Columns
TATJANA’S TANGLES
All that’s left for us to do is laugh, isn’t it? That’s probably the easiest way to digest the news that the president of the Anti-Corruption Commission is under investigation...
STATE-SPONSORED MURDER
That’s what our state is. A large illegal construction without a permit. And the worst thing is that it doesn’t bother anyone. Even if it did, who would we complain to, since...
IN THE PERIMETER
If, until last week, I had at least some hope that the 61 victims of the fire at the Kocani nightclub might serve as a wake-up call and a catalyst for change in the behaviour of...
A WAKE-UP CALL
A banal video of a Porsche parked incorrectly in the heart of Debar Maalo in Skopje gives me hope that citizens, especially young people, are waking up from their lethargy. We...
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Here’s the opportunity for the Government to make radical changes to the system. However, they shouldn’t expect us to praise them simply for initiating inspections, which they...
EVACUATION PLAN
We need to build two monuments in memory of the tragedy at the “Pulse” nightclub in Kochani, where a fire on 16th March killed 59 people and injured almost 200 young people,...
EAGER FOR JUSTICE
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski warns that the people will self-organise and the situation will escalate if the five members of the Judicial Council, who were subject to an...
THE OLD NORMAL
“If you are trying to find a way to attack the Government for something that never happened, we might as well just make things up,” said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski,...
GO GIVE BIRTH
We’ve heard just about everything from the Assembly rostrum, yet it’s difficult to recall anything more inhumane than the remarks made by Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska, the...
ALICE AND THE BEARS
While Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski is in America, talking about the frustrations of Macedonian citizens with the EU’s hypocrisy, First Deputy Prime Minister Izet Mexhiti is...
FUKARA IS FUKARA
An idle mind is the devils’ playground. Do people in the government really have so little to do that they’re bringing up the issue of changing the national coat of arms? Why...
A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY
It makes me sick to see that yet another tragedy, this time the death of the 22-year-old girl who was run over on one of the busiest boulevards in Skopje, is being used for...
GREEN ISN’T GREEN
Even before I started letting my children walk to school on their own, I repeated the same instructions to them a hundred times every time we went out: you’ll cross the street...
A STUNT WITH TRUMP
“There are no instant results,” says Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski after returning from Washington, where he attended the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the...
A PYRAMID MAZNIK
I’ve been watching both the Government and the opposition posing for photos at the Kumanovo-Beljakovce railway line, which was under construction for 28 years, along with other...
FIRE ZONE
Fire experts, based on their analyses and risk assessments, had predicted the disaster caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles as early as 2018. “Entirely foreseeable,” said Char...
BEAR ON THE ROAD
The deputy director of “Macedonia Road,” Sasho Drango, proudly posed for a photo with a dead bear, and the case will be taken up by the Anti-Corruption Commission. Why should...
TO HELL WITH IT
Diplomatic passports are the real problem. If all members of the Anti-Corruption Commission had diplomatic passports like President Tatjana Dimitrovska, perhaps even Cveta...
OPEN BORDERS
Is there any other country with more high-profile individuals on the U.S. blacklist than ours? Among those the State Department has designated for significant corruption, we...
ACTING ON A TIP
Did you catch how U.S. Ambassador Angela Aggeler put it, after the U.S. Department designated formed Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi and Appellate Court Judge Enver Bexheti...
SUPERMAN VS NEWTON
The broken arms and legs will heal, and thankfully, none of the eleven children who ended up in hospital were seriously injured while doing the “Superman Challenge” on TikTok. I...
A CELEBRATION LIKE NO OTHER
How much brain power does it take to both condemn and justify the desecration of the Macedonian national flag during the celebration of Albanian Flag Day? The opposition DUI...
HOLD ON FOR DEAR LIFE
How will we wash our name clean after bringing the incompetent Danela Arsovska into power as mayor of Skopje? By putting citizens through so much trouble that they’ll think...
MAINTAINING THE STYROFOAM
Our lives in are stuck in a vicious circle of seasonal topics. They’re always the same. It's November, so, of course, we'll start talking about pollution. Once the ski seasons...
OPTIMISM ON THE SIDELINES
Gosh, just listen to the optimism Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski is spreading after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the European Political...
LET’S GO TO THE DISCO
“Sanja Bozhinovska is a greater Macedonian than all of you combined,” Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said from the parliamentary rostrum when asked whether he knew that the...
