NATO believes that the Western Balkans is a region of strategic importance. The summit that was held July 11-12 specifically expressed support for the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Balkan countries. Macedonia was officially invited to join the alliance.
The people of Kosovo were and still are cheering for joy. The European Commission (EC) recently decided that Kosovars won’t need visas any more to visit EU countries. Up to now, getting such visas was a horrendously complicated and bureaucratic procedure, especially hurtful, since Kosovo, with a population of about 1.8 million Kosovars living in Kosovo, has a diaspora estimated at 800,000 to a million, most of them in western Europe. For Kosovars, with close-knit families, 90+ percent Albanian Muslims, being able to visit their relatives and friends is a priority.
Christoph and I are back! After a long hiatus we have returned with a jam packed episode. In the first segment we discuss the bizarre “bomb plot” to attack the recent MEK Summit in Paris. Then we explore the allegations that this was orchestrated by the Iranian government and the bogus claims by the West and Israel about a network of sleeper cells across Europe. We then turn to a discussion about those swept up in the investigation–including an Iranian diplomat from Austria.
Why did NATO attack Yugoslavia in 1999, killing perhaps as many as 2,500 civilians? Here are some possible answers as Vladimir Golstein reflects back on that ugly episode. By Vladimir Golstein in Belgrade Special to Consortium News Right across the…Read more →
Vanessa Beeley and Whitney Webb
Mint Press News
Was hoping to get to this last week- no such luck- Still worth reading. I'm omitting the parts about the recent success in Daraa including the taking of the very strategic border crossing between Jordan and Syria since that was all covered in friday's post: What of Daraa? Israel Warns Syria- "Rebels" Reach Deal with RussiaWithout further adieu...Pepe Escobar- Asia Times excerpts in blue
What to make of the tweet from an Israeli academic regarding the manipulation of the Turkish Lira?Be sure to share some thoughts!Middle East Monitor
Book review: Media, Propaganda and the Politics of Intervention by Florian Zollmann
by Ian Sinclair
Peace News
June-July 2018
‘The biggest immediate single problem we face… is mainstream media reporting’, British historian Mark Curtis recently argued in an Open Democracy interview about UK foreign policy.
This is the second part of a two part interview discussing E William Engdahl's latest book- Manifest Destiny: Democracy as Cognitive Dissonance ( I love that title!)The interview is approximately an hour in length- same as the first part. Time well spent. In my opinion, that is. The First part is available here:
Britain’s collusion with radical Islam: Interview with Mark Curtis
by Ian Sinclair
Open Democracy
20 March 2018
