Often there is a disparity between what the local newspapers write about and what appears in the international media. Of course, the situation in the North of Kosovo is a hot topic but there is a lot of other issues of importance being discussed in Kosovo that don't even appear or only appear as a brief blip on the international radar.
Take for instance, news today about 27 different request for Kosovo PM Haschim Thaci to travel to Europe have been refused due to allegations of corruption (blip) or Fatmir Limaj's war crimes trial is scheduled to begin on 9 November (not reported). Or maybe even more interesting, there are new allegations of corruption in the tendering process with a completely new Ministry of Transportation for road construction .
Another item appearing only as a blip in the international media has been the cancellation of planned privatization of PTK, Kosovo's Post and Telecomms, due to allegations of corruption. The cancellation of the privatization has a very big impact on the economic situation of Kosovo as the proceeds from the sale were expected to fill budgetary gaps in the Kosovo government. Now without the funds from the sale going into the government budget, it will be interesting to see how Kosovo will finance the planned budget which relied heavily on the sale of PTK.
