East & Southeast Europe

The Russian invasion of Ukraine will bring flashbacks to millions of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo, who have all suffered massively under the regime of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević. In April 1992, Serb nationalists waged a war on my home country under a similar pretext as Putin did with Ukraine, denying its statehood, history, and national identity. Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the worst crisis since the end of the war.

Not a dormant ethno-national conflict is the main problem in Bosnia. Rather, the source of crises since 1995 lies in the state’s weakness as well as a political class prone to corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power in the name of ill-defined ethnic interests. Is the Russian aggression on Ukraine a wake-up call for US and EU’s engagement in Bosnia?

The largest refugee movement since the Second World War now requires coordination throughout Europe.

We declare our full solidarity with Ukraine. We stand by the side of our Ukrainian partners and colleagues and, at the same time, by the side of our partners in Russian civil society who are beset by harsh repression.

This article weaves together an in-depth interview of a journalist and his family’s tribulations of urban flooding in the city of Karachi in Pakistan analysing various dynamics that merge erratic changing climate to faulty urban management. The article further explores the intergenerational loss due to climate change by retelling the protagonist’s experiences with family history and flooding. Socio-political elements are also discussed to shed light on the more sinister and systemic bottlenecks to urban planning and management that is more climate resilient and responsive. Finally, it merges Karachi’s most popular urban myth with climate change projections to show how people use storytelling to either fight against climate change or become complacent to its eventual disasters.

Germany leads as a destination country for migrants from Azerbaijan ahead of other European states. It is hard to provide an accurate number but according to various expert estimates, Germany is home to approximately 20 to 30 thousand Azerbaijani migrants. 

At the Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit on 15 December, Chancellor Scholz is to meet with high-ranking representatives of the EU, the member states and the EaP countries. How can the traffic light coalition contribute to a more effective Eastern Partnership?

Looking back at 16 years of Angela Merkel's Balkan policy, there were ups and downs, but the objective of eventually bringing Serbia closer to the EU has failed. It is now high time for a fresh, new start to Germany‘s relationship to the key enabler or blocker of a European future for the region - Serbia.

More than 50 people were injured in attacks on journalists and civil society in Tbilisi in early July in connection with Pride Week. The German Federal Government and the EU should strongly urge their Georgian partners to address the violence through prompt and comprehensive legal and political action. 

Memorials are more than memories cast in basalt and concrete; as reference points, they are sources of veneration and contempt, at the mercy of political interests and deliberate acts of manipulation.