The Macedonian Tendency (old)

"The Macedonian Tendency is Moving

2007-06-12T11:38:00.000-04:00

This is the last post on this site (http://david-edenden.blogspot.com/ ).

The Macedonian Tendency has moved to this new URL (http://the-macedonian-tendency.blogspot.com/"). The post below is the the first post on the new URL.

A Guide to Contributors to "The Macedonian Tendency"

by David Edenden

I am turning "The Macedonian Tendency" into a group blog. The first thing you will notice is the new URL "http://the-macedonian-tendency.blogspot.com/". This new URL should make it easier for journalists and politicians to find the blog, although there will be a period of adjustment as the search engines indexes it. The old site, http://david-edenden.blogspot.com/ will continue for the time being, until all the articles have been migrated to this site. If, like myself, it is necessary for you to use a pseudonym, please fell free to do so.

If you receive an invitation to join, you must apply a Gmail account which is free and easy to use. Feel free to introduce yourself and write on any topic relating to Macedonia, its history and culture without my prior approval. I do not expect that everyone will agree with my eccentric views, so debate within the blog is not a bad thing. In your Blogger profile, write what your interests are relating to writing for the blog. In this way, we will develop a division of labor so that we are not all writing about the same thing.

Identify yourself and format your writing in italics, while keeping the other material in regular fonts. Hopefully you will write at least one article per week ... not a great commitment. If you have written something in the past, please feel free to publish it here.

The purpose of this blog is to inform foreign journalists and politicians about "the Macedonian question" today. My main focus is to help in the process of recognition of Macedonia's constitutional name, the fight for the rights of Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria and to a lesser extent in Albania.

We really need book an movie reviews along with the other arts. Sports reviews are also welcome.

I am not really interested in using this blog to display the divisions that are reflected in Macedonian politics. I generally support all Macedonian governments, although I disagree with many of their individual positions. Macedonians need a big tent. One of my favorite expressions is " some people look for converts, while others look for heretics." Lets all look for converts and not needlessly look for battles within our community.

Lets use Jews and Israel as a model. Jewish support for Israel is unwavering, however many Jews fell free to offer suggestions for Israeli policy. I have in the past published warnings against Nato membership, the EU and other issues without damning the Macedonian politicians who promote them.

Since it is a blog and not a online news magazine like "Reality Macedonia", articles should be short with links to the original source. I usually like to comment, no matter how small on all posts, but there have been exceptions. (1)

This long post about Robert Kaplan is a good example of the use of links. This post about Barack Obama needs to have links added. I decided it was worth posting first and then adding links later. After publishing your post, editing the title is not advisable since the search engines will lose the post. Editing of the actual posts is OK for spelling and formating issues.

For the sake of readability, I usually do not copy the entire original article, but do copy relevant material that could be lost behind a "subscription wall" (1) (2) (3). there are exceptions.

Make sure to include the link, the name of the author, relevant people and the core issue that are discussed.

"The Macedonian Tendency" is one of the few blogs where a comments on a specific news item are published from a Macedonian perspective. Lets try to improve it.

Will the Macedonian-Greek Dust-Up Sink Barack Obama

2007-06-11T18:05:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden

Sooner or later the Greek lobby will be come knocking on the door of Senator Barack Obama for support for their position that ethnic Macedonians change the name of their country, the Republic of Macedonia, their Macedonian Orthodox Church, their Macedonian language, their history and finally to cease and desist in advocating for human rights for ethnic Macedonians living in Greece.

Loula Loi Alafoyiannis & Obama
EWAC

How he deals with this issue may determine how the media treats his persona as a politician who is different; a politician who is offering hope and integrity for Americans.

Obama does' 't have that luxury to pander to the Greek lobby since, as a member of a racial minority that continues to face discrimination, you can't be seen as supporting discrimination of others. That's news - "thats man bites dog news", "thats democrat crosses picket line news", "thats republican ignores troops news".

I can see the right-wing smear machine proclaiming "Obama supports the cultural genocide of ethnic Macedonians in Greece!" Big news!

The "right wind smear machine" will be able to go into overdrive and "swift-boat" Obama on this issue because President Bush has taken a position on principle (maybe accidentally or maybe not.). He has recognized "The Republic of Macedonia" rather than the name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) that the was forced upon Macedonia as a deal to get into the UN. The "smear machine" will slice and dice Obama's position to destroy his reputation and subvert his credentials as one who is interested in decency and human rights. It will be on Fox, Rush Limbaugh, bloggers and along with radio and TV ads.

The liberal media will be hard pressed to come to his defense when this issue becomes headline news. That's the beauty of this type of smear ... its true! The pundits will say "what was Obama thinking" ... "he blew it on that one" ... "how will he get himself out of this jam".

I am not a fan of the politics of personal destruction ... but there you go.

Jewish and Israel News from New York - The Jewish Week

2007-06-11T17:49:00.000-04:00

Jewish and Israel News from New York - The Jewish Week:
"How Future Pope Helped Save Jews

New book details efforts of Monsignor Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) during the Holocaust.
Jay Bushinsky - Special To The Jewish Week

Details of the combined efforts to rescue thousands of Jews during World War II by a representative of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and a Catholic cleric, who later became pope, have come to light through a recently published book.

Professor Dina Porat of Tel Aviv University, a historian who has written extensively on the Holocaust, gained access to the private papers of Chaim Barlas, who together with Monsignor Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (Pope John XXIII), used a variety of tactics to rescue thousands of endangered Jews from Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Greece and especially Hungary by enabling them to flee the ongoing Holocaust.

Barlas’ official papers, documents and letters were forwarded to the Zionist Archives in Jerusalem. But his personal records, stored in cardboard boxes and stashed in his family’s Tel Aviv residence, include dramatic accounts of Monsignor Roncalli’s emotional reaction on learning of the horrors described to him of the Auschwitz death camp.

“He cried when Barlas showed him the evidence,” said Porat.

Macedonian Link to Nicolas Sarkozy

2007-06-11T17:44:00.000-04:00

Telegraph newspaper online: "Nicolas Sarkozy was born in 1955, the second of three sons born to a Hungarian immigrant, Pal Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa, and his French wife, Andrée Mallah.

The couple met in 1949 but separated 10 years later, with Pal eventually marrying several more times. Nicolas's maternal family also originates outside France. Andrée Mallah was the daughter of Benedict Mallah, a doctor who at the time of his daughter's wedding had gained a formidable reputation as a urologist and lived in the affluent 17th arrondissement of Paris.

A Sephardic Jew, he was born in Thessalonica, Greece, in 1890. However, the Mallah family can trace their roots back to Provence in Southern France, having originally been forced to leave during the persecution of Jews in the Middle Ages.

At the age of 14, Benedict left Greece to further his education, taking up a place at the Lycée Lakanal boarding school in the southern suburbs of Paris, where he studied medicine. He stayed in France and became a citizen, repaying his debt to his new home by acting as a doctor in the French army during the First World War."

Osama Bin Laden focues on the Balkans

2007-06-07T12:39:00.002-04:00

By David Edenden- A good article on Bin Laden in the Balkans.

Osama Bin Laden focues on the Balkans- A 2003 analysis, still very relevant-

By Yossef Bodansky, Senior Editor (Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, September 19, 2003)

Starting in the mid-August 2003, radical Islamist leaders elevated the role of the terrorism infrastructure in the Balkans as a key facilitator of a proposed escalation of conflict into the heart of Europe, Israel and the United States. The terrorism campaign aims to define the US occupation of Baghdad as the turning point in the fateful jihad for the future of Islam. The importance of the concurrent expansion of Islamist operations in the Balkans should be examined in this overall context.

The most telling development was the nomination of Shahid Emir Mussa Ayzi to coordinate and run special recruitment operations. Ayzi is a veteran of Afghanistan who is close not only to the al-Qaida elite but also the Taliban leadership. Recently, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s senior commanders decided to expand the recruitment and activation of Slav cadres, because they look European and non-Arab, in order to enhance their ability to operate at the heart of the West.

In August 2003, Ayzi took over this sensitive recruitment drive. The main recruitment pool consists of Bosnian Muslims with a smaller effort relying on Russian converts recruited in Chechnya and the Caucasus as a whole. Although the Islamists had run a recruitment and training drive of Bosnian Muslim expert terrorists and would-be martyr-bombers since the early 1990s, these cadres had not until now been used.

Now, circumstances seem to be changing. In late August 2003, Ayzi sent a report to Mullah Qudratullah, a senior Taliban official, about his success in enlisting “persons of Slav ethnicity” to the Islamist jihad. He added that some of these “white devils” had already been indoctrinated and trained to the point of sending them to carry out “Allah’s Work” - that is, terrorist martyrdom-strikes - “in a number of European cities and on Israeli territory.” The preparation of additional Slav cadres for US operations is in progress, Ayzi reported. The training and preparation of Ayzi’s recruits is taking place in the Balkans and the Caucasus, mainly Georgia.

The Balkans undertaking is part of an overall increase in the Islamist buildup under the overall supervision of Muhammad al-Zawahiri, the brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two leader in al-Qaida. The senior Islamist commanders now consider what they call “the Albanian land” - Albania, Serbia’s Kosovo province and parts of Macedonia - to be safe for use as a springboard for the insertion of a new wave of expert terrorists, including the Slavs, into Western Europe and onward throughout the West.

Indeed, starting in mid-August 2003, there was a discernible increase in the number of foreigners in the Islamist mosques throughout Albania. “They [originally] come from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran. They come from many countries,” noted an eyewitness in Tirana. They arrive [in Tirana] from Afghanistan,” he added. These expert terrorists are being prepared in Albania for their specific missions in the West.

This training program is conducted under the cover of the Albanian National Army (ANA or AKSh in Albanian) with most senior trainers and commanders being “mujahedin who retreated from Bosnia” and are affiliated with al-Qaida.

In return for the Albanian support of this endeavor, the Islamists assist the local terrorists in preparing for launching spectacular terrorism into the major cities of Serbia and Montenegro, with Belgrade and Nis believed to be the top targets. As well, Islamist cadres, mainly veterans of Bosnia, are providing advance training to thousands of Albanian terrorists in camps in Kosovo-Metohija, near Prizren, on the slopes of Mt. Sara, in the Kosovo Morava River valley, in the Albanian towns of Kukes and Tropoje, and around Tetovo in western Macedonia.

These operations are also run under the banner of the ANA/AKSh.

Significantly, the growing importance of the Balkans cause was also reflected in the Islamist communiques claiming and explaining the bombing of the UN building in Baghdad. This was the most important and authoritative doctrinal statement of the Islamist leadership in August 2003.

The statements stressed the situation in Bosnia as a major grievance of the Islamists against the UN and the West. The first statement was issued on August 19, 2003, by the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, itself a front group of al-Qaida. The Islamists claimed that UN officials “oversaw the massacre of Bosnian women and children in 1992 and 1995,” and that “the United Nations was responsible for the massacre of 7,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 because it sponsored the idea of ‘not establishing an Islamic state in Europe.’”

On August 24,2003, the London-based Al-Muhajiroun, bin Laden’s primary mouthpiece in Europe, elaborated on this theme in order to explain why the UN building in Baghdad was a legitimate target: “Verily it was the UN soldiers in Bosnia who were recorded to have stood by when the barbaric Serbs massacred Muslims. The UN first decided to take away the weapons of the Muslims (fearing that they might actually defend themselves and establish Islamic rule) and thereby facilitated their massacre, and were then even photographed helping in the mass murder and gang rape of Muslim women and children. The wounds are still fresh.”

The statements were clearly intended to compound the disinformation that 7,000 Muslims were killed in Srebrenica, when all independent forensic evidence points to Muslim casualties in the hundreds, possibly the low hundreds. Continued emphasis on such allegedly high numbers of Muslim deaths at Srebrenica also obfuscates the Muslim murders in that city, earlier, of Serb civilians.

Indeed, the August 2003 statements and intelligence, leading up to the proposed September 2003 opening of the new Islamist shrine - built at Srebrenica with US funds - all support analysis that a significant new wave of terrorism, this time by many European Islamists, is to begin soon.

Yossef Bodansky is the Director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the U. S. Congress, as well as the World Terrorism Analyst with the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies (Houston, Texas). He is a contributing editor of Defense and Foreign Affairs; Strategic Policy. He is a contributing expert at the Israel-based Ariel Center for Policy Research. He is the author of several books (Target America, Terror, Crisis in Korea, Offensive in the Balkans, Some Call it Peace, and Islamic Anti-Semitism as a Political Pursuit), as well as several book chapters, entries for the International Military and Defense Encyclopedia, and numerous articles in several periodicals, including Global Affairs, Jane’s Defense Weekly, Defense and Foreign Affairs: Strategic Policy, Nativ and Business Week. In the 1980s, he acted as a senior consultant for the Department of Defense and the Department of State.

One has to note that since 2003, attacks have happened in London and numerous attempts elsewhere. Unfortunately the warnings in the past by experts, have yet to alert the mainstream media of the dangerous presence of terrorists in the Balkans.

Albanians Make Sicilians Look Good

2007-06-07T12:38:00.001-04:00

Thousands fear as blood feuds sweep Albania | International News | News | Telegraph: "Thousands fear as blood feuds sweep Albania

By Bojan Pancevski and Nita Hoxha in Tirana, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:39am BST 03/06/2007

Stuck in their cottage outside the northern Albanian village of Mnela, 14-year-old Flori Bardoku and his younger sisters watch suspiciously whenever anybody makes the hour-long journey up the path to their home.

The reason for their caution is understandable: while most of their trickle of visitors are villagers bearing food and gifts, they know that one day someone may come to kill them.

The four siblings and their mother have lived in fear of their lives ever since their father, Martin, killed his cousin's wife in Mnela after discovering her in bed with another man. He is serving 10 years in jail for her death, but in conservative rural Albania, justice is seldom served by courts alone. In accordance with ancient clan tradition, the murdered woman's brothers have declared a 'blood feud' against Bardoku's family - which means any of his nearest and dearest can be killed in exchange.

TheStar.com - News - U.S-born Macedonian sells free-trade mission to the Western world

2007-06-07T12:37:00.000-04:00

TheStar.com - News - U.S-born Macedonian sells free-trade mission to the Western world: "Macedonia, one of the world's least-populated countries, is an unlikely candidate to take on the world's largest, China.

But Gligor Tashkovich, its feisty Cornell-educated minister for foreign investment, wants the former Yugoslav republic of 2.2 million people to become the dragon slayer of the globalized economy, taking its place alongside Singapore as a booming industrial mini-state.

'We have wage rates as low as China, and lower transport costs,' says Tashkovich, a 42-year-old communications expert who was born in New York state. 'We have the lowest cumulative taxes in Europe, and we have more than 40 free-trade agreements from Iceland to Turkey, a market of 650 million people.'

In Canada this week on a whirlwind trade tour, he is hoping to attract investors who will launch businesses from computer hardware to food-processing plants. And, he says, rejecting Macedonia's sales pitch is not an option.

'I don't accept no as an answer. If people ask why they should consider Macedonia, I tell them it's because we're offering a better deal.'

Tashkovich is a true blue believer in Macedonia, with a family history to prove it. His grandfather, for whom he is named, was a prominent politician whose civil engineering firm built the parliament and presidential buildings in the Macedonian capit"

Matthew Nimetz, What's in a Name?

2007-06-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

From: David Edenden
To: Mathew (?) Matthew (?) Niemitz (?) Nimetz (?) Nimitz (?)

How do you spell your name? Inquiring minds want to know.

BIRN, The International Herald Tribune, The BBC and Wikipedia spell it Nimitz.

The New York Tmes, and The Council on Foreign Relations spell it Nimetz.

The UN (1) (2) and The US State Department (1) (2) spell it both ways.

As an ethnic Macedonian, I am not one to besmirch anyone's identity so I really would like to spell you name correctly.

You recently issued a press release saying that you would continue as negotiator, after a number of years, in the Macedonian-Greek dispute. I would like to make the case that you should quit the role of negotiator, and issue a press release denouncing the US, EU and the UN for ignoring the plight of ethnic Macedonians in Greece in this negotiating process between Macedonian and Greece. Also, please write your memoirs on how this issue inflamed the Balkan wars in the 1990's since no one in the Balkans can trust the US, EU or the UN to come to defend their human rights.

On a personal level you should accept responsibility for for participating in a process, which after all is akin to cultural genocide, because you, Matthew Nimetz, have studiously avoided any discussion of the plight of ethnic Macedonians in Greece, even though the US State Department report on Human Rights documented abuses. 1995 2006. It may be because of how your mandate was structured, but you could have responded to the Macedonian media by saying that Greece was wrong to suppress its Macedonian minority.

It is important to record your role, the role of the Greek Issues Caucus, the role of the US State Department, and the role of the UN in siding with the Greek government in it's demand that Macedonians change the name of their country, The Republic of Macedonia, their religion, the Macedonian Orthodox Church, and their language, Macedonian and finally their national anthem Denes Nad Makedonija -Today Above Macedonia. Your memoir can help the US reform their foreign policy process to really support democracy and human rights around the world.

Thank you and God bless.

VOA Makes it Offical: Terror Plotters Are Ethnic Albanians

2007-05-09T17:47:00.000-04:00

I think that the Voice of America is just rehashing the AP story below, that should have been run in the first place. I am really interested in what the CIA has to say about the relatives of these guys in Debar, Macedonia. The Macedonian Ambassador to the US should make it his job to find out now!

It is only a matter of time when some leading politician in the US proclaims that if only the Albanians in Macedonia and Kosovo are allowed to join Albania, then terrorism in the Balkans would be solved. Expect something soon from Congressman Lantos.

Watch for Macedonia to be blamed for the "Fort Dix Terror Plot".

Three Men Charged in US Terror Plot Are Ethnic Albanians
VOA News

Three of the six men who were arrested and charged with plotting to attack U.S. soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey are ethnic Albanian brothers born in Macedonia.

Relatives of the three brothers interviewed in their hometown of Debar, a remote town on Macedonia's border with Kosovo, expressed anger and disbelief that the three would want to attack the United States. The relatives said they are all thankful to America for its support during the wars in Kosovo and Macedonia. The brothers are Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Eljvir Duka. All three were illegal immigrants."

3 brothers implicated in Fort Dix plot had roots in fiercely pro-American region of Balkans,
International Herald Tribune, AP May 9th.

Relatives in the ethnic Albanian-populated town of 15,000 said they had not seen the brothers in more than two decades, but expressed disbelief Wednesday that the three would attack the United States.

"We all have been supporters of America. We were always thankful to America for its support during the wars in Kosovo and Macedonia," a cousin, Elez Duka, 29, told The Associated Press.

"These are simple, ordinary people and they've got nothing to do with terrorism. I expect their release and I expect an apology," he said, waving his hands. "I see injustice. These are ridiculous charges."

His indignation captured the mood among Muslims in Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania — places that have repeatedly expressed gratitude to the United States for intervening in the 1998-99 Kosovo war and a 2001 ethnic conflict that pushed Macedonia to the brink of civil war.

Greek Caucus Up To ITs Old Tricks!

2007-05-09T15:03:00.001-04:00

By David Edenden

While the is trying to assure the Serbs of Kosovo that their rights will be protected, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Tom Lantos are busy putting the boots to ethnic Macedonians in Greece. If they really wanted peace in the Balkans, they can support the "Joint History Project for the Balkans". But they don't ... there's the rub!