BARON AND LADY
The New Year is just around the corner, followed closely by Christmas, and with the holidays comes another round of pardons from President Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova. Let’s...
CLUB ACADEMY
Now, what? Prime Minister Mickoski says that he’s facing a dilemma over whether to even send a letter to the EU proposing ways to unblock the negotiation process. He recently...
A LETTER TO NOWHERE
The government has an idea how to unblock the EU negotiations. However, it’s in no hurry to act. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced that “they would address and work...
100 DAYS AND 90 MINUTES
Let this weekend pass, and with any luck, the razzle-dazzle of “100 days of government” will finally come to a close. Fingers crossed, starting Monday, VMRO-DPMNE and VLEN will...
AND NOW WHAT?
After it became even more certain that Albania will continue its negotiations with the European Union without waiting for Macedonia to include Bulgarians in the Constitution,...
A PIECE OF HIS MIND IN VAIN
Wow, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski really gave Ursula von der Leyen a piece of his mind during a lunch in Brussels. He defended the national interests without lowering...
A SERIOUS INCIDENT
I don’t even want to imagine the scale of disaster two planes colliding would cause. Especially, over a populated area… The aviation authorities have launched an investigation...
A TRUE GENTLEMAN
On the eve of Independence Day, September 8, I was reminded of an interview with the late Ratka Dimitrova that she gave to our news outlet in 2016, when we marked the 25th...
WE KNOW HOW IT WORKS
How does offering and accepting bribes work? You don’t know? How could you not know, everyone does. That’s what Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski says. He claimed that someone...
A WEDDING PROCESSION
It’s alarming to see how many more police officers, inspectors, shift supervisors, and customs officers will be fined or dismissed by the time these guys from the “VLEN”...
NOTEBOOKS, SCHMOTEBOOKS
It’s disheartening when a supreme judge and a member of the Council of Public Prosecutors accept a bribe of 15,000 euros from a defendant to manipulate a court case in his...
VIP TREATMENT
Since Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has gone on holiday, it must mean that things are not as bleak as we’d think regarding the defence of the state’s integrity and...
THE FOURTH REPUBLIC
Holidays are often accompanied by holiday speeches. Usually, they paint a picture of an imaginary future. It will be fulfilled, we’ll do this, we’ll find a way, and we’ll make...
AN AMNESIA PILL
After the statement by SDSM leader Venko Filipche, acknowledging that during the campaign they realised the mistake they had made with the amendments to the Criminal Code, which...
A DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT
So, it could be done after all. In a crisis situation, such as the current forest fires, the state can coordinate all institutions in a timely manner to intervene effectively....
TASHMARUNISHTA IN WASHIGTON
Will someone please make the Prime Minister some mint tea, for crying out loud? He went to Washington to commemorate the 75th anniversary of NATO, sat at the same table with 31...
LIBERATE THE LIBERATORS
It’s great that the Government has decided to abolish the economic director positions at the Skopje clinics. The only step remaining is to actually abolish them. After a dozen...
A GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT
It’s a familiar state. However, this time, we don’t refer to it as a national disaster simply because VMRO-DPMNE is in power. After winning the elections, they are constantly...
WATER EXPERTS
The European Union will start accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova on June 25. Good for them. They don’t have such big problems with good neighbours like we do with...
MARHSALL PLAN
Our entire country is a representative sample that could be used for a case study in declining jurisdiction. We could travel the world, offering training sessions to other...
IT’S A GOOD THING IT STINKS
Half a million citizens voted for you, and the first thing you do once you come to power is create four new ministries. The new parliamentary majority led by VMRO-DPMNE...
THE SILENCE OF THE BASHED HEADS
Well, when it comes to the election of Afrim Gashi as the President of the Assembly, I don’t know if we should see it as an act of repentance by VMRO-DPMNE for their attack on...
HALKIDIKI AND THESSALONIKI
Let’s enjoy the long holiday weekend. I mean, the fight over the name can totally wait, right? Macedonian literacy is being celebrated in Greece. Could there be a more fitting...
IN THAT CASE, HOW ABOUT WE BRING BACK FYROM
The glory of our new president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, was short-lived. It lasted only three or four hours. The same statesmen, diplomats and officials who had previously...