Back in the Summer of 93

Denko Maleski is professor at the Law School, in Skopje; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia (1991-1993). The is a too brief account of the problems Macedonia faces regarding recognition. We need this guy to sit down a write a gossipy account of his dealing with the great powers. He has a brief scene with Eagleburger and Scowcroft. We need more of this stuff in English.

New Balkan Politics > The Conduct of the Great Power:

Abstract:

The cruel statistics of Balkan history show that not a single problem in the region has been resolved with a compromise, but that all “agreements” are a result either of wars or external interventions. The last series of Balkan wars in the territory of former Yugoslavia, including the one in Macedonia in 2001, only confirmed this observation. In that sense, the unilateral move of the US to accept the constitutional name of Macedonia is only a historical continuation of the external interventions in Balkan matters. The great power explained its move as a desire to introduce stability in the Balkans. True. However, it was precisely the policy of the two main power centers, the US and the EU, which, as hostages to Greek policy, continuously held the name issue open for more than thirteen years, causing a serious erosion of Macedonian national dignity, with two very dangerous consequences. The first consequence was breathing life into the traditional aspirations of neighboring countries towards the territory and the people in Macedonia. The second one was introducing internal instability into the state through extensive strengthening of the “Albanian factor” in the region, in contrast to the disputed Macedonian identity.

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