Archive for the 'Balkans' Category :

Bosnia on the road to the EU, sorry to Dissolution

Posted by AriRusila on 03/10/10

”Young people, they are starting to think that ethnic divisions are normal … if something doesn’t happen to change this, there will be no change.” (Emin Mahmutovic, civic activist) Despite international community’s state building efforts in Bosnia the country is splitting parts Since war 15 years ago foreign aid has exceed USD 80 bn for [...]

Krajina – Victory with Ethnic Cleansing

Posted by AriRusila on 15/08/10

Thousands of people across several Balkan countries have held services last week to commemorate those who died in Operation Storm 15-years ago. Like normal in Balkans the views what happened are almost opposite to each other. One side is celebrating victory, the other side has remembrance of those who died during the largest refugee crisis [...]

Kosovo after ICJ’s ruling

Posted by AriRusila on 23/07/10

Besides tribe leaders in Pristina also many separatist movements in Somaliland, Palestine, Abkhasia, South-Ossetia, Transdnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh and even Basks in Spain have been celebreting ICJ’s opinion on Kosovo. However the life in Kosovo probably will continue without dramatic change. Whatever – depending point of view – status Kosovo has, the province is de facto administrated [...]

Balkan Route – Business as usual

Posted by AriRusila on 10/07/10

Transnational organized crime is considered as one of the major threats to human security, impeding the social, economic, political and cultural development of societies worldwide. It is a multi-faceted phenomenon and has manifested itself in different activities, among others, drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings; trafficking in firearms; smuggling of migrants; money laundering; etc. In [...]

Peace Rank: Balkans and Eastwards

Posted by AriRusila on 14/06/10

Peace is the essential prerequisite to solve global challenges, such as climate change, decreasing biodiversity, lack of fresh water and overpopulation. The organization Vision of Humanity published its fourth edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) and in this article I cover peace rankings in Balkans and Eastwards based of new report. The Global Peace [...]

Peacemaking – how about solving Conflicts too?

Posted by AriRusila on 26/05/10

“The only way to solve a conflict at any level of society is to sit down face to face and talk about it.” (John W. McDonald) A new peace mediation study , that states Finland’s accomplishment in the field of mediation and conflict prevention, was released on Thursday, May 6, 2010 by the Ministry for [...]

Freedom 2010 in Balkans and Eastwards

Posted by AriRusila on 02/05/10

“Freedom of the press, freedom of association, the inviolability of domicile, and all the rest of the rights of man are respected so long as no one tries to use them against the privileged class. On the day they are launched against the privileged they are overthrown.” (Prince Peter Kropotkin) Different aspects of freedom are [...]

Proceedings against Pope & Vatican possible

Posted by AriRusila on 15/04/10

“Less than one percent of priests are guilty of this…” ( Ratzinger) When visit of pope Benedict is coming closer in UK a wide debate has started about possibility to put pope in court due protecting paedophile priests. George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian how the case against pope rests on international law’s potential to [...]

Turkey’s EU hopes -is there any?

Posted by AriRusila on 06/04/10

“Yes, to Europeans, Turkey’s EU bid is dead. The fundamentally Roman Catholic continent simply has no intention of ever incorporating 70 million Muslims in one swoop. And Turkey—with its Ottoman history, which at one time threatened Catholicism’s very existence—has particularly negative associations in European minds. Still, given this nation’s strategic value to Europe, you just [...]

Kosovo: Two years of Quasi-state

Posted by AriRusila on 20/02/10

“US recognition of severed Kosovo province was a serious mistake, leading to an escalation of tensions, instead of calming down the situation in the Balkans … consensus boils down to the fact that nobody knows where Kosovo is” (John Bolton) “The recognition of Kosovo was premature and conditioned by great pressure from the former American [...]

AriRusila's BalkanPerspective rss

Welcome to AriRusila's BalkanPerspective – a personal perspective on events in western Balkans. Topics of interest: Serbia, Kosovo province, EU enlargement, ICO/EUSR, Eulex, UN peacekeeping operations, western Balkans, crisis management more.



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