What do you know about Mihai Viteazu/Michael the Brave? If Vlad Țepeș is well known among people from Balkans and turks for clear reasons, Michael the Brave was a much more powerful man than Vlad Țepeș/Vlad Impaler.

There are popular/folkloric rumours saying Michael the Brave had the chance to kick out completly turks from Balkans with the support from the Pope if he would have became Catholic, switching from its Orthodox faith, which he refused.

The book pages are from “The Heretic: the Life and Times of Josip Broz-Tito” written by Fitzroy Maclean in 1957.

I'm convinced that it's really only the Anglosphere countries that actually take autism mildly seriously in the world today, and I have no doubts that the Balkans are especially bad even compared to much of the rest of the world. What do you think?

I'd say a few candidates could be organisation of the 2024 Olympics for France or UK losing cod wars to Iceland lol

Our prime minister said the people who were protesting peaceful against the housing crisis and were brutally assaulted by the police were selfish thugs. The mayor said he would be ruthless on people camping.

So yeah, got some to spare?

Hey all, I am not the creator of this video, this guy is a legend and all props to him.

I noticed, for some time now, that half of the videos on all balkan related subs are either hateful rethoric, pushing content that might be true but is likely to invoke angry reactions, as well as opinion bating on various political subjects. Accounts are usually quite young and have a random word and number salad in the name. My immediate thought was either bots pushing political agenda or AI training on our opinions for some reason.

He did a deeper dive into it, I would recommend watching the whole video, but TLDR would be that people have, among other things, figured out that there's good money and engagement if you start political debates online.

You might say that this is reddit, it's virtually impossible to make money here, but there's still that part of proven political influence, as well as likelihood that once you start a topic on Reddit you will probably use other media platforms to engage with it further.

This post is just here to remind you that the person you're hating online is most probably not a person, but a bot that is trying to use you for political or monetary purposes. They don't care that your hate is real, and that, one day, it might be utilized on someone that doesn't deserve it.

Peace and love!

Edit: the pic should be viewed horizontally

Do you think the UK could break apart, with Scotland or Northern Ireland leaving? Would you support it? Curious to hear the Balkan perspective.

Greetings. Serbia. What and where would a first time visitor go and see as a tourist? Anything that really stands out as far as a do not miss? Starting from Belgrade. Can you get by with being an English speaker? Where do Serbians go on vacation? Thank you in advance.

Do you agree with this map ?

Flying into Dubrovnik and out of Zagreb a week later (7 nights, rental car) and torn between two routes:

Option 1 – Coast: Dubrovnik → Makarska Riviera → Split → maybe Zadar → Zagreb. Beautiful scenery, but is the coast still worth it in late October or does everything shut down after the season?

Option 2 – Inland via Bosnia: Dubrovnik → Mostar/Blagaj → Sarajevo → Plitvice → Zagreb. Different culture, food and history, but how are the mountain roads in late October?

Preference for nature and old towns over nightlife. Which route would you pick and why – or is there a hybrid worth considering?

Im a Catholic albanian and im curious to see what Serbians think of Christian albanians as I have seen a lot of Serbs taunt or joke that albanians aren't real European due to the majority religion which is Islam.

This short documentary, Albanian Women Are Our Sisters, looks back at the largely forgotten history of solidarity between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian anti-war activists during the 90s

The title comes from a protest organized by Women in Black in Belgrade on March 8, 1995, in solidarity with Kosovo Albanian women. The activists were physically attacked by a group of men, the banner was destroyed and an Italian pacifist delegation accompanying them was also targeted

The documentary itself also faced opposition. In 2017, screenings in several Serbian cities were cancelled or disrupted following pressure and threats from nationalist groups

Did you or any of your parents, grandparents or other relatives take part in these protests or know someone who did?

Regarding my country, Turkey, it’s undeniable that the country continues to develop economically. Inflation is declining, although it remains very high. However, wages are still low compared to the cost of living, and economic governance continues to lack strict oversight and effective regulation. Tax evasion remains a significant problem, with some individuals and businesses continuing to avoid their tax obligations.

Despite economic growth, living standards are not improving as much as they should. Turkey also has one of the lowest numbers of doctors per capita among OECD countries, which highlights some of the persistent weaknesses in its healthcare system.

Another major issue is our dependence on foreign energy imports, which contributes significantly to the country’s trade deficit. Oil and gas imports place a considerable burden on our economy and make us vulnerable to fluctuations in international energy prices.

On the other hand, I believe Turkey’s geopolitical position is gradually improving. The Kurdish issue seems to be entering a less confrontational phase, although it is far from being fully resolved. Furthermore, despite regional tensions, Turkey has so far remained relatively insulated from the direct conflicts affecting several Middle Eastern countries, including Israel and some Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran. This relative stability could become an important economic and strategic advantage in the coming years.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Turkey’s economic future. The country has enormous potential, a diversified economy, and a strategic geographical position. However, poor economic governance, structural imbalances, and the everyday financial struggles of ordinary people still prevent a large part of the population from truly benefiting from economic growth.

I’m therefore cautiously optimistic about Turkey’s long-term potential, but much more skeptical about how its economy is currently being managed.

What about you? What do you think of these economic forecasts, and how do you see the economic and financial future of your country? 🙂

Edit : RIP Romania 😢

Religious as in the amount of the population that actually follows the religion properly (ie church every Sunday and fasting Wednesdays and Fridays, etc for Christians, no alcohol, modest clothes, etc for Muslims). Do you think it would be be any more or less religious than it is, or do you think it would be about the same as it is today?

Every time I see any other neighboring person or non-neighboring person abroad, we immediately get happy and click, and it feels like, for lack of a better word, we’re a “family” with all the balkans. The only country that’s not like this is Greece. I was recently in Greece for the first time in years and talking to this greek friend, and I mentioned being balkan, and she told me “don’t say that in Greece. we don’t like calling ourselves balkan. we’re southern European, like Italy.” Now the answer as to why this is is obvious, they don’t want to associate themselves with poorer countries, and want to rebrand themselves in order to be more appealing for tourists. Clearly it’s working. But it’s just so funny when Greeks genuinely think they’re more similar to Italians. I’m not greek so tell me your opinions on this, I’m only a neighbor, but how on earth can a country have more in common with a non-neighboring country like Italy than its literal neighbors, whom have been under the same empires with for millenniums, have almost identical cuisine, dances, food, music, for most same religion, etc? It’s like they don’t believe you when you say you’re similar. I agree that in a way Greece is different than the rest of us, but it is so overblown.

(to be fair, it’s true that the Greek islands aren’t balkan, they’re literally not a part of the balkan peninsula, but my friend was from Thessaloniki. How are you from Thessaloniki and more similar to Italy than countries 2 hours away from you by car 😭)

Why?