@@SYED_SHAH07 and they do, somewhat(?). Croats and Croatia and a fifth of FBiH and share Brcko, Slovenes have Slovenia, Romanians have Romania, Bulgarians have Bulgaria, Turkishmen have Turkey, Greeks have Greece, Albanians have Albania & Kosovo, Serbs have Serbia and Republika Srpska (not realy a country 🤷♂️) and share Brcko, and Bosniaks… they only have four fifths of FBiH and share Brcko, which isn't even a country itself, FBiH is part of BiH
The story is from The World Crisis (1923) by Winston Churchill, who was first lord of the Admiralty in 1914: “The night before (Friday), at dinner, I had met Herr [Albert] Ballin. He had just arrived from Germany. We sat next to each other, and I asked him what he thought about the situation. Within the first few words he spoke it became clear that he had not come on any mission of pleasure. He said the situation was grave. “I remember,” he said, “old Bismarck telling me the year before he died that one day the great European War would come out of some damn foolish thing in the Balkans.” These words, he said, might come true.” So it's a quote of Churchill of a quote of a quote
Who could've seen that one coming? Probably the foreigners at the root of creating the divisions: the people behind the Schism of 1054 and, after that, the Ottomans.
What crisis? Be specific! South East Europe is a diverse place. Croatia for example is a highly developed country (as measured by HDI and iHDI). It is also one of the safest countries in the world, as the Crime Index and Global Peace Index show. Don't believe everything you hear on the internet, eapecially when it comes to slander from this alternative media platform.
@@captainchaoscow yeah. didnt you know? Balkans need the conflict tonstay alive. Absolutely no reason for the countries there to exist separately. The politicians just use the nationalism to get elected
Please check your facts: 1) There were no snap elections in Croatia, elections were held as scheduled after the end of the 4-year cycle. 2) Main Serb minority party (SDSS) does not represent "123 thousand people", as they won just 32 thousand votes because the majority of Serbs in Croatia do not vote for SDSS, being notorious as an extremely corrupt party, not doing anything to improve life of Serbs in Croatia. Therefore Serbs usually vote for left-wing parties in Croatia, like SDP. 3) HDZ's post-election coalition partner is not "anti-Serb", but "anti-SDSS", which they accuse of corruption and using their minority position to harvest state money.
I don't know about the others, but Croatia is one of the most peaceful countries Europe. It ranks 14th in the Global Peace Index from 2023, thus it is slightly above Germany.
@@YourD3estinY all our balkan people are peaceful, it is our greedy corrupt politicians and external powers using us as pawns that causes all this trouble
I can totally agree, if by being the Balkans you mean safe and highly developed place like Croatia, with one of the highest GDP and wage growths in the EU.
@@YourD3estinY These fearmongering videos always suck anyway. All they do is spread more hate and fear for literally no reason. Republika Srpska will never cecede, Serbia is not a Russian ally like Belarus. It's not only Croatia being slandered, pretty much everyone is.
@@jpsion No idea what you are trying to say. Point is no major escalation appears pretty much every time stupid videos like this are posted, ESPECIALLY when talking about dumbass Dodik who has wanted to "cecede" the past 15 years or so.
@@kiki88561 croatia was not being slandered in any way,. they only mentioned how corruption is a big issue which it is. this guy is talking about development and life in croatia even though he does not know anything about it.
In Croatia, not ONLY accused, but sentenced for corruption by the judge saying hdz is a corruptive criminal organisation. fyi there is apsolute media freedom in croatia.
Such videos always tend to show "all of the Balkans" as one state or one type of society with the same social and political issues, when in fact the stereotipical "Balkan problems" can only be found in Bosnia and Kosovo.
@@maspalfikerExactly. This is a basically a racist attitude. If you treat them all the same irrespective of what they achieve and how highly developed they are and equate them to the warmongers Vucic and Dodik. 🤦♂️🤦♂️
This video is grouping the issues of this region and therefore asosiating all these issues with all of the countries there. It is not fair to associate threatning a war with Kosovo and 10 year old corruption case of Ivo Sanader who was fully trialed and convicted. Same is for equating Russian influence in the region like this. There is a huge differenec in the influence of Russian capital in Serbia, Republika Srpska and Crna Gora compared to Kosovo, Croatia and Slovenia. Russian capital has a strong influence in the UK and in Belgium as well but you would never group them with Belarus as an extreme example or Hungary and Turkey as less extreme examples. Stop grouping these countries together like this all the time, especially when there is a clearly negative context.
The Croatian DP is also just proclaimed to be "anti Serb, anti minority". Meanwhile, DP has Serb members in high party and government positions. And the "Serbian minority rights" is code for "1% of the electorate can decide which of the other two 49% sides get to form the government".
Agreed. I wish us northern Europeans would stop thinking and talking about former Yugoslavia as "former Yugoslavia" and replace our vague, antiquated, region-wide prejudices with granular, updated, country-specific prejudices.
As someone from serbia, great comment. Corruption in Montenegro or Croatia are incomparable to autocracy in serbia. By grouping the region like this he is kinda relativising the entire balkans. For example Croatias gdp per capita is twice as big as that of serbia, and democracy is stable compared to entire region. But from this video you kinda get the atmosphere we're all similar. Whilst difference in terms of economy of some balkan states are as big as difference between like poland and Germany. And as always too easy on vucic, representing serbia as if we just have a democracy problem, not as if we are a dictatorship
Hello, the video is well structured and gives a good overview of the situation, but some facts related to Croatia are not well contextualized and well explained. The elections were not held because of the appointment of a new state attorney, but because the prime minister wanted to combine two electoral victories in the parliamentary and European elections in a relatively short period of time. There were protests, but they were not big. And as for the formation of the coalition, the main reason why the DP advocates the expulsion of the members of the Serbian minority and the parliamentary majority is the complicated electoral system where the minorities have guaranteed seats in the parliament and can decide with their vote and be the tip of the scales. The DP party considers this an injustice.
Exactly, In Croatia Serbian minority gets 3 guaranteed seats in the parliament even tho they are only 3.2% of population, and in this election only 65% population voted so basically serbs gained 3 seats with 2% while, minimum to gain a seat in electoral area is 5%...
@@Sponcek Serb Minority always form government even though they are 3% of population. Why is it a scandal that for once they aren't in governing coalition ? because they are used to using that power to steal. Did Serbs ever include Albanians in their government before Kosovo independence even though they were like 20%+ of population back then. The answer is no. They are hypocrites.
Giving minorities over representation can be a good way to make them feel safe and satisfied in the country where they’re a minority. This was long true of Wales and Scotland for instance.
It perfectly explains the corruption in Croatia and HDZ. That is the main thing why so many people moved away, only Irish beat this numbers and not even the Jews.
@@Sponcekit’s common practice in most countries that national minority parties either have guaranteed seats or where they don’t have guaranteed seats but electoral threshold don’t apply to them. That’s why for example even though Hungarians are even less of a minority in Serbia than Serbs in Croatia with 2.8% of population they gained 6 seats in Serbian parliament last elections.
While in the rest of Europe wars were constantly erupting and dying down, where empires were constantly rising and falling, the Balkans have been a beacon of stability for over 2 millennia.
The EU hasn't helped in this case to say the least. Furthermore, they helped push things the other way around... which just goes on to show that private interest exceed the will of the people even in EU. I am a big suporter of EU rule of law, but it is now clearer than ever that due to a powerful elite in the west the Balkans will never be stabilized... Russian influence isn't only clear in the Balkans, it was and is still present in the EU as well, a bit hypocritical given it's official standpoint don't you think?
Croatia is a very calm and peaceful country. It ranks high both in the safety index as well as the Global Peace Index 2023, where it ranks above Germany and below Finland.
Isn't Vode lejen accused of corruption while COVID? Or UK (CITY) and offshores haven for dirty money? I think there is a documentary on this. One of the main reasons they left EU.
The Balkans has entirely too much history - history that happened in the past, history happening in the present and history that will unfold in the future.
