Serbian police forces have entered the premises of the Faculty of Philosophy at University of Novi Sad, to break up the ongoing student protest started because of the dismissal of one of the professors. n1info.rs/english/news...

This is the best speech, just from a pure rhetoric perspective - its sophistication and persuasiveness - that I've seen a politician deliver in a good long while. Really recommend watching or reading the whole thing.

Hungarian MOL is going to buyout Gazprom's share (~56%) in Sebian NIS oil company. Emirates' ADNOC is part of the deal but it is uclear how exactly. And now they are going to ask the USA to lift the sanctions on NIS as the Russian ownership is, maybe, on the way out. n1info.rs/english/news...

"If you wanted to create a tool that would enable the destruction of institutions that prop up democratic life, you could not do better than artificial intelligence." papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Everything going well.

I’ll see yall next year ✨

A required nod to overall New Year's pessimism

One wonders who delegated A. Kavcic to represent the student body of Serbia, as their usual channels of communication are silent about him. And while he is/was a professor in USA, he's not a professor in Serbia nor has any students there. Pretty odd. multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/video/awa...

My two colleagues and me have just published a paper, tackling a Jadar lithium mining project in Serbia against the backdrop of the EU integrations, inherent norm compliance, and strategic interests. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A Hillbilly EULogy, so to speak.

MAGA->MEGA against the EU will shape to be quite an existential challenge: "Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Poland are listed as countries the U.S. should “work more with…with the goal of pulling them away from the [European Union].”"

Today’s local elections in Serbia – in Mionica, Negotin and Sečanj – were a snapshot of that reality: fraud, intimidation, assaults on observers, and mobs operating with police complicity. We believe democracy cannot survive without accountability. Vučić’s regime threatens both.

Why is Vučić afraid of national elections? Because when he’s not sending thugs to beat up students, young people, citizens, MPs or journalists – as he did today in Mionica – he knows he can’t win. His party is increasingly isolated, holding on to power through violence, fear and voter manipulation.

Since I'm in Florence, been reading the outlet and got hooked on local darkwave bands from the 1980s. Starting with Diaframma, on to Litfiba, Neon, Pankow.... www.theflorentine.net/2025/11/19/d...

Activism without lasting forms of collective organisation On 19 November, 16.00 CET, join a lecture by Anton Jäger @ox.ac.uk on his concept of "hyperpolitics", describing today's increasing politicisation leading to few political consequences 👉 loom.ly/deT9Uyc Organised by @inthiseui.bsky.social

Join us next Monday for an @eui-adgcentre.bsky.social (hybrid) seminar with exciting presentations by @migrutinovic.bsky.social (Yugoslavia-EEC relations, 1980s) & Jonah Berger (early steps towards creation of a European foreign service, 1990s). Registration here: www.eui.eu/events?id=58...

💬 How were the EEC–Yugoslavia relations? And how did the EC build its own diplomatic corps? Join us on 17 November for our next research seminar with @migrutinovic.bsky.social (Institute of European Studies, Belgrade) and Jonah Berger (EUI) exploring Europe’s external relations. 🔗 loom.ly/15xC2tE

Vučić is hoping for a magical US-RU deal on the issue, and looks to ride Orban's coat tails on this. There's practically zero chance of that happening. He and the gvmt still refuse the idea of takeover of NIS ownership from Gazprom, thus increasing the chances of major internal oil crisis.

Serbian gvmt has decided to create a "Faculty of Serbian Studies" by cutting out depts of history, Serbian, and Russian(!?) language out of University of Niš. It has done so despite the tacit "no" from the uni and departmental councils. /1 www.danas.rs/vesti/drustv...

It seems that internal* Russian repackaging of ownership of US-sanctioned oil business (Lukoil but, implicitly also Gazprom, and for Serbian NIS) is a non-starter for lifting the sanctions.

My interview for "Glas Slavonije" (Croatia), with Darko Jerković, on Serbian integration into the EU. The point is fairly simple - any progress now is practically inconceivable under this government. Reasons are many, but they merge to a straightforward answer. www.glas-slavonije.hr/magazin/2025...

👋 Meet our new Fernand Braudel Fellow, @migrutinovic.bsky.social , joining us thanks to the #EUIWidening Programme! His project explores the political and economic relations between Yugoslavia and the ECC in the 1980s. Find out more about our Fellowships 👉 loom.ly/u_hjJE4

YES! THIS on GenAI! Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins: "An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

From Oct 1 the US Gov will levy sanctions against the Serbian de facto oil monopoly NIS, as majority of its shares are owned by Gazprom and connected companies. For months the SR gov has refused to nationalise the company (as Vučić values the RU connection) and RU side has refused any buyout.

This actually isn't a building in New/Novi Belgrade, this is the "Eastern Gate" or "Rudo" complex. But stiil, brutalism par excellence. maps.app.goo.gl/HtvYfJoY9x3B...

