Writing provocatively about the situation in the Balkans and in Russia, Sam Vaknin is certainly one of CER's most controversial authors—and also one the most popular.
Volume 3
11 June 2001
New Serbia's Old Economy
The West has been an overbearing mother to the countries in transition.
4 June 2001
Micromanaging
Malignant Optimism
The West has been an overbearing mother to the countries in transition.
28 May 2001
Macedonia Is Not Bosnia
Is another bloody Balkan war on the horizon? CER talks to Balkan observer Edward Joseph to find out.
21 May 2001
On the Way to the EU
Is Bulgaria's economy in good enough shape for EU accession?
14 May 2001
Milošević's Treasure Island
There is little hope of finding the loot that went astray during Slobo's time in power.
7 May 2001
The Patriarch of Industry
Discussing a Balkan model for a market economy with Svetozar Janevski, Balkan business mogul, who explains why Southeastern Europe merits investment.
30 April 2001
The Victory is Montenegro
Is Montenegro's Đukanović really pushing for independence for the country?
30 April 2001
Surviving the Uprising
How will Macedonia's economy survive inter-ethnic crisis? CER speaks with the country's finance minister.
23 April 2001
The Ins and Outs
Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski speaks candidly about the KLA, Macedonian society and relations with Greece and the West.
2 April 2001
The Third Balkan War
Macedonia is just a distraction. The real third Balkan war is about to break out in Bosnia.
2 April 2001
The Vanishing Convict
What if Milošević conveniently passed away?
26 March 2001
No Albanian Intifada!
The international media has it all wrong. A guide to the recent round of Balkan tensions for the perplexed.
19 March 2001
The Common Enemy
CER readers should not be surprised at the escalating tension in the Balkans; we've been predicting it for ages.
12 March 2001
Axes to Grind
A taxonomy of political conflict in Central and Eastern Europe.
5 March 2001
Unemployment: The case of Macedonia
Why governments should encourage those who want to work in their own way.
26 February 2001
Unemployment: The case of Macedonia
How administrative measures can help those out of work.
19 February 2001
Unemployment: The case of Macedonia
The state has a role to play in keeping people employed.
12 February 2001
Unemployment: The case of Macedonia
It would be wrong to say that Macedonia has neglected to tackle the social cancer of unemployment.
5 February 2001
Unemployment: The case of Macedonia
Part two of this series exploring the social scourge of post-Communist transition.
29 January 2001
Unemployment: The case of Macedonia
Unemployment is by far the most damaging social scourge of economies in transition. What can be done to prevent it?
22 January 2001
From Post-Feminism to Past Femininity
Part II of this exploration of how women have lost out in transition.
15 January 2001
Women in Transition
Communism has left a legacy of inequality for women in Central and Eastern Europe.
8 January 2001
The Pettifogger Procurators
The diplomatic corps are generally corrupt and inept. And no one cares.
Volume 2
11 December 2000
More Ways to Kick the Habit
The final part of this series examining ways to limit the black economy.
4 December 2000
The Fifth Horseman
An apocalypse looms large as the Balkans misread the Serbian situation.
27 November 2000
How to Kick the Habit—Slowly
The black economy is a stabilising force in countries in transition; they need to be weaned off it gradually.
20 November 2000
The Blessings of the Informal Economy
If Central European countries relied only on their official economies, they would have gone bankrupt ages ago.
13 November 2000
The European Bank for the Retardation of Development
The EBRD has failed to Westernize the Easterners and has instead been Easternized by them.
7 November 2000
The Second October Revolution
The updated second edition of Aleksandar Pavković's The Fragmentation of Yugoslavia goes far beyond the "partial framework" it modestly claims to be.
30 October 2000
Straf
Corruption is not a monolithic practice. Nor are its outcomes universally deplorable or damaging.
16 October 2000
Scavengers and Predators
Might destructively parasitic economic relationships be CEE's only hope?
9 October 2000
An Empire Implodes
Not only is Koštunica unlikely to bring any new direction to Serbia, but, ironically, Albanian Kosovars have lost their truest ally—Milošević himself.
2 October 2000
The Christiane Way
Why Christiane Amanpour of CNN represents a new low in reporting standards.
25 September 2000
Dreamworld and Catastrophe
A cry of anguish disguised as the interdisciplinary analysis of a neo-Marxist scholar.
18 September 2000
The Sergeant and the Girl
Does the US think the price of an American girl's life is higher than an Albanian one?
11 September 2000
The Eureka Connection
The West has been promising the East prosperity it cannot deliver, growth it will not guarantee and stability it cannot ensure.