As an eastern european there way too many points that were either missed or not represented accurately in this video. It is clear that TLDR has no idea the hell they are actually talling about
"The Balkans is in a bit of a state". That is incorrect. The Balkans is not in a state. In fact we created a word specifically because it is not in a state. The Balkans is in multiple states, it is balkanized.
Corruption perception index in Western Balkans according to Wikipedia (higher is less corrupt): Slovenia 56 Croatia 50 Montenegro 46 North Macedonia 42 Kosovo 41 Albania 37 Serbia 36 Bosnia 35
@@limazulu6660 I didn't say that, I consider us a part of the Balkans too :) the corruption here is less blatant and more in the Western style, but it definitely exists.
@@limazulu6660 Albanian here I don't even consider myself part of the Balkans in reality I don't even understand what these Balkans are...Balkan is a Turkish term that was originally used for some mountains in Bulgaria for us the real name will always remain the Illyrian peninsula, not the Balkans
As a serb, don't worry nothing big is coming up. Political leaders create tension themselves and then "solving", them so they could be viewed as a "factor of stability" by the west and buy cheap political points at home. Vucic and Dodiks have been doing that for more than a decade and some western media stil buys it and serbian voters as well
region would be stable if our politicans could find a agreement and a compromise whithout Russian or western influence but we are to dependent on them economically and politically
I'm from the Balkans. And I guarantee you: without external political influences and stakeholders, this region would be a peaceful one. This whole shit started with the split between the Eastern Roman and Western Roman empires. We are in between and have to pay for it, in the end we are the primitive.
😂😂😂😂 This shit started since antient Greece supposed agrarian society in semipermanent state of wars between their city- polis. Then, let me remind you who actually caused the crisis of the Roman Empire?? You know that now today Serbs proudly say that 20 emperors were from what today is Serbia 😂😂😂😂😂 That pretty much destroyed the Empire Sure Diocletian fixed the leakage for a while.. and ofc raise taxes lol how typical again 😂😂😂
@@p0t4toePotato Because It's not about wanting to be the aggressor, It's about who's the victim. That's the whole reason for these conflicts. Everyone thinks they're the victim and that the other side is evil, and it just snowballs. The arbitrary handling of the situation in the Balkans also didn't help and that is the reason nobody's happy currently.
Honestly this video could and should have been so much better. It's sad how basic your knowledge of the region and it's affairs is. For example not mentioning the situation in North Macedonia at all, not mentioning that the high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina is as much to blame as dodik is for the rise in separatist rhetoric or not mentioning how my home country Montenegro is battling with organised crime and the Mafia, considering it used to be and still to some extent is state run by the Mafia and different drug cartels
I mean, western Europe never went through what the Balkans went and while I may be from Bulgaria and not the western part of our peninsula there's a reason why we joke about the westerners when translating the word in our language to "западняци" [zapadnyàzci], which can also be translated to the ones who are falling coming from our word for falling "падам" [pàdam]. They just haven't lived in those times. You lads as a part of Yugoslavia and later to deal with Mafia leaders and us here dealing with a budget version of Russia's oligarchy when we used to be in their sphere of influence, which we still to a degree are
I agree that he should have mentioned North Macedonia because the new government that has just been sworn in yesterday is already threatening EU accession by promising to change the name of the country and fighting constitution changes. But I think that Montenegro is relatively stable and Bosnia is always a hot mess, you can't include everything, but it is clear that Dodik is the main problem considering his strong ties to Russia and the pan-serbian meeting he just held with Vucic.
The NORTH adjective is fascist and illegally imposed by paid corrupt and blackmailed politicians. The only way for Macedonia to continue it's path towards EU is to revert this illegal activity after the perpetrators stand trial. Otherwise, Macedonia will not have the standard of law and justice required to be an EU country.
I'm actually sad to see the Balkans in such a sad state of affairs. It'd seem great if they'd all joined the EU, but I doubt that would improve things locally and between each Balkan country.
A lot of these tensions could've been solved only if NATO was supporting national borders between the countries. Now there's a situation where you've got dysfunctional states like Bosnia or partly recognized states like Kosovo. If dissolution was performed based on nationality, all countries could become true national states, which is why Yugoslavia broke up in the first place. There's no guarantee that this would solve corruption, probably on the opposite but at least there wouldn't be as much nationalist tensions as there is now. In the end, I can only draw a conclusion that this is what West actually wanted, although I can't seem to understand why, having in mind stable Balkans means stable Europe as well...
Yeah more NATO intervention in the region should do the trick right? NATO helped Albanians in Kosovo get their self determination already and while I do think it was the right thing to do it definitely did not decrease tensions in the region on the opposite Kosovo is the one post Yugoslav state that seems to cause the most anger in Serbia despite being less than 10% ethnically Serbian. The best thing to do is just keep the status quo and let time heal the wounds of the break up of Jugoslavia. Also combatting Russian influence in the region would be a good thing but I have no idea how to go about it.
Nato or not for Bosnia and Herzegovina its more a matter of "frozen conflict" via Dayton that has come into question as the current political landscape is different: Croats are not longer big allyes of Bosnian muslims since Bosniaks would rig the election in their favour so now they want republika herzeg-bosna a srpska 2.0. While Dodik is activly fighting against provocative actions from Sarajevo. As for Kosovo, it is definently lost for Serbia but no one wants to admit this reality because that would be a suicide. Besides no one wants to repeat 1999. Its all political barganin of Belgrade and a social experiment for how long can Serbia recive support from all corners of the world in this time of polarisation.
The American ambassador in Sarajevo, Mr. Murphy, has given himself the right to close the bank account of any person or organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If the bank refuses to do so, then the bank is prevented from using the Swift. It seems as if real life in Bosnia and Herzegovina is copied from Kafka's novels
For as long there's Serbian people in Republika Srpska we will not want to be part of Bosnia, Dodik didn't magically decide he wants to secede, it's what people of RS want.
@@Sava.SAnd become an independent republic or join autocratic Serbia? Serbia cannot win any more land, if Dodik pushes for joining Serbia then Kosovo's fate is on the line(along with the rest of the Balcans), it cannot be allowed.
Well said, same thig for vucic. Half of these tensions are orchestrated by the leaders themselves, particularly when it comes to kosovo and serbia. And western media still takes these guys seriously
@@quiquemarquez3211 People in Republika Srpska are not blind ,they see double standards ,Albanians are given by west second Albnian country while they are not allow to have simple democratic thing call REFERENDUM
It is sooo much more complicated than what you said. We have been divided so we can be ruled over, but the divide was so horrendous that no one was interested in conquering anymore. About half of every balkan entity is pro nazi out of pure shadenfreude and everyone is corrupt out of sheer desperation. Anyone actually capable of anything fled the region cementing the hopelessness. Ursula, I hope you washed your hands real well btw.
Officially there is no "northern cyprus" as it isn't recognized by any country except Turkey. Officially it's still one country and people who live in "northern cyprus" have Cypriot=EU passports. Haven't you realized it? How about read about it and verify what I wrote?
@@hamlet557 they have north Cypriot and Turkish passports too. They have their own govt, elections as well as control of their territory. Republic of Cyprus has no jurisdiction in Northern Cyprus.
@@shafsteryellow For EU they are considered European citizens as citizens of Cyprus. If they have other passports too fron Kiribati, Tuvalu or Samoa doesn't concern the EU. These are the facts of the case.
@@hamlet557 That's the EUs choice fact is they're immediately eligible for those citizenship. Fact of the matter is Republic of Cyprus has no presence in Northern Cyprus
@@shafsteryellow Yes, northern part of Cyprus is known playground for turks who want to enjoy casinos and brothels but not in their islamic country. Again: not a concern for EU.
Genarally Bulgarians don't bother the EU, and I find it positive. It means it's a somewhat stable country avoiding extremes. I think that Bulgaria is a sucessful membership, even though of course not perfect. I always argued with Turks about Bulgaria.
