The social media -- Facebook, Twitter, and other "miracles" of this so-called Age of Information -- added to their fame by helping gather the great crowds that toppled the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, shook the palace of Bahrain's despot, ignited the uprising that overthrew Gaddafi, carried Syria to the...

With the backing of the US and most EU countries, Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. Since then, trying to present the newest country in Europe in a positive light has become a public relations nightmare given that a dark shadow is cast over the tiny Balkan country by its...

In 1990, as the Albanian revolution against 45 years of communist rule was gaining momentum, a young professor of art named Edi Rama warned that the post-communist government should be free of former communist party members. He warned of "corrupt intellectuals" highjacking the democratic movement and turning it into a...

Since Kosovo achieved independence in 2008, its leaders' mission was simple: win friends and influence people. At most Kosovo's future was to be a beauty contest. Having survived Milosevic's ethnic cleansing, Kosovo rightfully won the sympathy and the support of key Western powers. Billions of dollars of Western aid poured...

The International Court of Justice's recent ruling in favor of Kosovo's right to declare independence has opened the door for Kosovo to enter the family of sovereign states. Now Kosovo must show that it's ready to assume that responsibility.

The task falls to Kosovo's powerful Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. With...

An inappropriate, mutually beneficial relationship between political leaders and members of the "business" elite in the countries of Eastern Europe is thwarting the emergence of genuine democracy, warping development of free market economies, co-opting the mass media, and weakening the rule of law and formation of efficient state institutions.

This...

Too often over the past decade, the United States, European Union, and United Nations have looked the other way in the Albanian-populated areas of the Balkans, willfully allowing corrupt political and military leaders to have their way in vain hopes that these figures would promote "regional stability."

This "see-no-evil" policy...