4 September 2000
Forward to the Past
Similarities between feudalism and Communist Europe help shed light on the transition woes of Central Europe.
10 July 2000
Communities of God
Part III of an examination of the principal axes of friction in the Balkans.
3 July 2000
Where Time Stood Still
Skopje, Macedonia, is a city of extremes, with an ethnic time bomb ticking away.
26 June 2000
A First Encounter
Part II in a series of articles looking at Balkan frictions.
19 June 2000
The Crescent and the Cross
Part I of a series of articles examining the Balkans through their axes of friction; Islam vs Christianity and nationalism vs liberalism.
12 June 2000
The False Maps of Maskirovka
Central Europe may now have accurate street maps, but the dissemination of misinformation continues.
5 June 2000
The Army of Liberation
Part V of The Union of Death, examining terrorists and freedom fighters in the Balkans
29 May 2000
The Union of Death
This week, Serbia's Black Hand examined as part of this series on Balkan violence.
22 May 2000
The Union of Death, Part III
with Židas Daskalovski
More discussion of Balkan violence. This week, Macedonia's IMRO examined.
15 May 2000
The Union of Death, Part II
Two contrasting views of the Ustaša and the relevance of Croatia's wartime past today.
9 May 2000
The Union of Death
Balkan groups aiming for liberation by violence; are they freedom fighters or terrorists? An introduction to a series of articles and responses.
2 May 2000
The Myths of Yugoslavia, Part III
The third and final part of this series debunking Balkan misconceptions.
25 April 2000
The Myths of Yugoslavia, Part II
Further popular misconceptions of the Balkans debunked.
17 April 2000
The Myths of Yugoslavia
Popular misconceptions of the Balkans debunked.
10 April 2000
After Tito, Techno!
Where Macedonia is and where it's going.
3 April 2000
The Titanic Waltz
Balkan elites dance the night away as the ship slowly sinks into a murky sea of social decay.
27 March 2000
The Janus Look
Which should the West plump for: an affable though ineffectual and constantly inebriated Yeltsin-style leader or a thinly disguised authoritarian like Vladimir Putin?
20 March 2000
To Give with Grace
America may champion human rights, civil society and peace, but it gives without grace and takes without shame. No wonder it is so hated in Central and Eastern Europe.
13 March 2000
The Expat Experts
All foreign advisors belong to one of three categories: the hustlers, the bureaucrats or the corporates.
6 March 2000
The Temptations of Cash
Strange, penumbral characters roam the boardrooms of banks in the countries in transition. These Faustian characters fall into various categories.
28 February 2000
The PCM Trail
Central and East European women are frequently driven by the "PCM" trinity - passports, cars, money - in their quest to escape the degradation they live in. The sad result is that they lose all identity.
21 February 2000
Books of the Damned
As the hope of a fully functioning independent media recedes in Central and Eastern Europe, where can the people of the region look to for objective information?
14 February 2000
Rasputin in Transition
The former Communist countries are easy prey for con men. Railing against the rot and immorality inherent in society is a recipe for getting anyone on your side, and from there it is easy to manipulate and deceive from selfish ends.
7 February 2000
The Friendly Club
The West promised Macedonia almost endless aid to win support during the Kosovo conflict. Now Macedonia has been given the cold shoulder in the latest wave of applications for EU entry.
31 January 2000
The Author of this Article is a Racist
Dr Vaknin defends himself against accusations and sets out his views on what the future holds for the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe.
24 January 2000
The Last Family
The East European family has been moulded and warped by the very structures and confines in which it lives.
17 January 2000
The Mind of Darkness
Who was to blame for the war? Can Macedonia survive without Serbia?
10 January 2000
Rip van Winkle Institutions
Communism was a collaborative effort that transcended notions of the oppressors and the oppressed.
Volume 1
13 December 1999
The Elders of Zion
Anti-Semitism is only one species in the zoo of rumours, conspiracy theories and meta histories.
13 December 1999
The Magla Vocables
Communication in the former Communist countries is a method of establishing distance and fending off.
6 December 1999
The
Caveman and the Alien
The West's double standard when dealing
with the East.
29 November 1999
In
the Wake of Broken Promises
Macedonia is saddled with popular
misconceptions and erroneous impressions. Will prejudice alone kill the
Macedonian economy?
22 November 1999
Lessons in Transition
What do
countries in transition need to do to encourage outside investment? The
answers are surprisingly simple.
15 November 1999
Is
Transition Possible? (or Can Socialist Professors of Economics Teach
Capitalism?)