For the love of GOD! Guys! Don't waste your time on this incredibly misinformed and outright wrong analysis of the current events in the western Balkans. The dude made so many amateur mistakes it's actually baffling how confidently he presents them as facts (honestly nothing new coming from a westerner). Also the condescending comments under the video, making the same unoriginal joke out of the political issues in the Balkans and towards South Slavs and Albanians is just a cherry on top.
The UK must rejoin the EU, to pay for Ukraine debt and Balkan countries to join. The wealthy Brits will be able to visit their holiday houses in the south of France with less hassle once again, the everyday Brit will just see their wages drop again, like what happened when Romania and Bulgaria were allowed to work here.
I don't think the UK can join again. I think it's a "once you leave, you're out" kind of deal. Why have a withdrawal mechanism if you just can join again once you've left?
@@johannessamuelsson6578 You can apply to join, but the conditions will be different and the EU will make sure that all political parties want to join.
does that mean the EU will not change the border based on ethnic lines in Bosnia where 90% of the people from Republika Srpska are Serbs and want to secede, but Nato bombed Serbia so that the Albanians in Kosovo would get a state? I am so confused....
Well I think that context always matters. Serbs in Bosnia were committing a full out genocide to bosniaks to gain independence. Plus not to mention the many problems a separation would bring. On the other hand, Serbia was committing a whole other genocide to Kosovo Albanians just for the hell of it. The whole world united and decided to stop Milosevic at that point. I kindly suggest you to look at the entire list of events and not just the endgame.
Yeah, because Serbs where the ones commiting ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. You can even see how the ethnic lines shifted after Serbia invaded. Personally, I don't think Serbia should be rewarded for their genocide against Bosnia & Herzegovina, but maybe that's just me.
@reaperz5677 You have no idea what you are talking about. You are either biased or brainwashed by CNN. Yugoslavia was one Country, Serbs lived in all former Yugoslav states for centuries. It was Nato that tried to expelled them from their homes by supporting every communist region of Yugoslavia and forming new States / Nations based on communist division lines. In Croatia they even succeed since they managed to expel more than 400000 Serbs ( type Oluja on yt and see video for your self ) Goal was clear, give Serbia as little as possible. But were they went beyond even communist lines is Kosovo. That was simply a demonstration of force and brutal nato agrasion against Serbia. They took a fact that at the time around 45% of Muslims live in Kosovo, land where Serbia was form and where orthodox Christianity survived even the ottomans and ethnicly clans almost all Serbs ( now there is only around 10% of Serbs left there, rest are Albaninas) They did that without permission of UN and bombed Chinise ambasy in Belgrade at the time. Why? Just because they could. And now they are wondering why the rest of the world don't like them xD I think it's time for people in west to take control again from corrupt and evil politicians and stop this madness.
Classic serb. Serbs started this shit. Albanians just copied the formula😂 anyway before war in bosnia started serbs didnt make 90% of RS but ofc they made ethnicleansing there and they almost did it in croatia
Just keeping things in perspective here: nominal GDP of the whole of the former Jugoslavia is about half of gross revenue for Apple Inc. in the same year. When you can buy off an official with an iPhone of box of cigarettes, no wonder Russia can have so much sway. Starting with Montenegro, the EU should Lee-Kuan-Yew the southern Slavs, one state at a time. Create a government of excellent paid positions where English is the official language with all subjects at the university level (except literature and languages) taught in English. (English proficiency in the Western Balkans is already very high.) Import qualified educators in the sciences and finance, and reshape the lackluster banks in the country. Focus development and investment in urban centres, specifically into more compact, desirable, and efficient use of space. Finally take a zero tolerance to corruption. Montenegro is a tiny country, with a tiny government budget already using the euro, and a lot of potential. There are more good people looking to do good things all across the southern Slavic world but there just aren't many opportunities and certainly isn't a lot of hope. Give them legitimate ways to become moderately wealthy and break the generations long cycle of cynicism. My two cents. BTW, if you're a European and you haven't toured the former Jugoslavia yet, do so. Absolutely beautiful place from Slovenia to (N) Macedonia. So diverse and very affordable.
Its sad that you didnt mention how Bulgaria blocks North Macedonia and for what bizarre reasons. Which made the country to think that the agreement with Greece was for nothing (the name change). Also for the balkan countries seeing how fast Ukraine and Moldova started negotiations, keeping in mind that they were negotiating for years before that. I believe they find it really demotivating
@@erikk.137I didnt say they cant have interests. But it is bizarre to tell someone in the 21 century who they are and expect from them to change their identity and language. Would you do that?
@@azureblue5440 even if you came to these places several centuries after Alexander the Great and you are Slavs and not Greeks and you have Bulgarian names not Greek. you simply have an identity problem where you want to be someone, even if the identity is stolen
@@erikk.137as an albanian i agree, 'Macedonian' is a region and not an ethnicity. It is a land of Albanian and Bulgarians. It is like saying Kosovan is an ethnicity 😂
So by your logic both the nations you listed exist since the start of the universe? Nations come and go, new arrive. You cat tell anyone who they are. And why do you attack me, im not even from there, im just saying how bullied is the country.
2:09 Neoliberal reforms always lead to increased inequality, which can shift the balance of power in society. Inequality creates power dynamics that can gradually erode institutions, as economic influence translates into media, political, and social sway.
Well Croatia is a member of EU since 2013 and it is not in the Western Balkan group of countries any more. Different economy, different problems and solutions. In my opinion, the most likely countries to join the EU anytime soon are Albania, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia, although Montenegro is now further from that gold than few years earlier. I think Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia and Kosovo wont join EU in next 10 to 15 years.
Man, you really don’t know a lot about Balkans, I can believe you even want to deal with it in your magazine. First you have to say that Kosovo is by mandatory UNSC resolution part of Serbia. The fact that your country recognize it, does not abolish you-you are researcher and your country actually broke intel law by recognizing UDI.
Second, Vucic did more for Kosovo than any other Serbian leader before. To believe that Vucic saying Serbia will leave CoE is the reason why Kosovo is not there is laughable. Who cares if Serbia is out? Its because Kurti is conducting ethnic cleaning of Serbs in Kosovo and also legalities. 12 Members of Coe do not recognize that illegal creation.
Kosovo is not a Member of CoE because of what Vucic said, thats laughable. Its because Kurti is conducting ethnic cleaning of Serbs and having a lot of unilateral measures in that regard and also because 12 members CoE do not recognize Kosovo, which you are just skipping saying every time
The previous Balkan conflict was stopped just before they went to the finals. Thats why the tensions have always been high, had they fought that final battle they mosy likely would have respected each other😅
That "final battle" would have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. It looks like for you the life of a human being is just a joke.
@@davidkanizsai9914 Because it is, and also depends on the individual. But the universe doesn't care ether way, only liberals and religious people think we should save everyone. + In geopolitics lives not only a joke, but a pawns to be used. The sooner you get it, the better.🙄
Experiment: start your videos on the Balkans by talking about centuries of Ottoman rule and see what the mouth feel is, i.e., does it sound like you're letting successions of corrupt and nationalist leaders off the hook? And consider this the next time you release a video about Southern Africa
Indeed. If the only thing keeping a lid on things is the prospect of membership, what happens once they're inside and no longer need to suck up to the EU?
Its so disappointing to see TLDR fail yet again on another Balkan-Video at addressing the rising autocracy and corruption in Albania led by Edi Rama. ☹️☹️☹️
he is not here to please the Albanian opposition which is even more corrupt...he talks about all the Balkans being equally corrupt and about geopolitics of Serbian irredentism fueled by Russia the mistakes of the European Union ect ect
@@lorenclorenc Oh more simple he doesn't know anything and only focus on the obvious. Thats what happens when a 12 year old thinks he is Bismarck and lectures about instability of the balkans from EuroNews soundbites.. Especially an English boy without a single GCSE. Now that we got that out of the way, the Albanian opposition is corrupt but Edi Rama is Erdogan's surrogate in Albania. He follows Erdogan's book for autocracy. He is clever enough though to not piss off the Americans.
