Albin Kurti’s party, Self-Determination, received the most votes in Kosovo’s regular parliamentary
elections. These are the first regular elections since Kosovo’s independence in 2008. The current prime
minister will have to form a coalition if he wants to retain the prime minister’s office. Analysts we spoke
say that Kurti has two options, either a coalition with the opposition or with minorities. Negotiations are
just beginning. In the campaign, which passed peacefully, the focus of politicians was mainly on ethnic
issues, while the focus of the people, however, is on real social problems such as the economy,
emigration and corruption. We talk to journalist Vjosa Cerkini in Pristina about all these issues, as well as
about Kosovo’s international relations under the leadership of Albin Kurti. In Mitrovica, we spoke with
political analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu, and in North Mitrovica, we asked citizens what they think about
these elections.
Interview with Professor Ivan Dinev from the University of Cincinnati
The new US President, Donald Trump, continues to shock the world. The idea of moving the residents of
Gaza to another country has met with great international discontent. The decision to close the USAID
organization, which grants grants to many sectors around the world, has also caused discontent and
protests. We talk about these topics, as well as Trump's trade policies, with Professor Ivan Dinev Ivanov,
who teaches at the University of Cincinnati. The professor believes that the judicial system will prevent
Trump from deporting students who protested the situation in Gaza.
Голем број граѓани се собраа на Партизанска, на местото кадешто беше прегазена младата Фросина да побараат правда. Протестот продолжи до Собранието и заврши пред судовите. Граѓаните со молк изразија сочувство и голем дел од нив рекоа дека ќе продолжат да протестираат додека правдата не биде задоволена. На протестот присуствуваше семејството на младата Фросина, како и семејствата на претходните жртви на дивеењето на Партизанска.
Serbian students are not giving up on blockades. After the 24-hour blockade of Belgrade’s
Avtokomanda, Novi Sad will be blocked this weekend. Three months have passed since the terrible
accident that took 15 lives and the same number of months since the student blockades that woke up
all of Serbia.
In this episode of Labyrinth, we talk to Aleksandra Krstic, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences
in Belgrade, who was also a candidate for a member of REM, the regulatory body for the supervision of
electronic media, but together with 6 other professors withdrew their candidacies due to numerous
irregularities in the process.
We also talk to fellow journalist, Nikola Krstic, who is one of the journalists facing public lynching and
labeling by pro-government tabloids.
Donald Trump officially takes office as President of the US. The inauguration ended with the sensational
signing of numerous decisions that have international implications. One of them is the withdrawal from
the Paris Climate Agreement. From the US, we include reporter Jallysa Dugrot with an analysis of
Trump's inauguration day.
In Gaza, meanwhile, the ceasefire is being celebrated and hopes for a lasting peace are growing.
Humanitarian aid has begun to arrive in the strip, and the first hostages have already been exchanged.
The second exchange is expected to take place this weekend. Journalist Rakan Abed El Rahman joins us
from central Gaza, with whom we discuss the situation there after the long-sought ceasefire.
Fires ravaged the center of the film industry, Los Angeles. Danger still exists.
On the political front, the Senate hearings of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees are underway.
We are talking about the situation in the USA with journalist Jalisa Dugro. Watch the full conversation.
Georgians will welcome the New Year with protests and will not give up on their European future – says
the Leader of the For the People party, Anna Dolidze. Dolidze is an expert in international law, until 2018
she was the legal advisor to the President, and then a member of the Judicial Council.
In Labyrinth we talked about the stolen elections and the Russian hybrid influence that managed to
divert the country from the European integration path. The protests escalated, and the use of water
cannons and violence by the police did not change the Georgians’ minds to continue fighting for their
rights. About 500 protesters, including some injured, will spend the holidays in detention. We also
discussed with Dolidze the international support and the sanctions imposed by the US and the UK on
some of the Georgian authorities, but not by the European Union.
Report from Kiev and a conversation about Serbian student blockades
Ukrainians will welcome the third New Year with war. The situation on the fronts has little chance of
changing without a political solution, but therefore the activities for making plans for the reconstruction
of the country in the post-war period are becoming more prominent. From Ukraine, we include Iryna
Drobovych, founder of the The Day After Foundation, with whom we discuss the need to plan and
inspire the reconstruction of Ukraine in advance.
In Serbia, however, the protests became massive after students from all faculties went on a blockade.
They received support from professors, and after them the High School Students' Union also started to
block. Our film director Leonid Velkovski, who studies at the Novi Sad Faculty, is also a guest in today's
edition of Labyrinth. We discuss the activities and demands of Serbian students.
After 13 years of civil war, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has fallen almost without a fight. The
rebel HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) has taken power and is trying to make a peaceful transition. In the
meantime, the US, Israel and Turkey are bombing places that are strongholds of ISIS, the Kurdish party
or places that are suspected of having remnants of chemical weapons used by Assad. In this episode, we
talk to war reporter Bud Wichers from the Netherlands who has been reporting from Syria since the
very beginning of the uprising in 2011. Wichers has extensive experience reporting from the Middle
East, and in Syria he reported from the biggest hot spots and was in contact with almost all the factions
fighting in Syria. He says it is good that the regime has finally fallen, but he is still suspicious of possible
terrorist hot spots, that is, he suspects that HTS has severed all ties with its previous “umbrella” Al Nusra
Front, which was practically the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. огранок на Ал Каеда.
Tensions and protests in Serbia are not subsiding. Citizens are not giving up on demanding responsibility
for the accident in which 15 people lost their lives. In the meantime, the government is arresting
protesters, and the opposition is trying to get them out of custody. Students from almost all faculties
across Serbia have also started blockades. We talk about this and the opposition's future steps with the
MP from the Democratic Party, Srdjan Milivojevic.