South Slavs

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has called on the responsible institutions in Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia to respond promptly to alerts about significant issues confronting Bulgarians in North Macedonia, the Head of State's Press Secretariat said on Monday.

A tragedy caused by internal reasons - this is how former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright defined the Bulgarian veto on the negotiations for the accession of Northern Macedonia to the EU. She commented on this during a meeting of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US Congress.

(Dis)United

Goce Delcev, the early 20th century revolutionary, could easily be a historical figure to unite Bulgarians and Macedonians. Unfortunately, he seems to be becoming a bone of contention between the governments in Skopje and Sofia.

Dolamic expressed frustration at the continuing delay to the repatriation of the remaining Bosnians from the Middle East.

"Why can't they deport around a hundred women and children from Syria?" she asked, suggesting that the problem lies in the fact that they are "labelled as terrorists".

However, this analysis misses the broader strategic picture - that the external scaffolding supporting the Bosnian state has all but collapsed, creating circumstances in which the RS can break away from Bosnia.

Battle of wills that began at Dayton:

Signing the Dayton Agreement. Photo: Wikimedia commons/NATO

Bosniak leaders on Wednesday accused Bosnian Serb officials - who have stopped work on deciding any state-level matters, pending adoption of a new law on the Constitutional Court - of breaking the law.

The assembly of the Serb-led entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska, is likely to adopt a "Declaration on the Situation of the Serbian People in Montenegro" at its next session, following the popular protests over a new religion law, led by the Serbian Orthodox Church, that have been going on in Montenegro for weeks.

Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the Party of Democratic Action, SDA and a member of the upper house of Bosnia's parliament, said on Tuesday that the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs will ultimately see the security value in joining NATO.

Ahmetspahic, however, is unique; he is the only repatriated Bosnian fighter to be medically certified in court as 'deradicalised'.

Experts say his case offers hope for state efforts to 'deradicalise' returning fighters, but caution against over-optimism, saying that the process of radicalisation and deradicalisation are complex and unique to each individual.

A controversial law on religions in Montenegro has entered into force, but the Serbian Orthodox Church has legal avenues to oppose it.