Sure if you're an uhljeb who has a HDZ political card then it's perfectly fine for you. For anybody else , it's dog shit to live there and the political party that has ruled the country for majority of its exitance is a big cause for it. I moved out to another country recently cause there is no future there at all thanks to HDZ wining constantly and having their corrupt hands around everyones throats and now they made a coalition with an extremist political group who thinks hanging up crosses everywhere and singing about deporting Serbians is the main goal in life.
@@ZlatkoTheGodhow so? There were the elections. So people had an opportunity to vote in completely free and regular elections, unlike in the countries of the mentioned West Balkans. The fact is that Croatias former 2nd largest party SDP lost a lot of valuble members and at this point they would not be able to establish a stable government.
@@wisehippo3072 Neoliberalism is an economic ideology especially favored by the US, UK, & France. It has been enforced sometimes by military or covert means & sometimes by more open means such as EU, IMF, & World Bank pressure or US sanctions. The function of neoliberalism is to increase wealth inequality in a society, consolidate capitalist control over democracy, & integrate colonized & semi-colonized polities into subservient roles in the western imperial world order. In the specific case of ex-Yugoslav & ex-Soviet republics, neoliberal economists designed an approach they called "Shock Therapy Capitalism" which utterly devastated the economies of the target nations & any prospective power they may have had on the international stage for decades.
I love how you use logic that would be suitable for maybe Sweden or Denmark instead of actually addressing Balkan issues which is 99% unresolved borders/minority/constituent peoples rights from the breakup of exyu
Someone please explain to me why back in the 90s the Serb and Croat parts of Bosnia weren’t allowed to just go join Serbia and Croatia respectively? Everyone could have had their corners to themselves and had a nice timeout.
Cause it was hard to draw ethnic borders considering how much the entities mixed in Yugoslavia and there was a big economic impact that it would have on all sides.
@@meeeee8745 So they explain Kosovo which was never republic in Yugoslavia but province inside Serbia like Crimea was province inside Ukraine ,they were given just becase Albanians were mayority and Albanian's allready have own country is called Albania ,in west turned blind eye off ethnics cleansing off 2/3 off Serb population and like 100% off Roma population
You conveniently left out how HDZ today is not like HDZ 10 or 15 years ago. Under Plenković it went closer to the center. Many anti HDZ people conveniently leave out that part and how it didn't get into trouble with EU like Fidesz and PiS. Domovinski Pokret is basically a splinter party of that older faction of HDZ.
PiS is not a radical right, but a classic conservative group with centrist and radical right wings. Fidesz are pro-Russian populists, just to remind you
“When the Balkans are involved, no problems are solved”
- Sun Tsuvić, The Art of War
😂 best one so far
@@myowngenesis Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I choked on my juice reading this. Good one.
😂😂😂 oh fuck..true that.
Hahahahahahahah😂
Nah Sunislav Tsuvić
So things are pretty normal in the Balkans.
The trouble with the Balkans is that they are too Balkanized.
@@SYED_SHAH07 and they do, somewhat(?). Croats and Croatia and a fifth of FBiH and share Brcko, Slovenes have Slovenia, Romanians have Romania, Bulgarians have Bulgaria, Turkishmen have Turkey, Greeks have Greece, Albanians have Albania & Kosovo, Serbs have Serbia and Republika Srpska (not realy a country 🤷♂️) and share Brcko, and Bosniaks… they only have four fifths of FBiH and share Brcko, which isn't even a country itself, FBiH is part of BiH
If it wasn’t for football I wouldn’t know about all of these Balkan countries who hate Serbia
@@SYED_SHAH07thats just stupid, its much easier to control and steal from a smaller nation than it is from a bigger one.
@@euansmith3699yeah I think there was a time it was united under one flag, but that didn't work out well, did it?
Roses are green
Violets are black
The Balkan region is stable.
😂😂😂
Thanks to Turkish colonization.
@@captainchaoscowthanks to the shit brains of people living there
Lacks the line:
"Like Macron's dirty back"
Technically roses are (partially) green
Maybe we broke up physically but we are united by corruption.
You guys should create one country again and call it Corruptionia.
@@klausjack8731 We will, after we squeeze out every Euro from the EU funds.
@@b-art6098 And by we you mean less than 1% of the people from each country
Yeah, Ottoman empire lives!!! :)
@@rohen5679more like 50%, don't virtue signal
"Its gonna be some damned Thing in the Balkans"
-Otto von Bismarck
He was talking about Albania at the time.
@@TheSouth-j7fAlbanian didn't existed then
That's actually a fake quote
@@Ma_ksi"If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans." That's a quote at least.
The story is from The World Crisis (1923) by Winston Churchill, who was first lord of the Admiralty in 1914:
“The night before (Friday), at dinner, I had met Herr [Albert] Ballin. He had just arrived from Germany. We sat next to each other, and I asked him what he thought about the situation. Within the first few words he spoke it became clear that he had not come on any mission of pleasure. He said the situation was grave. “I remember,” he said, “old Bismarck telling me the year before he died that one day the great European War would come out of some damn foolish thing in the Balkans.” These words, he said, might come true.”
So it's a quote of Churchill of a quote of a quote
The Balkans in crisis? Who could've seen that one coming?
They're like the married couple that just enjoys fighting. There's nothing to be done.
They were generally getting better overall despite issues. If Russia hadn’t enjoyed creating instability, this may well have continued.
Who could've seen that one coming?
Probably the foreigners at the root of creating the divisions: the people behind the Schism of 1054 and, after that, the Ottomans.
What crisis? Be specific! South East Europe is a diverse place. Croatia for example is a highly developed country (as measured by HDI and iHDI). It is also one of the safest countries in the world, as the Crime Index and Global Peace Index show. Don't believe everything you hear on the internet, eapecially when it comes to slander from this alternative media platform.
@@YourD3estinY Tbf Croatia is not included in this video.
Doesn't matter when you read the title.
Pretty condescending statement.
Maybe you think you are better?
@@captainchaoscow i mean they're not wrong lmao?? the balkan are always at it
The only thing that’s changed is that before the Euros didn’t exist.
@@schauschau2552At what exactly?
@@captainchaoscow yeah. didnt you know? Balkans need the conflict tonstay alive. Absolutely no reason for the countries there to exist separately. The politicians just use the nationalism to get elected
Please check your facts:
1) There were no snap elections in Croatia, elections were held as scheduled after the end of the 4-year cycle.
2) Main Serb minority party (SDSS) does not represent "123 thousand people", as they won just 32 thousand votes because the majority of Serbs in Croatia do not vote for SDSS, being notorious as an extremely corrupt party, not doing anything to improve life of Serbs in Croatia. Therefore Serbs usually vote for left-wing parties in Croatia, like SDP.
3) HDZ's post-election coalition partner is not "anti-Serb", but "anti-SDSS", which they accuse of corruption and using their minority position to harvest state money.
SDP is fake left wing
That's the thing about the Balkans, they are always tense and fighting each other one way or another.
The only stable time the Balkans have had in modern times were under Tito. After he bit the dust, the Balkans went back to normal again
Yes this started when antient greek supposed agrarian society was in semipermanent wars with their own cities.
@@milibait was 'stable' only between ethnic groups. But tito himself was a ruthless dictator
I don't know about the others, but Croatia is one of the most peaceful countries Europe. It ranks 14th in the Global Peace Index from 2023, thus it is slightly above Germany.
@@YourD3estinY all our balkan people are peaceful, it is our greedy corrupt politicians and external powers using us as pawns that causes all this trouble
"Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?"
Hey, hey I've seen this one. I've seen this one. This is a classic!
In other news the sky is blue and ice is made of water.
The Balkans being the Balkans lol.
I can totally agree, if by being the Balkans you mean safe and highly developed place like Croatia, with one of the highest GDP and wage growths in the EU.
@@YourD3estinY These fearmongering videos always suck anyway. All they do is spread more hate and fear for literally no reason. Republika Srpska will never cecede, Serbia is not a Russian ally like Belarus. It's not only Croatia being slandered, pretty much everyone is.
