Remembering Trajkovski

Reality Macedonia : Five Years Later

Inhale first before reading, because it will take your breath away.

France wants Turkey to admit guilt regarding the Armenian Genocide.

I call on France to admit its guilt for associating with Turkey in Nato andwith Greece in the EU for complicity in "cultural genocide" with respect to ethnic Kurds in Turkey and ethnic Macedonians in Geece.

BBC NEWS Europe Turkey 'must admit WWI genocide'

France has said it will ask Turkey to acknowledge the mass killing of Armenians from 1915 as genocide when it begins EU accession talks.

Russian Minister visits Macedonia

I approve of Macedonia expanding ties with Russia.

Learn from Bill Clinton ... TRIANGULATE!

I believe that both major Macedonia political parties are on the wrong course. They both want to join Nato and the EU without any backup strategy when Greece uses its veto. You cannot expect a fair hearing from EU/NATO since it has ignored the human rights abuses of Macedonians in Greece since Greece joined the EU in the early 70's. Greece's minority rights values are by definition EU/Nato values.

My position is to continue with the Nato /EU course but at the same time, open all doors to Russia under the assumption that Macedonia will be locked out of Nato/EU. This is not a very attractive option since Russia has fallen so low that even the Ukraine is running away from it. Obviously, the US/EU/Nato is subverting Russia. It is also obvious that it is doing it with minimal effort yet Russian influence is collapsing like a deck of cards. Even though Russia is trying to position itself as a defender of Serbs in Kosovo, Serbia is trying to join the Nato and the EU ... YIKES.

RUSSIA SAVE YOURSELF

Having said that ... more contact with Russia,


Invite the Russian Orthodox Archbishop to Ohrid,
Invite Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Skopje,
Hold a Russian film festival,
Hold a Russian book Fair.
Produce a film about Macedonian Students in Russian circa 1900,


RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY: "RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER DEMANDS QUICK DEMARCATION OF MACEDONIAN BORDER WITH KOSOVA

Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Skopje on 8 December that the demarcation of Macedonia's border with Kosova must start as soon as possible, 'Utrinski vesnik' reported. The demarcation must be finalized before any talks on the future status of Kosova begin, Lavrov argued, adding that Russia regards Macedonia as a factor for stability in the Balkans (see 'RFE/RL Newsline,' 10 September and 1 and 7 December 2004 and 'RFE/RL Balkan Report,' 10 and 17 September 2004). Russia will therefore ask the UN Security Council, authorities in Belgrade, UNMIK, and the elected authorities in Prishtina to speed up the border demarcation. Lavrov added that Russia will ask the Security Council to pass a resolution on demarcation. Lavrov's Macedonian counterpart Ilinka Mitreva called relations with Russia 'excellent,' adding that they are a 'priority' for Macedonia. She said Skopje hopes to improve the cooperation with Moscow in economic as well as in 'military-technological' matters. UB"

CIA - The World Factbook -- Macedonia

It is nice to have "THE" CIA with us and not against us.
No "FYROM", "Macedonians slavs", no slavophones.
Just Macedonia and Macedonians
Thank you CIA!

CIA - The World Factbook -- Macedonia

Serb leader Apologises in Bosnia, Time for Greece to Apologise to Macedonia

Now that Serbia has said sorry to Bosnia, its only a matter of time before Greece apologises to the Republic of Macedonia for its blockade and to the ethnic Macedonians of Greece for cultural genocide.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Serb leader apologises in Bosnia

Serbian President Boris Tadic has made an apology in Bosnia-Hercegovina to all those who suffered crimes committed in the name of the Serb people.

Lets build a statue to Rummy in Skopje.

Glad we can help Rummy!

Thanks for your role in recognising the Macedonians as "a people" and not, as the Greek slander would suggest slavophones "with no history, no culture, no religion, no identity."

Hey Colin Powell, does the description remind you of anything. Maybe some a choice word when when you were stationed in the US south during the sixties?


DefenseLINK News: Rumsfeld Honors Macedonian Troops, Visits Romanian Airbase

Rumsfeld thanked three Macedonian soldiers cited for their actions in Iraq that helped save U.S. servicemembers' lives.

