Your favorite podcast returns from a months-long hiatus to examine the breakdown in Bulgarian-Macedonian relations. We speak to scholar Dimitar Bechev for his perspective on the latest setback for North Macedonia and its EU aspirations. Then, in her first field-report, journalist Una Hajdari reports from Skopje on the origins of Bulgaria’s obsession with the identity…

This week on Sarajevo Calling, the guys chat with Montenegrin political analysts Ljubomir Filipović about the country’s historic elections. What are the prospects for a heterodox coalition government between right wing nationalists and left wing reformers? What has been the role of outside actors like Serbia and Russia in the apparent defeat of the long…

The boys return from a brief hiatus to discuss the resurgence of coronavirus in the Western Balkans, and how local governments have pressed on with ill-advised elections of (in Serbia’s case, at least) dubious democratic legitimacy. Also, the contested legacy of Croatia’s “Operation Storm”; whose experiences are commemorated 25 years later and why? All this…

It’s Episode 28 of Sarajevo Calling, wherein Aleksandar and Jasmin discuss Balkan cuisine. Sogan dolma, klepe, ajvar, njeguški pršut, tulumbe, baklava; it’s our most sensual and syrupiest episode yet. It’ll make you light up a cigarette and maybe make you feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe you have a nap afterwards, just to let things settle….

This week the boys discuss the apparent landmark elections deal in the city of Mostar, the bizarre campaign trail antics of Serbia’s Deputy PM, the (re)arrest of war criminal Fikret Abdić, and – at long last! – the return of TANK TALK. All this and our views on donkeys, nature’s most noble ungulate on this…

Slovenia’s illiberal PM is posting bizarre conspiracy theories and attacking journalists on Twitter, while Bosnia’s entity governments are embroiled in raspberry and tent-related corruption scandals. It’s been a weird few weeks in Balkan politics, and Sarajevo Calling is back to make (try to) sense of it all. Sarajevo Calling is a podcast about Southeast European…

Aleksandar and Jasmin discuss: Sarajevo – the place, the myth, the spite, and the spirit. An intimate, personal dialogue on what Sarajevo means to the guys, its „parallel universes“, and the city as „philosophical absolute“.  Sarajevo Calling is a podcast about Southeast European affairs, focusing in particular on the contemporary politics of the Western Balkans….

The boys sit down and chat with the renowned scholar Florian Bieber of the University of Graz about the origins of his academic career studying the Western Balkans, the rise of authoritarianism and illiberalism in the region, and the future of European enlargement. And we ask him to go on the record with all the…

The boys discuss the ongoing political drama in Kosovo between (Acting) Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Hashim Thaçi, and their respective supporters. Why did Kurti’s government fall and what has been the role of the international community in these events, in particular as concerns the U.S.’ Amb. Richard Grenell? Most excitingly, hear clips from…

The boys discuss some of their favorite narrative and scholarly literature about the Western Balkans, while both having an emotional meltdown. Featuring a collection of texts by both local authors and foreign experts on the region.  Sarajevo Calling is a podcast about Southeast European affairs, focusing in particular on the contemporary politics of the Western…