Reading this IMF statement on #Albania feels like déjà vu. In the 1990s it praised “remarkable results” while overlooking corruption and fragility that fueled the '97 crash of pyramid schemes. Today it sidesteps corruption and org crime—politics over truth. www.imf.org/en/news/arti...

Albania: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2025 Article IV Mission

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Anke Weber and comprising David Bartolini, Stefan Kavan, Olti Mitre, Nora Neuteboom, Eyno Rots, Sebastian Sosa, and Eugena Topi visited Tirana duri...

imf.org

Recently became aware of this impressive project - Telegram Archive of the War - by the Ct for Urban History in Lviv. They preserve Telegram posts from the war in #Ukraine on a range of topics, including this one to bring smiles & tears: the war and pets. blog.telegram.lvivcenter.org/blog/dataset...

One of the Albanian government's main challenges has been to combat corruption and to shed the image of a deeply corrupt state as it aspires to join the EU. So it's noteworthy that PM Edi Rama invited the disgraced, indicted and lame-duck mayor of New York who melded personal and political profit.

A state that praises war criminals offends decency and law. Convicted war criminal Nebojsa Pavkovic, against whom I testified at the UN war crimes tribunal, has been embraced at home after early release. balkaninsight.com/2025/09/29/a...

Serbia Welcomes Back Army General Sentenced for Kosovo War Crimes

A Serbian government plane took convicted war criminal Nebojsa Pavkovic home on Sunday, following his early release from a 22-year prison sentence on health grounds.

balkaninsight.com

The #Albania government has touted the world's 1st "AI minister" as a win for transparency. But algorithmic decision-making turns away from light, especially without independent monitoring and other controls. The corruption this is supposed to combat can flourish in code.

www.bbc.com/news/live/c0...

Gaza latest: BBC and news agencies warn journalists in Gaza are at risk of starvation

The warning comes after the UN's humanitarian agency warns the level of aid getting into Gaza is

bbc.com

A well done article by @dennismiskic.bsky.social, in German, on the TikTok ban in #Albania and, more broadly, an "increasingly authoritarian state that can arbitrarily allow or prohibit things." There's no VPN to circumvent that. www.wienerzeitung.at/a/tiktok-ver...

On this somber day, 30 years since the Srebrenica genocide, some thoughts on the bold Serbian students demanding a brighter future in their country and grappling with a darker past. #Srebrenica30 #Kosovo

Euractiv@euractiv.com · last yr.

Serbia’s bold protests and buried crimes

In June, Serbia's ex-police chief Vlastimir Djordjevic returned home after 18yrs in prison for war crimes in #Kosovo, including moving about 1,000 bodies to hide the crimes. I testified in his trial. Instead of demanding answers, the Serbian govt let him rename a street after the units he once led.

Extraordinary piece showing how Russian forces arm and use small drones in their shameful war on Ukrainian civilians to hunt and kill people trying to go about their lives in Kherson www.hrw.org/feature/2025...

Listen, Run, Hide

Since the summer of 2024, Russian forces have increasingly armed quadcopter drones and used them to chase, injure, and kill residents living in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.

hrw.org

I have just published a letter to the Federal Minister of Interior of #Germany in which I ask the authorities to uphold #FreedomOfExpression and #Peaceful Assembly in the context of the conflict in #Gaza. Read the letter ⬇️ www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

The Commissioner asks the German authorities to uphold freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the context of the conflict in Gaza - Commissioner for Human Rights - www.coe.int

Strasbourg 19/06/2025

coe.int

28 yrs ago, exiled artist Edi Rama criticized Europe in the New York Times for backing a strongman in #Albania. Those words echo differently today after he secured a 4th term as Prime Minister. My piece in @euractiv.com on his diplomacy abroad, dominance at home: www.euractiv.com/section/poli...