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....
read more: the economist
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....
read more: the economist
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

Al-Jazeera launches Balkans broadcast

guardian
Qatar-based network hopes venture will provide objective news in a region where media is heavily influenced by politics

Associated Press in Sarajevo

guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 November 2011 17.40 GMT

The pan-Arab news network al-Jazeera is launching its Balkans operation that is expected to reconnect people divided by the wars in the former Yugoslavia and offer them new perspectives of each other....more...
read more: guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/11/al-jazeera-launches-balkans-broadcast

How Bosnia's pioneering footballers are succeeding where the politicians failed

guardian.co.uk
Inspired by the talismanic Edin Džeko, the national side is the country's first truly multi-ethnic organisation

Ed Vulliamy
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 5 November 2011 21.10 GMT
A cold autumn mist seasoned with woodsmoke hangs over the stadium on what was no man's land during Sarajevo's four-year siege – the first Serbian machine-gun post was just behind the goal where the "maniac crew" of Željeznicar Sarajevo sing and the electronic scoreboard now stands. Tonight, it shows a result of 2-0 in favour of Željeznicar against Celik Zenica in the Bosnian cup....more....
read more: guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/05/bosnia-footballers-succeeding-politicians-failed

What can Afghanistan and Bosnia teach us about Libya?

guardian.co.uk
Recently returned from Tripoli, Rory Stewart asks if the key to success is doing less, not more

Rory Stewart

The Guardian, Saturday 8 October 2011

I have spent most of my adult life working on, and in, interventions. I began as a junior diplomat with East Timor, served in the Balkans and in Iraq, then spent a few years in Afghanistan. But none of this made me feel I could predict the future of Libya as I entered Tripoli in August. There were echoes of Baghdad in the masked men holding on to truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns and shouting Allahu Akbar at an angry crowd outside the bank. Was this the prelude to a sudden flurry of looting, then, after a few months, sullen resentment, riots, roadside bombs and rockets falling into the foreign compounds? Would Libya, like the Iraq or Afghan interventions, eventually suck in billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and achieve little more than trauma, corruption and insecurity?...more...
read more: guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/08/libya-intervention-rory-stewart

Ramiz Alia

guardian
Albania's last communist ruler and the architect of his country's perestroika

Miranda Vickers

guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 October 2011 16.49 BST

Ramiz Alia, who has died aged 85, was Albania's last communist ruler and the architect of his country's perestroika. He became leader of the tiny, impoverished Balkan state – with a population of 3 million people – following the death in 1985 of the dictator Enver Hoxha, who had been in office since the end of the second world war....more...
read more: guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/07/ramiz-alia