Stećci are medieval stone tombstones found mostly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia. They date from roughly the 12th to 16th century, and in 2016 selected necropolises were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

I visited two sites in Herzegovina a few days ago: the Radimlja necropolis near Stolac and the one at Dugo Polje. Standing among stones that have been there for 500 to 800 years is a strange and quiet feeling. Many carry carvings of figures, crescents, spirals and hunting scenes.

Has anyone else visited stećci sites? Which one would you recommend I see next?

Recently, while staying in Bihać, I heard about several incidents involving people crossing the Croatian border irregularly, and learned about a disturbing pattern.
According to the accounts I’ve heard, if you cross into Croatia irregularly and are caught by border patrol officers, the consequences can range from physical beatings to having your belongings confiscated or destroyed, followed by further violence. In some cases, people have reportedly suffered broken bones before being forcibly pushed back across the border into Bosnia and Herzegovina.
These reports suggest that no one is necessarily spared, whether they are families travelling with children or people claiming to be minors.
Even when victims try to seek justice through the courts for human rights violations, meaningful accountability appears difficult to achieve. In some cases, even after the European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Croatia over violent pushbacks by border police, the consequences for the officers involved have reportedly amounted to little more than temporary suspension, with no effective disciplinary action.
If officers know that they are unlikely to face serious consequences for abusing people, what is stopping them from continuing to act with impunity?
What are your thoughts on this situation?
These are the accounts I have heard and the information I have come across recently. I would like to hear other people’s perspectives on this issue.

From 2024

This needs to be spread around the world and seen what Serbia really is and what is happening there. Hundreds of young Serbs on the day of the commemoration of the genocide in Srebrenica sing about Serbian crimes against Muslims, the destruction of mosques and how hundreds of dead Muslims will be carried away by the Drina River. Such things are completely normal in Serbia and come from both pro-regime people and anti-regime young students people. Serbia glorifies war criminals who committed genocide in the 1990s, such as Ratko Mladic, Serbia also erects monuments to Chetnik criminals from WW2 and rehabilitated the Chetnik movement. We saw similar things in Ukraine in 2014 when monuments to Stepan Bandera were erected en masse. Serbia needs denazification

After 4 months of peaceful protests & 0 demands addressed, the flamingo revolution in Albania turns violent. This video confronts PM Rama's apparent "confusion" with a reality that's been crystal clear to everyone in the country all along.

The spark was a corrupt plan about a luxury resort by Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump in a protected environmental are. Learn more about the background here: https://youtu.be/8ZaSdlvqJeA

Crazy bounce

https://x.com/SerbEagleAI/status/2111097646894989808

Albanians are facing severe violence by the state police, with protesters being beaten without any apparent reason.
This video shows a police officer throwing a young man to the ground. Based on the video, the young man appears to be suffering from a possible stroke or another serious medical emergency.
He is not the only person who has suffered serious injuries. There is still no transparency from the authorities about their condition or where they are being treated.
We are asking for your support and for international attention to what is happening in Albania.

Edit: Thanks to everyone writing from Serbia.

For context: this began in late May over a Kushner-linked resort on a protected flamingo lagoon at Zvërnec and grew into a daily protest against Rama. Since students joined on Tuesday the police response has gotten much harder. On Thursday 40 people were treated at the Trauma hospital in Tirana, 14 of them protesters including four minors, and that night men in plain clothes and unmarked cars took people off the street. On Friday a court sent one detainee to prison and put six under house arrest.

People are talking about it, just not the big outlets. We keep a day by day log with every night's stream, and a chatbot on the site answers questions about the protests: https://www.diaspora-zbarkon.com/en/pulsi

Dobar dan narod moj !!

I’ve just recently landed back home in the Balkans, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. I’ve missed the people the atmosphere the food the vibes the energy, all of it. And it feels good to be back and experience all of this again.

And so I wanted to come on here and spread some love and unity amongst all of us, especially us young folks as we are the future of our nations. Whether you are, Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Montenegrin, etc. Let’s all do our best to make this region better for each other, we are practically the same people and we’d all fair better if we worked together.

dictatorship

The Macedonians are hating on this song... what do you think?

What do all the peoples of the Balkans have in common, with a particular focus on Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro?

Is there something that younger people largely agree on?

Some idea or common ground that brings everyone together and connects them?

Unacceptable

To set a couple of things straight here , the post is completely serious and I hope y'all stay on point as well , thanks a lot.

Now the US has lately been pretty cozy with Russia and has an increasing number of christian nationalists like hegseth incharge. They have been pretty overt with their backing of pro russia leaders like Orban ( vance even campaigned for him )

Thus it's quite plausible that a serbian christian nationalist finds support among the American far right , while I don't think serbia has the ability to somehow pull a Azerbaijan and outright expel the albanians living there but they could still cause a lot of problems.

The mere presence of regional tension is enough to keep the region underdeveloped as most outsiders would rather invest their time/money etc elsewhere.

What happens in this scenario ? Does the country stay in a status of weird legal limbo for decades and lose on the potential economic growth ?

🇦🇱🚨 ALBANIA DEMANDS REVOLUTION! DAY 135 OF THE CIVIL UPRISING SAW THE MOST BRUTAL AND BLOODY REPRESSIVE VIOLENCE EVER COMMITTED BY THE CRIMINAL POLICE. JOIN THE PROTEST!!!!!
Albanian Protest

After so many years, the Leskovac-Niš railway is back in use.

Here is another bust from my series dedicated to the heroes of the Greek War of Independence.

This time, it's Nikitaras (Nikitas Stamatelopoulos), one of the most renowned Greek revolutionary commanders and a close associate of Theodoros Kolokotronis.

Known as "Turkofagos" ("Turk-Eater") for his extraordinary courage in battle, he played an important role in several major victories, including the Battle of Dervenakia in 1822. He was also remembered for his honesty and refusal to enrich himself through the war.

This is a 200 mm painted bust.

Hope you enjoy my interpretation of him!