Some six years after a Greek anti-terrorism tribunal convicted 15 operatives of the deadly November 17 terrorist group the case is far from closed. Key questions remain unanswered while a handful of operatives and collaborators who played a vital role in identifying high value targets for one of Europe’s deadliest terrorist groups remain at large. Read more

Ioannis Michelis
(Security Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

The opening session of the former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's trial at the international Tribune of Hague in late October 2009, gave the international community the occasion to unearth the painful memories of the Yugoslav wars and their repercussions throughout the Balkans. Due to the geopolitical importance of the region and it having only seemingly receded into the background of international politics, the events of that period (1991-2001) have accorded tacitly the status of a landmark to geopolitical developments ranging from the Balkan region to the Middle East.

Stefania Ducci

Before discussing accountability of the Italian intelligence System, a brief introduction is necessary, detailing the recent reform of the intelligence sector, adopted with the Act dated 3 August 2007, n. 124, “Information System for the Security of the Republic and New Regulation disciplining official secret”, which replaced the preceding Act of 1977.
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Konstantinos Louridas (PhD)
(Security Analyst)

Since the battle of Kosovo Polje (the Field of Blackbirds) in June 1389, where the Turkish Sultan had defeated the Serbs and their Christian allies, Ottoman conquest has interrupted the political and socio-economic progress of the Balkan states for hundreds of years and violence has ravaged the Balkans psyche with great regularity. As a result, when they emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century as independent nations, they lagged far behind the political mature and technologically advanced nations of the West. Their strict perseverance to their past and on fighting the same battles over and over again, in the name of nationalism and religion, reminded Europe of her dark history, an era that she needs to move beyond. Unable therefore to understand and to accept history’s symbolic trauma and the scale of brutality and human suffering in the region, West has euphemistically christened Balkans Peninsula ‘Europe’s powder-keg’. Read more

"He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it. There are only three ways to become rich; marry the money, invent something or steal". The current global financial crisis coupled with the perennial instability of the Balkans raises suspicions around the creation of much stronger organized crime groups that will be able to dictate their rules of the game to both local governments and international institutions. Read More.