UMD Sends Letter to Greek Caucus about H. Res. 356

The United Macedonian Diaspora reacted swiftly to the unjust, insulting, and inaccurate house resolution that was introduced by the co-chairs of the Helenic Caucus Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL). Please read our action alert to see how you can provide additional support to our efforts.
If anything, this resolution is hypocritical because the said Interim Agreement was forced upon the Republic of Macedonia in 1995 as a condition to end the Greek Embargo. This temporarry agreement achieved several Greek aims including: (1) a tentative reference term for the Republic of Macedonia at the UN and within certain international bodies, (2) changes to the historic national symbols of the Republic of Macedonia with new ones, and (3) constitutional changes that were unwarranted.

Even after all this humiliation, Macedonia has revealed itself as more than willing to compromise in this ridiculous situation by proposing several resolutions to the “name dispute.” Notwithstanding the Republic of Macedonia’s efforts and the concessions it has already made, Athens continues to incredulously refer to Macedonian “intransigence” on the purported “name issue.”
You can read the full letter to the members of the Congress that participate in this Caucus by clicking HERE.

Lantos Offers Serbs and Macedonians in Sacrifce for Islamic Love

2007-05-09T14:07:00.000-04:00

This is a great site and it hits the nail on the head. Notwithstanding all that countries of "The West" have done to the Muslim world for the last two hundred years, offering to promote Albanian and Chechen Muslims in Europe is supposed to win kudos from from "jihadists of all color and hue" (yikes!). This is not as stupid as it seems. It is a very widespread concept, not just from the Democrat Lantos, but also by Stephen Schwartz from the Weekly Standard.

Looks like Lantos' Albanian pets are biting back!

Ah, but the Jihadists HAVE Taken Note, Mr. Lantos!
Posted by Julia under Republican Riot

Below is an exclusive report from Tuesday’s open hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

At the hearing, titled “The Outlook for the Independence of Kosova” (the Islamic and dhimmi spelling of the province), Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) — Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee — said the following:

Just a reminder to the predominantly Muslim-led government[s] in this world that here is yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe. This should be noted by both responsible leaders of Islamic governments, such as Indonesia, and also for jihadists of all color and hue. The United States’ principles are universal, and in this instance, the United States stands foursquare for the creation of an overwhelmingly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe.

Clinton holdover Nicholas Burns, State Dept. Under Secretary for Political Affairs, was the special Witness. He reiterated the U.S. position that immediate independence without standards or compromise is the only acceptable solution, because the growing violence is what guides our Kosovo policy:

It’s our view that we have now [to] act resolutely in the coming weeks…we looked at this very carefully with our European friends. And we said, are we better off supporting a solution in the spring of 2007 or delaying a year or two? We became convinced in looking at it, all of us, that the prospects for violence would be greater if we waited. Because 92 to 94 percent of the people who now live in Kosovo are Albanian Muslims. They have been waiting a long, long time…And so we the international community must act.

Indeed, an Asia Times commentary this week explained that to Russia (as to Serbia), an independent Muslim Kosovo presents an existential threat. And it is to America’s eternal disgrace that a country like Russia is on the right side of history on this matter while we pigheadedly pursue the futile path of befriending evil. Burns’ appalling response to Watson’s concerns:

…Kosovo is different… and we believe that achieving the independence of Kosovo will not lead others to justify similar treatment from the United Nations or from the United States itself.

Because there’s no such thing as setting precedents? Particularly by rewarding violence, as the Kosovo Albanians watched the West do in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Further, Burns believes that our actions in Kosovo didn’t embolden the Albanians to promptly move on to terrorize neighboring Macedonia, and Montenegro and parts of Southern Serbia.

Three of Albanians arrested in US were born in Macedonia

2007-05-09T12:57:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden - This is the picture of one of the plotters according to Makfax. I don't know which one. Why are the Macedonian authorities "speaking under condition of anonymity". Shouldn't they get moving and investigate these guys?

Three of Albanians arrested in US were born in Macedonia
The independent news agency Makfax: Skopje, 16:53

Three of the Albanians arrested in USA under suspicions of plotting a terrorist attack were born in Macedonia.

Speaking under condition of anonymity, a source of the Macedonian Interior Ministry confirmed this information to Makfax Agency.

Duka brothers were born in Ohrid, i.e. Debar, and lived in the Debar's nearby village of Spas."

Albanian Organization Knew Terrorists Were Ethnic Albanians From Macedonia

2007-05-09T12:53:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden - While the media were scrambling to understand where the plotters came from, this press release from the National Albanian American Council (NAAC) dated Tuesday May 8th (yesterday) showed that they knew that the plotters were born in Macedonia. I wonder if the FBI contacted the Macedonian police to determine whether the plot extended there. Did the NAAC contact the Macedonian authorities. We don't know because the media don't seem to be interested.

National Albanian American Council Strongly Condemns the Planned Attack on Fort Dix Army Base in New Jersey, (Press Release)

WASHINGTON, May 8 /CNW/ -- The National Albanian American Council (NAAC) issued the following statement. The National Albanian American Council (NAAC) strongly condemns the planned attack on Fort Dix Army Base by a group of people who reportedly plotted to attack the base, and we congratulate the law enforcement authorities for their swift apprehension of the conspirators, thereby preventing a possible tragedy. While details are still being released, it was reported that these individuals, who plotted the attack on Fort Dix Arm Base, included persons with 'radical jihadist views' with national origins from Turkey, Jordan, and Macedonia."

Islamic Exremists are Organizing in the Balkans

2007-05-09T12:44:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden - This is a great article about al Qaeda in the Balkans. In the past Macedonians and Serbs have been running around "with their hair on fire" but no one in Washington seemed to listen. Now they are listening.

Plot illustrates Balkans' role as Islamist foothold --
The Washington Times: "

U.S. officials said intelligence reports from the Balkans have identified a support structure for several terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, among the Muslim communities in Albania and in the former Yugoslavia, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia.

"When it comes to extremists, we're talking about very, very small pockets in Albania, as well as among the ethnic Albanian populations in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and other parts of the Balkans," said one official with access to intelligence reports.

The official pointed out that the Albanian government has been supportive of U.S. efforts to counter Islamic terrorist activities, including curbing logistics and financial aid, and working to prevent terrorists from receiving training and weapons.

But a Congressional Research Service report produced in 2005 said instability in Albania during the 1990s gave al Qaeda a "foothold" there.

"Poor internal security, lax border controls, and high rates of crime produced an environment conducive to terrorist activity," said the report by CRS specialist Steven Woehrel. "Some foreign Islamic extremists used Albania as a safe haven and gained Albanian citizenship."
Balkan Muslims also have been targets of al Qaeda recruitment efforts because they have an easier time blending in or evading U.S. and European security measures and border controls, which often are geared to identifying Middle Eastern extremists.

The State Department's latest annual report on international terrorism said the Albanian government has taken steps to stop terrorism financing but noted that "government and police forces faced substantial challenges to fully enforce border security and combat organized crime and corruption."

'Albanian' or 'Yugoslav' - You be the Judge!

2007-05-09T12:41:00.000-04:00

The mix up in the story regarding the ethnicity of the plotters originated with the FBI press release and the subsequent AP story which just mirrored the release without bothering to ask the relevant questions. My Balkan heart tells me ... its a plot! Hoever, if the FBI was this confused about who the plotters were after over a year then ... pray!

Albanian' vs. 'Yugoslav' - Editorials/Op-Ed -
The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "

Early in this story, the Albanian connection emerged in some outlets, but "Yugoslav," a term we associate with Slobodan Milosevic or Josip Tito more than Islamist violence, persisted. The connotations of "Albanian" begin with the fact that 70 percent of Albanians are Muslim. Now, combine "Albanian" with the allegation of a thwarted assault-rifle attack on Fort Dix. This suggests a working hypothesis. The hypothesis: An attack by Islamist terrorists may just have been thwarted. It has nothing to do with anti-fascist partisans or Communist apparatchiks.
Our news organizations seem now to be acting upon the desire to avoid fueling that speculation as long as possible. We're not clear why, except for their biases, or perhaps their worry of offending people. Thus they conclude with quotes like this one, which appeared at the end of CBS's dispatch yesterday: " 'If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law,' said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented many of the detainees. 'But when the government says 'Islamic militants,' it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous.' "
No, it doesn't, and news organizations should not end stories with such spurious claims. The government can and should say "Islamic militants" if in fact there is credible evidence that the accused are Islamic militants. In this case, federal prosecutors have the recordings of an informant to illustrate it.
The American people are smart enough to figure it out. They need this information when it is available. As long as our news organizations fail to report the facts they know to be true, they are failing to do their job. They should not engage in "perception management."

Ethnic Albanians Plot to Attack U.S. Army Base!

2007-05-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden

With a headline like this, it can't get any better for the Serbs. It just may convince the US to heed Russia's advice and move slowly with regard to the independence of Kosovo. It has been a confused situation since the FBI press release did not reveal the ethnicity of the plotters. They have been under investigation for the last number of months. One would expect that their home town in "the former Yugoslavia" would have been identified and be investigated. I smell a plot. They could be from Montenegro, Kosovo, Southern Serbia or even Macedonia with Debar being the prime suspect. Did the FBI contact Macedonia to see if the conspiracy extends there. If not, why not?

Six Men Held Over Plot to Attack U.S. Army Base
New York Time May 8, 2007

"Media in Serbia's U.N.-run Kosovo province reported four of the six men were ethnic Albanians, either from Macedonia, Montenegro or Kosovo itself.

The Islamic Community in Kosovo issued a statement saying it was ``shocked'' at news of the plot.

``This case is particularly hard for us, knowing that people of our nation and our religion are involved,'' it said.

The arrests were made on Monday night in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a Philadelphia suburb where the Duka brothers live.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider ordered the men detained to face charges of plotting to kill military personnel and weapons possession. Each wore a prison jumpsuit and was shackled at the ankles.

Sixteen family members including women wearing headscarves sat in the public benches. Some wept quietly."

Mike Rann To Greeks: Ever Heard of Vaseline?

2007-05-07T14:02:00.000-04:00

By: David Edenden

Human Rights Watch should produce a list of politicians that enable human rights violations around the world. It does not have to be an exhaustive list of all politicians and all human rights violation ... start with the plight of Macedonians in Greece and Kurds in Turkey. Mike Rann would be top on the list. Next time some pandering politician flies all the way to Greece garner Greek votes at home by spitting on ethnic Macedonian identity, there should be a welcoming committee of Macedonians waiting for him.

Premier of South Australia says Macedonia belongs to Greece
Makfax vesnik

Athens /07/05/ 17:13

Macedonia belongs to Greece, like the Acropolis does, Mike Rann, the Premier of South Australia, said today in Athens.

In the course of his visit to Greece, he met with the Minister of Macedonia & Thrace, Georgios Kalantzis, and the regional prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis.

According to Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia, Rann said that no nation should steel the history and insignia belonging to another nation."

No UN Backing for Kosovo Independence!

2007-05-03T21:18:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden: I told you so!

Ahtisaari's plan is facing failure by Frankfurter Rundschau':
Makfax vesnik

Frankfurt /03/05/ 18:09

Martti Ahtisaari's plan on the future status of Kosovo is likely to fall through, writes the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau.

The paper says that such an outcome is lurking after completion of the UN Mission's visit to Belgrade and Pristina.

'UN delegation came back to New York filled with skepticism', the paper says, adding that unofficial assessments suggest that the plan is unlikely to win the necessary 9 out of 15 votes at the Security Council in order to pass.

According to the newspaper, only USA, Great Britain, France, Belgium and Italy have voiced unambiguous readiness to back the plan. Peru, Panama and Qatar are floating, while South Africa, Congo, Ghana, Indonesia and China are against in principle, whereas Slovakia and Russia are strongly opposing the adoption of the document.

Frankfurter Rundschau underlines that after the visit to Belgrade and Pristina, the South African Ambassador in UN said that the situation on the ground was drastically different to the one described in the UNMIK's reports."

FM Milososki at the meeting on International Compact for Iraq

2007-05-03T21:17:00.000-04:00

"FM Milososki at the meeting on International Compact for Iraq
Macedonian_News_Service : Message: Daily Bulletin:

Sharm el-Sheikh, May 3 (MIA) - Macedonian FM Antonio Milososki on Thursday will lead Macedonian delegation in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt where he is to participate at the meeting on the International Compact for Iraq which represents initiative of the Iraqi government for new partnership with the international community.

FM Milososki will deliver a short address before the participants of the meeting. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will also deliver an address and several countries among which the US, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Armenia, South Korea, Bahrain and Egypt confirmed the participation at ministerial level.
The basic goal of the International Compact for Iraq is realisation of the aspirations of the Iraqi people in establishing the united, federal democratic state, active member of regional and international organisations with prosperous economy in which private sector will dominate, Macedonian Foreign Ministry press release reads.

Let's Move to Macedonia - Lowest Taxes!

2007-05-02T15:39:00.000-04:00

No stopping flat-tax juggernaut

NEIL REYNOLDS, Globe and Mail, May 2, 2007

"OTTAWA — In one of its first acts last year, the newly elected government of, Macedonia (population: two million) legislated radical tax reforms. On Jan. 1, 2007, the country introduced a flat-rate tax of 12 per cent on both personal and corporate income, matching the rate introduced two years ago by Georgia (population: 5.6 million). On Jan. 1, 2008, Macedonia will cut its rate to 10 per cent - and achieve one of the lowest tax rates in the world.

Macedonia's tax revenues will almost certainly rise. The country's new, young (age: 36 years) free-market Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, cites the phenomenon of voluntary compliance that accompanies flat-tax regimes. 'This reform will decrease tax evasion,' he says, 'and encourage people to meet their obligations to the state.' As Russia (population: 144 million) vividly demonstrated when it adopted a flat tax (replacing a 40-per-cent rate on personal income with a 13-per-cent rate) in 2000, low rates are persuasive tax collectors. Russia's revenues rose 25 per cent in the first year, 25 per cent in the second year, 15 per cent in the third year. People who violently resist getting scalped will submit voluntarily for a trim.

The Price of Kosovo

2007-05-01T07:43:00.000-04:00

Global Politician: "The Price of Kosovo
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 4/30/2007

Macedonia was most heavily damaged during Operation Allied Force. But one would do well to separate the irreversible damages from the reversible ones. The former have a corrosive, pernicious effect - the latter, though harmful and painful, can be remedied through added aid and investment and the adoption of the right frame of mind. The trade sector in Macedonia suffered c. 50 million US dollars in damages in the past three months.

Ted Kotcheff: Listen Up!

2007-04-30T17:35:00.000-04:00

Robert Lantos, Ted Kotcheff, Laifun Chung (Kotcheff's wife) 1980

By David Edenden:

I think that you should make a movie of the Miss Stone Affair. It would be interesting in today's paranoid anti-Muslim culture since we have "terrorist Christians" battling a lawful Muslim government. Could put the "war on terror" on its head.

Jane Fonda (Dick and Jane remember?) could play Miss Stone. Jane is a "born again Christian" but also an anti-imperialist. Pitch: What right does she, as an American have to convert Orthodox Macedonian Christians to Protestant Christian. Get Antonio Banderas to play Yane Sandaski. He looks like my cousin, therefore, he looks Macedonian!

Christian History Corner: The Day the Ransoming Began
A gripping new book details the first American missionary hostage crisis,
over 100 years ago. By Chris Armstrong | posted 05/23/2003

On September 3, 1901, Macedonian guerillas captured an American missionary named Ellen Stone and her traveling companions and dragged them into the mountains of their Turkish-controlled Balkan province. From the moment during the abduction when the revolutionaries brutally killed a Muslim trader who wandered onto the scene, things looked bad for Miss Stone and her party.

This was the first time America found itself facing the capture and holding for ransom of an American missionary on foreign soil. It was the first time, but—as we are reminded by Martin and Gracia Burnham's tragic story—not the last, that American missionaries would pay the price of citizenship in a superpower. For it was not the gospel she brought but the perceived power and wealth of her nation that made Ellen a target.

We see this, and much else, with greater clarity in the account of the "Miss Stone Affair" recently published by Pulitzer prize-winning author Teresa Carpenter.

Carpenter's book, The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis (Simon & Schuster, 2003), tells how Stone, a Massachusetts-born descendent of Miles Standish who had dedicated her life to teaching the Bible to young women at schools in the Balkans, found herself caught up on that brisk fall day in 1901 in the region's political unrest.

Like the many other American missionaries who would experience a similar captivity, Stone was victimized by insurgents who believed the injustices they had faced justified using human lives as negotiating chits. And in becoming one of those chits, Stone found that what had before seemed a lonely pursuit of a divine calling had now brought her into the international spotlight.

Joana Popovska Your Going To Kiev!

2007-04-30T17:33:00.000-04:00

Actress Joana Popovska wins prestigious award at Kiev festival
Makfax vesnik: "

Bitola /30/04/ 16:56

The actress of the Bitola Theatre, Joana Popovska, won the award for best female actress at the Kiev Theatre Festival 'Storm' for her role in the monodrama 'Chairs'.

Popovska won the prestigious award in competition of 13 top actresses from Moldova, Poland, Armenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia.

Eugene Ionescu's 'Chairs' was staged in June 2006 in the Bitola Theatre by the Serbian director Ljuba Miloshevic.

This is the second international prize Popovska won for the role in Chairs, after winning the best actress award at the festival in Korca, Albania.

'I have provided the funds for the trip to Ukraine by myself with assistance of sponsors, because the Bitola Theatre failed to give me any support, despite the official invitation from Kiev Theatre', said Joana Popovska."

This Will Not Protect Greece From Macedonia!

2007-04-30T17:31:00.000-04:00

US anti-missile shield might be deployed in Greece too
Makfax vesnik: "

Athens /30/04/ 17:26

The possibility of deployment of parts of the anti-missile defence shield proposed by Washington in Greece is not ruled out, the Greek daily Eleftherotypia cited Foreign Ministry's announcement as saying.

The press release says that 'the general threats and challenges impose the need of covering parts of Greece with the US's anti-missile defence shield'."

"Cat Ballou" And The Balkans!

2007-04-28T08:04:00.000-04:00

My suggestion for US/EU politicians and journalists before they go the Balkans to promote peace, is to rent the movie "Cat Ballou" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059017/) starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin.

Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda):
Kid Shaleen, your eyes! They are red ... bloodshot ... disgusting!

Kid Shaleen (Lee Marvin)
You should see how they look from my side!

Book on the Jewish Community of "Monastir"

2007-04-27T14:24:00.000-04:00

It Takes a Village - Forward.com
Alana Newhouse

I toyed with the idea of writing a book on Monastir myself, but the task seemed daunting: Given the political chaos that has defined the region for the last century, providing the reader with a clear historical context would be a formidable challenge for a journalist; government records were sure to be near-inscrutable, and what individual testimony one could garner would likely come from disparate, far-flung sources. I was deterred but, thankfully, Mark Cohen, a journalist from California with the same idea, was not. His newly-released “Last Century of a Sephardic Community: The Jews of Monastir, 1839-1943,” published by the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture, is an important addition to the study of Sephardic Jews and an essential building block in what I hope is the burgeoning field of Balkan Jewish studies.

The book is focused on the period between 1839 and 1943, the last years of a Jewish community ensconced in the Ottoman village since the Spanish Inquisition. Cohen is at his most evocative in his depiction of Jewish life, and it is in these details that the frequent stiffness of his prose fades away. We learn how the 3,000 Monastirlis in the mid-1800s chose to live in a walled, self-contained residential district called a mahalle, which circled a great courtyard. Since virtually no one had indoor kitchens, the courtyard, which featured communal ovens in which the women would cook, served as “a house extension and host to domestic life.”

