Dubai: The US presidential elections are important not only to the citizens of the US but also to the whole world.
Millions of people from around the world are weighing into the debate, choosing and supporting a candidate. Bosnian Serbs are the latest to enter the fray.
A factory in Republika Srpska has produced a two pairs of shoes for Republican candidate Donald Trump’s Slovenian-born wife, Melania, 46, who was born Melanija Knavs.
One to “walk across America”, according to a factory statement. A second to “victoriously walk in the White House, wearing them”.
Serbs in the Balkans feel resentful towards Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton’s husband, ex-president Bill, for his approval to intervene militarily in the Kosovo conflict in the late 1990s.
However, Clinton has won some international support thanks to “scary” statements made by Trump on several issues, including immigrants and Muslims.
“In the last 15 years or so, we started seeing countries taking positions in US presidential elections — directly and indirectly,” said Marwan Qabalan, a Doha-based political analyst.
“The US political system allows [for] taking such positions. However, it does not allow financially supporting any candidate from outside the country. Yet, we find some countries do so, through sometimes giving preference to some companies known of supporting a certain candidate,” Qabalan told Gulf News.
Commenting on the view that in the end it is not a single decision-maker in the US, but rather a group of “experienced advisers and aides” who help the US president form the country’s stance on an issue, Qabalan replies “no.no.no.”
“The president in the US has a very important role in the political system, especially in foreign policy.
“In 2003, and despite all the objections to go to war, President George Bush went to war in Iraq. And despite all the pressures on President Barack Obama to arm Syrian opposition, he was against doing so”.
“At the end, it is the US president who has the ultimate say in foreign policy.”
Therefore, the world is waiting, like the Americans, to see who will end up in the White House.
