World exclusive: Trump administration is ready to cut off funding for international courts

Photo: Tanjug/AP

Newsmax Balkans has learned that US President Donald Trump's administration has launched preparations to make radical changes in the US foreign and judicial policy, including the possible withdrawal of funding earmarked for international courts and projects that have shaped the processes in the Balkans for decades.

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According to information Newsmax Balkans has obtained from reliable sources close to the Trump administration, the process of preparations to launch one of the most drastic changes in the US foreign and judicial policy are already under way in Washington - either a complete, or drastic reduction in the funding of international judicial institutions. Newsmax Balkans' sources point out that the US has invested "more than 100 billion dollars" in international courts, specialist chambers and various judicial funds around the world over the past decades. The new administration believes that this model is "outdated", politically compromised, and financially unsustainable, especially since, as they assert, many of those institutions have been used to achieve the previous administration's foreign policy goals.

According to senior officials, the stance held by top figures in the current administration is clear: America comes first, and it "should not interfere in internal problems of other countries" - especially when that involvement costs American taxpayers. According to the sources, the funding of international courts could be completely suspended, while money would be redirected to US priorities at home. According to this, institutions that have played a key role in the Balkans for decades - the Specialist Chambers for so-called Kosovo, international judicial projects in the region, and a broader system of support for the judiciary that has largely depended on US funds - would also be affected.

Newsmax Balkans' sources points out that "the time of financing political projects of the previous administration is over" - and that the Trump administration will try to restore full control over judicial and foreign policy mechanisms.

Blinken and the old establishment - a mechanism of political pressure abroad

The Newsmax Balkans sources also state that the role of former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the sprawling foreign policy apparatus - which, they claim, has created a system of political pressure through sanctions, international judicial processes and a network of influence - is increasingly a topic of conversations in Washington.

According to this, Blinken was imposing sanctions against regional leaders "who were not ready to follow to American interests" - which directly shaped political currents outside the US borders. Legal and judicial institutions, including specialist chambers, played an integral part in this.

Newsmax Balkans' sources point out that members of the previous administration, led by Blinken and key figures from Biden's foreign policy circle, spent years building a complex apparatus of political influence in the Balkans. According to them, those mechanisms were often shaped by personal interests rather than any objective US national priorities, which, they claim, left behind  aserious institutional mess.

Jack Smith - special prosecutor whose indictments became political weapon

At the same time, the focus of the changes is on one person who has caused an extraordinary political storm in recent years - Specialist Prosecutor Jack Smith.

In the US, he is best known for two major cases against Donald Trump: the case of Mar-a-Lago classified documents, and the one related to the January 6 events and the alleged obstruction of the confirmation of election results. The sources close to the Trump administration claim that precisely these cases are considered to be "key examples of politically motivated attacks." After Trump's victory, both proceedings were suspended - affirming the belief that they were political rather than legal all along.

A senior US official close to Trump's team told Newsmax Balkans that Jack Smith had become a central figure in the narrative of politically driven investigations against Trump, and a symbol of "the fake battle of the old establishment."

(Telegraf.rs/Newsmax Balkans)