@@kiki88561 whitehashing much eh? how do you like them license plates?
@@jpsion No idea what you are trying to say. Point is no major escalation appears pretty much every time stupid videos like this are posted, ESPECIALLY when talking about dumbass Dodik who has wanted to "cecede" the past 15 years or so.
@@kiki88561 croatia was not being slandered in any way,.
they only mentioned how corruption is a big issue which it is.
this guy is talking about development and life in croatia even though he does not know anything about it.
The geopolitics of the Balkans is not for beginners
100%
6:33 there was no "snap election" in Croatia
He overexaggerated and misresepresented everything.
In Croatia, not ONLY accused, but sentenced for corruption by the judge saying hdz is a corruptive criminal organisation. fyi there is apsolute media freedom in croatia.
Such videos always tend to show "all of the Balkans" as one state or one type of society with the same social and political issues, when in fact the stereotipical "Balkan problems" can only be found in Bosnia and Kosovo.
@@maspalfikerExactly. This is a basically a racist attitude. If you treat them all the same irrespective of what they achieve and how highly developed they are and equate them to the warmongers Vucic and Dodik. 🤦♂️🤦♂️
@@maspalfikerWrong.
Bosnia and serbia are the most corrupted balkan countries
@@maspalfiker wherever Serbs live or are at least 30% of population, there will be problems and instability.
every time you design a magazine you need to relearn it. 😂
🤣
This video is grouping the issues of this region and therefore asosiating all these issues with all of the countries there. It is not fair to associate threatning a war with Kosovo and 10 year old corruption case of Ivo Sanader who was fully trialed and convicted. Same is for equating Russian influence in the region like this. There is a huge differenec in the influence of Russian capital in Serbia, Republika Srpska and Crna Gora compared to Kosovo, Croatia and Slovenia. Russian capital has a strong influence in the UK and in Belgium as well but you would never group them with Belarus as an extreme example or Hungary and Turkey as less extreme examples.
Stop grouping these countries together like this all the time, especially when there is a clearly negative context.
Excellent comment. But the author of this video knew exactly what he/she was doing. It is like always just a clickbait for us exYugoslavians.
The Croatian DP is also just proclaimed to be "anti Serb, anti minority". Meanwhile, DP has Serb members in high party and government positions. And the "Serbian minority rights" is code for "1% of the electorate can decide which of the other two 49% sides get to form the government".
Agreed. I wish us northern Europeans would stop thinking and talking about former Yugoslavia as "former Yugoslavia" and replace our vague, antiquated, region-wide prejudices with granular, updated, country-specific prejudices.
@@lor3608 Croatia ethinc clenased 90% off Serbs ,take their properties so all now this is just smoke screen
As someone from serbia, great comment. Corruption in Montenegro or Croatia are incomparable to autocracy in serbia. By grouping the region like this he is kinda relativising the entire balkans. For example Croatias gdp per capita is twice as big as that of serbia, and democracy is stable compared to entire region. But from this video you kinda get the atmosphere we're all similar. Whilst difference in terms of economy of some balkan states are as big as difference between like poland and Germany. And as always too easy on vucic, representing serbia as if we just have a democracy problem, not as if we are a dictatorship
Hello, the video is well structured and gives a good overview of the situation, but some facts related to Croatia are not well contextualized and well explained. The elections were not held because of the appointment of a new state attorney, but because the prime minister wanted to combine two electoral victories in the parliamentary and European elections in a relatively short period of time. There were protests, but they were not big. And as for the formation of the coalition, the main reason why the DP advocates the expulsion of the members of the Serbian minority and the parliamentary majority is the complicated electoral system where the minorities have guaranteed seats in the parliament and can decide with their vote and be the tip of the scales. The DP party considers this an injustice.
Exactly, In Croatia Serbian minority gets 3 guaranteed seats in the parliament even tho they are only 3.2% of population, and in this election only 65% population voted so basically serbs gained 3 seats with 2% while, minimum to gain a seat in electoral area is 5%...
@@Sponcek Serb Minority always form government even though they are 3% of population. Why is it a scandal that for once they aren't in governing coalition ? because they are used to using that power to steal. Did Serbs ever include Albanians in their government before Kosovo independence even though they were like 20%+ of population back then. The answer is no. They are hypocrites.
Giving minorities over representation can be a good way to make them feel safe and satisfied in the country where they’re a minority. This was long true of Wales and Scotland for instance.
It perfectly explains the corruption in Croatia and HDZ. That is the main thing why so many people moved away, only Irish beat this numbers and not even the Jews.
@@Sponcekit’s common practice in most countries that national minority parties either have guaranteed seats or where they don’t have guaranteed seats but electoral threshold don’t apply to them. That’s why for example even though Hungarians are even less of a minority in Serbia than Serbs in Croatia with 2.8% of population they gained 6 seats in Serbian parliament last elections.
While in the rest of Europe wars were constantly erupting and dying down, where empires were constantly rising and falling, the Balkans have been a beacon of stability for over 2 millennia.
Has it ever been calm in the Balkans? 😅
Yes, when the foreign Empires stayed away.
@@TheSouth-j7fbefore the ottomans?
@@TheSouth-j7fIf you have to return to pre-slavic times, than you can also say "No", it means pretty much the same thing.
yes, when the Roman empire ruled and kept domestic troubles away.
The EU hasn't helped in this case to say the least. Furthermore, they helped push things the other way around... which just goes on to show that private interest exceed the will of the people even in EU.
I am a big suporter of EU rule of law, but it is now clearer than ever that due to a powerful elite in the west the Balkans will never be stabilized... Russian influence isn't only clear in the Balkans, it was and is still present in the EU as well, a bit hypocritical given it's official standpoint don't you think?
Let's be fair: when the great powers of any period interfered in the Balkans, the people suffered.
As if Balkans aren't capable to suffer by themselves.
Glad to see there's some consistent things in this crazy world of ours!
The region was unstable during the Roman Republic.
Nothing unusual to see a flaring tension Balkan now or anytime soon, the reason is quite obvious.👨🎓
Anyone else notice the President of Serbia looks just like the face melt guy from Raiders of the Lost Arc?
You saying he's a nazi?
We nicknamed him "Pu55y lips"
he's not don't misconstrue the comment.
Vucic just looks like the guy@@pilotmemes
when has it ever been calm in the Balkans in modern history
Croatia is a very calm and peaceful country. It ranks high both in the safety index as well as the Global Peace Index 2023, where it ranks above Germany and below Finland.
@@YourD3estinYyou mean the sons of the ustasha 🤣
@@SnowLeopard-lt1vfSons of ustasha?By that logic Germans are nazis are Japanese and Italians still fascists right?
Political chaos and social unrest have plagued the Balkans following the dissolution of Yugoslavia which has severely hindered their economic growth.
Which was instigated by the US, with German backing. Weight of chains.
No shit!
"malign Russian influence".....
God forbid that someone else's influence is positive.
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Isn't Vode lejen accused of corruption while COVID?
Or UK (CITY) and offshores haven for dirty money?
I think there is a documentary on this. One of the main reasons they left EU.
The Balkans has entirely too much history -
history that happened in the past,
history happening in the present
and history that will unfold in the future.
As an eastern european there way too many points that were either missed or not represented accurately in this video. It is clear that TLDR has no idea the hell they are actually talling about
"The Balkans is in a bit of a state".
That is incorrect. The Balkans is not in a state. In fact we created a word specifically because it is not in a state. The Balkans is in multiple states, it is balkanized.
Corruption perception index in Western Balkans according to Wikipedia (higher is less corrupt):
Slovenia 56
Croatia 50
Montenegro 46
North Macedonia 42
Kosovo 41
Albania 37
Serbia 36
Bosnia 35
As a Slovenian, I can say that this is surprisingly accurate, and as most comments have suggested, unsurprising for the Balkans 🤦
Ah yes, here we go again with "Slovenia is not a Balkan country" 🤣
@@limazulu6660 I didn't say that, I consider us a part of the Balkans too :) the corruption here is less blatant and more in the Western style, but it definitely exists.
