How Kosovo Became the Front Line of Europe’s Quiet War

Kosovo did not stumble into crisis. It was engineered patiently through paralysis, narrative warfare, and institutional sabotage, until citizens forced clarity at the ballot box.

I was in Prishtina when the results became unavoidable. Shortly before midnight on 28 December 2025, as ballot boxes were still being reconciled and television studios were filling airtime with speculation, the numbers settled into a shape that could no longer be wished away. Lëvizja Vetëvendosje had crossed the threshold. Just over half the vote. Enough to govern alone. Enough to end a paralysis that had already consumed ten months of political life.