The Hungarian prime minister has long been known for his conflictual relationship with the European Union. But Viktor Orbán’s recent diplomatic world tour, together with his proximity to Donald Trump, shows that he should not be underestimated.
Tag: balkans
From Ukraine to the South China Sea, images of war are highly reminiscent of the horrors of the past. As the world marks 80 years since the Normandy landings of World War II, geopolitical analyst Dominique Moïsi wonders if history is bound to repeat itself.
Europe’s fate is also being played out in countries outside the EU, where East and West are battling for influence. In Georgia on Tuesday, the government bowed to pressure from Moscow, and passed a law on “foreign influence” modeled on a Russia law.
Shish kebab is the heart of Turkish cuisine. Similar ways of cooking meat exist throughout the world, with differing methods in the East and the West, but Turkey’s classic recipe is what makes culinary expert Oğul Türkkan remember his childhood.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic cooperates closely with Russia, including on security and arms issues. Now he is threatening to invade Kosovo, which Serbia does not recognize as an independent country. If Donald Trump were to win, and NATO to weaken, Vucic may be ready to move.
Updated Feb. 12, 2024 at 12:10 p.m. On this day, 21 years ago, the trial of Slobodan Milošević began in the Hague, Netherlands. Who was Slobodan Milošević? Slobodan Milošević was the President of Serbia and later the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1989 to 2000. He was arrested in 2001 and subsequently […]
Once neglected, this small port in Thrace, northeastern Greece, has become a strategic hub for transporting men and arms to the shores of the Black Sea. Propelled by ambitious infrastructure and gas projects, the region dreams of becoming an alternative to the Bosphorus strait.
As hostilities flare again between Serbia and Kosovo, the writer draws connections between the dissolutions of both the USSR and Yugoslavia, and the leaders who exploit upheaval and feed the worst kind of nationalism.
Even with no end in sight to the war in Ukraine, Russia may be plotting to destabilize the Balkans by the end of this year. The target? Bosnia and Herzegovina, which may be already close to splitting.
A group of good Samaritans gathers regularly in Trieste, near the border with the Balkans, to receive weary migrants and tend their wounds.
Utrinski Vesnik, March 1, 2016 “Tear gas and stones at the border near Gevgelija,” writes Skopje-based daily Utrinski Vesnik on its Tuesday front page, a day after refugees clashed with police at the Greek-Macedonian border. On Monday, Macedonian police fired tear gas at a crowd of migrants, some of whom were reportedly throwing stones at […]
Fed up of waiting for Brussels to act, countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans are building an anti-migrant fortress bloc with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán as the architect.
MACEDONIA CLOSES BORDER TO MIGRANTS Some 2,600 people are stranded on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia after the Balkan nation closed its borders to incoming migrants yesterday afternoon, AP reports. Macedonia, which is not an EU member, took similar steps for two days last week. The authorities are, however, allowing in migrants […]
ZAGREB — The firepower displayed in Friday’s attacks in Paris, including multiple explosive devices and at least five Kalashnikovs, raises the inevitable question: Where do the terrorists’ weapons come from? Terror investigators and crime experts say the most likely source are Balkan countries, a vestige of the wars that consumed the region through much of […]
PARIS — France’s intelligence services no longer rule out what not so long ago seemed unthinkable: the emergence on its territory of a “Lebanon-like” terrorism which would see suicide bombs replaced one day by the deadliest of operational modes — truck or car bombings, possibly activated remotely. “We have to accept the reality,” a well-informed […]
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Albanian Newlywed Drama
Getting married is hard work. This Albanian couple was taking a break from their wedding photo shoot in the ancient Roman theater of Butrint. Located in the very southern tip of modern-day Albania, this archeological site was known as Bouthroton in Ancient Greece and later as the Roman city of Buthrotum. This is one of […]
After a string of acquittals by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, some accuse Judge Theodor Meron, a Polish-born American citizen, of having a political agenda.
PRISTINA – Before General Xavier Bout de Marnhac can walk up to the second floor of the Gagi restaurant in the center of Kosovo’s capital, his security escort must inspect the premises. This is standard procedure. The French general, whom we were meeting only a few hours before he was leaving Kosovo, is the outgoing […]