The good old days?

the economist
Turkey in the Balkans
Talk of an Ottoman revival in the region seems exaggerated

Nov 5th 2011

BELGRADE AND SARAJEVO
from the print edition
“SARAJEVO won today as much as Istanbul,” declared Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, after his election victory in June. His comment excited new debate in the western Balkans about Turkey’s activist foreign policy. Are the Ottomans coming back? Several examples suggest not.

read more: the economist
http://www.economist.com/node/21536647

All the fun of the Tirana book fair

the economist
Books in Albania
Nov 15th 2011, 11:15 by T.J.

TIRANA
IN RECENT years the news from Albania has been dominated by the endless political struggle between Sali Berisha, the prime minister, and Edi Rama, the leader of the opposition. But suddenly, the clouds seem to have lifted. Mr Rama’s Socialists are back in parliament, talking to Mr Berisha’s people, and a resolution has been found to a disputed mayoral election in Tirana. Relieved Albanians are now talking about something else: books....more...
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/11/books-albania

Broadcasting to the Balkans

the economist
News in the ex-Yugoslavia
Al Jazeera’s latest venture

Nov 12th 2011

SARAJEVO
from the print edition
IN THE centre of Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, a gleaming piece of Arabic script adorns the top of a new building. This is the logo of Al Jazeera, the Qatari network that has changed the face of television news since it was founded 15 years ago. Inside the building, carpenters and technicians are putting the finishing touches to the offices. But this is not just another foreign bureau....more...
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http://www.economist.com/node/21538213

The pull of Brussels

the economist
The Balkans and the Europe
At least the western Balkans is still starry-eyed about the European Union

IF GOVERNMENTS tweeted what they thought, it would be easy to sum up what those in the western Balkans felt this week: “phew!” from Serbia, “yeah!” from Montenegro and “meh”, the equivalent of shrugged shoulders, from everybody else....more...
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http://www.economist.com/node/21532306

Cock a doodle do?

the economist
Nov 6th 2011, 12:01 by T.J.

AN EXTRAORDINARY week or so in Croatia. Parliament has been dissolved and on October 31st President Ivo Josipovic called elections for December 4th. It was announced that ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is being investigated for corruption. Ivo Sanader, the former head of the HDZ and prime minister went on trial and independent Croatia’s first interior minister was arrested on charges of murders allegedly committed in 1945. (He denies all wrongdoing)....more....
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/11/croatia

Blocked, Northern Kosovo

the economist
An impasse that could turn nasty
SERBIA’S government has lost control of the Serbian-majority north of Kosovo. The roads are barricaded and locals are rowing with NATO peacekeepers and European Union police....more....
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http://www.economist.com/node/21534834

A gunman fires on the US embassy in Sarajevo

the economist
Bosnian US embassy attack

Oct 28th 2011, 19:03 by T.J.

Bosnian US embassy attack


A gunman fires on the US embassy in Sarajevo
Oct 28th 2011, 19:03 by T.J.
A DRAMATIC day in Sarajevo. A man identified as Mevlid Jasarevic, aged 23, began shooting at the American embassy. He was then shot and wounded by Bosnian police. Balkan Insight has the full story with footage which you can see here. The initial evidence would seem to point to a psychiatric case rather than a well-planned terrorist attack. From the film the attacker can be seen with beard and Muslim garb. Reports suggest he is from Novi Pazar, in Sandzak, the Bosniak majority area of Serbia. Balkan Insight reports that an eyewitness said that the attacker “paced back and forth in front of the embassy for five minutes, screaming 'Bring me an American, I want an American.'" ...more....
 read more: the economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/eastern-approaches/2011/10/bosnian-us-embassy-attack

Quiet, for now - The latest from Kosovo

the economist
Sep 18th 2011, 14:12 by T.J.