Capitalism is more than just a theoretical
construct, and this fact is a major impediment to the democratization of
former Communist countries.
8 November 1999
The
Myth of Greater Albania: From King Zog to a brave new world
The final installment of this history of Albania takes us from the
scramble for power which resulted in the ascension of King Zog to the
present day.
1 November 1999
The
Myth of Greater Albania: From Ottomans to Americans
The third
installment of this history of Albania charts the decline during the
Ottoman years and the partition at the hands of the Great Powers.
25 October 1999
The
Myth of Greater Albania: From Illyrium to Skanderberg
Part 2
of this series exploring the convenient myth of a Greater Albania and the
real history of the country.
18 October 1999
The
Myth of Greater Albania
Reality doesn't support the concept,
or myth, of Greater Albania.
11 October 1999
The
Dance of Jael
People feel cheated by their post-Communist
systems. Envy is the central emotion.
4 October 1999
The
Doctor's Postbag
Dr Vaknin defends his articles in
correspondence with a friend, a government advisor in the region.
27 September 1999
The
Honorary Academic
Sad state of academia, plagued with
cronyism.
20 September 1999
Herzl's Butlers
Europe is
filled with small nations; there are two schools of thought in dealing
with the thorny problems they create.
13 September 1999
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
The West keeps sending money East, and it keeps disappearing
in a tangle of fear and corruption.
6 September 1999
Homo balkanus
How does
one respond to a torrent of belligerent correspondence from people in the
Balkans, arguing against the belligerence of people in the Balkans?
30 August 1999
The
Poets and the Eclipse
Intellectuals in the Balkans exert no
moderating influence on their societies; on the contrary, they radicalize,
dramatize, poison and incite.
23 August 1999
Between
Omerta and Vendetta
The language of business in countries in
transition is suffused with the criminal parlance of violence.
16 August 1999
The Bad
Blood of Kosovo
Was the Kosovo conflict a result of the legacy
of Serbian history?
9 August 1999
The Solow
Paradox
Economies in transition should avoid information
technology until a functioning marketplace is there to counter its
growth-suppressing effects.
2 August 1999
Macedonia's Losses during Operation Allied
Force
Unless donor conferences and foreign governments meet
their pledges, Macedonia will be in dire straits indeed.
26 July 1999
Managing Macedonia's Future
Macedonia's relationship with the EU will not change if the EU does
not honour its promises.
26 July 1999
The Dark
Clouds of NATO
The Assessment of Environmental Impact of
Military Activities During the Yugoslavia Conflict - Preliminary Findings.
19 July 1999
The Phlegm
and the Anima
Tony Blair was here in Macedonia a while ago,
promising the moon.
12 July 1999
The MinMaj
Rule
Minorities neighbouring majorities cannot get along.
5 July 1999
Treasure
Trove in Kosovo
This is the real Balkan stability pact.
28 June 1999
The Deadly
Antlers of a Dilemma
NATO will crack in Kosovo.
Volume 0
21 June 1999
Why Did Milosevic Surrender?
Milosevic did not surrender. He entrapped the West in his usual, wily style.
14 June 1999
NATO's Next
War
The real, protracted war is about to begin: NATO and the
international peacekeeping force against an unholy - and, until recently,
improbable - alliance.
6 June 1999
Millenarian
Thoughts on Kosovo
The NATO "air campaign" in Kosovo has
exposed and brought to culmination a series of historical processes whose
importance cannot be exaggerated.
31 May 1999
The Bones of the
Grenadier
It's time for the West to take a look at the Balkans
as a whole and not shun its duty as a de facto colonial power.
24 May 1999
The Defrosted
War
Russia's role in a brave, new world.
10 May 1999
The Black Birds of
Kosova
The real conflict in Kosovo will erupt after the NATO
campaign is over and the smoke clears.
4 January 1999
The IMF
Deconstructed
A dialogue deconstructing the IMF.
14 December 1998
The New
Colonies
Is the old colonialism to be the new model for
Central Europe?
23 November 1998
Russia's New
Economy
The recent economic "crisis" in Russia is only the
bursting of the Moscow bubble, and this event is a positive
development.
16 November 1998
What the Czech
National Bank Can Learn from Israel
To the detriment of the
Czech economy, the Czech National Bank is being taken for a ride by
speculators.
9 November 1998
New Paradigms,
Old Cycles
It took a looming global recession to convince
wild-eyed optimists that old cycles are more reliable guides than new
paradigms.
2 October 1998
Central European
Meltdown
The devaluation in Russia set in motion a chain of
events tantamount to a global economic earthquake.
