balkanmapTassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor based in Seattle, USA)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 31 May 2015

The debt crisis has deeply affected Greece's sovereign abilities and has multiplied the difficulties in plotting for the future in ways that could offer an acceptable degree of confidence. As a result, dealing with the Balkan shifting sands becomes a thorny problem. Greece, however, can ill afford to let her guard down concerning developments in the region, which unfortunately constitutes her immediate strategic "depth." As Athens struggles under the rain of blows from the lenders and the hated troika (now euphemistically known as 'the institutions'), the international free-for-all surrounding her isn't taking a break. Only too recently, for example, neighboring FYROM (or 'Macedonia') came under renewed attack in the form of a Great Albania irredentist spasm with the reappearance of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) thugs, who caused mayhem in the northern town of Kumanovo and other FYROM locations. By all counts, the risk of re-ignition in Greece's immediate periphery is again a major threat...Read more

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