Jahja's Blog

Subject: How did Assad survive? Date: 28 April 2018

By Jahja Muhasilovic On May 17, 2018, the EU member states gathered together with their colleagues from the Western Balkans to discuss the European perspective of the region. This was the first meeting of its kind since the famous 2003 EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki, where a European perspective was promised to the region. The EU had for too long been ignoring the integration of the Western Balkans. This view is confirmed even by the words of the Croatian prime minister, who said, “For too long we’ve been waiting for a meeting in this format.” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama struck a similar tone a day before the Summit during his interview with Euronews, where he said the EU should open the negotiation chapters as this would cost Europe “nothing, not even a cent”, while for Albania, “it is a matter of life and death”. On the other hand, neglect has apparently created disappointment in the region as it has forced some populist politicians there to look for alternat

By Jahja Muhasilovic A few days ago, 13 Russians and three firms were charged by the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Apparently, enough material that supports the theory of Russian meddling was found. The Russians are accused of spreading propaganda through social media by using "bots" and for various intelligence operations, like hacking the emails of the Democratic Party and many other accusations. Social media activism and fake news are believed to be an important reason why Trump won the 2016 presidential elections. Through well planned shadowy operations, the Kremlin managed to influence public opinion regarding the candidates. The United States is not the only country where Russians are actively running operations aiming to weaken the Western-built international system. Following the crisis over Ukraine and Crimea in 2014, the Kremlin decided to operate under the aggressive premise of "act to wid

By Jahja Muhasilovic Recent political maneuvers in the Balkans indicate that the US has decided to more effectively counter growing Russian assertiveness in the Balkans. Russia has become a serious factor of destabilization in the region as the West has forsaken the region. Now the US has decided to play its card. After the crisis over Ukraine and Crimea back in 2014, the Kremlin has taken a dangerous yet from its perspective a necessary premise in the foreign policy. Russia is actively trying to undermine the Western influence wherever it can in the world, by widening the cracks that have appeared in the Western-built international system. This new strategy implies integrated network of activities from supporting various ultra-nationalist elements across the Western world that are undermining multilateralism, financing neo-Nazi groups to well-planned cyber-attacks, spreading fake news, social media propaganda through ‘bots’, or even meddling in the elections, like in the case

    A two-day visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Serbia and his meeting with President Aleksandar Vucic has caused quite a commotion in the Balkans. This visit was on the agenda of the regional media long before Erdogan arrived in Serbia. The reason this bilateral meeting has drawn a lot of attention is the fact that the two leaders are going to speak about issues that will bear implications for the greater region. Turks feeding Balkans' energy hunger When the idea for the visit was born during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, it was agreed that two leaders should sit and speak about energy issues in the region, a great concern for both countries, especially after the EU's shooting down of the "South Stream Project" as a reaction to the Russian annexation of Crimea. Eyes of regional politicians were set on this project as the majority of countries are almost totally dependent on Russian gas. However, the EU's dismissal has