Alon:

You seem to be asking for an Arab spring in the Balkans? Given the corruption seems to extend through all levels of government, the judiciary and law enforcement.

How many lives are you willing to sacrifice in what has to become a revolution or possibly armed rebellion. And for it to succeed? Will need a popular Leader with influence at the highest level in the military.

Or perhaps you think civil disobedience will work? As say, exampled in Iran?

Or should the UN just ignore the vetos of Russia and China and just move in with massive military force on each one of these pipsqueak nations, turf out the highly placed officials, subject them to a Nuremberg style inquisition/truth and justice commision that claws back their ill-gotten gains and ensures free and fair elections sort out and ejected the rotten eggs!

And set them up as examples of what must transpire if we are to rid the world of monsters who would condemn us all to annihilation if allowed to remain.
Alan B.

Big worry for Australia :)

Now write me another more factual story.
I want you to call it: 'Corruption in the EU is impeding membership withdrawal'

Forcing national citizens to succeed their sovereignty to unelected foreign bureaucrats; how exactly do you demonstrate a respect for 'the right to self determination'?

Can't anyone see the two are not aligned?
How does anyone have self determination, if foreigners dictate EVERYTHING?

- Your EU Intergration Plan involves the gradual harmonisation of national laws -

Laws you decided, without any care or consultation of the people living in those countries.
You maneuver countries into signing their soverignity over.

And if you don't like how they vote, you send waves of Muslim and African hordes in, who will never vote nationalist but for handouts under discrimination, claim minority disadvantage under western equality and democracy; and change the demographic of the votes.

NOT Socialism nor Communism nor Capitalism are the drivers of the loss of national soverignty is western countries; they're just the tools.

Democracy itself is the cause of our loss of national sovereignty.
Democracy itself has been hijacked in ALL our countries;
- BY the Globalists FOR the Globalists, and the official new 'culture' in all western countries is Political Correctness and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and other intergovernmental agendas.

What you're promoting has no respect for the rights of citizens to decide what goes on in their own country.
You attempt to change the citizens, by immigration and social engineering and manipulating the economy.

Looking at the Transparency International Corruption Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index#2016 specifically 2016 and leftmost column

Poor old EU, losing the large, comparatively efficient, 10th least corrupt (better than Australia's 13th least corrupt) Brexiting British economy.

and therefore contemplating bringing in the small, limping, corrupt, Balkan economies.

Off Topic: today's Senator Sarah Hanson-Young pushed headline "Finance Minister Mathias Cormann

spent $37,000 on flights in one day" is a total no-news silly-season BEATUP!

see https://www.sbs.com.au/news/finance-minister-mathias-cormann-spent-37-000-on-flights-in-one-day

"Senator Cormann flew from Canberra to Adelaide and then onto Perth on a defence jet on June 22 as no commercial flights

were available to facilitate the journey, the ABC has reported on Friday."

Politicians and Senior Public Servants have had to take can't-rely-on-airline flights since 1940.

Cormann has to spend half his time in Perth so what can he do?

Its the cost of running Government in Australia

especially as Perth is very isolated

its important that senior Government figures can carry out their duties.

Would it be right that needed RAAF transport jets sit on the ground when senior politicians desparatly

need non-airline-time flights?

Soveigntory and self-determination pertains only to nations subject to the rule of law at all levels and is something only applicable when there are also free and fair elections

. And yes, the free world should step in as they did in East Timor, to impose free and fair elections and lawfully elected officials!

As we would welcome if taken over by a corrupt Nazi-style extreme right-wing government with both the judiciary and law enforcement in its pocket. And able to rig election results. And as witnessed in some of the aforementioned nation states, consequently ruled by unelected swill!

Rather than the rigged gerrymanders of corrupt nation states ruled by a mafia style government. Where both the judiciary and law enforcement is just the arm of a corrupt administration!? Like say, Turkey, Russia and most of the aforementioned Baltic states!?

Just as China and Russia are expanding by annexing the sovereign territory of other nation-states, with small bites at any one time, we should and could emulate that example and do likewise, but in reverse!?
Alan B.

I wonder if the corruption in those Balkan countries is related to the
hundreds of years that they were occupied by the Ottoman Empire ?
Did an underground resistance to the Ottomans morph into a culture of
"cheating " as a form of resistance which has just become the way things are done ?
Greece entering the EU did not stop them from refusing to pay tax.
Being in the EU economy was not compatible with their customary
attitude to tax and that is what got Greece into so much trouble.

Alan B said;
if taken over by a corrupt Nazi-style extreme right-wing government

Eeerr, Nazi parties are extreme LEFT WING parties !

National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
in German
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

I think that left wing people did not like to be linked to Nazis so
thought it was great idea to tag the Nazis onto right wing
conservative parties. But reality strikes again. The NAZIs are
left wing parties so just live with it and the lefties probably
have the best leverage on any NAZI like groups to shut them up.

Turkey of the '90s is a good starting point to understand the behaviour of Balkan states and central Europeans in relation to how their nations operate, external relations and constraints.

Mid '90s Turkey was emerging from dictatorship, autarkist economy and limited mobility while dominated by sub-optimal education, military, security services, (nationalised) Sunni Islam, business council dominated by large holding companies or oligarchs, ossified political parties and MPs; all underpinned by ethical, corruption and trust issues.

Fast forward, nations on the periphery of the EU including Balkans and Turkey all aspired to EU membership to help transition from basket cases to more developed democracies.

Then, along with the EU assuming trust that new members would act ethically, were national MPs and corporates becoming Nativist due to competition, youth/working age becoming aware of the world while ignoring national leaders and the EU (and local entities) pointing out corruption.

Resulting in attacking the EU (while accepting EU funds), consolidating media, attacking judiciary, becoming joined at the hip with majority religion, favouring limited circle of oligarchs, gerry mandering of ageing, monocultural regional electorates and manipulating the electoral franchise e.g. precluding access to voting by youth/working age citizens and acting like dictators; while govt. services decline.

Interestingly, like these nations, the UK was in economic doldrums, when desperate to join the EEC and now a predominantly Nativist English push arose to withdraw and become 'little England'; backgrounded still, by Brexit chaos.

However, interestingly, this would appear not to severely impact the top 1-5% who promote withdrawal from multilateral trade agreements aka EU's, but damaging to youth and future generations, whether UK or peripheral nations, while the majority of 'people' wish to remain in the EU?

So a little local corruption is saving the Balkan states from the much worse corruption that is the EU.

Lucky Balkans.