Eurasia Press & News
From energy pipelines and pipedreams to election posturing and all the way to media freedom and the fight for justice, we take a look at the struggles, games and gambles which have marked this week’s selection of Premium stories.
Pipedreams?
The clock seems to be counting down time on Serbia’s imports of Russian oil. Sanctions imposed by the EU earlier in the year are set to kick in from December 5 and would prevent Serbia’s national oil company NIS from importing Russian crude oil via Croatia and the Yugoslav-era JANAF oil pipeline.
A recent blowout between Belgrade and Zagreb over this issue has led Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to announce that Serbia will construct a pipeline to Hungary which would allow it to import Russian oil flowing through the Druzhba pipeline. But how realistic is this plan? We analyse in more detail.
Games of Gas
As with most other countries in Europe, Moldovans are concerned over whether they will be able to access adequate quantities of natural gas this winter. Moldova buys its gas primarily from Russia, with Gazprom its long-standing supplier.
Yet as of this month, Gazprom has reduced the supply of natural gas to around two-thirds of the contracted quantities. This has forced Moldova into what seems a pre-prepared dilemma – reduce gas supplies to breakaway Transnistria, or to consumers within the rest of Moldova. Worse still, there are fears that Russia could halt supplies completely. We take a look at Moldova’s unenviable options.
Kingmakers?
With Turkey heading towards a general – presidential and parliamentary – election in 2023, the battle lines are already being clearly drawn. According to available polling data the ‘People’s Alliance’ – led by the ruling AKP – and the ‘Nation Alliance’ – anchored around the opposition CHP – are more or less neck and neck.
Into this fray has entered the ‘Labour and Freedom Alliance’, led by the pro-Kurdish HDP together with a number of small leftist movements. With neither of the two main blocks seeming set to secure an outright majority, the third block could be on course to become kingmaker when it comes to government formation after the elections. We take a closer look at this grouping and what it stands for.
Great Expectations
Unexpected good news for Bosnia came this month when the European Commission recommended that the country should be granted formal candidate status, something that few observers saw coming. Before this can happen, the European Council must approve the Commission’s recommendation at its meeting in December.
Our analysis takes a look at what lies behind this sudden move. We also take a look at whether Bosnia has met previously established conditions for gaining candidate status and – perhaps crucially – whether granting the country candidate status has the ability to catalyse reforms within Bosnia.
Lurking Dangers
Turkey’s chilling new ‘disinformation law’, adopted by the country’s Parliament last week, has sent shivers down the spines of Turkish media, ordinary citizens, as well as Turkey-watchers at large. The law threatens to seriously undermine what is left of media freedom in the country.
With the law now adopted, BIRN’s fact-check takes a closer look at what is actually inside the law and what its implications could be. Highlights include introducing prison sentences for the spread of ‘disinformation’.
Seeking Justice
Four years since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in the country’s consulate in Istanbul, the controversy around his murder continues. Six months ago, a court in Turkey transferred the trial relating to his murder to Saudi Arabia, something that most observers saw as an end to any hope of justice being done.
In light of this, his wife, Hanan Elatr, is demanding that Turkish authorities return to her Khashoggi’s two phones and other electronic devices. She believes that they could help her in a legal case in the US against the makers of Pegasus spyware, which – it is claimed – was used to track her and Khashoggi’s moves. We dig deeper into this case.
