In The Aftermath Of The Meeting, Serbian Papers Are Reporting That Two Countries Which Had So Far Been Understood To Have Recognized Kosovo, Now Say That In Fact They Did not.

The 1st major working week after the summer holidays has already produced a cornucopia of stories here in the western Balkans. Some are way more significant than others, unless of course you live here, when they are all very serious. Here is a roundup of a number of them.

Outside the old Yugoslav Fed Parliament building in the Serbian capital they are rolling up the red carpet which had been unrolled to greet delegates to the fiftieth birthday whack of the Non-Aligned Movement, which I have written about here. Serbia, which hosted the gathering, is not a member, but never mind that. It finds it handy to lobby over the Kosovo issue and for business.

In the result of the meeting, Serbian papers are reporting that two states which had so far been accepted to have recognised Kosovo, now say that in fact they did not. Oman explains it just, kind of, um ah, sort of stated that it wanted Kosovo in the U. N, but that is completely different. The West African state of Guinea Bissau claims that recognition was held up in parliament.

Vuk Jeremic, Serbia's foreign minister adds that a criminal inquiry has begun in one African country against a senior official. He said :

"There are founded claims that he got a bribe from an Albanian entrepreneur from Kosovo in order to start the process to recognise Kosovo independence. If that inquiry gives results we predict, this country will also withdraw its recognition of Kosovo independence."

In the piece I wrote in this week's print edition I noted that many nations find the Non-Aligned Movement's conferences helpful because they enable nations to lobby and network. However in a stinging commentary (behind a paywall,) at Balkan Insight Milan Misic, the Washington journalist of the Serbian daily Politika, disagrees the entire shebang was mounted because Belgrade "needed something to boost its confidence". It was simply a show of nostalgia for all its players disagrees Mr Misic and "dwelled on the past achievements of the movement. "

At the meeting the ex-Yugoslavs all sat together. They'd better be careful. Folks (especially Croatia's Nova television) are raising questions. Why Ivo (Josipovic, the president of Croatia) was spending a great deal of time with Boris (Tadic, the president of Serbia). Two men of the same age, same background, same roles, same issues, what a scandal...

Meanwhile, as some Croatian journalists were obsessing about Ivo and Boris a small Croatian paper, the Makarska Kronika, appears to have a world-beating scoop, if true for course. In February I wrote about the close connections between the previous Yugoslavia and Colonel Qaddafi. The press then wrote that his wife Safiya was initially Sofija Farkas, a Croat with Hungarian roots from Mostar in Hercegovina. According to the paper, Mrs Qaddafi has just lately been attempting to buy land and property in Igrane on the Croatian Adriatic coast not far away from Mostar.

Mrs Qaddafi and some of the family are now in Algeria. This summer the Balkan press has been full of stories of diverse celebrities in assorted stages of inebriation or disrobe, from Prince Harry to Beyonc, who have been holidaying in Croatia. Whether Mrs Qaddafi fits the profile the Croats desire, I am really not sure, if she is actually a Bosnian Croat she has a perfect right to a Croatian passport and thus visa free travel through Europe.

On a rather more sombre note, Dimitar Bechev of the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations writes about the "protracted death of democratic Albania." Debating about the political conflict which has paralysed Albania for the last two years he is saying that both Edi Rama, the leader of the opposition Socialists and Sali Berisha, the P. M. are at fault. However Mr Berisha "must take the lion's share." He is hell bent, announces Mr Bechev, on gaining control of all the Albanian establishments which still remain beyond his grip.

Why are ordinary Albanians willing to allow such de-democratisation? One reason might be that, unlike the other previous Commie states, normal people see in the EU nothing different from Albania. To the side, across the Mediterranean, is Italy, with its unique brand of game-show politics ; to the south, over the mountain ranges, lies bankrupt Greece. If this is what it suggests to be an ECU state, many Albanian politicians can be excused for thinking they already live in one, or should qualify for membership."

Not as dramatic, but still, alarm bells have started to ring in Montenegro too. Thomas Roser, of the Austrian daily Die Presse has written about the series of attacks on autos belonging to Vijesti, one of the nations main dailies. 4 have been torched in the last couple of months. Zeljko Ivanovic, the paper's handling editor says the media situation in the country is awful and that the attacks are messages from folks attached to orgainised crime which in Montenengro have consistently been thought to overlap with political interests that "they are stronger than the state" and therefore Vijesti's reporting about issues like this is useless. Who cares about the global economy when you can fret about media liberty in Montenegro. Watch this space, writes tagza.com.