I’ve shared a reading reflection covering a selection of some of the books I read in 2025 that stayed with me. Reading remains an essential part of my critical engagement with the world, and an opportunity to escape, unleash imagination, and feed into curiosity. 📚

I've started a Substack where I will share my insights and thoughts on topics that matter most to me. I’ll be writing in both Albanian and English. Join the conversation by following or subscribing! open.substack.com/pub/arberahm...

I have an Austrian friend. He is never willing to be spontaneous like let's grab a coffee in an hour or later that day, and I’m never willing to plan a coffee with a friend three weeks ahead. We haven’t seen each other since before the pandemic.

I have witnessed incredible things: Kosovo, I know your silent desires, I know your dreams, The winds that have been dormant for centuries, I know your sufferings, the joys, the deaths, I know your white births, your bold goals, I know your blood that boils in your bosom, ….

I wrote about the Kosovo Specialist Chambers: its unpopularity in 🇽🇰fuels electoral promises to abolish it. But it’s legally impossible without EU consent and the court completing its mandate. Constitutional & international obligations block unilateral changes. nacionale.com/opinion/prem...

hope they don’t have the algorithms’ help here as in X.

Legal protection is there so we don’t fall back to the mercy of politicians. This only exposes that in certain instances the legal protection is not adequate.

We had the convening meeting of the Working Group on Pluralistic Governance and International Outer Space Law. It is such a pleasure and exciting to be part of this working group. Guess who will “have to” rewatch all Star Trek series again. 🖖

Austrian Post has the best delivery service. Our postman, a serious man in his 50s, always comes at 6 AM. Over time, we’ve developed a quiet mutual respect. On holidays or with heavy packages, I try to tip him. He recently told me he had a heart attack, so I prepared a small gift for him.

Watching the first episode of Shogun. Why do the European sailors look like Klingons?

Agree! It’s hard to identify any significant social transformation in history that can be attributed to a billionaire championing progressive ideals or/ greater good. True transformations typically emerge from bottom-up movements, and billionaires by definition are far removed from the grassroots.

Is Article 2(4) dead yet?

Doing a PhD is a lonely process. Doing a PhD in Austria is a very lonely process.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 9

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 8

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 7

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 6

The first to fall victim to the Austro-Hungarian cuisine is the clothes you are wearing.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 5

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 4

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 3

Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell made comments indicating that US could act to interfere with Kosovo Specialist Chambers. I wrote a piece (in Albanian) on the improbability of such a thing, arguing that tampering with KSC is counter-productive & not in line w US interests. nacionale.com/opinion/admi...

All Elon Musk has done is cut out the middleman & go straight to the source of power. Instead of hiring DC lobbying firms, he’s doing it himself. In the process, he is exposed revealing how much power big corporations hold. The system is rigged—and no one wants to fix it.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 2

Reposting: I hope there is a Mr. Bond somewhere infiltrating cocktail parties and fundraising events because the antagonist has already revealed himself to the world.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One per day for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 1

A must-see heartbreaking documentary on the Serbian war crimes that took place in Gjakovë during the Kosovo War. The wonderful Alice Taylor stated that this was “mentally one of the toughest experiences” she had while filming. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0cC...

Oh no, not these books…

I get her, I have lived one such moment myself, but it is hard to understand if you haven’t lived one yourself. After NATO intervened and Serbia's troops withdrew from Kosovo, a centennial regime that oppressed and segregated us fell, and to this day that is my Year Zero, a rebirth if you will.

I hope there is a Mr. Bond somewhere infiltrating cocktail parties and fundraising events because the antagonist has already revealed himself to the world.

Who’s gonna tell Dugin?

The only thing faster than the Syrian opposition forces' toppling of Assad in recent days has been European politicians promoting hate against Syrian refugees... www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Been sitting on the shelf for a while now, but these two just jumped on the top of the reading list.

Shapiro's posts on Al-Assad are hilarious.

Tankies please note: US fleeing Afghanistan and leaving country to radical Islamists - Good & 🤣 Russia fleeing Syria and leaving country to radical Islamists - Bad & 😭

Fingers crossed…

Wondering whether the titles appearing next to each other is accidental?

Yesterday’s pardon brought to mind this insightful opinion by @samuelmoyn.bsky.social reminding us how law did not save us from Trump. In the end, Biden ultimately handed Trump(ists) another tool for their rhetoric to validate that Trump was “right”. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/o...

NEW: Syrian opposition forces seized Aleppo City and advanced toward Hama City. Pro-Syrian regime forces have failed to mount an effective defense against the opposition offensive. Iran Update w/ @criticalthreats.bsky.social - isw.pub/IranUpdate11... Key Takeaways 🧵(1/4)

On Friday an attack targeted critical infrastructure in Kosovo blowing up a canal that sends water to the main power plants and provides drinking water to a considerable part of Kosovo. EU condemned the act and categorized it as a terrorist attack. www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/kosovo-...

FYI the Syrian rebel group that took over Aleppo today - the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is the reinvented and rebranded Jabhat al-Nusra (the Al-Qaeda affiliated group in Syrian Civil War).

Leaving aside the merits of why Austrian far-right is protesting, closing up the whole city so a handful of protesters can express their dissent seems illogical. As I explained before, when I saw the measures taken I thought thousands were protesting. I was shocked to see the size of the “crowd”.

So the only way to access the reading halls of Vienna’s national library is to pose as a far-right protester. The nice policemen told me that I could not go to the square where the library’s entrance is unless I wanted to protest. A dilemma indeed.

This is the first post! Hoping that the toXic trends full of violence, revisionism, and propaganda will not follow here. Btw, does anyone happen to have access to the European University Institute database of doctoral theses?