It was June 13, 1999, and Uli Reinhardt, a photojournalist from the German news magazine Stern was due to meet his colleague Gabriel Gruener at 6pm in the southern Kosovo city of Prizren.
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2020
With Arms Deals and Donations, Turkey Steps up Balkan Influence
Turkey has long pursued a policy of soft-power diplomacy in the Balkans. More recently, the defence sector has come to the fore. When, in the midst of a reignited war over the Caucasus mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh, President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia was considering buying Turkish armed drones, it was …
Read More »Kosovo Truth Commission’s Future in Doubt After Thaci’s Indictment
President Hashim Thaci set in motion the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Kosovo – but after he was charged with war crimes, it’s unclear whether any other political leader has the will to push the idea forward.
Read More »DEMOCRACY DIGEST: BATTLE OF THE BUDGET HAS POLAND AND HUNGARY CLAIMING VICTORY
Poland and Hungary declare victory in their fight with Brussels over a plan to make EU funds conditional on upholding the rule of law. But the mechanism is still coming in. Central European leaders headed to the summit of EU leaders in Brussels buoyed by a compromise plan to end …
Read More »Balkan States Race to Secure COVID-19 Vaccine Supplies
As the countries of the Balkans strive to secure sufficient supplies of COVID-19 vaccine, many questions remain unanswered – how much will there be, when will it start and what will it all cost? With UK grandmother Margaret Keenan becoming the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech …
Read More »How Heightened U.S.-Iran Conflict Plays to Russia’s Advantage
The assassination of Iran’s top military commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, raises a lot of questions about what an all-out war between the United States and Iran might look like.
Read More »ISIS Is Trying to Gain a Bigger Foothold in Afghanistan as the U.S. Draws Down
The Islamic State’s deadly assault on one of the last remaining Sikh temples in Afghanistan this week was a grim reminder of how much more devastation lies ahead as the U.S. drawdown continues.
Read More »The Next U.S. President Will Face Hard Choices in Afghanistan
After more than a month of negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, progress toward a peace agreement remains slow.
Read More »The U.S. Desperately Needs a Strategy to Deal With Russia’s Mercenary Armies
Reports this week that the United Arab Emirates is potentially financing Russian mercenaries in Libya affiliated with the notorious Wagner Group, according to a Pentagon watchdog, appear to be sending mini shockwaves through Washington. But the UAE has long had a fixation on mercenaries, and the fact that Russia is …
Read More »Don’t Fear a U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Germany
According to Washington’s punditocracy, there are only two ways to interpret the Pentagon’s announcement Wednesday that it plans to move ahead with withdrawing nearly 12,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Germany. One view is that President Donald Trump is capitulating yet again to pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin and …
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