Threat of war increases in the western Balkans
The political and social crisis in the Balkans is exacerbating conflicts between the successor states of Yugoslavia, heightening the threat of another war in the region.
The entire region has been in a state of acute crisis ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which was fuelled by the United States and Germany. Hardly any country in the region has a stable government. Corruption and crime are endemic and the largest part of the population lives in catastrophic conditions.
Journalist Norbert Mappes-Niediek, a Balkan specialist, remarked recently on broadcaster Deutsche Welle: “Europe is the powder keg. But the Balkans are the fuse. The conflicts are what is most dangerous. They cannot be isolated. And precisely in the present situation, in which the world has become so unstable and there is no longer any predominant power, it is all the more easy for the conflicting parties in the Balkans to seek allies among the greater powers. This is a situation like 1914. This, most of all, should give grounds for fear.”
According to the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK), 18 conflicts can be observed currently in the region.
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/13/wart-m13.html
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