May 31, 2004
Balkanalysis.com has learned that the “International Community”- the western embassies, think-tanks and ruling NGOs- is placing enormous pressure on the Macedonian government not to issue an arrest warrant for former PM Ljubco Georgievski and his closest associates, for the time being.The government had allegedly made a secret plan to move on the case between 1-4 [...]
May 29, 2004
Small countries without financial or technological superiority must rely on human ability in order to thrive. Yet when the country in question happens to be rather big and remain some degree of financial power, as is the case with Russia, than intelligent human leadership can have far greater ramifications. Verily, one imagines that the mighty [...]
May 29, 2004
The film ‘Troy,’ which we discussed in the first part of this article, revels in its moments of passion and bloodshed, ostensibly revealing something fundamental about the spirit of the ancient Greek world. Yet the film did not and could not have adequately conveyed a mindset and attitude to civilization fundamentally at odds with our [...]
May 28, 2004
The mixed reception Wolfgang Petersen’s new film, ‘Troy,’ has received from the critics is indicative of the ambivalent relationship the film starring Brad Pitt has with both itself and with the written version of the ancient epic that has come down to us as one of the most important parts of the ancient Greek literary [...]
May 26, 2004
Harri Holkeri, the 4th UNMIK chief to serve over the past 5 years in Kosovo, resigned after “only” 10 months on the job yesterday. He cited “health reasons” as the reason for his departure. You can say that again.Like all of the foreign workers on the job now in Kosovo, Holkeri had the great misfortune [...]
May 22, 2004
On Friday the Macedonian Parliament elected Petar Goshev to be the new governor of the country’s National Bank. The ill-attended session saw a total of 56 votes in favor and 6 against. A former minister of finance from November 1, 2002 to November 5, 2003, Goshev was dismissed prematurely out of impatience at the slowness [...]
May 20, 2004
“The truth is out there,” the X-Files’ David Duchovny used to say when pondering paranormal phenomena. Last week, Mexican military officials had a similar reaction to their own UFO sighting. However, for their counterparts in far-off Kosovo, a different kind of sighting has been taking precedence: UXOs, or “unexploded ordnance.”In a press briefing on Wednesday, [...]
May 16, 2004
While they didn’t win, some came very close and all in all it was a marvelous showing for the Balkan countries at this year’s Eurovision song contest in Istanbul. Turkey, last year’s winner, did an excellent job of hosting the event, displaying between acts montage after montage of the country’s natural attractions, and in the [...]
May 13, 2004
As the savagely funny “Get Your War On” comic described George W. Bush last month, “…his mind is like one of those spinning cages where you pull out the winning lottery numbers- but there’s only four goddamn little balls in his cage: ‘freedom,’ ‘democracy,’ ‘terror,’ and ’stay the course.’ He opens his mouth, one of [...]
May 10, 2004
Armenia’s president, Robert Kocharian, will not appear at the NATO summit of 27-29 June to be held in Istanbul, owing to the continued political alienation between his country and its historic nemesis to the west. While signs seemed encouraging not long ago that Turkey might end its 11-year blockade and open the border with Armenia, [...]
