The Three Things (ep. 9)--Balkan instability, the Polish visa scandal and the Ukrainian war update

This week's Three Things, courtesy of The Corners (www.thecorners.pl) and CDDI (www.cddi.pl) and yes it's already, miraculously, episode nine. Happy to announce that we are close to 2,000 subscribers, and I have a bit of a backlog of letters to get to (including remarks that sometimes I slur--but hey, if you go without sleep for years on end... it happens). Otherwise, if you would like to comment, please hit me at thecornersmag@gmail.com.

Otherwise, this week's topics and time marks are as follows:

3:23 The Balkan tinderbox--Kosovo and Serbian headbutting was once again brought to the fore with failed negotiations in Brussels. But this time it was clearly Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti who did not want to move forward. What does this mean in the midst of instability in Bosnia (which has an all but dysfunctional political system), mafia issues highlighted by an attempt to tunnel into the evidence storage area of the High Court in Podgorica, Montenegro and constant bickering across the region. Here's a clue: yes, the risk is high for dramatic escalation.

20:04 The Polish visa scandal threatens to wallop the reigning Law-and-Justice (PiS) government ahead of the elections, with the opposition alleging that foreigners paid illegally for not hundreds but hundreds of thousands of visas. Is this likely? And what are the likely repercussions ahead of the coming elections? Let's try to be objective here.

39:21 The Ukrainian War Update--the Ukrainians have used drones with devastating efficiency, but time is running out if they are going to make a successful run to Tokmak and change the course of the war prior to the rainy season. Is the good news to be believed--we hope so, but a conservative, cautious take may be in order.