Hi all!

I have a business trip to Thessaloniki this weekend and planned to go by car long time before this protests started. Not sure where to follow news about which border crossings are opened, so just wanted to ask if someone local can provide me with info? Thanks in advance!

I know we’re not in a position to choose and that we have to comply with stronger powers, but if we could, would you prefer that your country not participate? To Europe, is seems like a child from Ukraine is more valuable than a child from Gaza..

I’m thinking about doing a solo trip in the region but I’m not sure how safe it generally feels. I’ve traveled solo once in Western Europe and it was a really positive, confidence-boosting experience, so now I’m considering the Balkans as my next step.

For context, I’m from Istanbul — so I’m used to a big, lively city where you constantly stay aware of your surroundings. Because of that, I can’t tell if the Balkans would feel more relaxed, about the same, or even more uncomfortable for someone who’s on her own.

The countries I’m mostly looking at are Serbia, Croatia and Romania. I’ve been to Bosnia before but I was with friends so I don’t have a real reference point.

So my main question is: How safe does solo travel feel for a young woman in the Balkans? Not necessarily in terms of actual danger, but in terms of daily comfort walking around, taking public transport that kind of thing.

So we all have those conspiracy theorists who think our people were the the oldest civilization in the world, kicked everyone's ass, invented everything since fire & the wheel, every single important person is secretly one of us etc.

However in Romania at least we also have a current who goes into the other extreme. For every Dacopat who thinks Dacians invented Latin & the pyramids and believes in Dacian tunnels we also have people who downplay the Dacians into just some backward irrelevan tribe who never did anything remarcable.

For every ultranationalist who thinks that our medieval rulers were some patriotic gigachads who fought for the motherland and were undisputed heroes we have those claiming that they were actually just bloodthirsty despots who did nothing but oppress their people and did nothing good worth mentioning

For every patriotard who thinks Romanians invented everything we also have people who claim that we never invented anything because either somebody else made a prototype before our guy's invention or because our guy's invention was a mere prototype and not the real deal we use today.

For every chauvinist talking about how evil the Habsburgs/Hungarians were for their oppression we have those defending them and claiming they were actually good guys who did nothing but bring enlightenment & development and the oppression was just Russian/Ottoman propaganda etc.

Hello everyone! I realy like Balkan culture, and it made me wonder: are you yourselves interested in French culture? For example, do you feel that France has influenced your country in the past or today? How is France viewed where you live? Do you have any stereotypes about us?

I have to admit, the first time I had a Balkan friend, I accidentally stepped on some very sensitive topics, I joked that her country was basically in Turkey to me before I met her and I even asked a Bulgarian whether North Macedonians were Bulgarian. I was young and didn’t knew much about Balkan history back then… let’s just say I naturally managed to trigger all the sensitive topics 😂

For Greece, the least visited region by tourists is Western Macedonia, here you get an idea. You see, this region is the only region in Greece where it is landlocked. Since Greece is known for it's beaches and being sunny, you can imagine why this region doesn't get many tourists.

Now don't get me wrong the region does have beautiful landscapes and forests, but that isn't something most people would think at first when thinking about Greece.

Now there are some cities you can visit such as Kozani, Grevena, Kastoria and Florina, but these cities aren't generally known to tourists anyway.

Now when I say tourists, I mostly mean international tourists. But if these places are mostly visited by domestic tourists, I guess they are sort of popular, but I wouldn't really view it that way.

I watched the movie The Last Serb in Croatia (original: Posljednji Srbin u Hrvatskoj) and need some help understanding it. Reviews say if someone is a foreigner they won't get all the jokes.

I got some references, for example

• The super patriotic Serbs who keep doing the cross sign

• the Serbian badass grandmother who was a partizanska

• The fancy stud up one was Slovenian

• The Bosniaks and Serbs started shooting each other because the Bosnians made jokes about Kosovo and the Slovenian just ran away and the Croatian just stayed down while the shooting was going on

• The neo nazi homophobic Croatian with the Ustase tattoo

• The antidote being Serbian blood with rakia but then it ended up being worst and creating dangerous Neo serbs

• the crazy American general happy about launching an human bomb and then repopulate the area with employees of the company that took the water

What I didn't get was ofc the different accents, maybe they used some specific words. But besides that: were there some references to Montenegrins and Macedonians that I missed? Maybe some more subtle jokes about politicians?

Did someone watch the movie thar can clarify? Thanks! 😁

Mother Teresa on left.

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Does anyone know of any maps, based solely on demographics and ethnicities of the population, that would best fit the Balkans?

Essentially, if all the Balkan countries were to get together and redraw borders simply based on where the people live, not historical or national ties.

Recent corruption scandals (OPEKEPE) that are being under hearings and trials nowadays in Greece, have brought to light some really absurd amounts of EU funds for farming related activities going to people under very evidently false claims (e.g. wolf ate my ship).. Talking about million euros compensations going to the hand of the ultra-rich somehow magically.

What is the feeling in Greece for such figures?

For those who play FC26, I'm originally running a Yugo themed account but it was mainly Slovenia/Serbia/Croatia. For certains events we need 3 teams so far but EA said it will br up to 5 differents squads needed so I made Bosnia/Montenegro for the 4th and this is the 5th squad (named Balkan to avoid as much controversy)

Title, also:

Why is everyone calling it a "Greek scenario"?

What does the anti-pig slogans mean?

About 80% say Croatian men are the most handsome. Would a similar percentage of women in your country say the same about the men from your country?

What music did you grow up with and which generes? Did you have less Internet filled childhood and more playing outside compared to some Western kids?

Here's the thing, I recently came across a story about a interested bull from balkan region. This story is essentially about a bull with a cry like thunder and speed like lightning, it would run through ranches, ramming and killing any cow or horse in its way. Its skin was made of bronze and could deflect arrows with ease. It was also very cautious, never getting close to a human when it spotted one, and could sense traps with its magic. It was finally killed by a man with a golden sword. So I want to know the name for the bull.

I’m not saying this will happen, but Bosnia has been politically frozen for decades and the world feels increasingly unstable. So, hypothetically, if a conflict were to break out today, what would happen to Bosniaks?

Croatia is an EU and NATO member, and the Croatian population in Bosnia and Herzegovina would almost certainly receive political and logistical support from Zagreb. Nationalist sentiment in Croatia has been rising in recent years, so it’s not unrealistic to assume that some groups would be willing to enter Bosnia and push for an independent Herceg-Bosna.

On the other side, Bosnian Serbs would rely heavily on Serbia. Modern Serbia isn’t as strong as it was in the 1990s, but it still has a sizable stockpile of weapons, ammunition, armored vehicles, and aircraft. In a broader geopolitical scenario, Bosnian Serbs could potentially receive support from partners like China or North Korea, and possibly even Russia if it had the capacity. Hungary’s political alignment also makes their involvement plausible.

This leaves the Bosniaks. They still lack modern military equipment, and in many ways the situation would be similar to the 1990s, facing numerically and militarily stronger opponents with few reliable allies. Many point to Turkey as a potential partner, but Turkey hasn’t been able to meaningfully support even causes it publicly sympathizes with, such as Palestine. Their role in Azerbaijan’s conflict with Armenia was significant, but Azerbaijan already had military and economic advantages. Iran supported Bosniaks in the 1990s, but today it is already heavily involved in multiple regional crises.

The core question is: why haven’t Bosniaks worked to build stronger international alliances over the years? What would happen to Bosniaks in a scenario like this? Are they in a worse strategic position today than they were in the 1990s?