BELGRADE
AN UPDATE on the situation in northern Kosovo. On Wednesday, after visiting Kosovo, I wrote that it looked set for a "major clash". Indeed, a day later, at the Belgrade Security Forum, Boris Tadic, Serbia's president, said that “unilateral actions”—by which he meant anything done by the authorities in Pristina—could seriously endanger the peace and security of the whole region. That sounded pretty tough, but on Friday morning his bluff was called....more...
read more: the economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/09/latest-kosovo

Roadblocks ahead -More troubles in Kosovo

the economist
Sep 14th 2011, 14:16 by T.J.

SILOVO AND ZVECAN
UNLESS something gives, Kosovo is set for a major clash on Friday. Roadblocks have gone up in the north of the country. Armoured convoys of NATO-led peacekeepers are heading for the north, along with black armoured vehicles belonging to the European Union’s police mission, EULEX.

At the Serb-controlled barricade at the village of Rudare several lines of defence have been put in place: logs, tyres, gravel and pallets of bricks. At their head is a large picture of Vladimir Putin, Russia's Serbia-friendly prime minister....more...
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/09/more-trouble-kosovo

Not dead yet - The Non-Alligned Movement

the economist
A ghostly relic marks its birth in a vanished country

Sep 10th 2011

from the print edition
WHEN an ageing rock star goes on tour decades after his final hit, people remark cruelly that they thought he died some time ago. The same fate has befallen the Non-Aligned Movement, a 120-member outfit that this week celebrated its 50th anniversary in its birthplace, Belgrade. The city was then the capital of Yugoslavia, a country that epitomised the group’s uneasy balance between East and West in the cold war. It is now the capital of Serbia, a country that has not joined the body....more...

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http://www.economist.com/node/21528599

Back to the Balkans again

the economist
Roundup in the Balkans
Sep 9th 2011, 14:20 by T.J.

BELGRADE
THE first serious working week after the summer holidays has already produced a wealth of stories here in the western Balkans. Some are more serious than others, unless of course you live here, when they are all deadly serious. Here is a roundup of some of them.

Outside the old Yugoslav Federal Parliament building in the Serbian capital they are rolling up the red carpet which had been unrolled to welcome delegates to the 50th birthday bash of the Non-Aligned Movement, which I have written about here. Serbia, which hosted the gathering, is not a member, but never mind that. It finds it useful to lobby over the Kosovo issue and for business....more...
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/09/roundup-balkans

Trolls' nest, Macedonia and Greece

the economist
Sep 9th 2011, 15:36 by V.D.

THE 20th anniversary of Macedonian independence (this and most other links in Greek, but google translate gives the gist) also marks the anniversary of what has to be one of the silliest rows in international politics. EU officials hope that the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece will be solved by the end of this year. As nice as that sounds it is hard to believe it is true. While Macedonia (or FYROM, for Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) seemed to be, for the most part, the more reasonable of the two, lately it lost support through its attempts to tweak the Greek tail....more...

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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/09/macedonia-and-greece

A break from customary hostilities

the economist
Serbia and Kosovo
Sep 5th 2011, 14:21 by T.J.

WHERE there is a will, there is a way. Even, it seems, in talks between Serbia and Kosovo. On September 3rd it was announced that a breakthrough had been made in talks between the two sides in Brussels, sponsored by the European Union. Serbia will accept goods being exported to or through Serbia which are cleared by “Kosovo Customs” and in return Kosovo will lift its embargo on Serbian goods, imposed in July. ...more...
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/09/serbia-and-kosovo

Sinking the flagship

the economist

Serbia, Kosovo and the EU

Serbian policy towards Kosovo and the European Union is in deep trouble

Sep 3rd 2011

from the print edition
ANGELA MERKEL, the German chancellor, has just holed Serbia’s flagship foreign policy below the water line. For the past year, the country’s leaders have been doing everything they can to win candidate status to the European Union in December, with the aim of going to the country in the spring brandishing their achievement. To that end, they secured the arrest of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general wanted by the UN’s Yugoslav war-crimes tribunal. They have passed EU-compatible laws and entered into an EU-sponsored dialogue with the leaders of Kosovo, a former province that declared independence in 2008. So far, so good....more...
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http://www.economist.com/node/21528306

