It’s Payback Time! Bosnia Raid Sweden for Future Soccer Stars #Zlatan

Sarajevo: two Sweden international footballers – Dennis Hadžikadunić and Anel Ahmedhodžić (U21) – are in the process of changing their sporting nationalities to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina, reversing an historic trend #Bosnia #Sweden #Ibrahimovic

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 20, 2020

Down the years, a long list of players eligible for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team – including Zlatan Ibrahimović, indubitably one of the all-time soccer greats – have been lost to Sweden, making the decisions of Hadžikadunić and Ahmedhodžić all the more remarkable #BiH

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 20, 2020

Analysis: since 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina have gifted north of 100 international players to other national teams in Europe and Asia, a generous but unwanted record which has stunted its football development no end #Bosnia #soccer

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 20, 2020

To watch: the rise of competitive youth soccer combined with widespread Internet access means that only erratic selection and possibly fate stand in the way of Bosnia and Herzegovina achieving something seriously impressive in the coming years https://t.co/aVRpAxzgpo

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 20, 2020

Pressing Super Cancel: Is Coronavirus Capitulation Counterproductive?

The predictable postponement of the 22nd Summer Olympic Games – following on from the rescheduling of the pan-continental Euro 2020 finals – is a sure sign that SARS-CoV-2, something barely in the global public consciousness a matter of weeks ago, has already made a sensational impression on how the world perceives itself. It has had the effect of making the unthinkable – the shuttering of airports, panic buying in times of undisrupted supply chains, and the general abrogation of normal life as we know it – all-too-real.

The cancellation of practically everything of note, however, has some serious implications which do not appear to have been addressed in the media coverage of the pandemic to date; as ever, it seems up to this blog to at least point them out:

1. Collective psychology. Placing vital markers of time such as soccer and Olympic tournaments in the deep freeze is some move given that these sporting festivals have only previously been pulled from the schedules for one reason: the Second World War. Even as recently as the early 1990s, the insanely bloody disintegration of one of the participating countries (Yugoslavia) and the ending of another (USSR) did not engender the collapse of Euro 92. The enormous levels of uncertainty and angst these administrative decisions will trigger is likely to have economic spillover effects far beyond the initial €2.14bn/US$2.17bn tab to be picked up by the organisers.
2. Weimar, 2.0. Talking of economic spillover effects, kicking event after event into the long grass risks creating a structure in which only a truly dysfunctional economy can take shape. It does not take a genius to see that in an economic shutdown scenario, millions of people who count themselves as middle class may experience serious fiscal pressures because of lost earnings; savings will haemorrhage, while serious social instability and possible currency devaluations seem almost inevitable. The wave of human suffering this could unleash risks making the coronavirus crisis – as urgent as it indubitably is, and which merited decisive (and ignored) preventative measures – appear to be, by comparison, nothing more than a blip.

Building the Future: Belgrade and Sarajevo Uniting Under the Turks!

Construction has begun on a long-awaited highway that will link the capitals of #Serbia and #Bosnia-Herzegovina – and the symbolism could hardly be more ironic #Turkey

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) October 13, 2019

The #Belgrade–#Sarajevo highway is being built and financed by Turkish corporations, a paradoxical act which marks the complete and final collapse of modern Serbian nationalism #Bosnia #Serbia #Turkey

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) October 13, 2019

Analysis: the start of construction on the new highway linking Serbia and Bosnia illustrates that 'othering' narratives are an irrelevance in the face of overwhelming #capital flows #revisionism #history #historyteacher

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) October 13, 2019

To watch: Serbia's deepening alliance with #Turkey includes a pledge to increase defence cooperation; the two nations seem to have belatedly realised that they have almost everything of note in common #Balkans https://t.co/f8A2SKaSD7

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) October 13, 2019

World Cup in Motion: European Qualifying Section Kicks Off With New Team!

27 years after its status within #Yugoslavia was drastically + violently diminished, #Kosovo plays its first competitive football game #FIFA

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 9, 2016

Kosovo has declared independence a number of times in recent decades, but the 17/02/2008 promulgation ultimately proved decisive #Yugoslavia

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 9, 2016

The recognition of #Kosovo shows that the United States still has supremacy in the international system when it comes to sovereignty issues

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 9, 2016

Ironically, #Kosovo's international debut comes at a time when cooperation amongst the ex-Yugoslav republics has never looked more necessary

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 9, 2016

To watch: #Croatia, #Serbia and #Bosnia could launch some joint sporting, cultural + political institutions by 2020 https://t.co/zCdHzTN9mF