@@limazulu6660We aren’t😉
@@limazulu6660 Albanian here I don't even consider myself part of the Balkans in reality I don't even understand what these Balkans are...Balkan is a Turkish term that was originally used for some mountains in Bulgaria for us the real name will always remain the Illyrian peninsula, not the Balkans
No one is Balkan!
Not now Western Balkans, we’re busy.
As a serb, don't worry nothing big is coming up. Political leaders create tension themselves and then "solving", them so they could be viewed as a "factor of stability" by the west and buy cheap political points at home. Vucic and Dodiks have been doing that for more than a decade and some western media stil buys it and serbian voters as well
region would be stable if our politicans could find a agreement and a compromise whithout Russian or western influence but we are to dependent on them economically and politically
I'm from the Balkans. And I guarantee you: without external political influences and stakeholders, this region would be a peaceful one. This whole shit started with the split between the Eastern Roman and Western Roman empires. We are in between and have to pay for it, in the end we are the primitive.
No one believes you... Unless by peace you mean ethnic cleansing.
learn to get along, why is that so difficult dammit
😂😂😂😂
This shit started since antient Greece supposed agrarian society in semipermanent state of wars between their city- polis. Then, let me remind you who actually caused the crisis of the Roman Empire?? You know that now today Serbs proudly say that 20 emperors were from what today is Serbia 😂😂😂😂😂
That pretty much destroyed the Empire
Sure Diocletian fixed the leakage for a while.. and ofc raise taxes lol how typical again 😂😂😂
@@p0t4toePotato Because It's not about wanting to be the aggressor, It's about who's the victim. That's the whole reason for these conflicts. Everyone thinks they're the victim and that the other side is evil, and it just snowballs. The arbitrary handling of the situation in the Balkans also didn't help and that is the reason nobody's happy currently.
Fun fact: Russian sympathizers in Balkans are creating ethnic tensions
Honestly this video could and should have been so much better. It's sad how basic your knowledge of the region and it's affairs is. For example not mentioning the situation in North Macedonia at all, not mentioning that the high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina is as much to blame as dodik is for the rise in separatist rhetoric or not mentioning how my home country Montenegro is battling with organised crime and the Mafia, considering it used to be and still to some extent is state run by the Mafia and different drug cartels
I mean, western Europe never went through what the Balkans went and while I may be from Bulgaria and not the western part of our peninsula there's a reason why we joke about the westerners when translating the word in our language to "западняци" [zapadnyàzci], which can also be translated to the ones who are falling coming from our word for falling "падам" [pàdam]. They just haven't lived in those times. You lads as a part of Yugoslavia and later to deal with Mafia leaders and us here dealing with a budget version of Russia's oligarchy when we used to be in their sphere of influence, which we still to a degree are
I agree that he should have mentioned North Macedonia because the new government that has just been sworn in yesterday is already threatening EU accession by promising to change the name of the country and fighting constitution changes. But I think that Montenegro is relatively stable and Bosnia is always a hot mess, you can't include everything, but it is clear that Dodik is the main problem considering his strong ties to Russia and the pan-serbian meeting he just held with Vucic.
The NORTH adjective is fascist and illegally imposed by paid corrupt and blackmailed politicians. The only way for Macedonia to continue it's path towards EU is to revert this illegal activity after the perpetrators stand trial. Otherwise, Macedonia will not have the standard of law and justice required to be an EU country.
@@meeeee8745 Dodik is not a problem ,he is just voice off what 99% off people thing there
@@dzonikg that doesn't mean that he is not the problem. It just means that he is a bigger problem because he has support.
I'm actually sad to see the Balkans in such a sad state of affairs. It'd seem great if they'd all joined the EU, but I doubt that would improve things locally and between each Balkan country.
Bro discovered hot water 🇭🇷
What a mess over there..
The Balkans without tensions is like Italy without it's iconic dishes🍝, its unsettling
I currently live in Bosnia and I think the corruption and mafia are getting out of hand.
A lot of these tensions could've been solved only if NATO was supporting national borders between the countries. Now there's a situation where you've got dysfunctional states like Bosnia or partly recognized states like Kosovo. If dissolution was performed based on nationality, all countries could become true national states, which is why Yugoslavia broke up in the first place. There's no guarantee that this would solve corruption, probably on the opposite but at least there wouldn't be as much nationalist tensions as there is now. In the end, I can only draw a conclusion that this is what West actually wanted, although I can't seem to understand why, having in mind stable Balkans means stable Europe as well...
The country is called Bosnia and Herzegovina. Get it right.
Yeah more NATO intervention in the region should do the trick right?
NATO helped Albanians in Kosovo get their self determination already and while I do think it was the right thing to do it definitely did not decrease tensions in the region on the opposite Kosovo is the one post Yugoslav state that seems to cause the most anger in Serbia despite being less than 10% ethnically Serbian.
The best thing to do is just keep the status quo and let time heal the wounds of the break up of Jugoslavia.
Also combatting Russian influence in the region would be a good thing but I have no idea how to go about it.
Nato or not for Bosnia and Herzegovina its more a matter of "frozen conflict" via Dayton that has come into question as the current political landscape is different: Croats are not longer big allyes of Bosnian muslims since Bosniaks would rig the election in their favour so now they want republika herzeg-bosna a srpska 2.0. While Dodik is activly fighting against provocative actions from Sarajevo. As for Kosovo, it is definently lost for Serbia but no one wants to admit this reality because that would be a suicide. Besides no one wants to repeat 1999. Its all political barganin of Belgrade and a social experiment for how long can Serbia recive support from all corners of the world in this time of polarisation.
@@ad_astra468 Rewriting borders on a whim is a good thing? Westerners trying not to sound like clowns and failing for the Nth time...
The incompetence of the West, from the handling of Bosnia all the way to Kosovo, really didn't help. At least we didn't end up like the middle east.
The American ambassador in Sarajevo, Mr. Murphy, has given himself the right to close the bank account of any person or organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If the bank refuses to do so, then the bank is prevented from using the Swift. It seems as if real life in Bosnia and Herzegovina is copied from Kafka's novels
Please stop reporting on Dodik's independence talk. He has been doing it for 15 years and nothing ever happened. Don't give him attention
For as long there's Serbian people in Republika Srpska we will not want to be part of Bosnia, Dodik didn't magically decide he wants to secede, it's what people of RS want.
@@Sava.SAnd become an independent republic or join autocratic Serbia? Serbia cannot win any more land, if Dodik pushes for joining Serbia then Kosovo's fate is on the line(along with the rest of the Balcans), it cannot be allowed.
Well said, same thig for vucic. Half of these tensions are orchestrated by the leaders themselves, particularly when it comes to kosovo and serbia. And western media still takes these guys seriously
@@quiquemarquez3211 People in Republika Srpska are not blind ,they see double standards ,Albanians are given by west second Albnian country while they are not allow to have simple democratic thing call REFERENDUM
@@quiquemarquez3211 kosovo’s fate? Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia end of story.
It is sooo much more complicated than what you said. We have been divided so we can be ruled over, but the divide was so horrendous that no one was interested in conquering anymore. About half of every balkan entity is pro nazi out of pure shadenfreude and everyone is corrupt out of sheer desperation. Anyone actually capable of anything fled the region cementing the hopelessness. Ursula, I hope you washed your hands real well btw.
You’ve got it all wrong geezer! Seeing yourselves as the good guys is always the default you will naturally never realize ……
Pretty cheeky putting all of Cyprus in the EU, didn’t realise that Northern Cyprus had also joined!
Officially there is no "northern cyprus" as it isn't recognized by any country except Turkey.
Officially it's still one country and people who live in "northern cyprus" have Cypriot=EU passports.
Haven't you realized it? How about read about it and verify what I wrote?
@@hamlet557 they have north Cypriot and Turkish passports too.
They have their own govt, elections as well as control of their territory.
Republic of Cyprus has no jurisdiction in Northern Cyprus.
