While the situation in Ukraine is uncertain, the whole Eastern Europe has lit up like on a signal. Both the West and the Russians are either trying to keep or extend their influence over the region or parts of it, and they are not even hiding anymore.
The first battleground may have been my country, Romania. I say "may" to "first". It is almost a certainty it was a "battleground" between the West and the Russians. For the time being, the West "won", but not without bending our Constitution to the point of (almost?) breaking it.
But we have presidential elections in May (second try), the ones that generated all the "war" in the first place.
So does Poland. Also in May.
Luckily, Germany pulled out of their elections quite undamaged, but it took an impressive 80%+ voting presence to secure the results they had. We haven't had such a vote presence even at our first elections post-communism, so it is unlikely to have it this time either.
Let's see... What else do we have? Look here:
That's what's in Belgrade these days... Those are people with phones down there... Hundreds of thousands of people on the streets (some say 1 million), at a total population of Serbia of 6.7 million! I won't delve into what they want, what was their trigger, who is behind, and such things, although things are rather clear for an unbiased watcher.
There are speculations the authorities fired with a sonic weapon into the mob to disperse them, as they kept a moment of silence (for the deaths in Novi Sad, probably, after the train station's roof collapsed). The videos show people running in panic from the middle of the road to the sidewalks, while before they were very calm, and they didn't seem to know why they were doing it (panicking and running). That seems to be the effect of such a weapon - it induces panic and people start running without knowing why. They just feel a pressure in the chest and head. At least that's what a military officer explained. And these weapons are prohibited to be used against civilians.
Moving on... I believe Bulgaria hasn't been able to form a government for two years. Or so I heard.
Hungary experiences protests these days too. I think they are against Orban, but I'm not sure. I just saw them in a window on a screen and heard a brief comment about that.
I think earlier this year (maybe now too), Slovakia had some significant protests too.
A tragedy happened in North Macedonia these days, with a nightclub blowing up and at least 59 dead, and 150 wounded, from what I read. Something similar happened in Bucharest about 10 years ago... Obviously, the emotions are very high in such a context.
Bosnia & Herzegovina seems to have to deal over there with a separatist movement which wants Republika Srpska (one of two entities of the country) to break away and unite with Serbia. That's something Russia supports.
Only a few calmer places now in Eastern Europe. Be careful, if you are in one of them... You might be the targeted next...
As someone who have lived through the events in my country when communism fell and after (although I was very young, but have tried to understand them better as I grew up), I don't like how things look nowadays in Eastern Europe.
There is a relatively old quote compared to modern times (pre-WW1, updated to at most until right after WW1), which I thought was an exaggeration when I heard it, but I looked it up, and, it is true, it exists:
Who rules Eastern Europe [...] commands the world.
I doubt things are as simple as that these days (if they can be called simple), but I'm sure some may still think in this paradigm, at least partially.
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