Europe

The long-running anti-corruption movement in Serbia, which been accused by the government and Russia of being a Color Revolution front, recently escalated their tactics by setting fire to the ruling Serbian Progress Party’s offices. The authorities’ consequent crackdown prompted some Western commentators to wonder whether the EU might punish Serbia for this. Interestingly, the timing of this latest unrest coincides with President Aleksandar Vucic complying in part with Western pressure.

Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) has inflicted massive attrition on Ukraine’s military capabilities and has also exposed the weakness and limitations of the NATO countries to provide replacement weapons, ammunition and combat vehicles. The SMO also has demonstrated the superiority of Russian weapons compared to those of NATO. Russia, for instance, has successfully employed at least four types of hypersonic missiles, while NATO has not fielded even one.

The US RAND Corporation continues to publish regular reports on the Russia’s Special Military Operation, which may be interesting in terms of how they assess the armed conflict, the prospects for its completion, as well as further intentions with respect to Russia.

The conservative victory in Poland’s second round of presidential elections on Sunday is the first overseas political victory of the second Trump Administration. Dr. Karol Nawrocki, who heads Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance and was backed by the opposition “Law & Justice” (PiS) party, narrowly beat liberal Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski from the ruling Civic Coalition (KO). The electoral commission made the announcement early Monday morning: 50.89% vs. 49.11%.