Yet this closeness came at a price. “With everyone exposed to the eyes and judgments of their neighbors, people were sure to conform to social norms,” including regular synagogue attendance and holiday observance. The Jewish quarter even had berurei averot, wardens who patrolled the area to suppress religious transgressions.

1943: Macedonians and Albanians Join to Save Jews!

2007-04-27T14:16:00.000-04:00

A Night Full Of Maazel -
Forward.com, Masha Leon | Fri. Feb 23, 2007

"Few among the hundreds of guests in the room knew the saga of the Albanian peoples’ rescue not only of their own Jewish neighbors and citizens but also of all the Jews who managed to make it to their country. As Michael Salberg, the ADL’s director of international affairs, reported: “In September 1943, the Orthodox priests of Struga in Macedonia came to Mefail Biçaku asking for his help in saving Jews from the Germans. Seventeen-year-old Njazi was given the family’s old Italian carbine and told not to lose sight of his charges who stayed in the village during the winter.” Salberg described how the Biçakus shared their food with 26 people, and how his wife had washed their clothes…. The whole region knew that Mefail was hiding Jews, but “because of the complex rules of behavior in the mountains,” and the family’s reputation, no one betrayed him nor his charges. By the end of 1944, the Jews returned to Struga, with some making their way to Argentina and most landing in Israel."

Does Macedonia Have A Plan "B" Re: Nato

2007-04-27T14:02:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden:

I am a Nato skeptic. What happens if Greece uses its veto and Macedonia is not, and Croatia and Albania, are included in the Nato expansion in April 2008. I will tell you what will happen! It will embolden Albanian separatists to go for partition of Macedonia since Nato will have shown it's contempt for the Macedonian people and their identity. Does the Macedonian government have a plan "B".

My suggestion: Hire Putin as an adviser. He will be out of a job after the March 2008 Russian Presidential elections and could use the extra cash! It could give Macedonia room to maneuver!

Macedonia likely to get invitation for NATO membership in April 2008
Makfax vesnik:

Berlin/Skopje /27/03/ 15:26

Macedonia, along with Albania and Croatia, is most likely to receive invitation for membership in NATO in April 2008 at the Alliance's Summit in Bucharest.

Radio Deutsche Welle reported this from the informal summit of the NATO Ministers in Oslo.

NATO urged all candidate-countries to push ahead with the internal reforms and pledged for making the decision at the next year's Summit.

Russia's resistance on further enlargement of NATO cannot halt this process, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said after the meeting.

We see the enlargement not only as a process but as a principle, the spokesman said, explaining that all sovereign countries have a right to make decision on their defense."

Pass the Piperka

2007-04-27T10:57:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden: This is a great idea. Macedonians supporting Macedonian owned businesses. someone should post this to their Macedonian Facebook sites. Pass it on.

There's more to Pass the Piperka than just the game.
Contact Support-Macedonian Connection

Pass the Piperka is about Macedonians helping Macedonians, any way they can. Whether it's by supporting a florist or a mechanic, donating to a Macedonian charity, or helping coach a Macedonian soccer team, it's about passing it on.

Day after day, year after year, if we continue to Pass the Piperka, our Macedonian traditions and our Macedonian culture will carry on forever. If you feel strongly about your Macedonian roots and heritage, do your part to keep it going!

The next time you're buying flowers, going for a nice dinner, or renovating your home, think of a Macedonian business or service. And if you have some extra money that you can spare, there's always a Macedonian church or group that could put a donation to good use. If you happen to have extra time in your day or on your weekends, try and volunteer some of your time to a Macedonian sports team or dancing group in your area. The churches always need folks to sell coffee on Sundays as well!

Today you're helping out a Macedonian that asks for your support, tomorrow it may be you that needs a hand. Let's all help each other grow and prosper, continue the Macedonian heritage, and always remember to stay CONNECTED!

Pass the Piperka

Check Out the UMD Site For Project funding!

2007-04-26T11:52:00.000-04:00

Macedonians can receive funds to promote Macedonia
United Macedonian Diaspora -
Wednesday, 25 April 2007

The United Macedonian Diaspora informs our members and other Macedonians that Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia and its Diaspora department have invited all Macedonians worldwide to apply for grants from the Macedonian government in realization for any Macedonian related projects. The ministry intends to fund several projects that will promote the Macedonian identity, culture and tradition, in efforts to promote the Republic of Macedonia. At the same time, these projects should help strengthen the tie between the Macedonians outside the Republic of Macedonia and Macedonia.

Eligible for these grants are Macedonians that have immigrated in foreign countries, the Macedonian minorities in the neighboring countries, the Macedonians that are temporary in a foreign country, and any other ethnic Macedonians that may or may not have a Macedonian citizenship. All applications must be received by May 31st 2007, and funds will not be distributed until March 2008. The Ministry intends to use this method for long term collaboration and realize projects in the 2008-2010 timeframe. The list of selected projects will be available in the ministry of foreign affairs at www.mnr.gov.mk.

Several p"

Rainbow, Omo-Ilinden "Nagosti" in the US

2007-04-26T11:50:00.000-04:00

The Voice of America saw fit to report on the visit to the US of the Macedonian political leaders in Greece and Bulgaria. If it is good enough for the VOA why not the RFE, IWPR, ICG, BIRN, SEE Times, and all the other pseudo human rights groups trawling the Balkans. they should be ashamed!

Macedonian parties from Greece and Bulgaria visit US
Makfax vesnik

Washington /26/04/ 11:16

Representatives of political parties of Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria kicked off a visit to the United States, Voice of America's Macedonian news said.

The visit was organized by the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD). Pavle Vaskopulos, the leader of Rainbow - political party of ethnic Macedonians in Greece, and Stojko Stojkov, the co-president of OMO Ilinden-Pirin from Bulgaria, will discuss with the American interlocutors about the treatment of Macedonians minority in Greece and Bulgaria.

Vaskopulos and Stojkov say they want to update the representatives of the international organizations and governments about the real situation of Macedonian minority in Greece and Bulgaria. They stressed that the US government pledged solidarity with the grievances of the Macedonian minority in these two countries - both members of the European Union.

'As regards the human rights of minority groups, I am ready to say that there is a deficit of democracy in Greece although it is European country. In some way, there is a competition between Macedonians in Greece and in Bulgaria - which of them is in worse situation when it comes to human rights of minorities,' Vaskopulos said.

Stojko Stojkov, the co-president of OMO Ilinden- PIRIN,"

Buy a Bottle of Macedonian Wine

2007-04-25T19:26:00.000-04:00

Good exposure for the Macedonian wine industry and Macedonia in general from a leading American business magazine. Someone in Macedonia must be doing a good job in promoting Macedonian business!

Make Mine a Macedonian Wine:
Business Week

"No one will ever mistake Kavardaci for Burgundy. About a 90-minute drive south of the capital city of Skopje, Kavardaci might be the heart of Macedonia's wine country, but it's also the site of a communist-era steel mill, surrounded by inexpensive worker housing and weedy open spaces. Yet Kavardaci should be on the radar of anyone looking for the next big thing in European wine. The town is home to the Tikves winery, the largest in southeastern Europe. Tikves is quickly metamorphosing from a socialist-era workhorse into a major producer of high-end wine."

Two Macedonians to Keep the Peace in Lebanon

2007-04-25T19:17:00.000-04:00

Two ARM officers to be deployed in UNIFIL Mission in Lebanon:
MRT.com.mk

Macedonian Government passed a decision Wednesday on the country's participation in the United Nations' mission UNIFIL in Lebanon. 'We decided to send two officers with rank major in the UNIFIL Headquarters in Southern Lebanon', said Defense Minister Lazar Elenovski at a press conference.

This is the fourth mission the country is taking part in, and first under UN mandate. Macedonia has soldiers deployed in NATO-led ISAF Mission in Afghanistan, it is part of coalition forces in mission 'Iraqi Freedom', while army forces are also taking part in EU-led mission ALTHEA in Bosnia&Herzegovina. A total of 205 ARM soldiers and senior officers are deployed, 130 of whom in Afghanistan, 40 in Iraq, and the rest in B&H."

Lise Bissonette and Identity.

2007-04-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden -

Lise Bissonette was a former editor of the leading Quebec newspaper Le Devoir. Years ago, I saw an interview while she was promoting her first novel. She was explaining the identify of the French speaking people of Quebec.

She said that her grandparents saw themselves as "Canadienne" while the others (les autres) were "English".

Her parents saw themselves as French "Canadienne" while the others were "English Canadian".

She however only thinks of herself as Quebecois while the others are Canadian. She has little identity as being Canadian.

In three generations the French speaking people went from "Canadienne" to "Quebecois"

That is why, when Greek politicians and intellectuals try to slander the ethnic Macedonian identity, I am not too perturbed.

Let's Everyone in the Balkans Sing Kumbya

2007-04-24T23:24:00.000-04:00

Another great article on the "Joint History Project in The Balkans". These guys are on the side of the Angels, bringing all the people of the Balkans together to work on a project to dispel myths and misunderstandings. However, the members of the Greek Issues Caucus are agents of the devil, enablers of racist stereotypes against ethnic Macedonians. See Kumbaya

To avoid 'us vs. them' in Balkans, rewrite history | csmonitor.com: "

Ask a Greek student of history, and you'll likely hear of the event as the tragic fall of a great Christian city. Ask a Turk, and you'll probably hear of the glorious conquest for a rising Muslim empire.

In this still-fragile region, history is often served up as a nationalistic tale that highlights the wrongs perpetrated by others. Now a group of historians from across the region is trying to change the way the past is taught in southeast Europe – from Croatia to Turkey – in an effort to encourage reconciliation rather than division.

'History plays an important role in shaping national identity,' said Christina Koulouri, the editor of a series of new history textbooks and a professor of history at the University of the Peloponnese in Greece. 'We want to change history teaching because we are concerned about the joint future of the Balkans and we think mutual understanding can be promoted through better history teaching.'

More than 60 scholars and teachers from around the Balkans have joined to create a new series of history books that tackle some of the most controversial periods in the region. The books, which are being translated into 10 regional languages, present history from various perspectives and excerpt historical documents to challenge interpretations of key events like the Ottoman conquest"

New Google Custom Search Function

2007-04-24T23:05:00.000-04:00

Google, God bless their heart, has developed a custom search function which allows you to search a select number of sites for better results. Below are a list of the sites I have chosen. For Macedonian sites, my aim is to encourage similar sites to join together to make one big site so that English language journalists can easily find information. For mainstream sites, the search function allows you to search for a sertain phrase, in this case ... "Macedonia". If you would like a site put on, don't be a stranger!

www.cdsee.org/*macedonia
www.soros.org.mk
www.greekhelsinki.gr/*macedonia
www.minorityrights.org/*macedonia
www.ihf-hr.org/*macedonia
www.amnesty.org/*macedonia
www.hrw.org/*macedonia
euobserver.com/*macedonia
nhw.livejournal.com/tag/macedonia
www.makedonija.info
www.makedonija.info
www.zhelevo.com
http://warandpiece.com/*Macedonia
www.wilsoncenter.org/*Macedonia
setimes.com/*macedonia
www.isn.ethz.ch/*macedonia
www.balkanalysis.com/*macedonia
www.birn.eu.com/*macedonia
www.guardian.co.uk/*macedonia
samvak.tripod.com/*macedonia
ww.birn.eu.com/*macedonia
www.rferl.org/*macedonia
www.ndi.org/*macedonia
www.macedonianhistory.ca
www.mymacedonia.net
faq.macedonia.org
www.makedonika.org
www.historyofmacedonia.org
david-edenden.blogspot.com
www.mia.com.mk
www.idividi.com.mk
www.makfax.com.mk
www.macedonia.co.uk/
www.mrt.com.mk/
www.macedonianconnection.com/
http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Macedonian_News_Service
http://www.maknews.com/

Film Preservation in Macedonia

2007-04-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

Office in Skopje, Macedonia | The Carrera-Linn Cultural Exchange (CLCX):

An organization dedicated to music and film preservation from obscure places, and member of the Shore Management Service Group.

My humble apologies for being so quiet these days. Things are moving quickly, and hopefully, we should have our Skopje office ready and raring to go before Summer. Trips to Serbia and Bulgaria are being scheduled for early Summer, and if all works out, we may make it as far as Tbilisi, Georgia, in order to search out talent to sign for the company. More on that later."

Again! Message for the Queen

2007-04-24T22:45:00.000-04:00

More reviews on the song for the Movie "the 300". If the "message for the queen" sounds Macedonian, what about Troy or Titus?

Music On Film Reviews - 300:
Reviewed by Justin Bielawa
February 27, 2007

Tyler Bates has made a name for himself within the horror score circle. His fine (unreleased) score to the retread/remake of Dawn Of The Dead was followed by his lackluster score to The Devil's Rejects. He seems to be stuck in a sort of genre rut and someone needs to save him because 300 is exactly what film score fans dislike about Hollywood.

Borrowing to such a degree that Zimmer's pending lawsuit over Gladiator looks frivolous, Bates lifts music from Gabriel Yared's rejected score to Troy and even more directly from Elliot Goldenthal's Titus. So note for note, that Bates doesn't even bother changing instruments at times - 'Come And Get Them' features the same metal clanging that accompanied the entrance of soldiers in the opening of Titus and the phonetic choral in 'Returns A King' is not unlike hearing the crunch of a plastic bottle inside the recycling machines at your local grocery store.

There are moments where Bates is given to write his own music (!) and he creates an interesting musical tapestry that while nothing new is at least his own. The synth-n-sample Randy Edelman approach pays off in a couple of tracks like 'A God King Bleeds', where a steady beat builds before descending to an unsettling near-silence.

Macedonia and Greece by John Shea 1997

2007-04-24T22:39:00.000-04:00

Best book on the Macedonian Greek conflict.

Excellent analysis of the Macedonian-Greek conflict:

"In this book I will examine the Greek claims as fully as possible and present the views of historians, linguists, and other experts who will paint a different picture for us. While there are histories and anthropological analyses of the Greek and Macedonian positions emerging at the present time, to my knowledge there has been no significant presentation of the other side of the argument outlined above, nor any analysis of how it fits into broader Balkan politics centered on Macedonia at the present time. Macedonian interest groups in various parts of the world have taken to the streets themselves, indicating their distress at what they say is a one-sided airing of the Macedonian question in the media. Like the Greeks, the Macedonians express a strong emotional commitment to their interpretation of the situation.

I do not claim to be unbiased, though in my examination of the evidence available to me I have tried to be as objective as possible. When I began my own inquiry about the topic, I wanted to know the truth. I began the process of discovery from a state of quite profound ignorance. I had talked with elderly Macedonian people about their lives, and about stories they remembered from the old days in Macedonia, and the things they told me often conflicted with the arguments of modern-day Greeks. I knew that these Macedonians, at least, thought"

Great PHD Thesis on Macedonian Emigre's

2007-04-24T22:24:00.000-04:00

I have just discovered this PHD Thesis (328 pages) by Gregory Michaelidis, American-born to a Macedonian father from Greek Macedonia. I skimmed it and it has new material regarding the pro-Macedonian left in the US and Canada. Must read for students of Macedonian history in the US, Canada and Australia.

SALVATION ABROAD: MACEDONIAN MIGRATION TO NORTH AMERICA AND THE MAKING OF MODERN MACEDONIA, 1870-1970
Gregory Michaelidis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005

Extension of the Macedonian Orthodox Church to the Diaspora

There was immediate demand for Macedonian Orthodox Church parishes in the diaspora. The process of forming a new parish often began with several dozen men and women who felt the need for creating a central space for nashi, or countrymen, to gather, worship, and celebrate religious and cultural events. The church or social hall, once built, would replace the informal networks of coffee shops, saloons, and private homes where loose groups of the migrants previously had been meeting. The first step was the establishment of a building fund, followed by an appeal to the congress of Macedonian bishops in Skopje to send a priest to North America. It was the responsibility of a Metropolitan, or bishop, to balance the needs of the community with the considerable cost and time associated with training and ordaining a new Orthodox priest and then housing him abroad.

In tandem with the development of an autocephalous Macedonian Orthodox Church, diaspora communities pushed to establish parishes that conformed to their political and cultural outlook. The first effort toward building a Macedonian Church in the diaspora was not in North America but in Melbourne, Australia, and preceded even the declaration of the reconstituted Ohrid Archbishopric in 1957. A group of Macedonian immigrants rallied there on May 14, 1956, and declared, “The Macedonian immigration in Melbourne, led by the ideas of the glorious Illinden fighters for national and church liberation . . . are forced to build our own church due to the numerous difficulties we are experiencing with foreign churches.” When the Church opened as St. George’s a few years later it became the first Macedonian Church in the diaspora to repudiate connections to existing Orthodox synods. In that same month the first new Macedonian Church in North America, Sts. Peter and Paul, opened in Gary, Indiana. Macedonians in Columbus, Ohio, formed a council in June 1963 to explore forming a church there as well.

The United Macedonians also played a key role in promoting the Macedonian Orthodox Church in North America. In Toronto, for instance, those who pushed for a new parish were leading figures during the formation of the United Macedonians as well. Leaders of the Macedonian Orthodox church took political considerations into account when deciding on new parishes in the diaspora, and even indicated so in their reports from the field.90 The new Macedonian identity unapologetically mixed religion and politics. From the outset, groups like the UM understood the need to display its patriotism toward Canada and the U.S. and its nationalism for Macedonia. It relentlessly courted city, provincial, and national leaders to appear at the annual Illinden picnics.

Interview with Greek Helsinki Monitor

2007-04-24T09:36:00.000-04:00

Panayote Dimitras is the spokesperson for the Greek Helsinki Monitor. He is very brave to stand up to the pressure of the Greek government and Greek people to advocate for minority rights. He is a good man. He the type of Greek that Macedonians can negotiate in good faith to come to a compromise on a difficult (for the Greeks) issue. The EU by backing racist rants of the extreme right in Greece make compromise between moderates in the Balkans impossible. The Serbs of Srpska Republika should look to the plight of the Macedonians in Greece for EU and NATO values at work. Pathetic! (note: the translation needs to be improved!)

23 April 2007

Greece: Dimitras interview to Macedonian daily “Dnevnik” on human rights in Greece

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) disseminates the interview of its Spokesperson Panayote Dimitras to the Macedonian daily newspaper “Dnevnik” published on 17 April 2007. He gave answers to several questions of journalist Zana P. Bozinovska. The full text follows in English. The journalist was given the usual editorial freedom to edit the interview as long as the spirit was respected. As the comparison of the two texts below indicates, the Macedonian newspaper handled the interview in a very professional way, fully reflecting its content. As GHM does not have the resources to disseminate an exact translation of the published interview, the two similar texts follow.

Panayote Dimitras interview to Zana P. Bozinovska of “Dnevnik” Daily

Granted on 15 April 2007

Bozinovska: What is your estimation of the current situation regarding the respect of human rights in Greece? What is the biggest problem in this field? What is the situation with Roma and Albanians, refugees, migrants?

