What is Balkan Spectator?
Balkan Spectator is an independent English-language news platform about the Balkans, geopolitics, defence and regional affairs.
The idea behind Balkan Spectator is actually quite simple: I wanted to create a place where people could follow what is happening in the Balkans without having to jump between dozens of newspapers, Telegram channels, government websites and local sources in different languages.
There is always something happening in this part of Europe, but many important stories receive very little attention outside the countries involved.
That is what Balkan Spectator tries to change.
We follow Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Croatia, Slovenia and Greece, while also keeping a close eye on the countries and organisations that have a major influence on the region, including the European Union, NATO, Russia, Turkey and the United States.
More than breaking news
Breaking news is an important part of Balkan Spectator, but I don't want the project to become just another feed of headlines.
Sometimes the most interesting part of a story is not simply what happened, but why it happened and what could come next.
That is why Balkan Spectator also tries to give some context.
A new defence agreement, for example, might look like a small story on its own. But it can also tell us something about how alliances are changing in the region. The same applies to elections, energy deals, relations with Russia or China, EU enlargement, tensions between neighbouring countries or changes in NATO's presence in Southeast Europe.
Some of these developments happen quickly. Others develop over months or even years.
I want Balkan Spectator to follow both.
Looking at the Balkans as a region
One of the things that made me want to create Balkan Spectator was how often Balkan news is treated as a collection of completely separate national stories.
But the region simply doesn't work like that.
What happens in Serbia can have consequences in Kosovo, Bosnia or Montenegro. A military purchase in Croatia, Romania or Bulgaria can be part of a much larger change in European defence. Elections in Moldova or North Macedonia can quickly become connected to wider debates involving the EU, Russia or the United States.
The Balkans are deeply connected, and I think the best way to understand the region is to follow those connections.
That regional perspective has become one of the main ideas behind Balkan Spectator.
Keeping things simple
Another important part of the project is keeping the news easy to follow.
I know that most people don't have the time to read five articles just to understand one development.
So Balkan Spectator tries to give you the important information first and then add the context you need to understand why the story matters.
To do that, we follow local media, government announcements, international organisations, specialist publications and other regional sources. Whenever possible, we also go directly to the original source of a story.
The goal is not to make every post long or complicated.
Quite the opposite.
It is to make complicated stories easier to understand.
From a Telegram channel to something bigger
Balkan Spectator started on Telegram.
At first, the idea was simply to create a good English-language channel where people interested in the Balkans could keep up with the region.
Since then, more and more people have joined, followed the stories, shared posts and helped turn Balkan Spectator into a small but growing community.
And that has encouraged me to keep building.
Telegram is still at the heart of Balkan Spectator and remains the fastest way to follow our daily coverage.
But this website is the next step.
It gives us a place to organise stories better, keep track of important developments and gradually build something more complete around the region.
Balkan Spectator is still growing, and there are plenty of things I want to add and improve.
But the idea behind it remains the same:
follow the Balkans closely, explain what is happening clearly, and make the region easier to understand for anyone interested in it.