—🇷🇺/🇺🇸 Aftermath of Putin–Trump summit

➡️ The Putin–Trump meeting ended in controversy. Fox said Putin “came in, destroyed everyone, got his photo, and left,” while Sky News reported Trump was humiliated. According to Reuters and NYT, Putin showed Trump maps portraying Ukraine as artificial and demanded recognition of Crimea and the four annexed regions, a Ukrainian withdrawal from Donetsk, and protections for the Russian language and Orthodox churches.

➡️ Trump called Russia a great power and Ukraine “not,” saying peace now depends on Zelensky. He abandoned calls for an immediate ceasefire, insisting only a full deal could hold. NYT reported he suggested ceding all of Donbas to Russia, while Axios said he is pushing for a three-way summit with Putin and Zelensky on August 22.

➡️ Zelensky rejected the idea, calling it “impossible,” with the EU backing his stance. He will meet Trump at the White House on Monday. Meanwhile, Polish PM Donald Tusk warned that Ukraine’s future and Europe’s security have entered a decisive stage.

✅ Follow us on @balkanspectator

🇷🇴📉⚡️ 2025 is one of the worst years for the restaurant business: three restaurant chains have announced insolvency and announce a restructure of their operations potentially leading to layoffs.

Fastfood chains, Noodle Pack and Salad Box and restaurant La Plăcinte, have entered insolvency. The most recent of them was Salad Box which announced its insolvency at its own request, after last year it generated 25% more revenue compared to 2023, making the insolvency claim even stranger.

While the La Plăcinte restaurants had problems for quite some time now, falling to just 4 restaurants in Bucharest with the chain expected to close its doors, hopes were high for both Noodle Pack and Salad Box who expanded outside of Romania opening franchises in other countries.

All reported increased debts, falling profits and revenues. This was to be expected after the fact that the Romanian government has been incapable to lower the inflation rate from the all time high of 10% during the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping it steady for the past three years at 5%, slowly chipping away at the purchasing power of the Romanian Leu and of the Romanian consumer. With falling incomes, now hurt even more by increased taxes, more restaurant chains will follow suit.

In late June we shared an article, revealing the extent of the damage the Romanian economy had suffered in 2024 alone: 440k jobs lost, nearly half in the manufacturing sector with the only sectors seeing job growth being related to public administration and ”cultural activities”.

The loss of manufacturing jobs is especially hurting the economy as it is a key sector, or at least should be a key sector, for any country wishing for consistent, stable and resilient economic growth. With the quick decline of the manufacturing sector in Romania, a sector that wasn't all that big in the first place, one must wonder what is even making the Romanian economy grow at this point? Looking at the data, with such a steep decline, the economy should be crashing down, not even stagnating.

The Romanian economy, its GDP, are a bubble which is actively bursting open, now that EU funds, who have inflated it greatly are drying up, that consumer spending is decreasing due to new taxes and loss of confidence among the general population. In other words, the GDP, the economy of Romania, are all fake & gay.

So much for being a "powerhouse" and a "peer equal" of Poland who, in 2024, unlike Romania who saw a 10.8% loss in manufacturing jobs, Poland saw a 0.8% loss. Polish leaders have been, since getting rid of communism, building up a diversified, export-focus economy that can live on its own without state aid from Brussels.

Romanian leaders on the other hand, robbed everything they could, unprofitable companies sold for scrap or to foreigners who then sold them to scrap or, in several lucky cases, shrank down the size and kept them open, producing components for other factories in the West. Poland took advantage of its natural resources and used them to fund its industry, Romania sold its natural resources and its industry.

Poland has a skilled manufacturing and industrial sector keeping strong despite a weakening EU economy, meanwhile Romania who has created an economy virtually dependent on state aid from Brussels, is being dragged along into the depths of the abyss by the faltering German economy. If the decline of Germany doesn't stop, neither will Romania's decline and its unlikely Germany will recover any time soon.

@Wallachian_Gazette

—❗🇷🇸 WATCH: Crazy drone footage from yesterday's unrest in Valjevo.

✅ Follow us on @balkanspectator

—🇷🇸 Serbian President Vučić:

In the coming days, you will see some surprising decisions. It may seem we have stepped back, but the state will act decisively to restore full order and firmly resist all external pressures.

✅ Follow us on @balkanspectator

The Greek Frigate Salamis (F-455) and a reconstructed trireme

🔗 Alexander's Cartographer

✅ Follow us on @balkanspectator

—❗️🇲🇩 URGENT: A Romanian phone number reached out to Balkan Spectator just hours ago, claiming to be a Moldovan citizen and sharing details of recent events in Chișinău.

✅ Follow us on @balkanspectator

—🇪🇺/🇷🇸 Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement:

To the students of Novi Sad: I hear you.

I want to reiterate that what the EU asks from Serbia closely aligns with the demands of the citizens protesting.

Most importantly, I want you, the young generation to benefit from the many opportunities the EU has to offer.

🔗 Marta Kos on X

✅ Follow us on @balkanspectator

—🇷🇸/🇪🇺 WATCH: “How did Marta Kos put it? ‘We can hear you [the protestors],’” asked Serbian president Vučić at today’s press conference.

Well, Marta, did you see how the offices [of the ruling SNS party] are burning? Somehow it seems you did not notice that. Shame on all of you together.

🔗 Adi Ćerimagić

✅ Follow us on @balkanspectator

I wish you to find a person who looks at you same way Trump looks at Putin 🌚💘