The Three Things (Ep. 11)--Balkan bad news, a Polish visa scandal and Ukrainian war realities...

Greetings and salutations! This week's Three Things with your (licensed) detective in Central Europe, Preston Smith, courtesy of The Corners Magazine (www.thecorners.pl) and CDDI (www.cddi.pl) focuses on the raid in Kosovo by 30 armed "assailants" and how the Balkans are indeed (as I predicted) teetering toward war. It also highlights more revelations in the Polish visa scandal, the coming elections--and this week in addition to the Ukrainian war update, we'll run through concerns for the Ukrainian side going into the winter. Each section of the Three Things runs approximately 15-20 minutes (or more), and we have provided markers to help you get where you need to go.

4:51 Thing one: a raid near Zvecan in Kosovo by 30 well-armed ethnic Serbs turned into a day-long gun battle--and the seizure of heavy weapons by Kosovo police. Kosovo has accused the Serbian government of sponsoring the raid and Serb troops are moving toward the border in a move the White House calls "unprecedented." Troubling stuff.

18:02 Thing two: the Polish visa scandal does appear to have cranked forward on scale. But it still may not be what it seems. Meanwhile, the elections are looming--but is the Law-and-Justice (PiS) Party weakening or not? Find out.

30:53 Thing three: The Ukrainian war update. In response to letters, which bizarrely seemed to imply that I have only been communicating good news about the war, Yours Truly will also run through nine concerns (or more). Chief among them? The West cutting off funds. Also a quick run through the maps.

Link to interactive AFP map of the war in Ukraine here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsUPczETOqM
Please note that only a screen shot was used for educational purposes and that this screen shot was used to direct viewers to said map on the AFP site for said educational purposes.
Link to NYT article here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/28/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-map-front-line.html

Photo credits:
Aleksandar Vucic by Vojska Srbije, CC BY 3.0 RS https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/rs/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons
Wolodymry Zelenskyy by President.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Putin by http://www.kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jaroslaw Kaczynski by AargambitAutor: Reporter Dziennika Internetowego http://lublin.com.pl (wydawca:AAR Gambit), CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Madelien Albright by Brinacor, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Joe Biden by The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Kevin McCarthy by United States Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
ommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Abrams tank photo by Joseph A. Lambach, U.S. Marine Corps, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
F-16 photo by Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Voice of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Polish protest by Dwxn, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Albin Kurti photo by Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Milan Radocic photo by Petrit Rrahmani, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
John kirby DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Marsz Tomasz Molina, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Biden IowaPolitics.com, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sevastopol by Halifers - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=137963342
Zelenskyy President.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Trump and McCarthy by Kevin McCarthy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Kevin McCarthy by mccarthyvUnited States Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Yevheniy Shynkar (Voice of America), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Sky SKY GLOBAL logo by Inc., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Putin by Kremlin.ru, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Russian Admiral by Admiralis-generalis-Aladeen, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Edi Rama by U.S. Department of State from United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Tsekov by Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Solkolov Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons