Balkanalysis.com

In the following exclusive interview, Balkanalysis.com Director Christopher Deliso speaks with Philip Giraldi, a former CIA deputy chief of base in Turkey. Through the interview, readers get a first-hand introduction to the cloak-and-dagger reality of undercover work in one of the world’s most important strategic areas. Iranian assassinations, Turkish eavesdropping and other eye-opening stories allow [...]

By Mehmet Kalyoncu The Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement between the United States and Turkey, signed by the two sides on July 26, 2000, has recently been ratified by the Turkish government. The agreement rightly and by definition prohibits Turkey from exploiting the cooperation for any purposes which would directly or indirectly help her develop military [...]

By Mehmet Kalyoncu Given the similarities in the nature of the defined threat, the US-led invasion of Saddam Hussein’s allegedly nuclear-aspiring Iraq and a possible US-led action against Ahmedinejad’s nuclear Iran might seem likely to have similar ramifications for Turkey strategically. If the AKP government fails to work something out with the Bush administration during [...]

By Christopher Deliso A quiet but noticeable improvement in the Macedonian opinion of American diplomacy can be detected these days in Skopje. It is a result of the changing of the guard that occurred last fall, when new US Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic finally arrived in Skopje. Her predecessor, Lawrence Butler, had made himself unpopular through [...]

By Christopher Deliso* Averting a humanitarian catastrophe was NATO’s stated justification for bombing Serbia and its Kosovo province in 1999. But initial successes quickly succumbed to the reverse ethnic cleansing of more than 200,000 Serbs and other minorities by Albanian militants. Now, despite seven years of U.N. policing and donor largess, Kosovo’s remaining minorities still [...]

By Christopher Deliso Averting a humanitarian catastrophe was NATO’s stated justification for bombing Serbia and its Kosovo province in 1999. But initial successes quickly succumbed to the reverse ethnic cleansing of more than 200,000 Serbs and other minorities by Albanian militants. Now, despite seven years of U.N. policing and donor largess, Kosovo’s remaining minorities still [...]

By David Binder No Serbian leader had such renown since the time of Prince Lazar and Tsar Dusan. No Yugoslav except Tito had such international recognition. One must concede that to Slobodan Milosevic and, at the end of his days he appeared to relish that prominence immensely – the sole reminder of his years in [...]

By Robert Leifels* The politicians and intellectuals have missed the boat regarding the death of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt and label their Wall Street Opening Bell-like screaming as a rush to judgment. It is quite natural for them to worship at the shrine [...]

(Balkanalysis.com Research Service)- Judge Patrick Robinson immediately shut down a Western journalist on the Hague Tribunal witness stand last week, when she disclosed having seen Osama bin Laden waltz into the office of late Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic in November 1994. Just as veteran British journalist Eve-Ann Prentice, who covered the Yugoslav conflicts for the [...]

By Mehmet Kalyoncu This provocative analysis of Turkey’s nuclear ambitions, informed by current political realities and a historical summary of the country’s previous plans and nuclear partnerships, asks the devil’s advocate question: what do the US and EU plan to give Turkey to keep it from going nuclear? Recent heated statements of a nuclear variety [...]