Dimitras: Greece is internationally acknowledged as one of the EU member countries with major human rights problems. They are reflected in long lists of concerns or other reports of UN and Council of Europe human rights expert bodies. The biggest problem is that Greek authorities practice “denial”: they are the only one in the EU if not in the OSCE that do not admit that this country, like all others, do face human rights problems. Instead, Greek authorities try to cover up problems as much as possible so as to deny their existence and since 2004 they are even attacking UN and Council of Europe human rights institutions which based on non-governmental sources, and primarily GHM, issue their reports on Greece. Roma and Albanian and other migrants are a very good example. No country exists where Roma are not facing extreme racism and/or the integration of migrants is totally smooth: Greece wants all to believe that indeed it is the exception, even though it has been the first European country to be convicted by the Council of Europe for the violation of the housing rights of the Roma, while the Eurobarometer shows year after year that Greece has the highest percentage of people with xenophobic views.

Bozinovska: The Greek government insists that there is just one minority in the country, Muslims. Do you share this opinion and why? Why authorities in Athens fear recognizing Macedonians as a minority? What is your comment on official politics? What is the connection between the name issue and non-recognizing of Macedonian minority?

Dimitras: The whole world including UN and Council of Europe human rights institutions and all international non-governmental organizations insist too that Greece must officially acknowledge all groups that seek national minority status, namely Macedonians and Turks, including recognizing their associations. This is the only way the international principle of self-identification, which Greece supports for Greek minorities in the Balkans, can be respected. Greece turns a deaf ear to these calls and considers, even in court decisions, Macedonian and Turkish minority associations to be agents of their kin countries. Internationally, Greek foreign policy officials recently argue that there is no minority as there are too few people speaking the “Slavic idiom:” they pretend to ignore that there is no threshold for a minority to exist and to forget that in fact the Greek minority in Turkey’s size is less than 2,000 persons while Vinozito gets anywhere from 3,500 – 7,000 votes in elections. Greece appears afraid to recognize national minorities fearing –wrongly so- that this may weaken if not endanger Greek identity. Former Prime Minister Constantinos Mitsotakis said in the early 1990s that the main reason for not recognizing the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name was that this would soon after force Greece to recognize a Macedonian minority this side of the border. Most Greeks however believe that the name of Macedonia belongs exclusively to Greece. This has also created an extremely difficult situation in resolving the “name issue” as any name with a Macedonian component let alone the country’s name internationally recognized more and more as Republic of Macedonia can lead to a strong backlash of Greek public opinion, that was promised by all parties ten years ago that no “Macedonian” name will ever be recognized.

Bozinovska: What is your comment about the Greek citizens who declare themselves as Macedonians, as well as about their political party?

Dimitras: They have the right to do so. Vinozito, as well as the Home of Macedonian Culture, have the right to advocate it. They all pay a considerable price for insisting on these rights. On the other hand, the Macedonian community has not empowered their organizations with enough support to have a more consistent and efficient advocacy.

Bozinovska: Do you think that Greek authorities respect their rights, taking in account the reports of international organizations and State Department? What is your opinion about these reports, are they realistic?

Dimitras: The State Department reports, especially when they are devoid of political considerations of the US government’s bilateral relations, are comprehensive and useful. But it is the reports of human rights expert bodies of the UN and the Council of Europe that have to be respected, as this is a constitutional obligation of Greece as well as of all countries that have ratified the corresponding treaties. These reports are very accurate but Greek authorities make every effort to hide them from Greek public opinion or to present them in distorted ways so as to give the impression that they are favorable to Greece. That means that they are not implementing them and hence warning “yellow cards” have been included in the recent reports by exasperated expert bodies.

Bozinovska: Does Greek Helsinki Monitor as a NGO have any influence on official politics in the country?

Dimitras: Regrettably, most of the influence from GHM’s advocacy comes through the international organizations’ adoption of GHM-held positions and Greece’s obligation to satisfy at least some of the demands of the UN and the Council of Europe. Alternatively it is the result of denunciatory advocacy domestically. In an old democracy like Greece, things should have been different with the state seeking regularly NGO advice and frequently acceding to their reasonable demands. However, most NGOs are not advocacy oriented since they depend on state funding and are afraid of losing it if they are very critical. This is why two months ago the Greek government once again publicly slandered GHM and also called it –regrettably correctly- the only NGO that holds the critical views espoused by UN bodies (in this instance CEDAW).

Bozinovska: What is your opinion about the official politics of Macedonian authorities regarding this matter? Should they do more for Macedonians in Northern Greece or help them in some way?

Dimitras: Macedonian authorities should respect the strategy of the Macedonian minority in Greece to advocate within Greece and at the EU and Council of Europe level for their rights, without any Macedonian state role in that, unlike say the –yet legitimate- role that Greece plays in advocating Greek minority rights in Albania and Turkey and Turkey in advocating Turkish minority rights in Greece. Also Aegean Macedonian organizations outside Greece should not make statements that do not serve the advocacy of Macedonian minority rights, and it is true that most do not.

Bozinovska:Do you have cooperation with Macedonian Helsinki Committee and about what?

Dimitras: Our cooperation with the Macedonian Helsinki Committee depends on the regional projects of both. In the past there were many and we had a close cooperation. Now we are both concentrated in the very demanding domestic human rights scenes and have little time for trans-border initiatives. The same is true with GHM’s cooperation with several other NGOs in Macedonia, which, in the framework of recent regional projects of Minority Rights Group International, was intensive.

Carla Del Ponte is Not a Friend of Macedonia

2007-04-20T21:15:00.000-04:00

Carla Del Ponte is not a stupid person and may even at time do some good things, but the idea that Macedonians are a "slavic majority" rather than an "ethnic Macedonian majority" is an intentional slur against the Macedonian people designed to find favor with the Greek government which takes the position that Macedonians have no culture or language or identity. Basically she knowingly called us the "N" word. Also take a look at this, and marvel that Macedonia is trying to join the EU, whose politicians hold the Macedonian identity in contempt.

Macedonia readies to send protest note to Carla Del Ponte
Makfax vesnik:

Skopje /18/04/ 12:56

Macedonia will hand over a note of protest if The Hague Tribunal's prosecution, led by chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, used the term 'Macedonian speaking Slavic majority', government's spokesman said.

At today's press conference in Skopje, government's spokesman Ivica Bocevski commented the reports that the insulting term had been allegedly used at the launch of the trial of Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski in The Hague Tribunal.

Bocevski said the Macedonian foreign ministry took all necessary activities to check the transcript of the opening statement by tribunal's prosecution.

If we establish authenticity of the term used 'Macedonian speaking Slavic Majority', Macedonian embassy in The Hague will hand over a note of protest to tribunal's prosecution, Bocevski said.

He added that the Macedonian government won't comment the indictment against two Macedonian citizens Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski, which was read out last Monday"

Putin, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

2007-04-20T09:47:00.000-04:00

Dear President Putin

I understand that soon you will be looking for a new job. I have one suggestion that I hope you will seriously consider, but first, before you leave office, consider the following actions as part of your legacy for the Russian people.

At the UN, veto independence for Kosovo. Stand firm, stand tall. Ask Solzhenitsyn to visit Kosovo Pole next week as a gesture of solidarity with the Serbs, and then Ohrid as a gesture of solidarity with the Macedonians. Consider recognizing the Turkish Cyprus as punishment for Greece’s mistreatment of its ethnic Macedonian minority.

Nato is a stake aimed at the heart of Russia, put a stake in Nato’s heart … it’s a vampire. Like hockey, you only win by playing offense, not defense! Tell President Bush, his poodle Blair, and especially Senator McCain , that you will put a moratorium on further co-operation between Russia and the US/EU with regard to Iran, North Korea and further gas oil exports to the US and EU. Don’t wait until next month, do it now, you won’t get a better chance. The moratorium would be lifted when Nato is retired, as a cold war relic, and replaced by a reformed and revitalized OSCE where Russia can wield its deserved influence. The US can then withdraw its troops from Europe and send them to Iraq! Have specific detailed plans for this reform and publicize it widely to the US/EU public. For example, all members of the OSCE would be considered associate members of the EU if they so wish. All peoples of the OSCE can work in the EU with an easily obtained work visa.

In the Russian parliament, form a special committee called the “Un-Russian Activities Committee” which would monitor the activities of foreign NGOs in Russia. Put them under oath and jail the perjurers! All committee members should be fluent in English and be evenly split between Russian patriots and those who are pro-American. When interviewing NGOs, question them in English. The purpose of this committee is to expose anti-Russian activities of the NGOs to their pro-American followers (useful idiots), to the Russian people and to the American people. Average Americans really do not want their country to destabilize Russia for the sole purpose of having hegemony over the world. A litmus test for these NGOs is to ask them about their activities regarding human rights for the Macedonians of Greece and Kurds of Turkey (both Nato members … hint … there are none).

Register these NGOs along with foreign newspaper owners under the “Agents of a Foreign Power Act. Have them print it prominently on their publications.

And finally, form an organization called the “Russian Council” using the “British Council” as a model. When you retire as president of Russia, be its first president. The Russian Council would promote Russian interests around the world. Start with the Orthodox Balkans and help them to resolve the schisms of their respective churches (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro). Try to heal the split between the Orthodox and Catholic Slavs. Promote more unity between all the Slavic languages.

Don’t be like Gorbachev, playing with himself in retirement and selling his influence to the highest bidder. You still have the ability to do something good for Russia and all Slavic-speaking peoples. Do it now!

Finally,Europeans to Discuss Macedonians in Greece!

2007-04-20T07:26:00.000-04:00

This has been a long time coming but the politicians of the EU are finally getting around to discussing Greece's treatment of ethnic Macedonians in Greece. This can be used as an example to the US Greek Issues Caucus that maybe they should change their position. We will see how the debate goes.

Plight of the ethnic Macedonian national minority of northern Greece Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly: "
Doc. 11249, 17 April 2007

Motion for a resolution, presented by Mr Jurgens and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1. The undersigned are deeply concerned about the high number of sustained human rights violations against the Macedonian ethnic and linguistic minority of northern Greece.

2. The Greek state refuses to recognise the existence of a Macedonian ethnic or linguistic minority within its borders. Government authorities have and continue to systematically exclude ethnic Macedonians from the political process, refusing even to acknowledge correspondence from the political representatives of the minority.

3. Despite the existence of a Macedonian speaking population in northern Greece the Macedonian language is not recognised by the Greek state and thus members the Macedonian speaking minority do not enjoy the right to learn the Macedonian language within the framework of the Greek education system.

4. In 1990, a group of citizens decided to form a non-profit-making association called the “Home of Macedonian Culture” in the town of Florina/Lerin. However Greek courts rejected the application. After exhausting all domestic remedies, the case was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. In 1998, the court ruled on the matter and unanimously found that there was a violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (see Sidiropoulos and Others vs. Greece, ECtHR, 57/1997/841/8107). Deplorably however, almost ten years following this decision the “Home of Macedonian Culture” remains unregistered. Subsequent applications to register the association have been also been rejected by Greek courts.

5. During the Civil War in Greece (1946-1949) thousands of Greek citizens fled the country. Following the end of the war, all those who left Greece during this period were stripped of their Greek citizenship and property. In 1982 and 1985, the Greek government passed laws which restores citizenship and property rights to such individuals provided that they are “Greeks by genus”. Thus ethnic Macedonians and others were deliberately excluded. These laws are still in force today.

6. We suggest that the Legal Committee is required to make a Report of the cases of human rights violations against the Macedonian ethnic and linguistic minority of northern Greece during which the opportunity is provided for a number of representatives of this minority to bear witness in a hearing.

7. Greece has refused to ratify the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Minority Languages. However the undersigned note the obligations of Greece are not only those in the various conventions of the Council of Europe to which it is a party, but also include various Conventions and Covenants of the United Nations and a number of legally binding texts of the OSCE.

Signed ¹:

JURGENS Erik, Netherlands, SOC
ALMÁSSY Kornél, Hungary, EPP/CD
BOUSAKLA Mimount, Belgium, SOC
CILEVIČS Boriss, Latvia, SOC
ÉKES József, Hungary, EPP/CD
GROSS Andreas, Switzerland, SOC
HAJIYEV Sabir, Azerbaijan, SOC
KELEMEN András, Hungary, EPP/CD
KOZMA József, Hungary, SOC
LAMBERT, Geert, Belgium, SOC
LINDBLAD, Göran, Sweden, EPP/CD
Lord RUSSELL-JOHNSTON, United Kingdom, ALDE
POPESCU, Ivan, Ukraine, SOC
SZABÓ, Zoltán, Hungary, SOC
Van den BRANDE Luc, Belgium, EPP/CD

¹ SOC: Socialist Group
EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
ALDE: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
EDG: European Democratic Group
UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
NR: not registered in a group

Dimce Stojanovski: Macedonian-Austrailian Artist

2007-04-20T06:29:00.000-04:00

Dimce Stojanovski

Dimce Stojanovski is a contemporary Australian artist of Macedonian descent, who divides his time between Mullumbimby (on the northern NSW coast), Sydney and Macedonia. Spiritual perceptions of the human experience are the driving force behind his work. A poet guides us through an oeuvre beginning with illustration, flowering through drawing and printmaking and culminating in oil painting.

Dimce (pronounced Dim-che) says, "At the heart of the mystery of creation is truth, and the artist is its lightning rod. Should he be willing to surrender to its firm but gentle grasp, he may be led to beauty profound. Here, the only narratives are those etched upon the heart".

Dimce's early work may best be understood when seen through the prism of DaVinci and the Master's study of gesture and tone. Later, Matisse was instrumental in freeing him up from the tyranny of form. Now, it is the great Spanish Master, Velasquez who provides inspiration. "Solid grounding in the painters craft and years of experience are enabling me to employ the fearless spirit of inquiry necessary to fulfill my commission", he says. "I seek to create a living art, which when viewed, elicits the cry, I am That!"

Milososki: Macedonia to the EU

2007-04-19T22:50:00.000-04:00

Our Antonio did us proud by having this article published in the EU Observer, an online European news magazine. It nice for a change to have Macedonia's position stated without some journalist stepping all over our toes!

Balkan enlargement is EU birthday test
By Antonio Milososki, Foreign Minister of Macedonia
EUobserver.com

26.03.2007 - 09:31 |

Fifty years ago European visionaries signed the Treaty of Rome setting the foundations for a modern day Europe. Today Europe has 27 members, almost 560 million citizens and it is the biggest market in the world. The economic indicators are convincing. EU average unemployment is down to 7 percent and its cumulative economic growth is at 3 percent.

But in order to compete on the global market, Europe may have to further intensify economic reforms, liberalize its markets and complete the enlargement process. "

More things Change, The More ...

2007-04-19T22:43:00.000-04:00

This is a good "meat and potatoes" type of article on the changing Macedonian political scene. SE Times has its constraints (being funded by the Pentagon and all ...) but it is good at what it does. Good job Marina (mlada nevesta)!

Macedonia political landscape continues to shift (SETimes.com): "

Macedonia political landscape continues to shift

16/04/2007

Almost all of the political parties in Macedonia have held congresses and elected new leaderships, while several smaller political groupings have been forced off the map -- in part due to a new law setting a higher membership threshold. Southeast European Times correspondent Marina Stojanovska surveys the changes.

By Marina Stojanovska for Southeast European Times in Skopje – 16/04/07"

Ohrid Again

2007-04-19T22:35:00.000-04:00

This is a very nice article from 1990 that I found for free on the Times website which is paid for by advertising. It would be interesting for Francine to return to Ohrid to see what changes have come to pass.

MACEDONIA'S STONY STRENGTH - New York Times:

By FRANCINE PROSE; FRANCINE PROSE'S MOST RECENT BOOK IS A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES, ''WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST'' (FAWCETT).
Published: March 4, 1990

On the hill above the old city of Ohrid, in southern Yugoslavia, is an overgrown park, half reclaimed by forest and crowned by the monumental, ruined fortress of Tsar Samuil, who during the 10th century created a Macedonian empire extending from the Danube to the Adriatic. The park is full of ruins: crumbling walls, rusted swing sets, the roofless Sveti Pantelejmon, which, like so many Yugoslav churches, served as a mosque for much of its life."

Islamistic Terrorist in Kosovo?

2007-04-19T22:34:00.000-04:00

This is very scary stuff. Christopher Deliso has a track record of knowing what he is talking. about.

Slovenian Intelligence Confirms Kosovo Link to Sandzak Arrests:
(Balkanalysis.com)

A Slovenian intelligence source has confirmed for Balkanalysis.com a claim made recently in the Serbian media- that the Wahhabis arrested at a training camp broken up near Novi Pazar on St. Patrick’s Day had connections with Kosovo militants, the final status process there and potential violence again Serbs in the North Mitrovica enclaves.

The March 17, 2007 Serbian police operation against a suspected Islamic extremist mountain training camp near Novi Pazar, which yielded weapons, ammunition and assorted paraphernalia, has inspired unprecedented interest in the phenomenon of Wahhabi extremism in this forgotten area of western Serbia in the international media.

What is perhaps most interesting about the recent foreign media coverage, however, is that no one has cast doubt upon the Serbian government’s version of events. For the first time in a long time, a Serbian counter-terrorism operation has gotten the “benefit of the doubt.” Whether this means that the international media feels the Serbs are trustworthy, or that the former would just like a compelling story, is not clear. However, it is significant."

Emigres Take Battle Over Macedonia’s Name to America

2007-04-19T22:25:00.000-04:00

As articles on the Greek- Macedonian dispute go, I've seen worse. It was done by a university student and reprinted by BIRN, a pseudo-human rights group, which would never have published it had it contained references to Macedonians in Greece. Hard to break through this vast conspiracy.

Emigres Take Battle Over Macedonia’s Name to America
BIRN:

18 04 2007 When it comes to taking up a hard-line position, no one equals the Greek Americans or their Macedonian counterparts.

By Amanda Rivkin in New York (Balkan Insight, 18 April 07)

UN gift shop: FYR Macedonia key chains (OUCH!) - photo: Amanda Rivkin

Details matter in diplomacy, as His Excellency Igor Dzundev, Macedonian Ambassador to the United Nations, should know. His office at 866 UN Plaza, a non-descript building in Manhattan is the one place at the UN where the sign on the door reads Republic of Macedonia, as opposed to the UN-approved acronym, FYROM, short for Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

His office is a rare “safe haven” from this cumbersome-sounding term, because the UN inserts the two words Former Yugoslav before the name Republic of Macedonia for all official purposes. This two-word distinction is at the heart of a 14-year long dispute between Ambassador Dzundev’s country and its more powerful neighbor, Greece.

“Each delegation has its name plate on the desk and ours is the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or FYROM,” said Dzundev of his plaque at the General Assembly. “We feel discriminated against because we are not allowed to be a member state there using our constitutional name,” he said, referring to the fact that the country calls itself the Republic of Macedonia in its constitution.

Looting of Macedonian History

2007-04-19T22:19:00.000-04:00

A depressing article about the looting of ancient artifacts in Macedonia. Note the standard quote of Greek concerns about he name issue with no rebuttal quote from Macedonians. Just a way for the Associated Press to keep its Greek clients happy.

Rogue diggers helping themselves to Macedonia's ancient treasure -
International Herald Tribune: "

Irena Kolistrkoska, head of Macedonia's archaeologists' association, warned each year that scores of local and foreign diggers uncover priceless remnants from the Iron Age, as well as Greek, Thracian, Roman and Byzantine artifacts.

'There are two main reasons Macedonia is failing to seriously protect its cultural treasure: A lack of a strategy at a national level and the absence of credible experts in the field,' Kolistrkoska said.

