Crisis in the Caucasus took an unexpected twist this week. As Russian troops pulled out of Georgia, their demolition of American-built military bases nearly complete, the government in Moscow recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. Until now,...
Six days ago, as most of the world was watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, Georgian troops attacked the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia. Russia quickly intervened, ousting Georgian forces from the region and attacking Georgian...
A fascinating media phenomenon could be observed last week, following the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs. Anyone who was even tangentially involved in the 1990s events in Bosnia rushed forth to offer their thoughts; ex-diplomats and...
A one-line communiqué from the office of the Serbian president flashed across the world on Monday: Radovan Karadzic, wartime leader of the Serbs in Bosnia, was arrested in Belgrade. He is wanted by the Hague Inquisition for allegedly masterminding the Bosnian...
This past May, voters in Serbia were subjected to a barrage of propaganda about how the "democratic reformers" would lead the country into a better, prosperous future, while the "nationalists" would somehow plunge it back into the "horrors of...
Lies about Kosovo are nothing new. For almost two decades now, there's hardly been any truth in reports that have reached the Western public concerning this southern province of Serbia now posing as an independent state. The 1988 constitutional reforms designed to...
There is a proverb in the Balkans, probably as old as civilization: where drills fail, money will do. It seems a fitting byline for the unraveling of some six weeks of political drama, following the May 11 general elections. At first, it seemed that President Tadic...
When reflecting on the American struggle for independence from Great Britain (1775-1783), one of the things that stands out was how the colonists had lost faith in the system they previously lived under. Arguing that the British crown had violated their innate rights...
On June 9, 1999, the 78-day war that NATO waged on what was then Yugoslavia came to a close. Representatives of Yugoslav military and NATO signed an armistice in the Macedonian town of Kumanovo, paving the way for NATO's takeover of the province. At the time, it was...
Nothing so destroys the delusions about democracy as the practice thereof. Examples of this are legion; one could look at the daytime drama presidential campaigns in the U.S., or the ethnic referenda in places like Kenya or Bosnia-Herzegovina. The latest exhibit in...
