History holds many great ironies. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by Serbian nationalists in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, set off an unanticipated chain of events that ended empires, redrew borders, and created newly independent countries. As we prepare to celebrate the centenary of the armistice that ended the First World War in November, it is ironic that we are again presented with a potentially impactful event in the Western Balkans—an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo to exchange land along ethnic lines—that could unleash unanticipated instability across the Western Balkans. And like in 1914, the United States and the European Union are sleepwalking right into it. It is time to awaken the transatlantic community to the dangers of a destabilizing Western Balkans land swap before it is too late.
