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Three Diplomats Departed. Washington Still Owes the Balkans an Explanation

My reporting preceded the departures of Gabriel Escobar, Jeffrey Hovenier and Christopher Hill. A verified United States government source says this was no coincidence.
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The Gunpowder Brief

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Why a Serbian State-Backed Media Network Is Expanding Into Poland
The danger is not a single television channel. It is the slow construction of an information architecture capable of reshaping political realities…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Peace Held in Kosovo. Is NATO Leaving Too Soon?
The lesson of Bosnia and Kosovo is stark. Violence expanded when democracies hesitated and receded only when power intervened to stop aggression against…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
42:28
Kosovo Faces Growing Pressure as Crisis Deepens Before New Vote
Tonight on The Gunpowder Chronicles, we examined how Kosovo’s ongoing institutional crisis is raising wider questions about governance, sovereignty, and…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti, Ines Burrell, and Gurakuç Kuçi
43:10
Hungary After Orban: What Comes Next for Europe?
A new government in Hungary promises change, yet questions remain over energy dependence, democratic repair, and whether Budapest can regain trust…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti, Péter Dósa, and Olena Solodovnikova
How Voters Evicted Putin’s Saboteur From The Heart Of Europe
The Hungarian electorate has brutally evicted Putin’s premier Trojan Horse, ending a decade of Kremlin-choreographed sabotage that was shamelessly…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
The Afterlife of Hashim Thaçi's Manual for Terror
Even the LDK, once the target of assassination, now mimics its hunters. A democracy decays when the prey begins to find the predator’s methods…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
How a Jailed Leader Still Rules the Courts
Prosecutors act as Hashim Thaçi’s living ghosts, weaponising Kosovo’s judiciary to resurrect his "assassination manual" and bury inconvenient truths…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
How a President Burned the House to Save the Seat
Osmani’s abrupt dissolution of Parliament isn't a constitutional remedy; it’s a calculated arson of the legislative branch to bypass a boycott her own…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti

Balkan Dispatch

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The Evidence Against Hashim Thaçi
The prosecution argues Hashim Thaçi's influence became criminal. The defence insists political leadership during war cannot substitute for proof beyond…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
How One Legal Doctrine Could Decide Hashim Thaçi's Political Legacy
The prosecution's final brief seeks to separate liberation from liability, arguing Kosovo's independence struggle and alleged crimes by senior leaders…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Whatever the Verdict on Hashim Thaçi, Kosovo's History Will Not Be on Trial
Whatever judges decide about Hashim Thaçi, Kosovo's liberation remains separate. The trial asks only whether individual criminal responsibility has been…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
What, precisely, is on trial in The Hague?
The prosecution does not criminalise the KLA or Kosovo's independence struggle. It asks whether Hashim Thaçi bears personal responsibility for crimes…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Milosevic's Vidovdan Must End in Kosovo
Vidovdan ceased being history in 1989. For Kosovo Albanians, it became the political prologue to dispossession, persecution, ethnic cleansing and a…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Albanians Demand a New Social Contract
Rejecting both major political parties, Albanian citizens are taking to Skanderbeg Square daily to demand a completely new social contract with their…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti and Michael Sheppard
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Three Diplomats Departed. Washington Still Owes the Balkans an Explanation
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Gunpowder Chronicles
Gunpowder Chronicles
Independent London based publication covering geopolitics, national security and foreign policy, with a focus on Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. Through investigative reporting and analysis, it examines war, political power and foreign influence.

Information Warfare

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How the Shadow of Hashim Thaçi Still Directs Pristina’s Media Hit Squads to Silence Me
A chilling proxy campaign demonstrates how Kosovo’s wartime assassination manual is being actively weaponised today to delegitimise, silence, and…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
The Rebranded Machinery of Silence
The digital targeting of journalists proves that while the architects of the assassination manual face judgment abroad, their funded infrastructure of…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
The Total Collapse of Vjosa Osmani’s Institutional Mask
International networks must stop treating Vjosa Osmani as an innocent witness when she and Lumir Abdixhiku remain the true authors of Kosovo’s deadlock.
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Elmi Reçica and the Senior Political Activation of the Assassination Manual
Our reporting raised a question about who ultimately activates political pressure. On 10 June, Elmi Reçica appeared to answer it.
 • Michael Sheppard and Vudi Xhymshiti
When Press Freedom Becomes a Private Club
When media watchdogs act as a "prestige wrapper" for disinformation, the distinction between reporting and influence erodes. Selective defense only…
 • Michael Sheppard
Is Kosovo Dancing to a Russian Script?
THE INFORMATION FIREHOUSE: From Vucic's photos to Iranian distractions, Buzhala’s feed mimics the RAND "firehose" model: rapid, inconsistent, and…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
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War & Conflict

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Trump’s Digital Jihad
When the lights go out in Tehran, incubators stop. The “Hell” Trump promises is reserved for infants and the elderly in darkened, silent hospital wards.
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
When war becomes a story told to justify itself
Trump declares victory while evidence fractures his claim, as a viral Iranian montage reframes global suffering into a chilling narrative that turns…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
The Day We Toppled Milosevic and How His Disciple Won
Twenty-five years after Milosevic’s fall, Serbia’s ex-propagandists run the state; Kosovo absorbs blows, and Britain’s security hangs in balance. The…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Love, War, and the Sighing Horizon
Between England’s storms and Europe’s promise, I drift, half-broken, half-laughing. The sea growls beneath me, Camus at my side, solitude’s teeth…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Kyiv Sleeps in Hallways and Wakes in Ashes
In Kyiv, we don’t sleep in beds, we sleep between walls, praying they’re thick enough to hold back death until morning.
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Airstrikes and Retaliation: Israel Hits, Iran Fires Back
Israel launched pre-dawn airstrikes across Iran, targeting nuclear sites and military leaders. Iran retaliated with missiles, sparking fears of a wider…
Obstruction or Justice? Trump’s ICC Standoff
Trump’s renewed ICC sanctions risk international obstruction charges, challenge justice norms, and redefine U.S. foreign policy amid escalating global…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Cease-Fire Deal Brings Fragile Hope to War-Torn Gaza
A pivotal U.S.-Qatar-brokered cease-fire pauses Gaza’s 15-month war, freeing 33 hostages and initiating peace talks. Biden calls it “one day of…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
The Palestinian Authority’s Crackdown on Al Jazeera
A bitter irony unfolds as the Palestinian Authority silences Al Jazeera, accusing it of incitement while suppressing its coverage of escalating crises…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
The Geopolitics of Rebranding Militants
The sudden reframing of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Western discourse reveals a familiar pattern in geopolitics: today’s terrorist can quickly become…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
Peter Apps Sounds the Alarm
On NATO's precarious edge, Peter Apps declared with unnerving clarity: 'This is the riskiest period in modern history, and complacency invites…
 • Vudi Xhymshiti
The Collapse of Assad: A Witness to Syria’s Struggle
Amid Syria’s collapse, I remember the faces lost to war, the resilience of its people, and the haunting question: what comes after liberation?
 • Vudi Xhymshiti

Gunpowder Chronicles

Independent London based publication covering geopolitics, national security and foreign policy, with a focus on Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. Through investigative reporting and analysis, it examines war, political power and foreign influence.
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