The May 7 arrests of six Islamic radicals, four of them ethnic Albanians originally from Macedonia and Kosovo, led American intelligence officials to issue a direct order to their Macedonian colleagues, urging them to redouble efforts against known and unknown Islamic radical elements in the country, Balkanalysis.com can now report.
The alleged aspiring terrorists have been [...]
It was completely ignored in the local and international press. But the visit and speech of a top-ranking OSCE official to Macedonia on May 10 might just herald a turning point in the “international community’s” stance on minority rights and responsibilities in this small Balkan country, one necessitated by a realization that European Union countries [...]
By Mehmet Kalyoncu
The timing of the Turkish army’s dramatic, though long expected, military move against the PKK across the Iraqi border has some suspecting that there is more than exigency behind the bold offensive. Considering that the pivotal Turkish parliamentary elections are due next month, is not the northern Iraq offensive really all about channeling [...]
By Jan Buruma*
Just before the constitutional deadline and with early elections looming, Serbia’s pro-Western parties managed to form a government. The returning prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica has a lot of work to do, amongst others about the future status of Kosovo and cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. At the same time, in an unusal twist, [...]
By Christopher Deliso
With additional reporting from Albania by Stavros Markos
Tirana is swarming with American and British intelligence officers and Secret Service personnel ahead of American President George W. Bush’s June 10 visit to Albania. While such attention is standard procedure before any such trip anywhere in the world, specific local conditions are being factored in [...]