Serbian students are our nominees for the #SakharovPrize! Since the tragic Novi Sad railway station accident, these courageous young people have led peaceful protests for a free & democratic 🇷🇸 Their fight reflects the EU’s core principles & inspires beyond Serbia’s borders

Serbia’s Vučić brands European Green Party officials ‘scum’ amid deepening unrest  

And late last night, president Vučić called the @europeangreens.eu MEPs the "worst European scum" while fuming against the student/civic protestors at the University of Novi Sad, attacked and tear-gassed by the riot police and armed SNS party thugs. New levels of vitriol. n1info.rs/vesti/vucic-...

In his letter to the @financialtimes.com Serbian president Vučić claims that "democracies cannot rewrite electoral timetables ... Doing so would be destabilising, costly, and harmful". That's rich given that he and his party have initiated 5 parliamentary elections in 9 years (2014-2023) without /1

The Russian ambo to Serbia with strongest comments against the ongoing anti-gvmt protests thus far, with intentionally vague and sweeping accusations that the protests are run by "the West", for "Belgrade to lose control of the situation" etc. www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/69...

Nekoliko mojih komentara o tezi o "građanskom ratu" u Srbiji trenutno: www.masina.rs/ne-ovo-nije-...

So, probably the first editorial of major international daily dealing with Vučić, and calling for pressure on him by the EU and UK, as "Vučić has to be pushed to be more accountable and hold genuinely fair elections". AV is likely not on the breaking point on that, but still...

A good recap on the current vawe of clashes between civic protestants and the police and SNS party supporters. #Serbia #protests www.masina.rs/eng/tear-gas...

Tell me you don't understand the purpose of humanities research without telling me you don't understand the purpose of humanities research @economist.com @eui-history.bsky.social www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

So, a Serbian Gvmt minister and a key SNS party operative, Darko Glišić (52) had a stroke on live TV this morning. He was rushed to a hospital and is in intensive care after a difficult surgery. No prognosis on the survival or recovery. www.blic.rs/vesti/politi...

The government and the police in Belgrade have completely lost the plot last night. Beatings, mass arrests, violating the university property (down in the link)... they are turning up the dial of repression but the protests and civic anger are growing by the day. youtube.com/shorts/ONVYK...

Morning scenes from Belgrade. n1info.rs/english/news...

So, the Serbian police has apparently arrested Colombian professor Miguel Ángel Beltrán, who is in Novi Sad at an academic congress. No peeps on this in the national media, still unclear on the background of such a move. www.semana.com/politica/art...

Tens of thousands of protestors, led by students, are protesting in Belgrade, Serbia, demanding the resignation of Pres. Vucic and calling for early elections. #OSINT

In reality there is no "momentum", no immediate perspective of getting the EU accession back on track. Just empty gestures and pretense all around. The pro-EU public in Serbia will see this for what it is - yet another missed opportunity to set things straight, and Brussels' support to Vucic.

The so-called Washington agreement of Sept 2020 (Serbia-USA-Kosovo) was/is pretty much irrelevant in a grand scheme of SRB-KS relations, it did not stop any war (the war was in 1999), and the relations actually got worse (not because of that agreement but still). Hot air, selectivity, and lame PR.

I keep seeing reports of non-AI users being told that an AI detector has dubbed their work AI generated, and it makes me insane because: 1) AI detection tools *are themselves AI* and thus entirely bullshit; and 2) if an AI was trained on your works, of COURSE it’ll flag you as sounding “like” AI!

Delighted to receive a Fernand Braudel Fellowship award within the EUI Widening Europe Programme, starting in October. 💫 Looking forward to interact with @eui-history.bsky.social colleagues and dig into the HAEU sources.

When your statistical model "fits the data well" ...

A piece by @sciencebusiness.net shows some of the effects of the illegal changes in the work/salary structure of Serbian unis by the Gvmt. The background is the penalisation of the part of academia for the public support given to student protests. sciencebusiness.net/news/researc...

Democracy for sale? Why the EU must break with Serbia's Vučić

Follow student cyclists from #Serbia on their journey from Novi Sad to Strasbourg! 👉 tourdestrasbourg.com They are starting tomorrow (April 3) Arrival in Strasbourg planned for April 15

Students from #Serbia (yes, those protesting for months now) just announced that they are going to cycle from Novi Sad to—Strasbourg. Why? To personally deliver news to European institutions of certain important developments in Serbia, since they have been sort of ignoring them. Here's the route 👇

So, the Serbian gvmt is witholding salaries to uni professors and staff due to ongoing student protests. As there are effectivelly no classes, and even though the unis are not in strike, gvmt is disbursing only about 10% of regular pay - "for research", as a form of punishment against higher ed.

A Belgrade, journée de colère historique pour des centaines de milliers de Serbes qui rêvent « d’un pays avec des lois et une justice qui marchent »