—🇹🇷 WATCH: Turkey’s regional clout surges as Ankara cements alliances across Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, and Libya, Israeli media reports.

➡️ A landmark security pact with Somalia now places Turkish forces on the ground, extending Ankara’s operational reach from the Mediterranean deep into Africa.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇷🇴/🇪🇺 NEW: Romania has been selected to host a European AI Center, with Minister Radu Miruță announcing the country’s transition “from ambition to infrastructure” as it aims to become a creator—not just a user—of advanced technology.

➡️ Other countries were also chosen for the new initiative.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🛢🇷🇴❌🇷🇺 NEW: Romania’s Energy Ministry reaffirmed it will strictly enforce sanctions against Russian oil giant Lukoil, refusing to prolong any US-imposed deadline past November 21.

➡️ Bucharest is pushing for a rapid transfer of Lukoil’s local operations to comply with EU and US measures, stressing there will be no exceptions or return to Russian crude imports.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

🇮🇱🤝🇺🇸 In a normal world, this should be an immense scandal in Europe.

Le Monde has a long article describing the hellish life of Nicolas Guillou, a French judge at the ICC in The Hague, due to U.S. sanctions punishing him for authorizing arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes in Gaza.

Guillou's daily existence has been transformed into a Kafkaesque nightmare. He cannot: open or maintain accounts with Google, Amazon, Apple, or any US company; make hotel reservations (Expedia canceled his booking in France hours after he made it); conduct online commerce, since he can't know if the packaging is American; use any major credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex are all American); access normal banking services, even with non-American banks, as banks worldwide close sanctioned accounts; conduct virtually any financial transaction.

He describes it as being "economically banned across most of the planet," including in his own country, France, and where he works, the Netherlands.

That's the real shocking aspect of this: the Americans are:
- punishing a European citizen
- for doing his job in Europe
- applying laws Europe officially supports
- at an institution based in Europe
- that Europe helped create and fund

and Europe is not only doing essentially nothing to protect him, they're actively enforcing America's sanctions against their own citizen - European banks closing his accounts, European companies refusing him service, European institutions standing by while Washington destroys a European judge's life on European soil.

Again, in a normal world, European leaders and citizens should be absolutely outraged about this. But we've so normalized the hollowing out of European sovereignty that the sight of a European citizen being economically executed on European soil for upholding European law is treated, at best, as an unfortunate technical complication in transatlantic relations.

🔗 Arnaud Bertrand

—❗️🗳🇽🇰 BREAKING: Kosovo President has called snap parliamentary elections for December 28 after Vetëvendosje! leader Albin Kurti failed to secure a governing majority.

➡️ Political infighting and disagreements over foreign policy triggered the collapse of Kurti’s coalition.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇷🇸❌🇽🇰 NEW: Serbia’s Ministry of Trade confiscated approximately 900 souvenir magnets and halted their sale after it was discovered the depicted map excluded Kosovo.

➡️ The magnets provoked public concern and were interpreted by some Serbians as tacit recognition of Kosovo’s independence.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English