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 9, 2016

Srebrenica, 11/07/1995: Remembering a Day of Lost Innocence

The twentieth anniversary of the #genocide at #Srebrenica in Bosnia passes with new victims + mass graves still being discovered #Yugoslavia

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 11, 2015

Europe's largest single act of #genocide since the Second World War raises uncomfortable questions about international relations 20 years on

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 11, 2015

Arguably, the reputation of the #UnitedNations has still not recovered two decades on from when it abandoned the 'safe area' of #Srebrenica

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 11, 2015

The #EuropeanUnion, #Russia, the #UnitedStates and the #OIC also struggled to rise to the simplest of IR challenges in what was #Yugoslavia

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 11, 2015

Important to recall that #Srebrenica was not the only 'safe area' abandoned in 1995; justice 'must be pursued' http://t.co/zRcNd1dRNU #law

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 11, 2015

From False 9 to No 9: Safet Sušić’s Forward-Free Zone ‘a Pinnacle of Postmodernism’!

Bosnia and Herzegovina – the only new qualifier for the 2014 #FIFAWorldCup – sack Safet Susić, ending a brief affair with #postmodernism #EU

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 20, 2014

For the recent #Euro2016 qualifier with #Israel, #Bosnia's now ex-coach called up precisely zero strikers – a unique take on the 'false 9'

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 20, 2014

Safet Susić's zero-striker tactical experiment effectively cost him his job as head coach of #Bosnia and Herzegovina; art has a high price

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 20, 2014

#Bosnia are now looking for a more conventional, competent coach; #Euro2016 qualifiers throwing up surprises galore http://t.co/3Zvb8S6Dme

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 20, 2014

Slovenia Shocker: Former Yugoslav Country ‘In Deepening Media Identity Crisis’!

From today's #Guardian minute-by-minute of #EnglandvsSlovenia. Seems that Eastern #Europe is all the same to some… pic.twitter.com/78nVVQJhzU

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 15, 2014

#Slovenia has historically been confused most frequently with #Slovakia – you never see these countries in the same room at the same time…

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 15, 2014

Is Small Always Beautiful? Former Yugoslav Republics’ Twenty-First Century World Cup Record ‘Reflects Diminished Global Standing’!

The group stage exits of #Cro and #BiH mean that no team from the former #Yugoslavia has got beyond the first round at any #WorldCup 2000-

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 28, 2014

#Cro (2002, 2006, 2014), #Slovenia (2002, 2010), #Serbia+#Montenegro (2006) and #BiH (2014) have all failed to progress > last 16/#WorldCup

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 28, 2014

In a world of intense global competition, smaller nation states are increasingly going to have to pool resources to hold their own #WorldCup

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 28, 2014

Paradox is that all ex-#Yugoslavia republics have membership of an even larger + more distant federation as ultimate goal #EuropeanUnion #EU

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 28, 2014

United '#Yugoslavia' team not impossible in future as cross-border cooperation now accepted as fact; economics may sway the argument #Europe

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 28, 2014

Many states now face the choice between maintaining failing status quo and difficult but potentially enriching change http://t.co/2WHLbRiqrR

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) June 28, 2014

Fell on Black Days: Economic Riots Commence in Montenegro!

Tear gas floats and stun grenades fly as #Montenegro becomes the second former Yugoslav republic to erupt in economic protests after #Bosnia

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 17, 2014

#Montenegro protests relatively muted as youth #unemployment rate of c. 33% actually quite low by the standards of neighbours, EU periphery

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 17, 2014

Just 300 #Montenegrins marched in the capital #Podgorica, c.10% of them detained; new street clashes 'quite possible' http://t.co/VOOBPG3XMy

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 17, 2014

Sarajevo, 2014: A Fitting Sequel to 1914!

#Sarajevo burns as unprecedented protests rock #Bosnia-Herzegovina; unemployed and disenfranchised masses take to the streets #BosnianSpring

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 8, 2014

Protestors across #Bosnia target #corrupt elite class; politicians' cars and offices 'smashed to smithereens' as #Balkan state erupts #BiH

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 8, 2014

#Bosnians 'decide enough is enough': 27.5% #unemployment and surreal administrative duplication engenders sense of hopelessness, frustration

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 8, 2014

#Bosnia national team football captain Emir Spahić blasts politicians, could emerge as leader of movement following #2014FIFAWorldCup #BiH

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 8, 2014

#Internet penetration in #Bosnia now 52%, #smartphone usage rising; Technology + Incompetence + Corruption = Mayhem http://t.co/TJRQMJsVHE

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 8, 2014