Balkan watching (catch all)
17 Nov. Reuters report - Bosnia Looks Beyond Dayton a Decade after War.
Quote:
Ten years after the ceasefire in Bosnia, the Dayton peace treaty that stopped Europe's worst conflict since World War Two is in need of a serious overhaul.
... as one of Europe's poorest nations prepares to embark on the long road to membership in the wealthy European Union, it faces stern warnings that ethnic divisions still enshrined in its governing structures could greatly delay its progress.
The watchword in no longer stabilization but transition, Bosnia's powerful peace overseer, British diplomat Paddy Ashdown, told a conference on Dayton in Geneva last month.
Wahhabi gathering held in Bosnia
Wahhabi gathering held in Bosnia
Source: http://www.serbianna.com/news/2008/02912.shtml
August 18, 2008
SERBIANNA
Quote:
A Wahhabi gathering was held over the weekend in a Bosnian village of Grmusa near the city of Bosanska Krupa where over 50 senior Bosnian Muslim wahhabi representatives met on the property owned by Fuad Vukovic.
"There is nothing to record. This is a private gathering and reporters are not invited," said leader to the interested media that was stopped by the Wahhabi security at the outskirts of the village.
A spokesman for the group who identified himself as Emir then told the media that the gathering is private and that its intent is to exchange ideas and to talk, mostly, about religious topics.....
Balkan watching (catch all)
Outlaw09 highlighted an unexplained exchange of gunfire in Macedonia (see the first post, after this thread appears) and a gap in our coverage of the region.
So aware that WW1 started with a spark with an assassination @ Sarejevo, it's time for a thread to collect posts and discussion on the region - mainly small, new states.
There are a few historical, closed threads for background reading:
1) Kosovo Independence:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=4924
2) Wahhabism in the Balkans:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=5041
3) Bosnia looks beyond Dayton:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...read.php?t=163
If jihadism appears I suggest readers consult the articles by John Schindler's blog, which regularly reminds us how fertile the region can be:http://20committee.com/category/terrorism/
Although the shooting is not explained these two BBC reports explain, 6th May 2015, there is a political crisis in Macedonia, with some public violence:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32610951 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32612508
The deep roots of Macedonia's current turmoil
At last a decent explanation for what is happening in Macedonia, last week's violence has a very small part to play:https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-eu...nd-way-forward
It starts with:
Quote:
For nearly two decades, Macedonia has been a pressure cooker of public anger at corruption, deteriorating governance and chronic unemployment. Now the valve has blown. This year, union-organised strikes were followed by student protests against flawed education reforms. Then the opposition party released recordings of conversations that exposed government wire-tapping of more than 20,000 citizens. Quickly dubbed “bombs”, these recordings were released over the last three months by the main opposition party leader at press conferences. On them appear the voices of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, senior officials, journalists, judges and security officials conspiring in electoral and judicial fraud, and organising systemic corruption.
After the bugging and the bullets come a peaceful protest
A comprehensive report on the peaceful demo in Skopje now:
Quote:
Huge crowds (est. 40k) joined a major anti-government rally in Skopje, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski amid a political crisis sparked by a mass surveillance scandal.
Not spotted this before. Does this mean the government will falter, if not fall:
Quote:
wo days after calling the police action in Kumanovo a success, Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, the chief of the secret police, Saso Mijalkov, as well as the Transportation Minister, Mile Janakieski - all heavily implicated in the illegal surveillance scandal - resigned.
Link:http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/arti...rnment-protest