April 12, 2009
By Enza Roberta Petrillo* The European Union emerged from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s as a force that seemed capable of guaranteeing stability and peace in a part of the European continent perceived as a fracture-zone, an area of Europe known for its clashes. Since 1991, Albania has radically changed, undergoing a complex transition [...]
June 2, 2007
By Christopher Deliso in Skopje 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 [...]
March 25, 2007
By Ioannis Michaletos and Stavros Markos* The government in Tirana has, over the past few months, imposed new domestic security policies in order to curb an increase in criminal networks and their activities. At the same time, international bodies, namely the EU and NATO — entities which Albania wishes to join in the future — [...]
June 18, 2004
By Christopher Deliso As if organized crime wasn’t already pervasive enough in the Balkans, there is now news that Colombian drug lords have established a beachhead in the region for their exports to Eastern European mafias. Channel News Asia today quoted executive director of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Antonio Maria Costa, who [...]
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