Pasko Kuzman, director of the National Directorate for Protection of the Cultural Heritage, said Iron Age archaeological sites in southeastern Macedonia have been extensively looted.

Police, he said, are already overstretched fighting organized crime, adding that fees offered by corrupt art collectors only encourage illegal excavations.

Macedonia, a landlocked nation in southeastern Europe, has a rich and storied past.

The country is part of the broader Macedonia region that includes parts of Greece and Bulgaria that became a major power in the ancient world under Phillip II of Macedon, and his son Alexander the Great. Alexander was one of the most successful military commanders in history, who built a vast empire that stretched to India before his death in 323 B.C.

Modern Macedonia's claim to the region's ancient heritage"

"Forbidden Zones: Greek and "Slavophone"

2007-04-19T21:50:00.000-04:00

Nicholas Gage is a Greek author whose memoir of his mother, Eleni, was made into a movie by Nick Vanoff, a Macedonian- American TV and movie producer. Our friend Niko, was a New York Times reporter, stationed in Athens, but has never, to my knowledge, written about the treatment of ethnic Macedonians in Greece.

What really interested me was the comment that his home town was in a 'forbidden zone'' - so close to Albania that a special pass was needed to enter". I had always assumed that these zones were exclusive to those areas inhabited by ethnic Macedonians as a way of controlling an "untrustworthy slavophone population". Now I know better. However, my paranoia is not totally removed since the "forbidden zones" in Kastoria (Kostur) Florina (Lerin) and Edessa (Voden) are pr0bably much larger than those that inhabitted by mainly Greeks. Anyone having information about these zones, please share!

Nicholas Gage Returns to His Home Town
New York Times: "

I went back to Lia 14 years later and have gone nearly every year since, although until 1974, Lia was still in a ''forbidden zone'' - so close to Albania that a special pass was needed to enter. Almost half of the Epirus that Byron visited is still inaccessible because it fell inside Albania when the boundary with Greece was arbitrarily set by a commission in 1923. The current rulers of Albania won't let anyone in or out."

Is It Time to Take Greec to the UN?

2007-04-19T21:28:00.000-04:00

According to Kathimerini , a Greek newspaper, "A total of 114 countries, including the USA, China and Russia, have recognized FYROM as ”Macedonia” to date." Is it now time to take this name issue to the UN. I would like to see the EU go before the UN to defend Greece at the same time as they assuring the Serbs in Kosovo that their rights will be respected.

Maybe those paragons of human rights - Radio Free Europe, International Crisis Group and International War and Peace Reporting and BIRN can weigh in on the side of the Greeks. Pathetic.

British nod to FYROM irks Athens:
ekathimerini.com

A decision by the British embassy in Skopje to refer to the “Republic of Macedonia” in official invitations for an embassy function taking place today in the resort of Ohrid has displeased Athens, sources told Kathimerini yesterday.

According to the sources, Britain’s Foreign Office has decided to refer to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as the “Republic of Macedonia” despite Greek objections.

Britain is just one of several European Union states to have adopted this tactic recently. A few days ago, Luxembourg signed a contract for the protection of its investments with the “Republic of Macedonia.” Poland’s parliament has officially recognized the Balkan state by the latter name. As too have Bulgarian and Romanian authorities. A total of 114 countries, including the USA, China and Russia, have recognized FYROM as ”Macedonia” to date.

Greece has strenuously opposed FYROM’s insistence on being known as “Macedonia” as there is a northern Greek province of that name and Athens fears the move could set a precedent for territorial claims.
"

New Graphic Novel on Macedonia

2007-04-19T20:37:00.000-04:00

This is a yet to be published graphic novel, Macedonia. I have not read it yet so I will not pass judgment, but according to the review below, it does not look good. When reviewing the novel, it will be interesting to see what goes in and what stays out. Below are more links to reviews.

Macedonia - Graphic Novel
Harvey Pekar and Heather Roberson

In reading this book it becomes apparent that war may have been avoided, but peace is a long way off. There is no love or trust between the Macedonians and the country’s largest minority, the Albanians. So far, I have to admit, I got the feeling that she was overly sympathetic to the Albanians. No where is the European model of nation-state – a political nation built around an ethnic nation – addressed. Or course, this isn’t a completed work, so that may change. (I am reviewing a preview copy of the first eighty per cent of the book. I haven’t a problem with that. Most comic reviews are of monthlies – chapter by chapter reviews of a larger story.) Of course the Macedonians are being unrealistic. Their situation isn’t going to allow them a prosperous or happy future on their terms. And Robeson notes this. Things wouldn’t be as miserable there as there are, if everyone co-operated in making a bigger pie instead of fighting over the little pieces they have now.

Macedonia is literally new terrain for American Splendor author Harvey Pekar.

ON MACEDONIA - A TALK WITH ED PISKOR

Discovering Macedonia

Macedonian Star

An interview with Ed Piskor, artist on Macedonia

Macedonia (Amazon - Paperback)

Macedonia - Reviewed by Andy

Andov Grits his Teeth and Smiles at the Bulgaria's

2007-04-18T12:13:00.000-04:00

Stojan Andov is a good man. Unfortunately, because of the EU, he is forced to prostate himself, and by implication the Macedonian people, in front a group of people who oppress our fellow countrymen and deny our very identity. Nice! I don't really blame the Bulgarians, I blame the EU because they created the conditions whereby this was possible for Macedonian in the EU to have no minority rights. The EU is not our friend.

Get on the phone to Putin right now and ask him over "na gosti". Break out the roasted red peppers, feta cheese and Kalamata (yikes!) olives and lets talk.

Andov 'highly appreciates Bulgaria's gestures toward Macedonia
Makfax vesnik

Sofia /18/04/ 14:46

Macedonian lawmaker Stojan Andov said he 'highly appreciates Bulgaria's gestures toward Macedonia.'

Andov made the statement during his visit to Sofia, where he leads a Macedonian parliamentary delegation visiting the Bulgarian parliament, Makfax news agency said.

'I highly praise the gestures of Bulgaria, the first country that had recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name. The two countries have showed mutual understanding on relevant inter-state issues. I highly appreciate Bulgaria's position to unconditionally support Macedonia's EU integration and NATO membership,' Andov said.

The statement from Liberal Party (LP) leader Stojan Andov comes on the same day when Bulgarian authorities banned the activists and supporters of OMO Ilinden PIRIN to pay respect to Macedonian hero Jane Sandanski at Rozen monastery next Sunday"

Kosovo Parody Song

2007-04-16T09:48:00.000-04:00

I can't tell who shot this video but the editing, lyrics and singing are excellent, just like the Beach Boys: Kokomo style. These guys should get a medal, however, if it becomes the "scandal of the minute" on CNN, then these guys may get into some trouble. See You Tube: Kosovo Parody Song!

George Danevski: One of a Kind!

2007-04-15T15:54:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden: If anyone is visiting the Toronto area, then a visit to St. Dimitrija Solunski Macedonian Orthodox Church in Markham or St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Church in Toronto is a must see. Danevski is a real treasure.

With all the angels and saints

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Georgi Danevski poses in front of his mural-in-progress, part of which depicts Christ's Resurrection, at St. Dimitrija Solunski Macedonian Orthodox Church in Markham.

Georgi Danevski's mural in Markham is made with love for God, humanity

Apr 06, 2007 04:30 AM

Christian Cotroneo staff reporter

Every day, Georgi Danevski adds an angel to the architecture.

Sometimes, it's an entire chorus. Or a saint, a child, a scene. Little by little, he's filling St. Dimitrija Solunski Macedonian Orthodox Church in Markham with his own creation.

And by the time Danevski's mural is done, at 600 square metres, it could be the largest of its kind in North America.

"I make it with love for God, with love for my people and with love for every human," he says, his thick accent betraying Macedonian roots.

So far, it has taken the artist two years to deck these walls and ceilings with some 500 icons of Christian history. There's John the Baptist, Mother Mary and Jesus among scores of saints from the Orthodox tradition – all surrounded in gleaming 24-carat gold leaf.

With about 500 more to go.

Indeed, the mural may not even be ready by next Easter. But the congregation that helped pay for the massive one-man undertaking revels in a little more of his divine design every time they come to worship.

And while Danevski paints his poetry, Shelley Richardson is drawing inspiration. "I come here to meditate," says the local author, sitting alone in the pews. "The energy is just phenomenal coming from this artist."

In fact, Richardson was inspired to begin a work about the artist's life, tentatively titled Danevski, Master of Canvas, Murals and Life.

"I feel so blessed, in my lifetime, to see the process. That is what's so phenomenal to me."

It's a process as painstaking as it is consuming. Danevski spends six days a week here, commuting from his Toronto home to work long hours. Once home, his head is still whirring with sketches and images, often keeping him awake until 4 a.m.

By 6:30 a.m., his pilgrimage begins again.

The artist's work may be better known in Europe, where he has made much of his mark, but Danevski is coming into his own here with venues like the National Art Gallery in Ottawa planning exhibits of his work.

Danevski, who recently sold one of his paintings for $27,000, gets a little busier around Easter, with churches as far as Montreal vying for his services. He has also painted a vivid mural at St. Clement of Ohrid Orthodox Cathedral in East York.

In the flesh, the painter is as magnetic as the masterpiece that looms above him, rhyming off the lives of saints, pointing an paint-stained finger at scenes and drawing attention to the minutest details.

But there's much work to do. After all, there are white walls, 10 metres tall, still clamouring for colour. To reach every nook, Danevski relies on scaffolding – and help from a local man who volunteers his time to watch over the artist when he gets into precarious positions.

"He's a bionic man," Danevski says. "He has an aorta from Texas. Everything, he gives to community and church."

And while Danevski won't divulge the details, he has repaid his selfless assistant in paint.

You see, somewhere in that sea of saints, there's an image of another kind of angel.

A guardian angel.

US "Bailed Out" Indicted War Criminal!

2007-04-12T21:00:00.000-04:00

The US/EU are playing a dirty game in the Balkans as a wrote last year. How dirty it was, I did not realize until I read this article. In the same way that the US could deal with Milosevic in Dayton and they can deal with Haradinaj (a indicted war criminal) in Kosovo. Read it and weep for the Balkans.

Kosovo War-Crimes Trial Splits West and Prosecutors

By NICHOLAS WOOD

Published: April 8, 2007

New York Times

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Ramush Haradinaj, a stocky ethnic Albanian former guerrilla commander and, briefly, Kosovo’s prime minister, is either one of the most impressive leaders to emerge in the Balkans in recent years or a vicious war criminal. Or perhaps both.

Mr. Haradinaj and two other men began to stand trial at the United Nations tribunal in The Hague in March, charged with killing 40 people in 1998, during the conflict between the Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla group and Serbian-dominated security forces.

But the prosecution’s leading witness, Tahir Zemaj, and his son and nephew were shot dead during the investigation. Another witness, Kjutim Berisha, died two weeks before the trial when he was hit by a car in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital.

More than a third of those giving evidence for the prosecution are allowed to conceal their identities, more than in any other case at the tribunal, according to the prosecution.

The case has created a stark divide between prosecutors at the tribunal and in Kosovo and diplomats from the United Nations and Western governments. Mr. Haradinaj was a crucial partner in Western efforts to bring peace to the province, so much so that they tried to prevent the case from going to trial, according to a former head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo and the court’s chief prosecutor.

Once he was indicted, the mission supported his provisional release, which has lasted almost two years; he is the only indicted person that the court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, has released in order to return to active politics.

“He moved this process forward in a way that nobody else has,” said Soren Jessen-Petersen, who was the head of the mission in Kosovo at the time of Mr. Haradinaj’s indictment, in March 2005, just four months after he became prime minister.

Prosecutors in Kosovo and The Hague say the United Nations and Western governments bent over backward to prevent his prosecution.

The tribunal’s top prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has referred to the trial in The Hague as “a prosecution that some did not want to see brought, and that few supported by their cooperation at both the international and local level.”

In Kosovo, the former guerrilla commander is seen as one of the most charismatic leaders to emerge from the fighting, from 1997 to 1999. While the Serbian government vilified him as a terrorist, senior United Nations officials said he was instrumental in promoting reconciliation.

“He clearly understood that Serbs could and should be part of the society,” said Mr. Jessen-Petersen, who led the mission in Kosovo from June 2004 to June 2006. “And he had the credentials. Because of his background nobody could accuse him of betraying Kosovo.”

In March 2004, during rioting across Kosovo, he was credited with preventing hundreds of rioters from attacking Kosovo’s best-known Serbian Orthodox monastery. United Nations officials say he also helped ensure that a January 2005 visit by Serbia’s president, Boris Tadic, passed without incident.

International officials have tried to shield him in the name of stability. For instance, the United Nations administration in Kosovo repeatedly blocked the prosecution of Mr. Haradinaj on charges that he had attacked a group of former fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

The effect of the relationship between the United Nations and Mr. Haradinaj, according to the prosecution, was to create a sense of impunity around him, and to scare away witnesses.

“There was a general atmosphere of intimidation; they did nothing to change this atmosphere,” said Jean-Daniel Ruche, political adviser to the chief prosecutor in The Hague.

He said that senior United Nations officials had met with Mr. Haradinaj before his departure to the Netherlands at the time of his indictment in 2005 and when he returned there to stand trial. “This has had a chilling impact on our witnesses,” he said in a telephone interview.

The mission denies any detrimental effect on the tribunal.

“In decision after decision,” wrote a United Nations spokeswoman, Myriam Dessables, in an e-mail message, the tribunal’s judges have “made it clear that the United Nations mission in Kosovo is in the best position to determine what is in the interest of promoting peace and reconciliation in Kosovo.”

The indictment contains details that are among the most gruesome brought before the tribunal: of prisoners being seized by men under Mr. Haradinaj’s command, bound in barbed wire and dragged behind vehicles, and of women raped repeatedly.

Mr. Haradinaj’s supporters say that there is no evidence linking him directly to the crimes and suggest that the court charged him simply to appear evenhanded.

As Mr. Haradinaj’s indictment loomed in early 2005, Mr. Jessen-Petersen said he was aware that Western diplomats were trying to block the case. But he emphasized the mission in Kosovo had made no approaches to the court.

The mission, however, stopped at least one prosecution of Mr. Haradinaj within Kosovo, according to two former members of the Kosovo Justice Department.

On July 7, 2000, Mr. Haradinaj led a group of men to a rival family’s house in the village of Strelc in western Kosovo. A battle broke out, according to police investigators, and Mr. Haradinaj was wounded by a grenade. He was evacuated by American personnel operating out of the main United States Army base in Kosovo, and they removed evidence of the shootout from the walls, according to Frederick Pascoe, a former American police officer serving with the United Nations who investigated the shooting.

Kamudoni Nyasulu, an international prosecutor in Pec, in northwestern Kosovo, said that between 2001 and 2004 he repeatedly tried to bring the case to court.

“What I had was sufficient for a case,” said Mr. Nyasulu said, but he said he was rebuffed by senior United Nations officials because the case was “politically sensitive.”

Stand Tall, Don't You Fall ...

2007-04-12T20:39:00.000-04:00

Bit of nonsense wherein the Greek Lobby managed to bully half of the US Congress to walk across the street to spit on Macedonia's name during the passing of the "NATO Consolidation Act of 2007". These are Congressional Democratic values at work! Good for Bush by standing firm!

US State Department
Daily Press Briefing -- April 11:

QUESTION: I have a NATO question. The day before yesterday, the President signed the NATO Consolidation Act of 2007. In this text there is a reference to the Republic of Macedonia. There is a parenthesis close to the name with the indication FYROM. Since you recognized this country with its constitutional name in 2004, can we take from this that there is some kind of change of policy, second thoughts? What we can read in this? You still recognize the country with its constitutional name? What's the name of the parenthesis there and the signing by the President of this text?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, no, I have something here for you. It says that the U.S. policy on Macedonia's name has not changed. Since 2004 we have recognized Macedonia by its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia, in our bilateral relations, as you noted, and we continue to strongly support ongoing UN-led talks between Greece and Macedonia in finding a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue.

QUESTION: Your answer I can't understand that the remaining of the parenthesis there with the FYROM mentioned. Is there any pressure exercised towards the Macedonians to accept any solution or to get more serious in the process of an agreement with Greece on that issue?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we would encourage them to come to some agreement with the Greek Government on the issue. You know, clearly it's a sensitive, emotional issue on both sides of the border. When the Secretary last met with Foreign Minister Bakoyannis, she encouraged efforts that were underway by the Greek Government to resolve the issue.

QUESTION: So it's --

QUESTION: FYROM is the name that NATO uses? While it may not be the name the United States uses, Macedonia is still referred to as FYROM within NATO, and particularly because of the sensitivity of the issue involving the Greeks?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't understand your point, Matt.

QUESTION: Well, I'm saying I think that's a quicker answer.

MR. MCCORMACK: Thanks. Next time I'll let you come up here.

QUESTION: So, it's meaningless, the parenthesis there, as far as policy concerns?

MR. MCCORMACK: There's no change in policy.

QUESTION: Okay.

Meanwhile, in Montenegro...

2007-04-07T17:10:00.000-04:00

"A Fist full of Euros" is a great "group blog" and a model for the "Macedonian Tendency". In a week or so I will be contacting individuals who will be able to add their perspective to issues facing Macedonia.

Below is one of the best short analysis of the EU road for the Balkans that I have read. Not great news for Macedonia, but at least we are ahead of Albania. Like I have said before, I am not thrilled by the EU/Nato option, but given the weakness of Russia, Macedonia has little choice.

Meanwhile, in Montenegro | afoe | A Fistful of Euros | European Opinion: "

2) Macedonia. Macedonia is an EU candidate, but it’s several steps behind Croatia. Membership is not likely before 2012 at the earliest.

Macedonia some problems. Here’s the dumbest one. A couple of years ago, France adopted an asinine constitutional amendment requiring a referendum on all new EU members. This was, of course, aimed at the Turks. (I know, I know… a thinly disguised appeal to xenophobia dressed up as a piece of populism. In the reign of Jacques Chirac! Who would have thought it?) But the Macedonians will probably be the first to be affected by it. Yah, that’s right — unless France amends its constitution back, France (population ~60 million) will have to hold a referendum on admitting Macedonia (population ~2.5 million). And then additional referendums for Albania, Montenegro, and every other country on this list.

Another problem: both the Greeks and the Bulgarians have muttered under their breath about blocking Macedonia’s membership. In the case of Bulgaria, this is probably just posturing. In the case of Greece, it’s hard to be sure — the Greeks have shown an impressive capacity for stupid behavior where Macedonia is concerned."

Find Your Ancestors

2007-04-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

There used to be a Macedonian Genealogy site run by Jill Jugloff that now seems to be defunct. It possible that Jill sailed into the treacherous waters of Macedonian identity and drown in despair. I don't know. Jill may want to share some of her experiences with us. Anyway, this is a poor substitute. Not very active, but then again, not many people know of it. It is for all Macedonians, not just those from the Republic.

Macedonian Republic Genealogy Forum

Prekopana - Jen Mackay 2/03/07
Dragonch, Macedonia - Russell Dalton 1/09/07
- Re: Dragonch, Macedonia - lou 2/18/07
Dustin Demetre Evanoff 1983 Phoenix, AZ - Dustin Evanoff 1/07/07

Macedonian Charity in the UK

2007-04-07T08:40:00.000-04:00

I don't know much about this group, but I do like their sun!

