Balkans

Once again, Bosnia’s Bosnjak leadership is attempting to create the multicultural, civic, unified state Washington has promised and failed to enable. It is worth remembering that “Bosnjak,” an Ottoman-era term dusted off in the 1990s, originally was meant to be the civic signifier of every citizen in the country, not …

Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi tells BIRN that Serbia is still boosting Belgrade-run structures in Kosovo – and the EU-led dialogue won’t make progress until they are dissolved. As the European Union-facilitated dialogue on normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo languishes in a stalemate, Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik …

China’s Huawei has come to dominate the 5G rollout in Cyprus, with risks for data security and independent policymaking that go far beyond the island’s shores, experts warn. In October 2015, two years after a banking crisis left Cyprus in desperate need of new financing, President Nicos Anastasiades visited China …

From Marcos and Soldado to Tito and Chiquito, the drug trafficking ties between Colombia and the Balkans run deep. President Ivan Duque called it “the most severe blow” to Colombian drug trafficking in this century, comparable only to the arrest of drug lord Pablo Escobar three decades ago. The excitement …

Hungary and Poland lost a key battle in their fight to avoid EU funds being withheld over concerns about the rule of law, but government politicians cling to hope there is still a chance to win the war. On Thursday, the advocate general of the Court of Justice of the …

Viktor Orban is using Hungarian taxpayer money to renovate Slovak churches, chateaux and kindergartens – and is strengthening his position while doing so. “Francis II Rakoczi is like a god to Hungarians,” exclaims the tour guide on the cultural importance of a recently renovated chateau in the southeastern Slovak village …

The regime is delegating the task of intimidating the rare defenders of democracy in Serbia to right-wing hooligans and gangs like the People’s Patrols. Serbia is not a desirable place for journalists who do not support the regime. Persecutions, bans, punishments and obstructions have been a constant accompaniment to this …

Migrants and refugees trying to reach Western Europe are increasingly using a new route via Kosovo, aided by smugglers and local middlemen. The last time refugees passed through the small town of Kukes in northeast Albania was 22 years ago, when hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from neighbouring Kosovo …

Hatalmas bajban van a magyarországi baloldal. Katasztrofálisan indult a kampányuk, gyakorlatilag az elmúlt fél évük egy vesszőfutás. Hosszas szerencsétlenkedés után sikerült megválasztaniuk főbohócnak – Oszkó Pétert idézve – egy „futóbolondot”, aki naponta vérig sérti a fél országot, illetve romba dönti a baloldal stratégiáját. (Legújabb rohama: sötétben tartott, trágyával etetett gombákhoz …

Végtelenül szomorú hallgatni ezt a beszédet. Kövér László ugyanis éppen harminc évvel a titkosszolgálatokkal kapcsolatos egyezség megszületése után rúgta fel a rendszerváltó konszenzust. Amelynek kialakításában neki is része volt. Szerencsére vannak azért jelek, hogy amit látunk, legfeljebb diktatúraparódia, s a szolgálatok főszabály szerint korrekten teszik a dolgukat. Reméljük, jól látjuk. …