Together we are stronger!

the economist

The troubles of Sandzak

Rabble-rousing in a Muslim-majority part of Serbia

Aug 27th 2011

NOVI PAZAR

from the print edition
SANDZAK, admits Muamer Zukorlic, a prominent Muslim leader in the region, is not going to be the Dubai of the Balkans. But only give us autonomy, he tells its people, and “you’ll live like they do in Monaco!” Politicians promise many outlandish things, but it seems particularly cruel to suggest to citizens of this marginal region in south-west Serbia that they could soon be living it up like residents of the balmy tax haven....more...
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http://www.economist.com/node/21526933

Preparing for the next 700 years

the economist

Serb monks in Kosovo

Aug 19th 2011, 13:02 by T.J.

VISOKI DECANI
DAWN breaks over western Kosovo, and a bearded monk in black, flowing robes walks around the Serbian Orthodox monastery church of Visoki Decani hammering a long wooden board to call the faithful to prayer. But, as the monastery lies in majority-Albanian (and Muslim) western Kosovo, there are hardly any Serbs outside the perimeter wall to heed his call. ...more...
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/08/serb-monks-kosovo

Romania's motorway blues

radio free europe
Romanian roads
Aug 16th 2011, 12:09 by V.P.

BUCHAREST
IF YOU want to discover Romania, don't drive, rent a helicopter. Such was the advice Traian Băsescu, the country's president, had for potential investors from the Gulf, back in March. "I've never discovered Romania the way I did from a helicopter," said Mr Băsescu, admitting that the country's transport infrastructure is badly underdeveloped.

It is certainly a sorry picture. Most of Romania's 300-odd kilometres of highway were built during the communist era, and are showing their age. The roads connecting Bucharest, the capital, with other cities are chronically clogged. Trains chug along at no more than 50-60km an hour, slower than when the railways were constructed. The Danube stuns the few cruise-ship tourists with its underexploited vastness....more...
read more: radio free europe
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/08/romanian-roads

A profile of Gruevski

the economist
Macedonia's prime minister
Aug 12th 2011, 16:53 by T.J.

On July 28th "European Voice", the Economist's sister EU-affairs newspaper, published my profile of Nikola Gruevski, Macedonia's prime minister. With the odd adjustment for style, here it is.

MACEDONIANS either love him or loathe him. To his detractors, Nikola Gruevski, who was confirmed as prime minister for a third term on July 28th, is corrupt, a populist, a ruthless Machiavellian and an enemy of a free media. “No, no, no,” say his supporters. He is as clean as a whistle, modest, the scourge of tax-dodging tycoons and a family-values man to his core....more...
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/08/macedonias-prime-minister

Kosovo and Serbia - Trading blows

the economist

Aug 5th 2011, 11:47 by T.J.

It looks as if the crisis on Kosovo's border with Serbia could be nearing its end. On August 3rd representatives of the Serbian government struck a deal with the head of KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Hopes are high that roads in the north of the country, which have been blocked by protesting Serbs for over a week, may soon be opened.

Although Kosovo's leaders will be frustrated at having been left out of a deal affecting the future of their country, they may well have scored a victory, of sorts. The latest news is confusing and different sources are reporting different things. So let’s try to clear it up. (You'll need some patience: this is the Balkans we're dealing with.)...more...
read more: the economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/08/kosovo-and-serbia

A hard act to follow - The Turkish model

the economist
In many ways Turkey’s Islamists seem to have got things right. But it took them a long time to emerge from the country’s army-guided secularism

Aug 6th 2011

from the print edition
PALE, bespectacled and polite, Bekir Berat Ozipek, a young professor at Istanbul’s Commerce University, is no street-fighter. But he was excited by the heady atmosphere he experienced on a recent trip to Egypt. He and two fellow Turkish scholars went to a conference at the University of Cairo where their ideas on civil-military relations were keenly gobbled up....more...
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http://www.economist.com/node/21525408