Serbia and its erstwhile satellites will have to wait for a more propitious time, when someone capable of cutting the Balkan Gordian knot may appear on the scene. Sadly, Alexander the Great is long dead.