May, 2022

• 1 May

  Montenegrin President Sees Path Back to Power for Once-Dominant Party

  

  A new minority government in Montenegro offers the Democratic Party of Socialists a change to re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with ahead of elections in 2023. Not even two years since it lost power, the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic senses a …

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• 1 May

  Encrypted Phone Crack No Silver Bullet against Balkan Crime Gangs

  

  The police takedown of encrypted communications provider Sky ECC has led to a spate of new arrests across the Balkans, notably that of notorious drug boss Darko Saric and the former head of Montenegro’s top court. Whether justice will come is still in doubt. They arrived in force at around …

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• 1 May

  Pressured by the West Over Russia, Serbia May Look To China

  

  As Belgrade feels the heat over its warm ties to Moscow, Beijing’s stake in the country is likely to grow. Serbia is coming under significant pressure over its policy towards Russia due to current events in Ukraine. A country on track to EU accession, with European values enshrined in its …

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• 1 May

  First Ukraine, Now Moldova? Is Russia About To Expand Its War? – Analysis

  

  A series of alleged attacks inside Transdniester, a breakaway region of Moldova, has triggered a stream of people to leave and deepened fears that Russia is bent on expanding its war beyond Ukraine. Kyiv has blamed Moscow for masterminding the attacks that included explosions which damaged two radio broadcast towers …

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• 1 May

  Greece Blocks Turkey From NATO Air Drill

  It was billed as a promising breakthrough — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting last month and agreeing to try to resolve their countries’ age-old differences, keeping, at least, a lid on tensions as the conflict in Ukraine rages. But on Thursday, as armed …

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• 1 May

  Pentagon Downplays $7B in US Military Equipment Left in Afghanistan

  The fall of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan gave Taliban fighters access to more than $7 billion worth of American military equipment, according to data in a report submitted this week to U.S. lawmakers and confirmed by the Pentagon.

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• 1 May

  US, EU Warn Against Giving In to Russian ‘Gas Blackmail’

  The United States and the European Union have warned against giving in to what they called Russian “blackmail” over gas supplies to Europe. Russia, which supplies about 40% of Europe’s gas needs, had demanded that what it called “unfriendly” European countries pay their gas bills in rubles — seen as …

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• 1 May

  Biden Seeks $33 Billion in New Ukraine Aid

  U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress Thursday to approve $33 billion in additional aid for Ukraine to help it resist invading Russian forces over the next five months. The House overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at removing obstacles that slow the delivery of military assistance. Those two developments would allow the …

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• 1 May

  Forget Sputnik. Russian Propaganda Has other Paths into North Macedonia

  Disappointed with the West, lacking trust in local leaders, and served a diet of Serbian media, many in North Macedonia are vulnerable to Russia’s wartime propaganda. When the letter Z, a symbol of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, appeared on facades in the town of Bitola, in the southwest …

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April, 2022

• 29 April

  Algeria threatens to scrap gas contract with Spain amid tensions with Morocco

  

  Gas giant Algeria threatened Wednesday to break a contract to supply gas to Spain if Madrid transferred it onwards to “a third destination”, amid tensions with regional rival Morocco. Algeria’s state-owned energy giant Sonatrach supplied more than 40 percent of Madrid’s natural gas imports in 2021, most of which was …

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