How Europe’s Next War Could Start In The Balkans – OpEd

The situation in Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 and has a substantial ethnic Serb minority, has been complex due to Serbia’s continued claim that Kosovo is its territory in open rebellion. The deadly gunfight between Kosovo police and Serb paramilitaries in April 2023, and the discovery of weapons and equipment allegedly belonging to the Serb militants, led to accusations of support from the Serbian government. Despite these tensions, Serbia’s government hailed the attack as a form of legitimate resistance, further escalating the situation.

Serbia’s Authoritarian (Re)turn

The conduct of Serbia’s latest elections points to the country’s democratic decline. The EU cannot stay neutral in the face of President Vucic’s provocations and authoritarian tendencies.

There is a certain back-to-the-future quality to Serbia. One would think that the country has long moved on from the lows of the 1990s. However, the feeling among at least some Serbs is that the clock has been turned back to the era of former president and strongman Slobodan Milošević.

Syriza: Rise And Fall Of Cult Left-Wing Party In Europe And Reflections On Right Wing – Analysis

Rise to the top
The foundation of the leftist movement in Greece is the SYNASPISMOS coalition, which was established in 1991. SYNASPISMOS was also one of the founders of the Party of the European Left (PEL) in Rome in 2004. In Greece, the successor of SYNASPISMOS is the radical-left coalition named SYRIZA, which is actually the syllabic abbreviation of the full name of the coalition in Greek. SYRIZA was established in 2004 by several leftist and extreme-left parties. The first president of SYRIZA was Alekos Alavanos (1950). He is a moderate left-wing politician and was the party leader until 2008. These years were filled with numerous tensions between the coalition partners and marked by modest results at parliamentary and local elections. Many in Greece associated these two parties with anarchist groups, which frequently caused unrests in Greece.

Can the Global Spiral of Violence Be Stopped?

The turmoil spreading across the globe makes it difficult to meaningfully respond to individual crises. The resulting expectation of impunity is emboldening aggressors.

In the last months alone, a bloody civil war has broken out in Sudan; Azerbaijan has conquered the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh; a Serbian militia has tried to destabilize the north of Kosovo; military coups have proliferated in Africa; the Sahel zone is increasingly turning to anarchy; and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues unabated. The latest outbreak of violence, Hamas’s terrorist attack on southern Israel followed by Israeli retaliation on the Gaza strip, could still escalate into a devastating conflagration across the Middle East.

Greece’s Brain Drain Problem Isn’t Going Away

Over the past decade, Greece has experienced a major wave of outward migration, with more than half a million people leaving the country out of a population of around 11 million. This exodus was driven by Greece’s prolonged economic crisis, which erupted in 2009 in the context of the eurozone debt crisis and technically ended in the late 2010s, but whose impact is still being heavily felt in Greece’s society and economy today.

Federalization Of Serbia Is Key To Stabilizing The Region – OpEd

The 17-hour war that took place in Banjska village of Zveçan, in the north of Kosovo, proves that Serbia is completely immersed in the obsession for the annexation of the north of the Republic of Kosovo.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić never seems to understand the fact that the independence of Kosovo does not depend on the political will of Serbia and the mythomania of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Kosovo, but above all on the political will of the citizens of Kosovo materialized with the declaration of independence on 17 February 2008, of course this is also in line with the strategic interests of the West, first of all the USA, Great Britain and Germany.

Buletin săptămânal Balcanii de Vest

Se mențin tensionate relațiile dintre Serbia și Kosovo, înregistrându-se violențe semnificative care au avut ca rezultat victime umane.

  1. Noi conflicte etnice care tensionează și mai mult situația în nordul Kosovo și sensibilizează semnificativ situația generală din întreaga regiune a Balcanilor de Vest

În dimineața zilei de 24 septembrie (la ora 3 a.m.), un grup de 30 de sârbi înarmați au atacat o patrulă de poliție kosovară în apropierea satului Banjska (conform unui recensământ efectuat în 2011, ar avea o populație de 465 de locuitori), unul dintre polițiști fiind ucis și un altul rănit. Banjska este un sat situat în regiunea orașului Zvečan, una din cele patru municipalități majoritar sârbe din nordul Kosovo, la 55 de kilometri nord de capitala Priștina. În zona din jurul Mitrovica, din nordul Kosovo, locuiește cea mai mare parte a minorității etnice sârbe din Kosovo.

Ethnic communities and societal resilience in the context of war: Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria

When

September 12, 2023
10:00 am – 11:00 am

Where

Zoom Webinar

Russia’s aggression in the Black Sea countries has targeted societal vulnerabilities and exploited ethnic tensions in the Black Sea region for decades. Russia’s full-scale war has further exploited these vulnerabilities. But slow and imperfect democratization processes, economic hardship and inequality have also had long-lasting effects on societal resilience and the formation of national identities that are inclusive and democratic.

The Western Balkans Between The East And The West

Abstract: The Western Balkans region is both politically and economically significant for Europe. This article examines the security issues and further identifies development issues that threaten the stability of this region as it finds itself at a dangerous crossroads between the West and the East. As of 2022, the influence of the Russian Federation and the war in Ukraine have evoked some of the most important security questions not just in Europe but worldwide.