December 31, 2004
With a death toll rising above 120,000, and large affected areas still inaccessible to rescuers, the Asian tsunami disaster has become a truly global crisis. Millions from all over the world have been affected, whole industries, villages, even tribes destroyed in an instant. Although the human casualties alone are so far of the magnitude of [...]
December 31, 2004
Balkanalysis.com would like to wish its readers a happy new year. Thanks for reading and let’s wish the whole region a peaceful and prosperous 2005.
December 29, 2004
Top representatives of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania met on Tuesday in Sofia to ink a memorandum of understanding with Ted Ferguson, president of the AMBO (Albania-Macedonia-Bulgaria Oil) pipeline project. The American-based corporation has been struggling since 1994 to get the attention of key political and industrial backers, in order to begin construction. The first obstacle [...]
December 25, 2004
When the Albanian newspaper Panorama reported that 3 Strela shoulder-fired missiles, of alleged Bosnian provenance, had been intercepted by the government en route to their final destination with Albanian militants in Macedonia, the interior ministry of the latter state issued a firm denial: “…as a result of the information in certain Albanian media that the [...]
December 22, 2004
Among the Others: Encounters with the Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq By Scott Taylor Esprit de Corps Books (October, 2004), 208 pp. Reviewed by Christopher Deliso In early September, on his last visit to Iraq, Canadian war reporter Scott Taylor was looking forward to delivering some presents: copies of his brand new book, Among the Others [...]
December 20, 2004
A recent interview with European terror expert Claude Moniquet – which states that parts of Macedonia are currently being used by Al Qaeda-linked terrorist “sleeper” cells – is remarkable, in that it is one of the only such admissions to have ever been made by a spokesman for the “international community” in Macedonia’s modern history. [...]
December 18, 2004
By Nese Mesutoglu After long and difficult negotiations, the European Union has agreed that accession talks can finally begin next year for Turkey. But what do average Turks think about the developments? A survey of Turks in Istanbul today showed general happiness with the prospect of EU membership, but also reservations and doubts.As everyone knows, [...]
December 17, 2004
The Macedonian Parliament today swore in a new government, following weeks of negotiations between Prime Minister Vlade Buckovski and his coalition partners. The new line-up, consisting of figures from the same SDSM-LDP-DUI coalition, features several new faces but also retains several incumbents. While the incoming officials stressed their hope for positive results in statements today, [...]
December 17, 2004
An advocacy group of editors, media executives and journalists with a common interest in Balkan journalism has spoken out against the obstructionist tactics employed by Albanian political leaders in Kondovo on 6 December, when journalists were turned back from entering the village during tense negotiations with armed militants.The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), which [...]
December 16, 2004
Television viewers around the world watched a drama unfold in Athens on Wednesday morning, when two unknown hijackers took hostage 26 Greek bus passengers and threatened to detonate the bus. While initial reports suggested that the hijackers might have been Russian, the operation’s quick descent into harmless farce indicated that the sophisticated Russian mafia could [...]
