BALKAN STUDIES

Simeon Nikolow
(Director of Centre for Strategic Research, Bulgaria)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

“Intelligence is an art for sages, dedicated to it“
 Major John Felix Cowgill, British MI6 counterespionage bureau

The analysis of the transformation process of the intelligence services in the post-Communist European states indicates that there is no common model and also there are no simple and clear answers to the questions related to the process.

The reason is that the process is bound to the level of consolidation of the state and the democracy, the maturity of the civil society, and in our case to the difficulties in the establishment of the new intelligence community in Bulgaria, namely weaknesses of the governance, political rifts and incompetence which has led to unregulated and inadequately managed and developed intelligence services.

Dr Aris Petasis
(Member of the Board of Trustees, International Fund, Moscow State Aviation University)

Copyright:  Aris Petasis on line

The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce (CCC) inaugurated a campaign to inform us of the economic benefits of a «just and lasting solution.” The campaign is supported by the Development Programme of the United Nations (UNDP-ACT) and by the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce.  For the sake of brevity I will refer to the above three as CCC/TCCC/UNDP.  

Matteo Quattrocchi

(Researcher at the European Institute for Asian Studies in Brussels. He holds an Italian Master’s Degree in Law and an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from the Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in International and National Security and the Law of the Sea.)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

As the media attention on the October tragedy off the coast of Lampedusa subsides, the European Union’s (EU) consideration of the Southern Mediterranean (SouthMed) immigration crisis seems to follow suit. Despite the repeated calls for help by Southern European leaders, and the repeated reports of an increasingly dire situation on the southern border of the Union, the institution as a whole seems unable or unwilling to reconsider its stance on immigration and asylum policies.

The current European Union framework

The EU has established a border agency, FRONTEX, with the purpose of “[supporting], [coordinating] and [developing] European border management in line with the EU fundamental rights charter”,  hoping to pool together capabilities and resources in an improved monitoring of its boundaries. However, border control is an integral part of a State’s national security,  which is among the most “protected” interests for EU Member States. In other words, many Member States would rather just formally participate to FRONTEX, while retaining much of their own resources and capabilities at the national level, for better control of their own national security......  Read more

Sofia Tzamarelou
(Postgraduate Researcher in the Center for Intelligence Studies, University of Brunel, UK)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

The performance of the United States Intelligence Community (USIC), as to if and to what extent there was an intelligence failure regarding the 1974 Greek coup that led to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, is not a very researched case study which is worth looking at....  Read more

Argyro-Maria Vourgidi
(RIEAS Internship,  Senior Student in the  Department of Asian and Turkish Studies, University of Athens, Greece)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr 

Introduction

  The Balkans (or Southeast Europe), is the cultural and historical bridge between East and West. It is a region where many civilizations have been emerged and developed, as well as a land that has witnessed endless wars fought to enhance different visions of history. It is the geographical boundary between two worlds; Europe and Asia. Historically and strategically, the Balkans are today as important for the future of Europe as they had always been. The collapse of the Soviet Communism in the late 1980s triggered a series of significant political, social and cultural transformations in the Balkans. In former Yugoslavia, as elsewhere, this transformative process brought about the re-emergence of nationalism and the reappearance of religion in social and political life.......  Read more

Simon Black
(International investor, entrepreneur, permanent traveler)

Copyright: http://www.sovereignman.com

My friend Illias took a drag of his cigarette as he contemplated my question.

“Our government tells us that this will be a better year. No one really believes them. But all we can do is be optimistic. Too many people are committing suicide.”

His statement probably best sums up the situation in Greece right now. It’s as if the hopelessness has gone stale, and the only thing they have to replace it with is desperate, misguided, faux-optimism. And anger.