US State Deartment Background Note: Macedonia Nov. 2004

This Background Note seems to have been recieved by the Greek journalist at the US State Department briefings like one recieves a "hot poker up ones butt". If I was a nit-picker I could find fault with it myself. Let's not.

We are thankfully referred to as "ethnic Macedonians" who speak the "Macedonian language" and have created a "Macedonian culture". "Macedonian slavs" is nowhere to be found.

Now if we can get a the US State Department to plug in Krste Misirkov's "On Macedonian Matters, published in 1901, we can put a stake through the heart of the Greek and Bulgarian slander that "Tito invented the Macedonian nation".

Maybe next year ..... for Christmas!


Macedonia (11/04)

Following the war, Macedonia became one of the constituent republics of the new Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito. During this period, Macedonian culture and language flourished.


During the Yugoslav period, Macedonian ethnic identity exhibited itself, in that most of Macedonia's Slavic population identified themselves as Macedonians, while several minority groups, in particular ethnic Albanians, sought to retain their own distinct political culture and language. Although interethnic tensions simmered under Yugoslav authority and during the first decade of its independence, the country avoided ethnically motivated conflict until several years after independence.

The expanded coalition of ruling ethnic Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders, with facilitation by U.S. and European Union (EU) diplomats, negotiated and then signed the Ohrid Framework Agreement in August 2001, which brought an end to the fighting.

US State - Press Briefing for November 30

More on US State Department response to Greek journalist on the Macedonian recognition issue. It is lucky that there are no Macedonian journalists at this press conference to make a fool of themselves. That God for small favours.

Daily Press Briefing for November 30 -- Transcript

QUESTION: On FYROM. Mr. Boucher, 70 members of the House of Representatives characterize as counterproductive your policy recognition of FYROM as "Republic of Macedonia" in a letter to the Secretary of State Colin Powell, November 19th. They write in inter alia, "This is more than an issue of a name for the Greek people. As you recall, Mr. Secretary, over 50,000 Greek-Americans attended in May 31st, 1992, memorial service in Washington, for the 40,000 Greek citizens who lost their lives at the hands of people living in what is today FYROM. When the lives were lost, our Secretary of State Edward Stettinius called, ‘talk of Macedonian nations as justified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality,’ ‘and a cloak for aggressive intention against Greece.’"


Similar letter was sent to Secretary of State by 11 senators. How do you respond to that?


MR. BOUCHER: I don't know if we've responded to that specific letter. I think the overall situation, with regards to Macedonia, was explained here many times. As I noted at the time of our announcement, we had consulted with various members of Congress about it and we knew there were differing views on the Hill, and we're always happy to hear from people.


I would note that the decision to call the Republic of Macedonia by that name is not, in any way, a political or historical gesture, or a gesture related to history, nor are we turning our backs on the people who -- nor are we turning our backs on the many people who died in the second World War in this area. It was merely a question of what we thought we should call the nation at this point.


QUESTION: Mr. Boucher, I noted yesterday that you have an advocate or defender in the Voice of America, namely, George Bistis, the director of the Greek program, who attacked me personally in his dispatch all over the world, based on the way you and I conducted yesterday's dialogue on FYROM.


MR. BOUCHER: They attacked you?


QUESTION: Yes.


MR. BOUCHER: Really?


(Laughter.)


QUESTION: George Bistis, correct. It's a free dispatch. In a way, however, that only using the VOA facilities as a propaganda machine, but also as a tool to intimidate me, to disgrace me and to threaten me with the usual motives against the freedom of the press and the right to speak free, keeping in mind, Mr. Boucher, that your greatest president, Thomas Jefferson, said once upon a time, "I prefer a free press than a government." I would like you to comment on that.


(Laughter.)


MR. BOUCHER: Number one, we agree with Thomas Jefferson. Number two --


QUESTION: Excuse me? Number one, what?


MR. BOUCHER: We agree with Thomas Jefferson.


QUESTION: Definitely.


MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary of State -- we got the gist.


QUESTION: That's why I quote him.


MR. BOUCHER: We got the gist.


QUESTION: Number two (inaudible).


MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Number two is, as you know, I've never criticized the questions that are asked here in the briefing room. I think you all come and you have the right to ask whatever you want. I've always said there are no bad questions, there are just bad answers. So I'll stop at that one. I think that's good enough.


QUESTION: Any answer to my pending questions why your November Background Note on FYROM -- I asked you yesterday -- the authors wrote, "Alexander III ("the Great")? Is there any explanation for that because --


MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have offered to get you an answer on that one, I'm afraid. That was sort of a level of grammar that I wasn't going to research any further.


QUESTION: Last night you released the following: "The U.S. supports Macedonia's current borders," which means -- and it will speak today. What about in the future borders after a month or a year or three years?


MR. BOUCHER: No, we support Macedonia as it is now within its current borders and we don't -- we're not pressing or encouraging or asking for any change in those borders.


QUESTION: As of today?


MR. BOUCHER: No, for now that is our policy, that our policy for now and in the future is to support Macedonia with its current borders, not to seek any change or forecast any change in those borders.


QUESTION: But taking the example of what happened to Kosovo, you were saying exactly the same when the Albanians moving day by day after the point that they’re ready in May 2005 to create an independent Kosovo. So that's why I'm asking you, this policy will be forever or just as we are speaking as of today?


MR. BOUCHER: This is our policy.


QUESTION: Yes.


MR. BOUCHER: This is our policy, period. Policies aren't dated. That's our policy and that's the way we see the situation with Macedonia, for now and for the future.


QUESTION: In the state --


MR. BOUCHER: Let's --


QUESTION: In the same statement you are saying yesterday, "The person of the Country Background Note referred to today's briefings is the history section which describes the situation in Macedonia thousands of years ago," but you have not clarified the Greek or Hellenic character of that area. And I'm wondering why. Could you please, for the record, in order to correct the history, clarify that Alexander the Great was Greek from Macedonian territory and that Macedonians would speak in Greek because they were Greek nationals and they speak the Greek language? And the authors did not mention anything to this effect, the Greekness of the ancient Macedonia, since the entire history, Mr. Boucher, including Macedonia, were written in stones in Greek language and the stones are remained in (inaudible). I would like you to comment.


MR. BOUCHER: No.


QUESTION: And why not?


MR. BOUCHER: I -- really, I don't want to make light of this, but I don't think we're here to talk about the situation as it existed thousands of years ago. If you want to know current policy, I think we explained current policy.


QUESTION: Why then you released this document, two pages, did you write those stuff?


MR. BOUCHER: In two pages, you can't explain the entire history of a region or an ethnic group or a nationality or a language. I'm going to stand with what we've written, stand with what I said, but I don't think it requires further explanation from me.


QUESTION: But you don't have any --


MR. BOUCHER: Sorry.


QUESTION: -- prior policy --


MR. BOUCHER: I don't think it requires further explanation from here.


QUESTION: (Inaudible.)


MR. BOUCHER: Our current policy on those questions, you and I have discussed many times here. I think it's been adequately explained.

Impact of Trajkovski's death on George W. Bush

One of these days, a journalist is going to ask George Bush a question about the tragic situation of the oppressed ethnic Macedonians in Greece who are looking to the United States of Amercia for freedom and liberty.

In my opinion the death of Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, a fellow Methodist Christian of the US President, had a profound effect on George W. Bush. He could not have helped but be impressed that Macedonians who are 98% Orthodox Christians would be so open minded as to elect a Methodist Minister as their President.

It didn't help that Colin Powell was prevented from attending the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games which were financed mostly by American television rights!


Daily Press Briefing for November 29 -- Transcript

QUESTION: Another issue. FYROM, Mr. Boucher. I am fully aware of your aversion to ancient history, but there is a matter in which ancient history affects present-day reality. The November Background Note you just released the other day on the so-called "Republic of Macedonia," internationally known as FYROM, as written, since legitimized the arrogant disclaims of FYROM, no more, no less. This DOS note implies that the so-called "Republic of Macedonia," like the U.S. Marine manual for which the Greek Government protested earlier, leaves the clear impression that this state has its mission the liberation of the rest of Macedonia.

