The United States and several US-linked companies signed a series of energy and AI agreements with Balkan countries this week, expanding Washington’s footprint in a region where infrastructure, capital, and geopolitical influence increasingly travel together. The deals include a $6 billion, 20-year LNG agreement for Albania, US backing for a Bosnia-Croatia gas pipeline, and a planned AI and data centre project in central Croatia that has been valued at 50 billion euros (Reu