@@shafsteryellow For EU they are considered European citizens as citizens of Cyprus.
If they have other passports too fron Kiribati, Tuvalu or Samoa doesn't concern the EU.
These are the facts of the case.
@@hamlet557 That's the EUs choice fact is they're immediately eligible for those citizenship.
Fact of the matter is Republic of Cyprus has no presence in Northern Cyprus
@@shafsteryellow Yes, northern part of Cyprus is known playground for turks who want to enjoy casinos and brothels but not in their islamic country.
Again: not a concern for EU.
Soccer war part 2: Balkan Boogaloo
Tensions in the Balkans are just our pastime. Otherwise it doesn't feel like home.
Real
Your constant shilling and sneaking in advertising is more annoying than mainstream media....
We call it just a other friday
Some truth yes, but not so precise
You guys need to do a video on Bulgarias election. Not a single mention considering its the 6th election in 3 years and it's the same story as before.
Genarally Bulgarians don't bother the EU, and I find it positive. It means it's a somewhat stable country avoiding extremes.
I think that Bulgaria is a sucessful membership, even though of course not perfect.
I always argued with Turks about Bulgaria.
For the love of GOD! Guys! Don't waste your time on this incredibly misinformed and outright wrong analysis of the current events in the western Balkans. The dude made so many amateur mistakes it's actually baffling how confidently he presents them as facts (honestly nothing new coming from a westerner). Also the condescending comments under the video, making the same unoriginal joke out of the political issues in the Balkans and towards South Slavs and Albanians is just a cherry on top.
Instability in the Balkans? Surely thst didn't happen happen before
Corruption in the Tory party also makes it difficult for the UK to join the EU
The UK must rejoin the EU, to pay for Ukraine debt and Balkan countries to join. The wealthy Brits will be able to visit their holiday houses in the south of France with less hassle once again, the everyday Brit will just see their wages drop again, like what happened when Romania and Bulgaria were allowed to work here.
I don't think the UK can join again. I think it's a "once you leave, you're out" kind of deal. Why have a withdrawal mechanism if you just can join again once you've left?
@@chrimbus71 Their wages may drop, but the cost of living will drop as well!
@@johannessamuelsson6578 You can apply to join, but the conditions will be different and the EU will make sure that all political parties want to join.
So... just an average Monday then.
HDZ pronounced "Aitch Dee Zee"? Surely, as you're British HDZ should be pronounces "Aitch Dee Zed".
Tensions in the Balkans
Well, that’s new
does that mean the EU will not change the border based on ethnic lines in Bosnia where 90% of the people from Republika Srpska are Serbs and want to secede, but Nato bombed Serbia so that the Albanians in Kosovo would get a state? I am so confused....
Well I think that context always matters. Serbs in Bosnia were committing a full out genocide to bosniaks to gain independence. Plus not to mention the many problems a separation would bring. On the other hand, Serbia was committing a whole other genocide to Kosovo Albanians just for the hell of it. The whole world united and decided to stop Milosevic at that point. I kindly suggest you to look at the entire list of events and not just the endgame.
Yeah, because Serbs where the ones commiting ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. You can even see how the ethnic lines shifted after Serbia invaded.
Personally, I don't think Serbia should be rewarded for their genocide against Bosnia & Herzegovina, but maybe that's just me.
@reaperz5677 You have no idea what you are talking about. You are either biased or brainwashed by CNN. Yugoslavia was one Country, Serbs lived in all former Yugoslav states for centuries. It was Nato that tried to expelled them from their homes by supporting every communist region of Yugoslavia and forming new States / Nations based on communist division lines. In Croatia they even succeed since they managed to expel more than 400000 Serbs ( type Oluja on yt and see video for your self ) Goal was clear, give Serbia as little as possible. But were they went beyond even communist lines is Kosovo. That was simply a demonstration of force and brutal nato agrasion against Serbia. They took a fact that at the time around 45% of Muslims live in Kosovo, land where Serbia was form and where orthodox Christianity survived even the ottomans and ethnicly clans almost all Serbs ( now there is only around 10% of Serbs left there, rest are Albaninas) They did that without permission of UN and bombed Chinise ambasy in Belgrade at the time. Why? Just because they could. And now they are wondering why the rest of the world don't like them xD I think it's time for people in west to take control again from corrupt and evil politicians and stop this madness.
Classic serb. Serbs started this shit. Albanians just copied the formula😂 anyway before war in bosnia started serbs didnt make 90% of RS but ofc they made ethnicleansing there and they almost did it in croatia
The country is called Bosnia and Herzegovina. Get it right.
Just keeping things in perspective here: nominal GDP of the whole of the former Jugoslavia is about half of gross revenue for Apple Inc. in the same year. When you can buy off an official with an iPhone of box of cigarettes, no wonder Russia can have so much sway.
Starting with Montenegro, the EU should Lee-Kuan-Yew the southern Slavs, one state at a time. Create a government of excellent paid positions where English is the official language with all subjects at the university level (except literature and languages) taught in English. (English proficiency in the Western Balkans is already very high.) Import qualified educators in the sciences and finance, and reshape the lackluster banks in the country. Focus development and investment in urban centres, specifically into more compact, desirable, and efficient use of space. Finally take a zero tolerance to corruption. Montenegro is a tiny country, with a tiny government budget already using the euro, and a lot of potential. There are more good people looking to do good things all across the southern Slavic world but there just aren't many opportunities and certainly isn't a lot of hope. Give them legitimate ways to become moderately wealthy and break the generations long cycle of cynicism. My two cents.
BTW, if you're a European and you haven't toured the former Jugoslavia yet, do so. Absolutely beautiful place from Slovenia to (N) Macedonia. So diverse and very affordable.
Its sad that you didnt mention how Bulgaria blocks North Macedonia and for what bizarre reasons. Which made the country to think that the agreement with Greece was for nothing (the name change).
Also for the balkan countries seeing how fast Ukraine and Moldova started negotiations, keeping in mind that they were negotiating for years before that. I believe they find it really demotivating
Bulgaria can have its own imterests and they are right.
@@erikk.137I didnt say they cant have interests. But it is bizarre to tell someone in the 21 century who they are and expect from them to change their identity and language. Would you do that?
@@azureblue5440 even if you came to these places several centuries after Alexander the Great and you are Slavs and not Greeks and you have Bulgarian names not Greek. you simply have an identity problem where you want to be someone, even if the identity is stolen
@@erikk.137as an albanian i agree, 'Macedonian' is a region and not an ethnicity. It is a land of Albanian and Bulgarians. It is like saying Kosovan is an ethnicity 😂
So by your logic both the nations you listed exist since the start of the universe? Nations come and go, new arrive. You cat tell anyone who they are. And why do you attack me, im not even from there, im just saying how bullied is the country.
I still find it impressive that Yugoslavia lasted as long as it did
2:09 Neoliberal reforms always lead to increased inequality, which can shift the balance of power in society. Inequality creates power dynamics that can gradually erode institutions, as economic influence translates into media, political, and social sway.
Seems like there's no good way to rule a nation/state.
So your preferred method of wealth distribution is to stop generating wealth so there is nothing to distribute. BRILLIANT!
it's crazy that Russia wanted us to do so much neoliberal capitalism
Russia must be guilty wow
Just redraw borders by ethnic lines and conflicts will end. All Bosnians in Bosnia, all Serbs in Serbia, etc.
Because it's the Balkan
Good rundown. Thanks.
Only if you like slanderous disinformation.
The balkans being the balkans like always
Well Croatia is a member of EU since 2013 and it is not in the Western Balkan group of countries any more. Different economy, different problems and solutions.
In my opinion, the most likely countries to join the EU anytime soon are Albania, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia, although Montenegro is now further from that gold than few years earlier.
I think Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia and Kosovo wont join EU in next 10 to 15 years.
Nema ništa od toga za BiH,Albaniju,Sjevernu Makedoniju,Kosovo
Man, you really don’t know a lot about Balkans, I can believe you even want to deal with it in your magazine. First you have to say that Kosovo is by mandatory UNSC resolution part of Serbia. The fact that your country recognize it, does not abolish you-you are researcher and your country actually broke intel law by recognizing UDI.
