Turkey – can the Shanghai Cooperation Organization be an alternative to the EU?
It is high time for EU leaders to revise their negative stances on Turkey’s membership prospects as the country and its leadership seriously start assessing authoritarian alternatives.
Cyprus – the drama unfolds
Given the on-going political crisis over hydro-carbon exploitation rights, plus a pending July 2012 deadline by which Greek Cypriots will assume the rotating EU Presidency, the failure of UN-mandated talks over reunification seems inevitable.
Turkey – a welcome return to the Balkans?
Though Turkey - which is seeking to re-build its once flourishing Ottoman-era ties with most Balkan states - is increasingly portrayed as a reliable business partner, rather then an aggressive and neo-imperialist player, further steps are required to ease anxiety towards its policies.
Greece – Balkan dissonance and the creation myth of “Europe”
Reeling European governments and the Brussels bureaucracy will become even less patient than before in dealing with a region where their serial failures to enforce their myth of civic identity and multi-ethnic integration have undermined the narrative of Europe as a united, just, effective and relevant international actor.
Thinking beyond the crisis? Greece and the Balkans
Recent developments – particularly a proposal to recognize Macedonia as the ‘Republic of Vardar Macedonia’ - have demonstrated that, contrary to the fears of some, the debt crisis will not impede Greece’s capacity for resolving regional disputes.
National perspectives on NATO's new Strategic Concept
On the day that the group of experts charged with leading the development of NATO's new Strategic Concept presented their analysis and recommendations, TransConflict Serbia organized a conference in Belgrade, entitled 'National perspectives on NATO's new Strategic Concept'.
Bosnia is a wicked problem
The international community must recognize the key role of all relevant players, particularly Turkey and Russia, in finding solutions to Bosnia and Herzegovina's worst political crisis since the signing of Dayton.