Smiley Sun is an un-registered charity organization established by Macedonians in the for the benefit of Macedonian children in need

Tashkovich: Macedonia Means Business

2007-04-06T13:31:00.000-04:00

This is a good article about the difficulty of attracting business to Macedonia, but it seems that Macedonians are finally getting their act together to attract foreign investment.

Macedonia faces tough sell in efforts to forge ties with U.S.: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

by Doreen Hemlock
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted March 26 2007

Mention Macedonia, and most Americans won't know even the basics of the young Balkan country.

It's still seeking an identity in the global marketplace: 2 million residents. Formerly part of Yugoslavia. Landlocked. And now courting business to slash unemployment rates topping 35 percent.

So when Macedonia's foreign investment minister recently visited South Florida to promote ties, the New York-born Cornell University graduate faced a tough sell.

"It's definitely the hardest job I've ever done," said Gligor Tashkovich, 41, who took the post last year under Macedonia's new center-right administration -- partly to honor the memory of his ancestors born there. "It's like surfing a tidal wave perpetually."

Tashkovich said he's working overtime to lure foreign investment to Macedonia. He seeks to draw factories that can use its relatively low-wage labor to export auto parts, processed foods and call-center services to nearby European Union and beyond. And he aims to attract tourism to enjoy the nation's mountains.

The government now offers economic free zones, where export companies get ample tax breaks. It also has cut tax rates overall to some of Europe's lowest levels.

Plus, the administration slashed the time needed to start a new business -- a key gauge of international competitiveness -- from 48 days to three, Tashkovich said.

The efforts are starting to pay off. Johnson Controls of Milwaukee is building an auto parts factory for export, the minister said.

But competition is stiff from better-known nations, with a longer track record for welcoming investment and less of a reputation for corruption.

Macedonia had steered a socialistic course since its independence in 1991. Plus, political tensions with neighboring Greece and its Albanian minority have discouraged business, Tashkovich said.

"My biggest challenge is time," said the globetrotting minister, who aims to visit two countries a month to promote business and hope in Macedonia. "My understanding is the people are giving this government one last chance, after 15 years of being lied to."

Why Can't Robert Kaplan Find Any Macedonians!

2007-04-04T12:13:00.000-04:00

Dear Robert Kaplan, Balkan Ghosts, Eastward to Tartary

From: David Edenden

I found your old travel article from 1989 from the New York Times website on your visit to Greek Macedonia (which is thankfully available for free). Robert, you are a good writer and this is a good article. It makes me want to book my ticket right now! However, you forgot to mention any ethnic Macedonians who might be scurrying around the mountains of Vitsi and Gammos, a place where Macedonians gathered to fight for their rights during the Greek Civil War, unfortunately closing the wrong side. You mention Vlahs, and Greeks of course, but no ethnic Macedonians. Probably just an oversight.

Now in Balkan Ghosts, you said Macedonians were really Bulgarians who spoke Bulgarian with a speech impediment. I assured my grandfather, after he slowly read the Macedonian chapter of your book, that the error would probably be corrected in the following edition, because ... you know ... so many countries, so little time! (Has it? I don't think so. Maybe later.)

In another book, Eastward to Tartary, you mentioned that no one wrote about the existence of the Macedonian people as a separate ethnic group, prior to WW2, so therefore "Tito invented a counterfeit nation", as the Greek slander goes. Well, Robert, I think you must have forgotten Krste Misirkov and his book, On Macedonian Matters - 1903, and lets not even mention the Bulgarian slander that Macedonians were invented by a Serbian plot circa 1890.

If it exists,I will try to get a picture of you, at the Krste Misirkov Institute, which is "The Academie Francaise" of the Macedonian language. I am sure you visited there with the professors, and they must have showered you with all kinds of documents and information about the Macedonian people. Maybe you lost them?

Now Robert, I am starting to be suspicious. I admit I have an incurable form of male answer syndrome. I have never met you, but let me see if I can guess why you you overlooked the plight of ethnic Macedonians in Greece . I know you spent a great deal of time in Greece and at least one of your children was born there and you speak fluent Greek.

Was it your wife? Did she say "if you discussed the mistreatment of ethnic Macedonians in Greece you could never eat feta cheese in Athens again"? Did she say "you could never return to the Greek Islands"? Did she say that "you would lose all your Greek friends and your picture would be posted in every Greek restaurant, in every "Greek Town", around the world ... behind a dartboard"?

I have a suggestion that can address my concerns and those of your wife. Have one of your nephews or nieces (hopefully named Kaplan) to do a story on the pressure on the small Jewish communities in both Macedonia and Greece to toe the "nationalist party line" in their respective countries. Maybe Dimitar Vlahov can be mentioned, who according to C. L. Sulzberger, "often spoke out in defense of the rights of the Jews, when Jewish members of the Ottoman Parliament were too cowed to speak" (Sulzberger's words). In addition, the movement to create a "Joint History Project" for the Balkans can also be discussed.

That's the cake. The icing on the cake would be a report on the Greek Issues Caucus and how they destabilize the Balkans by ignoring human rights violations for ethnic Macedonians in Greece ... and Bulgaria too!

Anyway, thanks and don't be a stranger!

A Greece of Forests And Mountain Lakes - New York Times

By ROBERT D. KAPLAN; ROBERT D. KAPLAN, A WRITER BASED IN ATHENS, IS THE AUTHOR OF A BOOK ON AFGHANISTAN TO BE PUBLISHED BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN.

Published: February 12, 1989

"The town of Kastoria boasts a spectacular situation at the foot of the Vitsi and Grammos mountains, at the edge of a lake that has the mysterious, toneless quality of a dusty mirror.

The lake gets its name from Orestes, Agamemnon's son, who according to legend founded Kastoria during a grief-stricken, self-imposed exile after murdering his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover. Kastoria was occupied by Bulgars, Serbs, Albanians and Turks before being restored to Greece in 1912. The mountains behind the town were scenes of important battles in World War II and the subsequent Greek Civil War. " ...

...Metsovo's several thousand inhabitants are Vlachs, originally from Rumania, who speak their own Latin-based language as well as Greek. The town owes its original wealth to an incident in the 17th century, when a Turkish vizier, out of favor with his sultan, was given refuge by a local peasant. The vizier later came to power and returned the favor by granting Metsovo virtual independence and tax-free privileges, a circumstance that led many wealthy Christian families to settle here and build mansions.

Greek Lobby New Efforts

2007-04-03T20:52:00.000-04:00

I am linking to article now regarding new efforts by the Greek Lobby against Macedonia. It needs more attention and I will get back to it when I have time.

Bad News: Greek Lobby Powerful
Good News: Bush is holding firm!

Macedonian_News_Service : Message: Daily Bulletin: "

Kathimerini reads that several days ago the US Congress voted draft bill on next NATO enlargement in which Macedonia appeared with constitutional name and next to it the reference FYROM was written. According to Kathimerini loyalist to Skopje in Washington immediately reacted with a request to Bush not to accept such document.

US official cited by the daily assured that Washington does not plan to announce new proposals for the dispute between Athens and Skopje on name and no surprising move by the expiration of the mandate of the current government in Athens next spring is not expected.
Greek daily reminds that there were such assurances from Washington in the past as well, and the decision for recognizing 'the Republic of Macedonia' by the US was not passed by accident but as a result of strategic decision of the National Security Council in 2003. According to the daily the first 'gift' of Bush's government was when the US signed agreement for cooperation with the International Tribunal in the Hague, where Macedonia appeared with constitutional name.

Greece severely protested in such move of the Americans. Now Greek party fears not to be surprised again, Kathimerini comments."

Belgrade: Trip to Macedonia

2007-04-03T20:44:00.000-04:00

A blogger takes a trip from Belgrade to Skopje and Ohrid. Some nasty comments about Skopje and nice comments about Ohrid.

Belgrade: Macedonia: "
Lucy Moore

Friday night we thankfully left Skopje for Ohrid, a town situation on a large lake (of the same name) that is surrounded by mountains and straddles the border between Macedonia and Albania. The town is over three thousand years old, and its stari grad (old city) – made of stone with houses stacked almost one on top of the other form the shore to the castle perched on top of the mountain. As a major tourist destination (for Macedonia) Ohrid was, not surprisingly, much cleaner and better maintained than Macedonia’s capital city.

After spending Sunday wandering the town and seeing nearby monasteries, we headed to Struga (a small predominantly muslim town) the next day, and then went onto Vevcani, a Christian village tucked into the foot of the mountains and surrounded by Muslim towns. Vevcani supposedly declared itself independent back in 1991, though nothing about the town would tell a visitor so. We walked from Vevcani to a neighboring village down a dirt path through beautiful green fields lined with flowering trees."

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming

2007-04-03T10:19:00.000-04:00

Good for the Russians. See why I like Russia.

BBC NEWS | Business | Russians join race for Alitalia:

Could Aeroflot speed to the rescue of Alitalia?
Russian airline Aeroflot has emerged as a surprise contender to take control of Italian carrier Alitalia."

Joint History Project for the Balkans!

2007-04-02T18:16:00.000-04:00

This is a great idea which I just discovered. I don't have time to provide all the links except to say that the Greek lobby and Greek government has denounced the results of this project because they portray ethnic Macedonians in Greece in a sympathetic light. I suggest the US congressional Greek Issues Caucus download these books (they're free) and them beg for forgiveness from the Macedonian people.

Joint History Project

The Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe (CDRSEE) is creating teaching materials and developing an outreach programme as part of an ongoing Joint History Project for Southeast Europe. The CDRSEE has been active in the field of history education since 1998 as part of its overall goal to bring reconciliation and consolidate new democracies, by raising awareness of stereotypes, and increasing understanding of the perspective of the neighbouring ‘other'. This project primarily targets history teachers in Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, FYR of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro (including Kosovo), Slovenia, and Turkey who participate in teacher training workshops to practice multi-perspective teaching methods."

Download the Workbooks

The Workbooks are available for download in english language only. We will make the other languages avalable in due time.

	Workbook 1 - The Ottoman Empire - English version, PDF file, 5.70 Mb - Greek version, PDF file, 3.76 Mb - Serbian version, PDF file, 3.78 Mb
	Workbook 2 - Nations and States in Southeast Europe - English version, PDF file, 5.72 Mb - Greek version, PDF file, 5.13 Mb - Serbian version, PDF file, 2.16 Mb
	Workbook 3 - The Balkan Wars - English version, PDF file, 7.80 Mb - Greek version, PDF file, 8.24 Mb - Serbian version, PDF file, 4.34
	Workbook 4 - World War II - English version, PDF file, 5.00 Mb - Greek version, PDF file, 4.20 Mb - Serbian version, PDF file,

Borat: This Is No Joke!

2007-04-02T17:33:00.000-04:00

This is an old article from last December about Esma's problems with Borat. I don't know if she has solved her problems with him yet.

Esma Vs. Borat:
MK speaks EN:
December 08, 2006

Macedonian Roma singer Esma Redžepova is going to file a lawsuit for the producers of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat movie.

Redžepova's song Chaje shukarije is used at the begining of the movie, without any legal right or approve from the author.

Esma Redžepova claims that she was never consulted before the song was included in this movie. The question now is who holds the rights to the track?

In the statement for Macedonian daily newspaper Dnevnik, her son, and front man of her Orchestra, Simeon Atanasov, says that they have started the legal procedure but still they are not sure how much money they will ask. The rumors are mentioning the amount of 100.000 Euros.

"I am still negotiating with my managers, but I expect a lawsuit to start any day now. We are also discussing the amount," said Naat Veliov, leader of Kocani Orkestar, the author of the music and text of the song "Siki siki baba," also featured on the Borat movie soundtrack.

Sources: Dnevnik (Macedonia) Vecernji List (Croatia)

Macedonian Song in "300, The Movie"

2007-04-02T17:05:00.000-04:00

Great story from Reality Macedonia! Can't really comment on this, but Macedonians seem to know what they are talking about. We will see what transpires. It is interesting that Hollywood is very vociferous when it comes to their intellectual property. Whatever happened to Esma's problems with Borat? Didn't some Macedonian also have problems with Michael Bolton a few years back? How about Riverdance's Macedonian Morning, where did they get their inspiration? If there is any Macedonian music teacher maybe we can get you in touch with a Macedonian lawyer in the US.

300 the Movie Fails to Attribute Use of Macedonian Folk Song in Soundtrack, Reality Macedonia :

Hollywood blockbuster 300, based on Frank Miller's cult graphic novel about Spartan resistance to Persian invasion, includes a copycat of the famous Macedonian folk song "Zajdi, zajdi, jasno Sonce." However, the soundtrack author Tyler Bates failed to provide proper attribution, and now claims the melody as his own copyrighted work.

Macedonian portal On.net revealed that intro to the song "Message For The Queen," number 24 on the 300 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack has the same melody as the famous Macedonian folk song "Zajdi, zajdi jasno Sonce" [Set, set bright Sun].

Internationally renowned for its characteristic melody and melancholic lyrics, this song has been included in numerous anthologies and has been interpreted by a number of both Macedonian star singers, including Aleksandar Sarievski, Zafir Hadzimanov, and Toshe Proeski. During the last 60 years, this was one one of the songs that people of former Yugoslavia most often associate with Macedonia, as shown in the 1998 movie Powder Keg by Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic.

On.net also published a response by Tyler Bates, who claims that he "can't say there is a specific source of inspiration for the cue." The portal urges its readers to use Mr. Bates' e-mail to send him original versions of the song, so he can be reminded of where it came from.

Compare and contrast:

"Message for the Queen" (mp3) from the 300 soundtrack

Sample of "Zajdi, zajdi jasno sonce" (mp3) sung by Aleksandar Sarievski, and a copy of the full song (in the page, click on the name to download).

The Macedonian Folk Songs blog provides the lyrics of the song in Macedonian Cyrillic, in Latin transliteration, and translated into English and French.

Powell Shares "Person of the Year" With Rice!

2007-04-02T10:09:00.001-04:00

As a result of his revelation that he was responsible for the decision to recognize Macedonia by its constitutional name, "The Macedonian Tendency" proudly announces that Colin Powell will share, with Condi Rice, the coveted Macedonian Tendency's "Person of the Year"!

Powell takes credit for US recognition of Macedonia's name
Makfax vesnik

Athens /02/04/ 13:47

The former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell took credit for Washington's decision to recognize Macedonia's constitutional name in 2004.

Makfax news agency quotes Powell as saying in an interview with the Greek daily Kathimerini that he made the decision, despite Greek objections, to avoid the escalation of a crisis in Macedonia that 'could have provoked a huge explosion.'

Washington recognized Macedonia's constitutional name shortly before the referendum on revised municipal boundaries. The referendum was initiated by the then opposition.

Later on, senior officials from Macedonia and the United States claimed the decision to recognize Macedonia's name has been in preparatory stage for some time - since the tenure of the then Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski. Nonetheless, the widespread speculations as regards the timing of Washington's move are likely to end after Colin Powell's statement. /end/"

My "Salade Macedoine" Politics

2007-04-01T11:55:00.000-04:00

Like many neo-cons, I also come from a leftist tradition. While the neo-cons venerated Trotsky, I came from a family tradition where it was often said that "if Stalin and Tito had not split in 1949, the communists would have won the Greek Civil War and Macedonia would be united and free within the framework of a Balkan Federation." Or small talk over a barbecue ... "lets face it, Stalin made a few mistakes".

I am a federalist, in the Balkans, the EU and in North America. I am even open to the idea of Canada joining the US, with Quebec having the status of "Puerto Rico of the North", while the other nine provinces join as individual states. (While we are at it, let's through in the Caribbean).

I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that capitalism, with all its faults, is the best system for the majority of the people. This revelation came to me while taking an economics class in university. The professor showed brilliantly, in a low key and self-effacing manner, that the greater the freedom, the greater the prosperity. I am now a"functional capitalist", or, if you will, a libertarian ... with a heart.

A book called 'functional socialism" made the case for government regulation of the economy without direct government ownership. I believe in the same technique, lets call it"functional capitalism". For example, I am open to the privatization of the entire public school system, with proper regulatory guidance. To me it just makes common sense and not part of a far right conspiracy. The far right favors partial privatization merely as a way of breaking the teachers' union. This I oppose ... because I have a heart.

Notwithstanding political theories, the rich always seem to hold power over government and corrupt the legislative process. The result is that some people get the elevator and while others get the shaft. I do not worship at the alter of business, big or small. I take my cue from James, the Brother of the Lord.

Letter of James

Warning to Rich Oppressors

"1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.^[a] 6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you."

And finally, because of Macedonian history, I am an anti-imperialist. I believe in the rule of law in international affairs which is opposite to the concept of "national interest" (the doctrine of the Devil). The UN is a flawed organization (FYROM anyone?) which cannot be reformed. My solution is keep the UN, but expand the OSCE to include all true democratic countries of the world and have this group take over most of the "functions" of the UN in areas of human rights and aid to the Third World. In a real sense, we can start from scratch. Eventually, the UN will wither away and "the lion will lie down with the lamb"!

All in all, a nice "salade macedoine" mixture of political philosophy.

European Commission Takes Greece to Court of Justice

2007-03-31T10:52:00.000-04:00

The European Commission has never taken Greece to court on human rights for Macedonians in Greece. These people are not our friends. However, I am so glad they are taking Greece to court over animal rights. The EC obviously has its priorities straight. Nice! I think that Macedonians in Greece should kidnap a French poodle, British bulldog and a German shepard and then maybe the European Commission would stand up and take notice.

European Commission takes Greece to Court of Justice
Makfax vesnik

Athens/Brussels /21/03/ 18:44

The European Commission took Greece to the European Court of Justice for violation of two European laws.

The Greek media reported that the country violated legal obligations on participation of the enterprises in public agreements and on the animal welfare standards.

In the first case, EC found that applied alterations to the national legislation breached the European laws and impeded exercising of the basic freedoms.

In addition, EC found that the animal welfare standards in the country were still marked by persistent shortcomings as Athens has not put in place European Union rules that set a minimum standard for animal welfare in transport and at slaughter."

Bulgaria: I'm Going to Pay the Fine and Not Change

2007-03-31T10:46:00.000-04:00

This is how the EU operates. Slap on the wrist and continue to discriminate. Nice!

Kalfin for MIA: Strasbourg court decision doesn't oblige Bulgaria to register OMO Ilinden Pirin
Macedonian_News_Service : Message: Daily Bulletin

Skopje, March 21 (MIA) - Bulgaria has always had in principle position that each decision by the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg should be executed. This also completely refers to the decision on OMO Ilinden Pirin. Sofia has paid the fine, determined by the Court. However, an automatic obligation for Bulgaria to register OMO Ilinden Pirin doesn't stem out of the court ruling, says Bulgarian Vice PM and Foreign Minister Ivajlo Kalfin in an interview with the Macedonian Information Agency - MIA.

The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights refers to the events that occurred in the period between 1999-2000, when the legitimacy of the registered political party OMO Ilinden Pirin was disputed. Infringement of the right of association was found. However, it has been estimated that Bulgarian actions on the issue had legal foundation, underlined Kalfin.
Registration of any kind of political party in Bulgaria is under significant jurisdiction of the Court, whereas the executive authorities are prevented from interfering the work of the judicial authorities in any way. -

Throughout October 2006, the Sofia City Court rejected OMO Ilinden Pirin registration due to evident mistakes in the documentation i.e. failure of compliance with law's provisions,"

Jaap de Hoop Scheffe is Loopy on Kosovo

2007-03-31T10:42:00.000-04:00

Saying so, does not make it so. Scheffe proclaims that Kosovo is unique, but does not say why. It reminds me of Lord Owen saying that redrawing ethnic boundaries in Bosnia would promote peace because it recognized "facts on the ground". Instead what it did was to inflame the conflict between Croats and Bosniak into a full scale war. Don't get me started on Iraq!