Second, Vucic did more for Kosovo than any other Serbian leader before. To believe that Vucic saying Serbia will leave CoE is the reason why Kosovo is not there is laughable. Who cares if Serbia is out? Its because Kurti is conducting ethnic cleaning of Serbs in Kosovo and also legalities. 12 Members of Coe do not recognize that illegal creation.
Kosovo is not a Member of CoE because of what Vucic said, thats laughable. Its because Kurti is conducting ethnic cleaning of Serbs and having a lot of unilateral measures in that regard and also because 12 members CoE do not recognize Kosovo, which you are just skipping saying every time
Why is your info about Croatia always wrong ?
They should merge as one country. They'd be sure more likely to cooperate.
Well last time most of them were one country , things didn’t end so well
Do they still teach history to children in schools these days? I guess not. They WERE one country, that was the main source of all the problems.
No
@@davidkanizsai9914 clearly you never learned to detect humour as a child
Interesting video
Well if you put Kosovo after Yugoslavia as a seperate entity, you make it unstable. That's the base of the NATO there, Bondsteel.
😂🤡
Were the editors asleep for the past decade of these are the times they consider "with rising tensions".
WOT?
The previous Balkan conflict was stopped just before they went to the finals. Thats why the tensions have always been high, had they fought that final battle they mosy likely would have respected each other😅
That "final battle" would have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. It looks like for you the life of a human being is just a joke.
@@davidkanizsai9914 Because it is, and also depends on the individual.
But the universe doesn't care ether way, only liberals and religious people think we should save everyone.
+ In geopolitics lives not only a joke, but a pawns to be used. The sooner you get it, the better.🙄
@@Arthur_Revan Daily dose of Realpolitik.
Fun fact: Milosevic was called Butcher of Balkans
Nixon: Oh again?
I thought it was just vibin yesterday oh well
(*Me from Serbia not caring anymore*)
Experiment: start your videos on the Balkans by talking about centuries of Ottoman rule and see what the mouth feel is, i.e., does it sound like you're letting successions of corrupt and nationalist leaders off the hook? And consider this the next time you release a video about Southern Africa
6:10 Not accusations. The party was CONVICTED!
If these countries can’t get along, the EU definitely isn’t for them.
Indeed. If the only thing keeping a lid on things is the prospect of membership, what happens once they're inside and no longer need to suck up to the EU?
@@YourXavieryeah the EU already has its own problems internally. Adding the Balkans won’t improve things.
Fun fact: Only Russia benefits from these “unrests”
The EU courting the Balkans & uplifting politicians friendly to them: normal, expected, good
Russia doing the same: "interference," "malign influence"
International law is only meant for Africa and thugs like Putin
When will the magazine be available again? It’s sold out and unavailable
A new version yes. But not this specific one. They want to release 3 per year
Its so disappointing to see TLDR fail yet again on another Balkan-Video at addressing the rising autocracy and corruption in Albania led by Edi Rama. ☹️☹️☹️
he is not here to please the Albanian opposition which is even more corrupt...he talks about all the Balkans being equally corrupt and about geopolitics of Serbian irredentism fueled by Russia the mistakes of the European Union ect ect
@@lorenclorenc Oh more simple he doesn't know anything and only focus on the obvious. Thats what happens when a 12 year old thinks he is Bismarck and lectures about instability of the balkans from EuroNews soundbites.. Especially an English boy without a single GCSE.
Now that we got that out of the way, the Albanian opposition is corrupt but Edi Rama is Erdogan's surrogate in Albania. He follows Erdogan's book for autocracy. He is clever enough though to not piss off the Americans.
4:00 so London has that in common 1 to 1 with the Balkans?
Vucic wearing the Serbian flag as a cape at the UN gives Homelander vibes.
wtf? There is no political turmoil in Croatia.
No corruption as always immigrations as always soon they will reach Irish numbers.
Idk man, I'd call HDZ and DP getting into power pretty turmoil-ish.
Sure if you're an uhljeb who has a HDZ political card then it's perfectly fine for you.
For anybody else , it's dog shit to live there and the political party that has ruled the country for majority of its exitance is a big cause for it. I moved out to another country recently cause there is no future there at all thanks to HDZ wining constantly and having their corrupt hands around everyones throats and now they made a coalition with an extremist political group who thinks hanging up crosses everywhere and singing about deporting Serbians is the main goal in life.
@@ZlatkoTheGodHow so? You have pretty much the same government as the one before that.
@@ZlatkoTheGodhow so? There were the elections. So people had an opportunity to vote in completely free and regular elections, unlike in the countries of the mentioned West Balkans. The fact is that Croatias former 2nd largest party SDP lost a lot of valuble members and at this point they would not be able to establish a stable government.
Very well explained. So much deeper on context and actual political machinations than much longer traditional media reports.
Finally, the world is becoming normal.
if you wonder why the EU is not eager to let these countries join one only has to look at Hungary.
yeah, these loudy rude people cannot handle freedom, only the rule of a dictator puts them in their place
This guy just throws random news broadcast through years and then adds unrelated events elsewhere to portray an unsettling situation.
The title of this video could just be "Why Franco-Anglo Neoliberalism is failing everywhere"
It's never not devastated the countries that implemented it -- it's just that for the last 30 years there was no alternative.
If you think the balkan countries are similar to france and england, then you know nothing about france or england. Or the balkans for that matter.
@@wisehippo3072 Neoliberalism is an economic ideology especially favored by the US, UK, & France. It has been enforced sometimes by military or covert means & sometimes by more open means such as EU, IMF, & World Bank pressure or US sanctions.
The function of neoliberalism is to increase wealth inequality in a society, consolidate capitalist control over democracy, & integrate colonized & semi-colonized polities into subservient roles in the western imperial world order.
In the specific case of ex-Yugoslav & ex-Soviet republics, neoliberal economists designed an approach they called "Shock Therapy Capitalism" which utterly devastated the economies of the target nations & any prospective power they may have had on the international stage for decades.
“There is nothing in the Balkans worth the bones of one Pomeranian grenadier.” Otto von Bismark!
Yet they were coming here thrice in 20th century leaving those same bones and spreading imperial arrogance and misery.
yeah eu good, russia bad. We have heard it 1000 times already. 🤨
I love how you use logic that would be suitable for maybe Sweden or Denmark instead of actually addressing Balkan issues which is 99% unresolved borders/minority/constituent peoples rights from the breakup of exyu
Someone please explain to me why back in the 90s the Serb and Croat parts of Bosnia weren’t allowed to just go join Serbia and Croatia respectively? Everyone could have had their corners to themselves and had a nice timeout.
Cause it was hard to draw ethnic borders considering how much the entities mixed in Yugoslavia and there was a big economic impact that it would have on all sides.
because the west wanted to have an unstable province in the balkans
@CroatianUltranationalist of course an ultranationalist would say that hah!
Double standards.
But, what goes around comes around.
@@meeeee8745 So they explain Kosovo which was never republic in Yugoslavia but province inside Serbia like Crimea was province inside Ukraine ,they were given just becase Albanians were mayority and Albanian's allready have own country is called Albania ,in west turned blind eye off ethnics cleansing off 2/3 off Serb population and like 100% off Roma population
In other news today is a different day than yesterday and pigs cannot fly
You conveniently left out how HDZ today is not like HDZ 10 or 15 years ago. Under Plenković it went closer to the center.
Many anti HDZ people conveniently leave out that part and how it didn't get into trouble with EU like Fidesz and PiS.
Domovinski Pokret is basically a splinter party of that older faction of HDZ.
HDZ does not have an ideology just money
@@CroatianUltraNationalist I very much like money as well. I'm not a clerocommie.
PiS is not a radical right, but a classic conservative group with centrist and radical right wings. Fidesz are pro-Russian populists, just to remind you
Yea DP is right wing of HDZ
I was just thinking how well it was going in balkans.