Jan. 30, 2017: VMRO failed to meet its deadline on forming a coalition, and party leader Nikola Gruevski is returning the mandate to form a government to Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov. It is unclear if Zoran Zaev will get the next crack at trying to form a coalition. Update: A revote took place in one electoral
Footage from the protest in Lucerne, Switzerland (in Farsi) By SABOOR NADEM and JOSH FRIEDMAN Ethnic minority migrants from Iran protested the Iranian regime Friday outside the train station in Lucerne, Switzerland. The protesters hailed primarily from the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, which is located near Pakistan. The demonstrators accused the Iranian government
By JOSH FRIEDMAN If you are of the belief that a Trump presidency will be a catastrophe, now is an excellent time to search abroad for new opportunities. And if you are one of the people who threatened to move to a different country in the event of Trump winning the White House, put your
Reports from Sarajevo, Belgrade and Pristina:
Antonio Guterres Despite there being calls for the next United Nations chief to be a woman and/or from Eastern Europe, Portugal's Antonio Guterres cruised to victory in the secretary-general race. Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal and head of UN refugee agency UNHCR, emerged victorious in all six straw polls conducted prior
A billboard in the heart of Banja Luka showing Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik urging Bosnian Serbs to vote in the referendum By JOSH FRIEDMAN BANJA LUKA, Bosnia - An overwhelming 99.8 percent of voters declared their support for the Jan. 9 holiday of Republika Srpska Day during a referendum held Sunday in
Step inside a place that does exist but is not formally recognized as a country. Josh Friedman takes you to Transnistria, the region that broke away from Moldova and has its own parliament, president and currency, but lacks recognition from any United Nations member state.
Messy Balkan Democracy
A billboard in the heart of Banja Luka showing Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik urging Bosnian Serbs to vote in the state holiday referendum The following is the second post of a hopefully regularly published blog on the Balkans. Read the first post here. By JOSH FRIEDMAN More than a month into a