Jaap de Hoop Scheffe: Two words - constructive interaction - must become key in NATO-Russia relations, Interfax:

But he expressed regret that the Russian people have a negative view of NATO and of what it does.

'Regarding NATO's image in Russia, we are still to do a great deal, and Russians must assist us in doing so - perhaps, not only the press, but, above all, the Russian leadership,' Scheffer said.

He also claimed, that the eventual decision on Kosovo's status could not serve as a precedent either for South Ossetia, or Abkhazia, or other entities seeking independence.
'Be it the Republic of Srpska [within Bosnia and Herzegovina], Chechnya, or some other territory within an existing state, they cannot view Kosovo as an example to follow,' de Hoop Scheffer said.

'Kosovo is a unique case. We should all be aware that a decision on Kosovo will have a fundamental significance for European security because we are discussing not something remote but are talking about the Balkans. This region is vital to Europe's stability and security,' he said.

'NATO is not involved in the process of determining Kosovo's status. This issue is for the UN Security Council, in which Russia, among others, plays a decisive role. But all the participants in the process should understand that the determination of Kosovo's status is vital not only for peace"

UMD keeps Pelosi Informed

2007-03-31T10:30:00.000-04:00

This is a good letter by United Macedonia Diaspora (UMD) to House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Everyone agrees that Macedonia's lobbying efforts can be improved. Some people say our lobbying efforts, like a glass of water is half empty, others say it is half full. While I want to find the dumb F&%k that drank half the glass! See UMD for full letter.

UMD concerned at Greece's treatment of Macedonian minority
Makfax vesnik:

Washington/Skopje /22/03/ 10:50

The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring to her attention some concerns regarding Greece’s treatment of minorities and its relations with its neighboring country of Macedonia.

'Today, Macedonians in Greece are banned from speaking their language in public, cannot sing to their traditional folk songs, have had their names transliterated into Greek, and have even had cemetery headstones in the Macedonian Cyrillic script replaced with Greek ones. All of this discrimination is happening in the cradle of Democracy,' OMD said in its letter to House Speaker Pelosi ahead of the meeting with the Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

The representatives of Macedonian Diaspora in the United States say over 120 countries worldwide, including the United States, Russia, China, India, the United Kingdom, Poland, Turkey, as well as Macedonia’s immediate neighbors, Bulgaria and Serbia, all recognize Macedonia as the Republic of Macedonia. 'To date, the only state with any objection to Macedonia’s use of its constitutional and historic name is Greece.' /end/"

Macedonia ranks 81st in Global Information Technology

2007-03-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

Makfax vesnik:
Geneva /29/03/

Macedonia was ranked 81st on the Global Information Technology Report (GITR) 2006-2007's 'Networked Readiness Index', published by the World Economic Forum.

The World Economic Forum (WEF), jointly with INSEAD, assessed the progress of networked readiness in 122 countries. The Report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to measure the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments.

Macedonia advanced one position compared to previous ranking. The country has 3.41 points same as Guatemala and Algeria. Next is Vietnam with 3.40 points.

For the first time, Denmark has ousted the US to top the GITR rankings. The GITR attributes Denmark's outstanding levels of networked readiness to 'the country's excellent regulatory environment, coupled with a clear governmental leadership and vision in leveraging ICT technologies for growth.'

Sweden, Singapore and Finland follow, while the United States loses ground in networked readiness, falling 6 places to 7th position. The US was down to the 7th position, 'mainly due to relative deterioration of the political and regulatory environment.' Singapore moved one place down to the third position this year.

Among other countries in the region, Slovenia tops the rankings at 30th position (4.41), followed by Croatia - 46th, Greece - 48th, Turkey 52nd, Romania 55th.

Who is Against Kosovo Independence?

2007-03-29T07:06:00.000-04:00

There considerable opposition to the independence fro Kosovo . See the report from Romania, although you would not know who opposes it from the AP story further below. Just another case of "manufacturing consent".

Romania rejects Kosovo independence plan Regional
Europe Hotnews.ro

The European Union will support the UN plan for the Kosovo province independence , although several states, including Romania, pledged in favor of Serbia and denounced Martti Ahtisaari's plan, the EUObserver website informs.
According to the source, USA and EU announced their support for Kosovo's 'under surveillance independence' plan, despite Russia's and Serbia's opposition. Cyprus, Spain, Greece and Slovakia also reject the idea.

Serb representatives rejected the mediator's plan to ensure extended sovereignty for Kosovo, under international surveillance. Albanian ethnics, who represent some 90% of the local populace, demand independence for the province.

Russia already warned that it may use its veto right to block the UN project, while China has not adopted yet an official position. "

European Parliament backs U.N. plan granting Kosovo supervised sovereignty

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) : The European Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly backed a U.N. plan that would give Kosovo supervised independence from Serbia, and the EU's foreign policy chief said the bloc's planned development project in the province was "the most important EU mission in history."

Albanian Issues Caucus

2007-03-28T12:31:00.000-04:00

By David Edenden

This is an impressive list of 25 American politicians, including Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright that have agreed to join "The Albanian Issues Caucus". these people have been doing their homework. Some of these guys and gals are also members of the "Greek Issues Caucus". I wonder how they will juggle their fund raising appeals when they have to deal with Greek rights in Albania or Albanian rights in Greece. I'm sure they will find a way.

Welcome to Frosina.org :: An Albanian Immigrant and Cultural Resource

The Albanian Issues Caucus promotes six primary goals: 1. The peaceful evolution of democratic institutions in Albania, Kosova, FYR Macedonia, and other areas in the Balkans with Albanian populations; 2. Alleviation of human suffering in Albania, Kosova, FYR Macedonia, and other areas of the Balkans with ethnic Albanian populations; 3. Expansion of cultural exchange between Albania, Kosova, FYR Macedonia, and other ethnic Albanian populated regions; 4. Respect for human rights, including the rights of minority groups in Kosova, Albania, FYR Macedonia, and other ethnic Albanian populated regions; 5. Establishment of free market economies throughout the Balkans; and 6. Promote contact between Albanian Americans and their ancestral homelands in the Balkans, the U.S. government, and other ethnic communities.

A list of Congressmen and contact information.

Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY), Co-chair 2303 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-2464 Fax: (202) 225-5513 Internet: www.house.gov/engel/ Contact: Jason Steinbaum
Congressman Peter T. King (R-NY), Co-Chair 403 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-7896 Fax: (202) 226-2279 Internet: www.house.gov/king/ Contact: Robert O'Connor
Congresswoman Eva Clayton (D-NC) 2440 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-3101 Fax: (202)225-3354 Internet: www.house.gov/clayton/ Contact: Johnnie Barnes
Congressman Martin Frost (D-TX) 2256 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-3605 Fax: (202) 225-4951 E-mail: martin.frost@mail.house.gov Internet: www.house.gov/frost/ Contact: Justin Kasmir
Congressman Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) 2449 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-3776 Fax: (202) 225-2541 Internet: www.house.gov/gilman/ Contact: John Herzburg
Congresswoman Sue Kelly (R-NY) 1222 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-5441 Fax: (202) 225-3289 Internet: www.house.gov/suekelly/ Contact: Dan Boston & Dennis Lambert
Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) 2217 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-3531 Fax: (202) 225-7900 Internet: www.house.gov/lantos/ Contact: Dr. Kay King
Congressman John J. LaFalce (D-NY) 2310 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-3231 Fax: (202) 225-8693 Internet: www.house.gov/lafalce/ Contact: Patricia Hennesey
Congressman Sander Levin (D-MI) 2209 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-4961 Fax: (202) 226-1033 E-mail: slevin@mail.house.gov Internet: www.house.gov/levin/ Contact: Drew Setter
Congresswoman Nita Melnikoff Lowey (D-NY) Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-6506 Fax: (202) 225-0546 Internet: www.house.gov/lowey/ Contact: Matt Traub
Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA) 416 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-6101 Fax: (202) 225-5759 Internet: www.house.gov/mcgovern/ Contact: Cindy Buhl
Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) 1214 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-4376 Fax: (202) 225-0017 E-mail: Jim.Moran@mail.house.gov Internet: www.house.gov/moran/ Contact: Michael Eastman
Congressman John Olver (D-MA) 1027 Longworth HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Tel: (202) 225-5335 Fax: (202) 226-1224 E-mail: john.olver@mail.house.gov Internet: www.house.gov/olver/ Contact: Kelly Bovio
Congressman Bill Paxon (R-NY) 2412 Rayburn HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Tel: (202) 225-5265 Fax: (202) 225-5910 E-mail: rep.paxon@mail.house.gov. Internet: www.house.gov/paxon/ Contact: Chris Downing
Congressman Donald M. Payne (D-NJ) 2244 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-3436 Fax: (202) 225-4160 Internet: www.house.gov/payne/ Contact: Charrise Espy
Congressman John Porter (R-IL) 2373 Rayburn HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Tel: (202) 225-4835 Fax: (202) 225-0837 Internet: www.house.gov/porter/ Contact: Kelly Curry
Congressman Dana Rochrabacher (R-CA) 2338 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515-0545 Tel: (202) 225-2415 Fax: (202) 225-0145 Internet: www.house.gov/rohrabacher/ Contact: Paul Behrends & Al Santoli
Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY) 2342 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-4361 Fax: (202) 225-6001 E-mail: jserrano@mail.house.gov Internet: www.house.gov/serrano/ Contact: Nadine Burg
Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) 2232 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202)-225-5936 Fax: (202)-225-1018 Internet: www.house.gov/towns/ Contact: Alexander Beckles
Congressman David Bonior (D-MI) 2207 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-2106 Fax: (202) 226-1169 Internet: www.davidbonier.house.gov/ Contact: Scott Paul
Congressman Michael R. McNulty (D-NY) 2161 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515-3221 Tel: (202) 225-5076 Fax: (202) 225-5077 Internet: www.house.gov/mcnulty/ Contact: Charles Segal
Congressman James H. Maloney (D-CT) 1213 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515 Tel: (202) 225-3822 Fax: (202) 225-5746 Internet: www.house.gov/jimmaloney/ Contact: Bryan Miller
Congressman Steven R. Rothman (D-NJ) 1607 Longworth HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Tel: (202) 225-5061 Fax: (202) 225-5851 Internet: www.house.gov/rothman/ Contact: Raffi Hanparian

And for those who want to go right to the "top", write or phone:

President Bill Clinton, The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20500 --Tel: (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111

Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State, Department of State 2201 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20520 --Tel: (202) 647-4000

Two Congressmen Stand UP for Human Rights

2007-03-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

Two members of Congress protested the Senate resolution that passed referring Macedonia as "FYROM". Better than nothing. with these type of odds, I think we need help from Rambo, (by the way, directed by a Macedonian, Ted Kotcheff.)

Members of Congress Concerned Over Use of FYROM

Congressmen Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) and Mark Souder (R-IN) sent a letter today to President George Bush expressing their concern over the use of the acronym FYROM in the Senate Bill 494 also known as the NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2007. To read the letter, please click HERE.

Now He Tells Us!

2007-03-27T22:55:00.000-04:00

It seems that our good friend Olli Rehn has the good sense to be ashamed of himself. I wish these Macedonian news agencies could link directly to the source of these comments. Journalists are under tight deadlines and this is the type of article that needs to be verified.

Olli Rehn: Reference FYROM is awkward:
MRT.com.mk

Thursday, 22 March 2007

The reference FYROM is awkward, Euro-enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Wednesday at the European Parliament. - The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a candidate country (for the EU membership) and I believe that the bilateral problem between this country and Greece will be solved soon, so that we will no longer have to use this awkward name, Rehn said.

Rehn responded to a question of EP member, who made a joke proposing Macedonia to be named 'Future European Republic of Macedonia' instead of FYROM.

Rehn was unwilling to comment launching of a date for Macedonia's EU entry talks.

- Macedonia should above all learn the rules of the democratic game, namely the political consensus that will result in completion of the necessary judicial, public administration reforms, Rehn said.
"

France says "Me to" on Kosovo Plan

2007-03-27T22:30:00.000-04:00

I just realized that this campaign in support of the Kosovo independence plan is designed not to intimidate or pressure Russia, but is focussed on the public opinion in the EU countries. Don't want anyone straying off the reservation. Seems to have worked, since no one in Europe is looking closely at this plan.

France says Kosovo plan would stabilise Balkans (SETimes.com):

23/03/2007

PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbia -- The UN plan for Kosovo offers a 'unique opportunity' for stability in the Balkans, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Thursday (March 22nd). France fully supports the plan for the province drafted by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, Douste-Blazy told reporters during a visit to Pristina. He characterised the blueprint as 'a balanced solution, reconciling the aspirations of Kosovo's majority population with serious guarantees offered to the Serb community and other minorities'. He reiterated that position during meetings later with Serbian officials.

Meanwhile, Kosovo police confirmed that an explosion hit a popular restaurant in Pristina late Wednesday. The hand grenade caused no casualties or serious damage. (AFP, RTS, Beta, Tanjug, AP - 22/03/07)"

Greek Helsinki Monitor on Persecution

2007-03-27T22:00:00.000-04:00

This is the full report by the Greek Helsinki Monitor on Macedonians in Greece. Read it an weep. If you don't trust me, download the report yourself.

Greece: Denial of minorities and persecution of minority rights activists
(download the Report)
April 3, 2006

Human rights defenders, who advocate for minority rights in Greece, a country that persistently refuses to recognize the existence of national minorities in their territory, face hostility and persecution, and are treated as threats to public order and national security.

In the course of one year (May 2004 – April 2005), the three key international bodies of experts on minority rights, the UN’s CESCR and HRC and the CoE’s ECRI, have published comprehensive criticism of Greece’s persistent refusal to respect its international commitments by even just acknowledging the existence of two national minorities, to whom belong all those Greek citizens who identify themselves as Macedonians or Turks. The relevant texts are appended to this statement. Characteristically, ECRI noted that:

“Even today, persons wishing to express their Macedonian, Turkish or other identity incur the hostility of the population. They are targets of prejudices and stereotypes, and sometimes face discrimination, especially in the labour market.”

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), in turn, urged Greece:

“to reconsider its position with regard to the recognition of other ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities which may exist within its territory, in accordance with recognized international standards, and invite[d] it to ratify the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995).”

Finally, the UN Human Rights Committee urged Greece to

“review its practice in light of Article 27 of the Covenant… [and] noted with concern the apparent unwillingness of the government to allow any private groups or associations to use associational names that include the appellation Turk or Macedonian.”

The Greek state’s response was to confirm the ban of Macedonian and Turkish associations, and, at the same time, harass or attack human rights defenders who disseminate these texts and advocate minority rights.

The “Home of Macedonian Civilization” continues to be denied registration (most recent ruling in 2003 with appeal hearings only in September 2005 and decision pending through March 2006) by the courts sixteen years after it first applied and eight years after Greece was convicted by the ECHR for having refused the registration of that association.

In 2005, the Supreme Court refused the registration of the “Turkish Women Cultural Association of the Rodopi Prefecture.” It also dissolved the “Turkish Union of Xanthi,” operating legally since the 1930s.

The rulings are exemplary in showing why the Greek state considers the acknowledgment and the advocacy of the existence of such minorities a threat to public order and national security as well as promotion of foreign state interests. In the “Turkish Union of Xanthi” case it is stated (emphasis added):

“The association’s aim is illegal and contrary to Greek public order, since it is in contradiction with the international treaties signed in Lausanne, as it is attempted openly to present that in Greece (the area of Western Thrace) there is a national Turkish minority, while according to these treaties only the presence of a religious Muslim minority is recognized in the area. The reference to the Turkish identity does not reflect some remote Turkish origin but a current quality as members of a Turkish minority that would exist in Greece and would pursue the promotion within the Greek state of state interests of a foreign state and specifically Turkey. The association with its actions (…) gravely endangers Greek public order and national security (…) and raises a non-existent minority problem of ‘Turks’”

In the “Home of Macedonian Civilization” case it is stated (emphasis added):

‘The formulation of the associations’ articles is unclear and can cause confusion regarding its real goal… The use of the term ‘Macedonian culture’ intensifies this confusion by connecting it with a non-existent language, described as ‘makedonski’… The recognition of such an organization contains a direct danger to public order and provides an opportunity for exploitation by foreign agents, who have tried from time to time, unsuccessfully, to fabricate a historically non-existent ‘Macedonian nation’… For all the reasons mentioned above, we reject the application.’

It is no wonder then that human rights defenders advocating for the rights of the two minorities are considered themselves dangerous to public order and foreign agents, and every effort is deployed to keep them out of Greece, muzzle them and/or attack them.

On 4 August 2005, Gjorgi Plukovski, of the Canada-based “Macedonian Human Rights Movement International,” was denied entry into Greece by way of the Republic of Macedonia because he “is considered to be a threat to public order, internal security, public health or the international relations of one or more of the Member States of the European Union” (Document available at www.mhrmi.org/press/05/plukovski.pdf). A month earlier, on 6 July, Mr. Plukovski had entered Greece by way of Italy and remained until 24 July. Hence he is not on the alert list for the purpose of refusing entry in all Schengen countries: only Greece considers him a threat to public order and internal security. Mr. Plukovski is a Canadian citizen of Macedonian descent born in Greece in 1938 and becoming a child political refugee in 1948.

On 14 August 2005, Thessaloniki’s main daily “Makedonia” censored “out of principle” the regular Sunday column of writer and human rights activist Thanasis Triaridis that was to have an article with the title “A short note on a banned language,” summarizing the history and the reasons for the prohibition on speaking Macedonian in Greece, as well as Greece’s refusal to recognize national minorities, such as the Macedonian and Turkish ones.

In early October 2005, Erol Kasifoglu, President of the Solidarity Association of Western Thrace (BTTDD), was not allowed to enter Greece at the Greek-Turkish border. Kasifoglu, who was stripped of his Greek citizenship in 1987, on the basis of the now abolished Article 19 of the Greek Citizenship Code, had previously entered Greece many times with a Schengen visa. This time, Kasifoglu was issued a document that states that he is a threat to public order and national security. In the past, Selahattin Yύldύz, Tahsin Salihoglu, Halit Eren, Taner Mustafaoglu and Burhaneddin Hakgόder, then directors of BTTDD, had also been refused enthry in Greece with the same justification.

On 13 October 2005, Mr. Theo Alexandridis, GHM legal counsel, was held at a police station for four hours after having participated, along with other human rights activists, in various demonstrations against the expulsion of Roma children from their school, subsequent to pressure exerted by certain parents of non-Roma children in the “Psari” neighbourhood in Aspropyrgos, near Athens. Mr. Alexandridis had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint against the parents, responsible for violent acts during those demonstrations. Once he had filed the complaint, Mr. Alexandridis was not allowed to leave or meet with his colleagues at GHM. He was subsequently told that he was under arrest. Two hours later, he was told that he would not be judged in the framework of read-handed procedure and was released. The president of the Pupils’ Parents Association lodged a complaint against Mr. Alexandridis for “libel” and “defamation”. Police did not send the case file to the court until January 2006 and through March 2006 the case has not been assigned to an investigator.

