Stories from and

Balkans-EU: Schengen's leftouts and letins

  17 July 2009

Eberhard Rhein of BlogactivEU writes about the EU's plans for visa deregulation to Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. Gray Falcon presents some critical views from the perspective of Serbia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Albanian Blogger gives his version on why also Albania is left out.

Kosovo, Ukraine, Russia: Social Media and Politics

  23 April 2009

Blogging Balkanistan writes that Kosovo’s PM Hashim Thaci is planning to join Facebook and that “several leading opposition party candidates already have accounts.” Petro's Jotter explores the Ukrainian political Twitter-sphere, here and here. Siberian Light explains how to connect with Twitter users interested in Russia. Window on Eurasia believes that...

The Balkans: Harold Pinter and Milosevic

  18 January 2009

Marko Attila Hoare of Greater Surbiton writes about Harold Pinter's association with the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic and explains why he feels “roughly as sad about Pinter’s death as Pinter was sad about the deaths of the tens of thousands killed by Milosevic or for the hundreds of...

Central & Eastern Europe: Freedom in the Balkans; Visa Restrictions

  22 December 2008

Ari Rusila examines the Balkan-related results of the Freedom House's Freedom in the World survey at AriRusila’s BalkanBlog, and writes about the Henley Visa Restrictions Index, highlighting the results for countries of Central and Eastern Europe, at AriRusila's BalkanPerspective at Blogactiv.eu.

The Balkans: Yugo

  1 December 2008

Balkan File and Eternal Remont are saying good-bye to the Yugo cars; the latter posts this joke: “Q: So, what do you call the shock absorbers inside a Yugo? A: Passengers.”

Kosovo: Haradinaj's Profile; Discussion at LSE

  30 November 2008

Popkitchen posts a critique of a Vanity Fair profile of Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and former prime minister of Kosovo, and writes about a recent discussion on Kosovo's independence held at the London School of Economics.

The Balkans: Tragic Legacy

  29 November 2008

Cafe Turco writes on the inaccuracies in Resolution 819 film and posts a translation of Hasan Nuhanović's article that challenges “the veracity of some scenes.” Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes on a recent exhumation of “50 complete and 883 partial human remains of Srebrenica genocide victims” and links to a documentary...

Central & Eastern Europe: A Roma Roundup

  29 November 2008

A few Roma-related posts: Inside Albania muses on the U.S. election and concludes that having a Roma PM in Albania will remain “pure fantasy” for quite a while; Romano Them links to a report on the situation with the Roma in Kosovo; Hungarian Spectrum reported on Nov. 20 that “[i]n...

Serbia: Asylum Seekers

  24 October 2008

At Belgraded, a rather heated discussion of Serbian asylum seekers: their true numbers, origins and political views.

The Balkans: Against “Balkanization”

  1 October 2008

Hudin thinks it's time to stop using the word “Balkanization”: “Of course we don't say USSRization, Czechoslovakization, British Empirization, or even Austro-Hungarization. No, we say Balkanization and we say it too much.”

The Balkans: Subotica Mosque; Balkan Muslims

  16 September 2008

Kakanien Revisited writes about the new mosque of Subotica, the first one in Serbia's Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, “built with funds from Novi Pazar […] and Turkey.” The 8th Circle jots down notes on the Balkan Muslims from a recent Reuters piece.

The Balkans: Food

  11 September 2008

Dr. Filomena posts pictures and writes about the wonderful culinary dimension of travel to Slovenia's “southern cousins” in “the ex Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces.”