Is the Department of State aware of the implication arising from its practices of attributing "national identity" via geography?

MR. BOUCHER: I guess I -- my basic point would be I don't agree with your interpretation of the Background Note, that you say it implies this, it leaves the impression of that, that somehow we're supporting wider claims of a broader Macedonia. That is not the policy of the U.S. Government, nor is it the policy of the Macedonian Government, and I just don't -- I'll look at our Background Note again, but I really don't think it leaves that impression or implies that, frankly.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) of the Background Note, including the new appointed Ambassador to Greece, Charles Ries, who at the present time is in charge for the European affairs, too, here at the State Department, explain to the average Greek why a state that comprise of only 38 percent of the total land of ancient Macedonia should be treated as the "liberated segment" after it accept totally the name of the Greek region with the same name that consisted of 58 too of the total of the ancient land?

MR. BOUCHER: Who's referring to it at the "liberated section"?

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. BOUCHER: We are doing that? No, you are. I'd say you are. I just want to make sure.

QUESTION: Let me explain. In the whole historical page --

MR. BOUCHER: First of all, I don't think we imply or leave the impression or want to intimate, in any way, that we support Macedonia beyond Macedonia's borders. We think that the Republic of Macedonia deserves to be called by that name. We've explained that already. But that is not implying something about expansionism or a greater Macedonia or any of those terms that you keep throwing around.

Nor do we view the Republic of Macedonia as the liberated portion of Macedonia. We see it as an entity that deserves recognition and respect from the United States and the international community because of the way it's handled its own affairs, and that it's not itself committed, nor are we pushing it or encouraging it, to take any expansionist ideas in mind.

QUESTION: Let me be more -- to clarify. Why did Department of State force history, based on this move, presented Alexander, parenthesis, quote, "the Great," unquote, parenthesis, why, in parenthesis and quotation? May we have an explanation? It's in the text.

MR. BOUCHER: I honestly don't know.

QUESTION: It's a very serious matter.

QUESTION: It sounds like a movie review.

QUESTION: It's from the text.

MR. BOUCHER: I honestly don't know why he's referred to that way. There must be a style manual somewhere that says it.

Okay, let's move on to other things.

QUESTION: Wait, wait, I have a Macedonia question.

Christopher Hitchens Part 2

I am a pack rat so I have a hard time throwing things away. Below is a 1993 letter to the editor of the now defunct "The European Newspaper" in which Christopher Hitchens discussed the Macedonian "name" issue . This is the first time that I had heard of him. My assumption was that he was a snoty English upper class right wing twit journalist who had never been to the Balkans. I don't have a copy of the original article, but will try to find and post it.

Quelle surprise ... it seems our comrade Hitchens was had a reputation as a leftist ... even a Trotskyite. It also seems that he married a Greek Cypriot. It also seems that he left his wife and small child for another woman. It seems that Ms. Greek Cypriot raised the child in England while comrade Chris stayed in New England. Nice!

Over the years, Hitchens has contributed anti- Macedonian articles in the Nation and other publications but has never commented on the plight of the ethnic Macedonians in Greece. This is odd because one of his friends is Hugh Poulton of the Minority rights Group ("Who are the Macedonians?") so he can't be totally ignorant of our issues.

His brother is a right wing commentator in Enlgand. My point is that anyone reading his work on Macedonia would never guess that he had been a leftist at one time.


April 7, 1993

To: The European "Letters to the Editor"
Re: "Not Just Paranoid about Macedonia" by Christopher Hitchens, April 1-7,

Mr. Hitchens is incorrect when he stated the title of "King of the Hellenes" was forced upon the newly crowned Greek King George "in deference to Ottoman objections to the original formulation 'King of the Greeks'". In the same way that Germans call their country Deutchland in their language, Greeks call themselves Hellenes and their country Hellas in their language. The word "Greece" like the word "Germany" is based on ancient Roman usage.

The rest of the article is similarly flawed. It reminds me of a lecture on sexual technique that is given by a virgin. Although some of the facts may be right, the insight that one might gain from a more intimate knowledge and direct experience is missing.

Please no more "if this is Tuesday this must be Macedonia (or is it Moldova?)" type of articles.