On January 20, 2006, the Head of the Patras Appeals Prosecutor’s Office, Mr. Anastassios Kanellopoulos, said in a radio interview that “perpetrators, instigators and accomplices” of Roma “will be called to take the stand”, specifically including as potential targets representatives of the Greek Helsinki Monitor. This declaration was made in reference to the case of Roma families living in the Makrigianni area, city of Patras (Cultural Capital of Europe 2006), who were threatened of being forcibly expelled, despite a decision of the Magistrate’s Court of Patras (312/2005). GHM had offered legal aid to these families.

Yet, Mr. Anastassios Kanellopoulos ordered on that day the launching of an urgent preliminary investigation into allegations that the Roma of Makrigianni threw litter in a river, following many protests by local residents against this situation. While explaining the various aspects of the judicial investigation, Mr. Kanellopoulos underlined that its objective was to identify the perpetrators and instigators of these acts, as well as their accomplices. When queried by a journalist, the Prosecutor stated that all Roma are crime perpetrators and also admitted that he would examine the role of GHM representatives, known for their struggle for the rights of the Roma. “If it is proved that they too have helped the Roma, then be assured that they will be called to the stand”, the Prosecutor noted.

Richard Holbrooke, Why Do You Think You Are God?

2007-03-27T14:00:00.002-04:00

Macedonian Tendency:

Richard Holbrooke, why do you think you are God?

Richard Holbrooke:

Well, when I pray, I find that I am talking to myself!

I really wish I had time to do a good analysis of Richard Holbrooke's position on Kosovo. (It's basically ... because I said so...). Anyway according to our friend Dick, "Georgian territorial integrity is important", but Serbian territorial integrity is not, and lets not even mention Cyprus. (oops, I just gave a hand to the Greeks).

World: Former U.S. Ambassador Discusses Georgia, Kosovo -
RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY:

"Holbrooke: I do not believe the United States should or will make concessions about Georgia. I certainly would oppose that. Georgian territorial integrity is important, the Russians should stop supporting the breakaway illegal regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Georgia should be allowed to develop on its own.

RFE/RL: Regarding Kosovo, will it get independence or not?

Holbrooke: Of course, Kosovo will become independent. It's inevitable. But the Russians are encouraging the hard-liners in Belgrade by opposing the [Martti] Ahtisaari plan and that is very unhelpful. And if the Ahtisaari plan is not approved by the UN Security Council when it comes up for decision next month, there will be violence in Kosovo, and that will be the consequence of Russian actions, and they should be held fully accountable for that if it happens. And in 'The New York Times' today [Russian] Ambassador [to the UN] [Vitaly] Churkin is quoted as attacking the Ahtisaari plan and calling for a new mediator to replace Ahtisaari. That is really the wrong thing to do.

RFE/RL: What are the options for Russia with regard to Kosovo?

Holbrooke: I don't think, I hope they won't veto [at the Security Council]. Russia's option, the correct opt"

Putin Right, Hobrooke Wrong!

2007-03-27T13:10:00.000-04:00

When Vladimir Putin is cheering for the rule of law in international affairs and the US/EU is saying we will do what is in our national interest, you know that something is a-foot, the game is on, hold on to your wallets. A line by line analysis of this report could reveal a "Guinness Book of Records" for the most hypocrisy in a single article. Ouch.

Russia: Is Putin Looking To Impose Solutions To Frozen Conflicts? -
RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY: "

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his 31 January Kremlin press conference that there is a need for 'universal principles' to settle 'frozen' conflicts. His comments come against the background of impending talks on the future status of Kosovo, which many predict will grant it a form of 'conditional independence' from Serbia and Montenegro. As an ally of Serbia, Moscow has consistently opposed the idea of Kosovar independence. Putin's remarks suggest he may be shifting his position, but only if the principles applied to Kosovo are also applied to frozen conflicts in the former Soviet Union. If Kosovo can be granted full independence, he asked, why should we deny the same to Abkhazia and South Ossetia?"

China is Near

2007-03-27T10:50:00.000-04:00

It seems that the Chinese are interested in what is happening in Macedonia. In the US/EU newspapers, only anti-Albanianism was mentioned. It is great that the Macedonian government set the record straight.

Macedonia protests to Greece over anti-Macedonian video clips
People's Daily Online --

The Macedonian authorities on Thursday protested over a video clip showing Greek soldiers in training chanting anti-Macedonian songs, news reaching here from Skopje reported.

Macedonian Foreign Ministry called in Greek ambassador to Skopje for talks and handed him a formal protest note, according to Macedonian independent news agency Makfax.

The video clip was broadcast by media in Macedonia on Wednesday, showing Greek soldiers in training singing: 'Blood runs in true Macedonian's veins is Greek'.

It was reported the video was recorded in 2005 during a military training and its authenticity was verified on Thursday.

'The Greek soldiers' behavior runs contrary to the declared commitment for good neighborly and friendly relations and has a negative impact on the overall relations between the two states and nations,' the note says.

Macedonia got independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991 and entered the UN under the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Greece is at odds with Macedonia over the country's name, which Athens says implies territorial claims to the northern Greek province of Macedonia.

Source: Xinhua"

My Greatest Hits

2007-03-27T09:53:00.000-04:00

To make this blog readable, I have decided to post short analysis on events with excerpts of articles highlighting the relevant information rather than publish the whole article. Sometimes an article is important and it has been published in whole. From time to time, I have posted more lengthly analysis. Below are my "greatest hits".

Richard, It's America's Test In Kosovo, Not Russia's

The Lost Opportunity of Vasil Tupurkovski

77 US Politicans Adopt the Greek Postion on Human Rights for Ethnic Macedonians

ICG = CIA: You be the Judge

My Grandfather and Gypsies (Rom)

Miloshoski is Mad, But Not Crazy

2007-03-26T20:51:00.001-04:00

Dear faithful readers, you know I oppose the independence of Kosovo. I have never met Miloshoski, but I do not believe that this article reflects his true sentiments. I think that, like myself, he is really pissed off at the Serbs, not to mention that he is doing th bidding of the US/EU by spouting the party line ... democracy, human rights, etc for Kosovars but not for ... you know who. (Yikes!)

Miloshoski: Macedonia first to recognize Kosovo
Macedonian_News_Service : Message: Daily Bulletin:
Skopje /26/03/

Macedonia will be among the first countries to recognize an independent Kosovo, the Foreign Minister Antonio Miloshoski told Kosovo's media.

'Skopje is interested in timely definition of the Kosovo status by the UN Security Council and then, Macedonia will recognize this new reality,' Miloshoski said.

Miloshoski told the Kosovo's radio and television that Kosovo deserves to have its own status.

'Kosovo deserves a status, the international community works in this context and we are trying to help. We are in positive mood to recognize this new reality same as other countries after the decision of the UN Security Council,' Miloshoski said.

As regards the demarcation of the border with Kosovo, Miloshoski said the ownership rights of each citizen on the two sides of the border will be fully respected.

Albanian media say Miloshoski's statement confirms that not only the Albanian political parties in Macedonia but also the Macedonian parties back Kosovo's independence.

Kosovo's media cite a similar statement by the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski during the visit of the Kosovo's opposition leader Hashim Thaci. Gruevski said Macedonia will be the first to recognize any resolution and decision approved by the UN."

Greeks in Albania Need More Rights! (ya right)

2007-03-25T10:05:00.000-04:00

This is a very interesting article about the plight of the Greek minority in Albania with comments on the Cham/Albanian minority in Greece. I do not want to get to obvious in my analysis of this situation in comparing it to the plight of ethnic Macedonians in Greece, because what really interests me in not what is happening in the Balkans, but how the politicians in Washington react to these issues. I predict that the members of the Greek Issues Caucus will champion the rights of the Greeks in Albania, but ignore the rights of the Cham Albanians in Greece. The is the nut that is hard to crack. How can politicians in Washington promote human rights throughout the Balkans without picking and choosing? Because of this, the Greek Issues Caucus is one of the main forces of destabilization in the Balkans today. What Washington needs to do, pronto, is form a "Balkan Issues Caucus.

Security and Politics in Albania: A Limitation of Civil Liberties?:
Balkanalysis.com » Blog Archives »

"Today, the small Greek community in Albania remains fearful that its prominent members (politicians, journalists, NGO members, lawyers etc) could yet again become subjects of state ‘attention.’ According to Albanian media sources, the Albanian secret service is currently monitoring members of the Greek community because of their statements on the “North Epirus issue.” The border provinces between the two countries are referred to separately as “Epiros” by Greeks and “Chameria” by Albanians; both states claim historic and cultural contiguity upon the cross-border terrain.

The demands of the Greek minority members in Albania which are today causing concern with the Albanian authorities include having more say in the communal affairs and seeking ties with their brethren in Greece. According to statistics and unofficial estimations, some 2-10 percent of the Albanian population has Greek ancestry and the overall controversy around “North Epirus” is interrelated with the overall democratic process in the post-communist Albania.

A relatively recent strain in relations between both states occurred on November 1, 2005, when Greek President Karolos Papoulias left in haste from an official visit to Albania, when an event s"

Roger Casement on Macedonia

2007-03-25T01:44:00.000-04:00

This excerpt from John Shea's book illustrates the unity in pain between the Macedonian and Irish people. It is a follow-up to my Happy St. Patrick's post. Download his book for free "The Crime Against Europe" which has two pages on Macedonia

Macedonia and Greece - The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation,
John Shea, McFarland and Company Inc., North Carolina, 1997

My readings have established to my satisfaction the weakness of the Greek historical argument. It is also clear to me that national aspirations were alive and well in Macedonia long before Tito arrived on the scene. But by and large the Macedonians have had a pretty miserable time of it, dominated by one greater power or another for much of their history, a domination most recently perpetrated by the same European nations who were slow to support the Macedonians in the 1990s. As the Irish patriot Roger Casement (executed by the British after the 1916 uprising in Ireland) put it: “I know of two tragic histories in the world - that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.”

Casement was speaking primarily of the Macedonians who then inhabited the lands that fell within the borders of the ancient Macedonian homeland. A majority of them were Slavic speakers when Greece conquered a large part of Macedonia, taking it from the Turks, just before the First World War. Casement's rather eloquent lines by themselves must cause us to ponder Greek claims that a non-Greek Macedonia was merely a Communist invention. "

Risto's books on Macedonian History

2007-03-24T18:11:00.000-04:00

These books by Risto Stefov, from the might village of Oshichima (Trigonon if you want to find it on a current map.) are available from his website.

Recovering Macedonia: http://www.oshchima.com/rmbook.htm

Dialectal Dictionary: http://www.oshchima.com/dbook.htm

The Little Book of BIG GREEK Lies: http://www.oshchima.com/bglbook.htm

For those in the Toronto vasinity, I will be selling my books at St. Clements this Sunday, March 25.

Regards, Risto...

Life became even harsher after the 1912-1913 Balkan wars. The Greek occupation put an end to all that was Macedonian. Greek policies of forced assimilation erased the Macedonian language and abolished long-standing Macedonian traditions, even in small villages like Oshchima. Place names and buildings alike were given Greek names. The Svety Nikola Church, the most cherished Oshchimian possession, was re-named Agios Nikolaos. All the Macedonian writing in the church was erased, including the names of the saint on the icons and the names of the dead on the gravestones. The Macedonian writing on the civic building and stone markers was also erased and replaced with a Greek equivalent. The village was renamed Trigonon which had absolutely no historical significance or meaning for the tradition bound Oshchimians. People’s names were also changed and Boris was renamed Vironos, Trpo became Trifunas, Kita became Stavroula and Slava became Evdoxia. The city of Lerin became Florina, Voden became Edessa, and so on.

Video Macedonia

2007-03-24T11:14:00.000-04:00

Great site for videos from Macedonia focusing on tourism and culture.

Video postcard from Macedonia
Video Macedonia:

This video clip shows scenes from Republic of Macedonia, some of the last really untouched nature on the European continent."

Macedonian Football/Soccer Site

2007-03-24T11:08:00.000-04:00

Great English language site for Macedonian football/Soccer fans.

Macedonian strikers on fire
"Monday, March 19, 2007
MacedonianFootball.com:

Goran Pandev, Ilco Naumoski and Stevica Ristic scored for their teams this weekend

In-form strikers
Stevica Ristic, the new name in the Macedonian NT, continued scoring for his new team, the Asian Champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from Korea. He scored a fantastic goal with 'scissors' kick.
Ilco Naumoski is getting back in the scoring form on right time, just before the important match against Croatia. He scored nice header in the 5th minute for his Mattersburg against Altach in the Austrian championship.
Goran Pandev just can't scoring for his Lazio in the Serie A. This weekend against Empoli he scored his 10th goal this season and also assisted one. Here's what the Italian medias say about him:
Goran Pandev (Lazio)
Who says Lazio don’t have any star players? This guy is the real deal, a talent with a bright future ahead of him in Italy. A goal and an assist against Empoli, Pandev basically secured his side the three points against the Tuscan minnows with a commendable first half display.

You can see the highlights of the Lazio-Empoli match on the following video"

What are Macedonians Doing?

2007-03-20T12:03:00.000-04:00

Are the Macedonians too busy fighting among themslevs to visit the US or meet with Nancy Pelosi?

Bakoyannis to meet Ban Ki-moon over Macedonia's name
Makfax vesnik:

Athens /20/03/ 12:26

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis on Tuesday will meet with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to discuss themes concerning Greece and the region including the name dispute with Macedonia.

The discussions are in the framework of the UN's efforts for a solution to name dispute, Greek media said.

The UN Secretary General was briefed by special mediator Matthew Nimetz last Friday.

Bakoyannis will also discuss the Cyprus issue, the situation in Kosovo and in the Middle East.

Greek foreign minister will be holding talks with officials of the Bush Administration and Congressmen. She will also meet with the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and with the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. /end/"

Farewell to the Bosniaks

2007-03-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

When my grandfather and I were watching video footage of Mladic taking the Bosniak males away on buses, he had two comments. 1. "It's not fair" 2. "The Serbs are making the Germans happy because when any European thinks of fascists, the will think of Serbia!

In Bosnia, Catholics are Croatians, Orthodox are Serbians and Muslims are Bosniaks. This gives Bosnia a certain symmetry which makes it easier to discuss a very complicated political situation . The Bosniaks are making a huge mistake to try to change the Bosnian constitution for Srebrenica, which to me, seems totally beside the point.

The Bosniaks first mistake was to go along with the independence of Slovenia and Croatia. Their second mistake is to not voice objection to the independence of Kosovo. Bosniaks must realize that they will be the immediate losers if Kosovo gets independence, because what's good for Kosovo is good for Republica Srpbska, not to mention Herzegovina.

Watch for the US/EU criticize the Bosniaks, in the press, as being obstructionist and not willing to compromise. Then you will know that betrayal is in the air.

Calls for Srebrenica secession follow ICJ ruling
(SETimes.com):

"In the aftermath of the ruling, Bosniak leaders are calling for Srebrenica to secede from the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska (RS).

'The territory of the Srebrenica municipality needs to have the status of district and as such should be taken out of the jurisdiction of the Republika Srpska institutions,' the Bosniak and Croat members of the BiH presidency, Haris Silajdzic and Zeljko Komsic, said in a statement. 'We are entitled to justice.'"

Greek Blogger on Name Issue

2007-03-19T21:15:00.000-04:00

This Greek blogger is quite logical and moderate. What he is trying to do is find a compromise between Macedonia and Greece in a political environment where the EU lets Greece discriminate against ethnic Macedonians. Any compromise on the name issue has to include human rights for Macedonians in Greece. Can't only blame Greece, we also have to blame the EU. There's the rub!

A road path for a solution for the “Macedonian” name issue
Strategic Analysis & OSINT Management -www.rieas.gr-

Posted March 19th, 2007 by Ioannis Michaletos
Categories: South Eastern Europe, Greece

This year will most probably bring interesting developments, regarding the strife between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as far as the finalized and universally name of the latter is concerned.

Last year European Union member states decided to proceed with the beginning of accession negotiations with FYROM -In due term-, and it is assumed that the final integration will not become a reality before 2012, the earliest. The above important decision was addressed by the EU, with the dictum that an acceptable compromise must be found between Athens and Skopje until the negotiations reach the final stage. The current FYROM government won the elections last year and has as a strategic vision to integrate the country into the Euro-Atlantic security framework, namely EU & NATO."

Macedonian Girl Wins Euro Piano Prize

2007-03-19T21:11:00.000-04:00

Culture - Republic of Мacedonia: "
(Spic, 19.03.2007) –

Macedonian young pianist Jana Ceteleva from Bitola has been awarded Gold Medal by Clode Kohn International Piano Competition in France. The event gathered the best young pianists from France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Korea and other countries.

“I competed in Esuperiore competition and won the first award with 100 points,” Ceteleva said. The Bitola pianist is the most successful piano student at the Music Academy in Sofia. She had a music recital in Bitola a month ago and is the winner of the most prestigious state competitions in piano."

Venice Commission Speaks

2007-03-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

I had some bad things to say about the Venice Commission without a great deal of information, but I am sure that after a great deal of analysis, my original impression will still hold.

"Venice Commission Greenlights four Macedonian draft-laws
Makfax vesnik:

Venice /16/03/ 18:48

The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe gave positive opinion on the draft-laws on churches, on public prosecution and the electoral code related to voting of Diaspora.

Macedonian Ministry of Justice announced this after today's visit of the Minister Mihajlo Manevski to the Venice Commission, whose opinion is crucial for the European Union.

The assessment of the Commission's experts is that the draft-laws on the statuses of the churches, religious communities and religious groups are in accordance with the international principles and standards.

'As regards the draft-laws on public prosecution office and the council of public prosecutors, the Commission concluded that they represent a good basis for independent and efficient operation of the public prosecutor', Ministry's announcement says.

Some remarks have been made in terms of more detailed defining of the subordination hierarchy as well as specifying of some provisions.

The announcement says that basic support was given to the draft-laws on alterations to the Electoral Code, including entitling of Diaspora a right to vote."

High Tech in Macedonian Schools

2007-03-19T20:43:00.001-04:00

Computerization of the Schools in Macedonia
Metamorphosis
19.03.2007.

With the tender for procurement of 100.000 PCs for primary and secondary schools in Macedonia, published on March 13, 2007, the Government launched the “Computer for every child” campaign. The PCs will be allocated and paid at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008.

The other 50.000 PCs will be paid from the budget of 2009, when this campaign is expected to be finalized. The finances are provided by the budget and the country will not raise credits. The aim of the campaign is to enable pupils to learn using computers, and to allow teachers to convey knowledge using modern methods. "

Austailia and the "Name Issue"

2007-03-19T17:26:00.000-04:00

Very comprehensive analysis of Australia's policy on the name issue

Influencing Australian Foreign Policy on Macedonia:
United Macedonia Diaspora

"Why hasn’t the Australian Government or opposition
recognised the Republic of Macedonia under its
Constitutional name? Why should it and what can the
Australian Macedonian community do about it?

The Australian Macedonian community has many unmet
social and political needs such as the name issue as a
result of historical, political, management, and
strategic realities and inaction. The capacity of
ethnic communities to influence Australian foreign
policy is dependent on their level of commitment, the
degree of unity and the strength of their
organisations to plan, organize resources, implement
campaigns, provide leadership, raise and build
sustainable funding and learn from past experience and
best practice. Size of the community is not the
critical issue as can be seen from the Jewish
community’s example and its strong influence on
Australia’s foreign policy in the Middle East."