Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Jun 24, 2011 (IPS) – For decades, the former Yugoslavia was a communist country with a human face, whose nations enjoyed high standards of living compared to other Eastern Europeans, visa-free travel abroad, and participatory government. Twenty years ago, on Jun. 25, all [...]
Arrest Takes Serbia Towards Reconciliation, and the EU
May 26, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, May 26, 2011 (IPS) – "Nothing can bring back our husbands or children, but this means so much for us; the man who ordered them killed is finally going to face justice," says Hajra Catic, head of the Women of Srebrenica Association, following [...]
BALKANS: Rising Anti-EU Sentiment
February 23, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Feb 23, 2011 (IPS) – Anti-European Union (EU) sentiment is growing across the Balkan countries that have proclaimed membership in the European family of nations as their highest political goal during the past decade. It is caused by prolonged economic hardships that still [...]
BALKANS: Kosovo Talks Bring Hope
September 24, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Analysis by Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Sep 24, 2010 (IPS) – Serbia has lost all its military and legal battles over Kosovo, but there is hope that the internationally sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina in October may bring some normalisation in relations between Serbia and its breakaway [...]
BALKANS: Serbia Prepares a New Case Over Kosovo
August 18, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Aug 18, 2010 (IPS) – Serbia is preparing to go before the United Nations next month to renew negotiations over the future of Kosovo, its southern breakaway province that has declared independence and been recognised by a number of countries. Serbia is planning [...]
BALKANS: The Turks Return
August 11, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Aug 11, 2010 (IPS) – It’s not often that the leading Belgrade daily Politika devotes two of its four foreign pages to the praise of one nation, but it did so for the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month. [...]
ECONOMY-BALKANS: ‘How Did We Become So Poor?’
May 19, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, May 18 (IPS) – Almost two decades after Yugoslavia fell apart, the majority of the defunct socialist country’s people are insecure and uncertain for their future with the booming economy and rapid development that capitalism promised remaining a pipe dream. ‘How did we become [...]
BALKANS: Farming Prospers as Farmers Suffer
March 16, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Mar 16 (IPS) – Official statistics put Serbian agriculture as the single most productive branch of the economy and one that not only survived the financial meltdown but chalked up a record trade surplus of almost a billion US dollars in 2009. With the start [...]
BALKANS: Seized Cars, Property Say Crime Does Not Pay
January 20, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Jan 20 (IPS) – A rare fleet of 20 luxury cars and snazzy jeeps has remained parked in front of the heavily guarded special court in the capital for days now. The vehicles do not belong to judges or prosecutors working in the building, but [...]
BALKANS: Museum Speaks of Roma History, and Misery
October 28, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Oct 28 (IPS) – The Balkans gets its first museum on the Roma, to tell a story about one of the most underprivileged ethnic groups in the region. "This is practically the first museum of Roma culture in this part of Europe aimed at [...]
