The world has considerably moved on since Maribor Airport opened to commercial aircraft in 1976. For more than two decades the site, and its grassy airstrip, in the neighbouring Hoce-Slivnica municipality had been the preserve of an acclaimed air school. Only once the construction of a more conventional runway and terminal building had been completed…
Slight of Hand and Cardboard Facades fool few in Berdymukhamedow’s Turkmenistan
It is unclear how Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedow has concluded that his country is now a net producer of wheat whilst many of his citizens are forced to queue for basic foodstuffs. Does this then mean that Turkmenistan is exporting wheat, and perhaps other comestible component parts to neighbouring or otherwise unnamed nations for a…
Foreign Governments continue to turn a blind eye to gas-rich Turkmenistan’s despotic regime
Turkmenistan's appalling record of human rights violations and its ranking at the very bottom of the World Press Freedom Index should see it internationally regarded as a pariah state, but a continued clamour from the European Union and western powers to do business within the Central Asian republic only serves to underplay the oppressive, police…
Heavy with irony and the abdication of moral responsibility, Germany and the EU seek further footholds in Turkmenistan
From what initially appeared to be more a one-way than a quid pro quo arrangement, evidence now suggests a far greater interest from Germany in Turkmenistan's affairs than why a reported $23 billion of the Central Asian republic's money is held in German bank accounts. When money talks even the angels listen, and one wonders…
Bovec: European Union funding sought to fund Kanin cableway modernization
It is surprising that Bovec-Kanin, the only Slovenian ski resort that comes close to being classed as snow sure, is but a few years from its current cableway apparatus effectively being branded obsolete. Without intervention from the north western frontier town's municipality the advent of 2022 will be marked by the effective cessation of Mount…
Turkmenistan: Will the European Union take to the floor to dance with the devil?
Not content with treating his own citizens with contempt Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedow now appears to have the European Union (EU) on a string, if reports of an upgrade from its current liaison office to a permanent mission in the nation's capital Ashgabat are to be believed. Quite what the EU want with and in…
Catalonia can only look on enviously at Kosovo’s independence and international recognition
A undoubted esprit de corps binds together Catalonia and Kosovo, who, despite the former's break for freedom having isolated itself from the international community and the latter still polarizing opinion since its 2008 secession from Serbia, share a singleness of purpose predicated on unshackling themselves from parents with whom they seemingly have little in common.…
Macedonia: Referendum turnout no obstacle to Greek-imposed name change
Renewed calls for a second Brexit vote in the United Kingdom highlight the fragility attached to national plebiscites when the will of the majority of voters doesn't come to pass as expeditiously, or smoothly, as first imagined. Drilling down into the detail of leaving the European Union(EU) has led many voters to question their own…
The UK: Bilateral trade and economic cooperation placed ahead of Turkmenistan’s many Human Rights violations
A meeting held in Ashgabat between Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rashid Meredov, and the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department of Digital, Media, Culture, and Sport, Lord Ashton of Hyde, amount to a tacit endorsement by London of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedow's totalitarian regime, one squarely accused of countless human…
Macedonia to become a player on the European and world stage, but at what cost?
In a headlong rush to facilitate entry into the European Union and NATO Macedonia's population are being presented with a multi-faceted, loaded question at the country's forthcoming plebiscite. Not only is consensus being sought with a view to joining the EU and a military alliance initially predicated on standing up to Stalin's USSR, there is…
Maribor Airport: Flights of fancy to a now flightless facility
"Mighty oaks from little acorns grow" or so the saying goes. The loss this week of the only scheduled flights operating out of Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport is another blow to the ever-increasingly far-fetched proposal to link eastern Slovenia with a roster of services from China. Far from following a growth trajectory consistent with reaching…
First World Problems: Macedonia and Greece battle for Semantic High Ground
FYROM. What does this acronym mean to you? In keeping with the majority of the people away from southeastern Europe, I would suggest very little. Even understanding what each letter and its collective represent does little to explain the unique, and what must be said confusing backstory that has recently been rebooted for the 21st…
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 