Soft power not enough in the Balkans
The 21st century in the Balkans is starting to look dangerously like the 19th — with one important difference. In the 19th century, Russia and Turkey were big rivals in… Read more »
Category: Western Balkans
EU-US must win hearts and minds in Western Balkans
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Turkey’s approach to democracy and the rule of law are “deeply problematic” to the country’s future cooperation with the European Union. “These deep… Read more »
Electoral espionage is ‘political warfare’
Russia “is up to all sorts of no good,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said today, two days after announcing a plan to visit Moscow. “They are, I’m afraid, engaged… Read more »
Balkans crisis looming?
Southern Europe is where democracy was once invented. But today, many there say that democracy isn’t working for them, analyst Rick Noack writes for The Washington Post: There is no shortage… Read more »
Eclipse of the West’s soft power?
While the resurgent authoritarians of Russia and China are investing in the expansion of soft power, that of the Western democracies is dwindling, analysts suggest. The European Union’s approach to… Read more »
Brexit advances Russia’s strategic aims
Vladimir Putin appeared to throw down the gauntlet to British politicians to quit the European Union yesterday, questioning whether they would dare to deliver on the democratic mandate for Brexit… Read more »
Serbia’s elections: what about democratic values?
The victory of Prime Minster Aleksandar Vucic’s Progressive Party in Serbia’s election enables the government to continue with its proposed reform and fiscal consolidation agenda, Fitch Ratings says. But the… Read more »
Nations in Transit: Europe & Eurasia – grim portrait of decline, small reasons for hope
While economic downturns are threatening the stability of the former Soviet Union’s “entrenched dictatorships,” the migration crisis is fueling populism in Eastern Europe, and reforms in the Balkans are in… Read more »