Sochi - Meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin

Putin Changed the International Order – How Do We Deal With It?

Opinion By Haris Šehović on March 4, 2022 | Reading time 4 min

Some perceived Vladimir Putin as a tactical, rational decision-maker, who undertook calculated risks on the international stage in order to achieve Russian national interests. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin, which started on the 24th of February, deviates from this perception. He miscalculated the ability of his military to wage blitzkrieg and he underestimated the Ukrainians’ willingness to fight to the last man for their country. Ukraine is his Afghanistan and this mistake will be his end. The consequences of the invasion however do not just reflect on Putin and the Kremlin’s inner circle. The consequences of the invasion will be felt throughout the world because Putin changed the international order in just one day. So what can the West do about it?

Afghan refugees in Iran

Why Taliban takeover of Afghanistan should worry the Western Balkan states

Opinion By Haris Šehović on August 31, 2021 | Reading time 3 min

Even though President Biden’s arguments for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan are legitimate, one could not have expected to have an organized national response from a country in which the process of nation-building is incomplete. The United States cannot ignore terrorist thugs undoing 20 years of progress in the field of women’s rights and civil society. The international community cannot ignore that, as Kabul falls into the hands of the Taliban, Afghanistan may become a hotspot for terror organizations.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

State-Sanctioned Assassinations: Cracks in the Iranian Counterintelligence

Opinion By Haris Šehović on December 23, 2020 | Reading time 4 min

Targeted killing operations only make sense if they are used as a deterrent or if a certain target is important enough that his/her death would deal a significant blow to the adversary nation state. To be a target of interest, you have to be irreplaceable. If someone can take your place half an hour after your death and continue your work, assassination is meaningless.

Syria

The Fall of ISIS and the Future of Counterterrorism Operations

Opinion By Haris Šehović on October 16, 2020 | Reading time 3 min

There is an old saying about counterterrorism: it is like mowing the grass in your front lawn. It needs to be a consistent process, even though sometimes you do not know exactly where the enemy is. The future of counterterrorism operations lies in better cooperation among Western nation-states.

Bosnian Flag

Bosnia’s Flawed Response to EU Enlargement and “Mini-Schengen”

Opinion By Haris Šehović on October 3, 2020 | Reading time 4 min

In 2019, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic announced that he, along with Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev, signed a declaration of intent to establish the free movement of people, goods and capital between these three countries in the Western Balkans – a Mini-Schengen, they called it. The response of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the initiative was flawed, to say the least.