Every autumn the European Commission publishes its reports on the candidate countries. They decide whether new negotiating chapters open and whether the next tranche is paid out. A footnote on the first page lists the sources: the country's own government, the EU member states, European Parliament reports and non-governmental organisations.

For three decades, two systems trained a new generation of Balkan politicians. At the beginning of 2025, the American one almost disappeared within a few months. The European network, meanwhile, announced a new intake.

The belief that Ukraine’s success in controlling units and unmanned aircraft is owed to the American Starlink satellite constellation is only partly justified. The architecture is more complex, and it may also offer lessons for the armies of the Balkan Peninsula.

Nothing but sheer personal interest can justify a common political front in which there is one person for whom Ratko Mladić is a hero and another for whom Mladić is a criminal. Are such unprincipled political fronts lying in wait for Serbian voters at both ends of the political spectrum

Is the presence of Russian troops the only thing separating Transnistria from bloody events?

Serbs, as the “little Russians” of the Balkans, were condemned to disappear even before the NATO campaign against Russia itself began. Serbs had no right to rebel and defend themselves. Whoever had been in Ratko Mladić’s place would have ended up like Ratko Mladić.