The branch of Croatian police whose job is to fight organized crime, USKOK, arrested the head of the country’s army, General Mladen Kruljac, and four other people on Friday on suspicion of being involved in a corrupt business deal with construction land. I am sure you will get more detail in the coming days. For [...]

Now that he has won Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic will no doubt be claimed even more than before by different paddlers of nationalist sentiments. It must be said, though, that Novak on the Centre Court itself and his family, girlfriend, friends and coach + President Boris Tadic in the audience all behaved rather gracefully. Djokovic is [...]

A study by the School of Political Science (FPN) of the Belgrade University has found that almost 60 percent of journalists in Serbia live in fear of losing their job. 20 percent would leave journalism if a suitable opportunity arises. Miroljub Radojkovic, a professor at FPN, said the study  portrays an average journalist as a [...]

After the fiasco of Split’s gay pride of 11 June, the one in Zagreb a week later took place in a generally good atmosphere with only minor incidents. A number of prominent politicians and other public figures showed up, though not President Josipovic and Prime Minister Kosor, who were both busy elsewhere. As it is [...]

Tomislav Mercep will remain in custody after Croatian prosecutors charged him with war crimes against Serb civilians in 1991. Mercep—a former top interior ministry official who both domestic and international human right watchers have held directly responsible for a series of crimes in Zagreb, Gospic and Pakracka Poaljana—was arrested six months ago, with the deadline [...]

The UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime released earlier this week a report on public sector bribery in the Western Balkans. Funded by the European Commission and based on a survey of 28,000 respondents, the report paints a familiar picture of the region. Based on actual instances of bribery and other forms of corruption as [...]

Ever wondered how the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity in Europe since 1945, has lost a fair bit of its symbolic power in mere sixteen years, with decent Bosnians sometimes rolling their eyes at its mention? Here is how. Three weeks ago, the minister of education and sport in the Canton of Sarajevo abolished a [...]

West of Eden is a brilliant piece by Transitions columnist Boyko Vassilev on how nations in the Balkans see one another. Read it.

You may have heard of the storm that Ivo Josipovic’s interview to Reuters earlier this week has caused in Bosnia. In relation to the current conflicts in the Arab world, Croatia’s president feared ““some kind of radicalization” in Bosnia and other parts of the Balkans with large Muslim populations. Especially we have a sensitive situation [...]

I finally got to watching Years Eaten by Lions, a 2010 documentary by Boro Kontic, a prominent Bosnian journalist. If you ever wondered what happened with journalists who paddled hatred and warmongering in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, this film can enlighten you. Kontic’s subject matter weren’t those hundreds of journalists whose reporting was [...]

You would have likely read of “Putinomania” in Serbia. The Russian prime minister’s huge popularity with certain sections of the Serbian population and political class manifested itself during Putin’s visit to Serbia earlier this week.  The centuries-long friendship between the two nations and all that was on the agenda as was, of course, Russian investment. [...]

Kids from a primary school in the southern Serbian town Medveđa invited earlier this week their Japanese peers to come and stay with them. “Your country gave selfless assistance to our school through a donation that provided us with better conditions. We will never forget that,” wrote the children of the Gornja Jablanica school to [...]

A “virtual museum of Zoran Djindjic,” the slain prime minister of Serbia, is to be launched later this month to coincide with the eight anniversary of the assassination. According to Vreme magazine, the online presentation will feature exhibits ranging from his personal library and PC to published work, unpublished notes or audio recordings.  According to [...]

Former Croatian President Stjepan Mesić often parroted irritatingly simplistic and self-righteous analysis of the post Yugoslav world he inhabited and helped shape, of Bosnia and the Serb-Croat relations in particular. Early on in his career he uttered publicly a number of extremist statements of the kind that he later came to condemn. And stupidly he became [...]

A monument honoring late singer Saban Bajramovic was desecrated for the fourth time.

Earlier this week Serbian prosecutors ordered criminal police investigators to interview a former CEO of the Kolubara coal mine.

A bishop is Serbia’s Homophobe of the Year.

The issue of NATO responsibility for failing to act on its own reports on the alleged criminal activities of Kosovo leaders deserves attention.

Swastikas and racist graffiti appear in a Roma settlement near Pozega in Serbia.