US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stunningly made it clear to US lawmakers that the Biden administration will not stand in the way of Russia cashing in on the $10 billion contract as well as Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation. And the State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated the Biden administration’s …
Read More »Bosnia Needs Genuine Reform, not Backroom Deals With Politicians
The EU has always been tempted to hatch deals with powerful politicians – but this has only cemented the unhealthy grip of ethno-politics on the country. Despite the proximity of general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country’s High Representative, Christian Schmidt, has continued to flirt with the incomprehensible step …
Read More »Albania’s Quick-Fix Econ Measures Seen Encouraging Criminality
From golden passports to gambling, retroactive building permits to a ‘no-questions-asked’ policy on undeclared assets, Albania’s government is trying to unlock funds but risks unleashing criminality, experts warn. Seeking a quick fix to Albania’s economic woes, the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama wants to lift a ban on gambling, …
Read More »Bosnian Politicians Obsess Over– but Don’t Understand – Geopolitics
Like ‘corruption’ a few years ago, geopolitics has become a concept that is seen as explaining pretty much everything – but is it anything more than a cheap rhetorical ploy? As general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina draw near on October 2, much of the focus of the politicians seem …
Read More »Croatia’s Ethnic Homogenisation Continues as Serb Minority Dwindles
Recently-published census data shows that the number of Serbs and other ethnic groups living in Croatia has fallen – another sign that the country’s minorities need stronger legal protection amid continuing attacks on their rights. A long-awaited batch of data from last year’s population census in Croatia was finally released …
Read More »Gas, rotto il fronte comune: i danni della scelta tedesca
I provvedimenti tampone decisi dal governo di Berlino rischiano di allontanare misure strutturali e più vantaggiose per tutti i Paesi membri come il tetto al prezzo La mossa decisa dal governo tedesco rischia di avere effetti indesiderati e soprattutto dannosi per l’Europa e a seguire per i Paesi dell’Unione.Quello che …
Read More »Im Krisenmodus
Spät, hoffentlich nicht zu spät kommt ein beherzter Schritt gegen die rasant steigenden Energiepreise. Es wird Staatskunst brauchen, das Geld zielgenau einzusetzen. Der Leitartikel. Die bittere Wahrheit ist: Wir stehen erst am Beginn eines heftigen Krisenwinters, der vor allem von Energieknappheit und steigenden Preisen gekennzeichnet sein wird. Darüber wölbt sich …
Read More »A Moment of Truth for Yemen’s Truce
Yemen’s six-month truce is up for renewal on 2 October. The UN and external powers should redouble their efforts to forge agreement on an expanded deal. If those look set to fall short, however, they should propose interim arrangements that avert a return to major combat. Thanks to a UN-brokered …
Read More »Who Sabotaged Nord Stream Gas Pipelines?
I agree with Jan Oberg Dr. Jan Oberg, Co-Founder and leader of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, wrote a really excellent article on the question of who sabotaged Nordstream pipelines. In the article, he points out that Russia had no motive for sabotaging Nordstream pipelines. If the …
Read More »Putin’s Roulette
Sacrificing His Core Supporters in a Race Against Defeat At least since Soviet times, Russians have used dark humor to cope with dictatorship. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization has already been colloquially dubbed the mogilizatsia, a wordplay on mobilizatsia, the Russian word …
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