The Little Anti-Corruption Agency That Could

 
December 10, 2010, former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader was driving with his brother on an Alpine highway when Austrian police stopped his car and arrested him under an international warrant. Sanader had fled Croatia a day earlier, hours before his colleagues in parliament — still led by his own party — stripped him of legislative immunity. The Austrians extradited him back home, where he was facing charges of large-scale corruption. After a year-long trial, he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, shortened to eight and a half on appeal, for illegal kickbacks totaling 10 million euros. (In late July 2015, he was granted a retrial.)

GOP CONGRESSMAN: Military Members Keep Telling Me To Vote No On Syria

AmashAfter President Obama delivered a speech in the Rose Garden where he said the United States "should" strike Syria following a deadly chemical weapons attack, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) took to Twitter to dispute that claim with comments from those who would likely carry out that order.

"I've been hearing a lot from members of our Armed Forces," Amash tweeted. "The message I consistently hear: Please vote no on military action against Syria."

Croatian Government Considers Expansion of Russian Energy Companies

(Source: RIA Novosti)

Last month, the Croatian government signed up to Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project; it agreed to re-start importing certain gas volumes from Gazprom through existing pipelines from 2013 onward; it welcomed Gazprom’s offers to build jointly-owned power plants in Croatia; heard an unexpected proposal for a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) project in the country; and approved GazpromNeft’s participation in upcoming tenders for oil and gas exploration sites and fuel retailing stations on Croatia’s territory. Gazprom’s top managers Aleksei Miller and Aleksandr Medvedev, as well as GazpromNeft CEO Aleksandr Dyukov took part in the January 17 meeting with government officials in Zagreb to discuss these plans and proposals (see EDM, February 20).