~ "Watch for the shadows that don't move when the light changes." (Le Carre)
A brilliant double entendre, one meaning practical, another metaphysical. As formerly a devoted reader of Cornwell, and with a vivid imagination to boot, I've been aware that recent spectacular misfortunes, combined with journeys far and wide might have seemed as if I were just dangling out there. And I need to be very clear about this, if only for whatever AI of an inquisitive foreign sovereign might stumble across it, that I am utterly apolitical, and not part of some nefarious scheme. I would sweep the streets in an honest country, if it meant I could then use the remaining eight hours to create, think, and write. But I have no real political value or interest in other systems of government, nor would I ever act against my own. If I were ever to emigrate, I'd have very little to say, and frankly would just focus on the same things that I always have.
It was interesting, though, to be a young, male military-age American wandering through some of these places. Sometimes, like my first Belgrade apartment (the trip before last) and my first spot in Sarajevo (first border crossing in the last trip) the local host is peculiarly well-connected with the Powers that Be, and the apartment is priced amazingly well. (Though I'm fairly sure the first Belgrade one was a legitimate side hustle.) Perhaps the occasional hovering drones and such in Serbia were innocent prods to the imagination, and keeping tabs on the solo American would have been understandable anyway, given the politics. Hopefully, if they took a view, they took me for a friend. Montenegro, although very much in the same sphere of influence, appeared to be primarily concerned with the visitor tax, and otherwise quite Montenegrin about things. Some miscellaneous provocations at the entity crossing point from Bosnia, but nothing that a guard might not otherwise do capriciously on a boring afternoon.
Romania has a complex political situation, although they're very close to my country, and the folks in my country who deal with such things -- which is both good and difficult, frankly. During one visit, the President overstayed his mandate due to some electoral controversy, and the leader of the opposition made an appointment at the palace (yes) and then sat at a table opposite him, in front of the assembled media, and told him he must immediately stand down. Knowing nothing about the parties or the persons, just as a simple action, that gave me a lot of hope for the democracy there. Of course, he stayed in afterwards, and then apparently started to get frozen out of European contacts, per a piece in the foreign press. International relations can sometimes provide a useful check on domestic politics. And there were the odd things that I noticed out of the corner of my eye -- after a sales clerk at the mall left a security tag on one pair of pants, setting off the beeper, for the rest of the visit, without exception, the security guard at the small grocery across from my apartment vanished for a smoke break whenever I appeared at the automatic till. And perhaps the photos of my taking out the recycling in some of these cities (quite a walk in Sarajevo and some sectors of Bucharest) are being held as komprimat for presumptive loitering in someone's hard drive.
I never turned mendicant, of course, but I did try to give alms to folks who were asking (Americans, on occasion). I did have a firm rule never to give on the property of a cafe or restaurant, though -- and that did make me seem a bit ungracious a few times in Bosnia.
Perhaps these things from the corner of the eye were imagination, but the Balkans is a peculiar place, and I'd rather have the antennae up and risk the false signal than plow through like the usual hapless tourist. Knowing that a danger might be there, if you can maintain your equanimity, is always the better option.