Only Steven Spielberg could have masterminded this type of scenario for Macedonia. A huge moral and political victory for Macedonia. All props to the Macedonian leadership for their diplomatic skills and tactics.
I am not Macedonian so I can not rank Macedonia's 'happy moments'. However, without a doubt in my mind, Macedonia's not entering in NATO should be the happiest moment for all Macedonians worldwide. There are numerous reasons for my reasoning.
Macedonia has been, and always will be cradle of culture and civilization. Macedonia's peaceful image would have been seriously tarnished by entering the NATO Alliance. There is a reason why Macedonia is called "Balkan's Switzerland".
We, Americans, have a phrase when someone does something foolish, nit witted. We say "he shot himself in the foot". What Greece did today, it didn't just shot itself in the foot, rather, it shot itself in the face! Greece's absurd nationalistic [read machismo] campaign and disinformation, forcing Macedonia to change its name has produced an extremely negative image of Greece abroad. Greece spent millions, for something that did not work and it will never work. It enraged the Macedonian population to such an extent, that now, they will never mention the 'n' in negotiations. Greece attempted to shut down, wipe out the Macedonian spirit, instead, it awakened it, more stronger than ever.
Congratulations to Mr. Gruevski, Milososki and Dimitrov who thwarted all Greek tricks and attempts via blackmail and threats to force a terrible name upon you. Everyone was aware Greece had intended to place its veto no matter what 'talks' were going on. "Change your name or veto" doesn't work. It may have worked in a dark back alley.
The Macedonian diplomats, I must admit, were much, much wiser than I thought. I suspected they would make a mistake because of their youth. I was very wrong, and I am glad.
With this veto, Greece has done a huge favor for Macedonia to finally stop all of this nonsense called 'negotiations'.
Greece saved Macedonia millions of Euros that they would have had to shell out each year for "NATO membership fees".
Instead, Macedonia will sign a military agreement with the US (much better than agreement with NATO) and will not shell out a cent.
Washington will take Macedonia under its wings as a guarantor and a protector. This type of agreement includes free weaponry. This is money that now Macedonia will get to keep and invest in its ever growing economy.
I suggest to you Macedonia, to enjoy this great victory, this is a great day for you.
Long live Alexandar's descendants.
William Reihman
4 comments:
It is clear that the writer proves the point of Greece. He is calling the slavs who settled in the disputed region as Macedonians, heirs of Alexander the Great. The only true heirs of the Great Macedonia era are those who spoke the language of the Macedonians which was Greek and who can trace back 4,000 years.The slavs showed up around 500 ad. Yes thats AD not 2000 years BC.
Peter Vlitas
Greece’s Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis announced today that Greece would veto the US’s continued membership of NATO unless the US changed its name to ‘United States of Central North America’. ‘Greece is nothing if not consistent’, Ms Bakoyannis said at a press conference today, ‘Just as we object to FYROM [the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia] being the sole claimant to the name of the entire area of Macedonia, so we object to FBCOA [the Former British Colony of America] claiming sole use of the name of “America”.’ She pointed out that the territory of the FBCOA covers less than half of the continent of North America, which in turn is only one of two American continents: ‘We are concerned that the FBCOA’s use of the name “America” implies territorial claims on neighbouring states.’
My Bakoyannis added: ‘The leaders of this new country of 300 million insist on calling their homeland “America” even though that is a name that has been part of Native American history and culture for thousands of years.’ She then asked rhetorically, ‘Was Pocahontas an Anglo-Saxon ?’
UN mediators have been struggling to find a solution to the ‘name dispute’ acceptable to both sides, one that would allow the US to remain in NATO. UN envoy Matthew Nimetz has tabled several proposals, including ‘Democratic United States of America’, ‘New United States of America’ and ‘United States of America (Washington D.C.)’, but these have all been rejected by Athens.
President George W. Bush has accepted that at this week’s NATO summit in Bucharest, the US may have its membership of the alliance terminated at Greece’s demand. ‘We shall continue to seek a negotiated solution to this question’, President Bush said today.
Ms Bakoyannis has indicated that Athens is considering asking the United Kingdom to change its name as well, pointing out that ‘Britain’ is the name of a neighbouring French administrative region. There has been speculation that Greece may insist that the UK be renamed ‘United Kingdom of Northern Britain and Northern Ireland’ if it wishes to remain in NATO, although Athens has yet to issue a formal demand.
That doesn't sound quite right, does it?
Then why should it be ok for Macedonia?
The ancient Macedonians spoke ancient MACEDONIAN! Their language had nothing common with the language of Greeks. It is absolutely different language, so don't make confusion! The language of ancient Macedonians nowadays seems to be close to the language of Macedonians in Republic of Macedonia - modern linguistic researches are proofing this.
The truth is that “Macedonians” are pretending to be “Macedonians”. I have lived in Macedonia for many years and I have heard stories from many Macedonians, and I can tell you that people that lived for generations in Macedonia do not feel like Macedonians at all, they claim themselves as Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Serbs, Bosnjaks, and Macedonians Gypsies. The truth is that there are more people that feel as “Bulgarians” and knowing that most of the region historically is Illyrians (today’s Albania) is a nightmare for “Bulgaro-Macedonians” and “Greeko-Macedonians”. In this scheme “Bulgaro-Macedonians” and “Greeko-Macedonians” are after dividing the region. The whole story about renaming the country is a hoax. There is an old saying about Greeks:” when you shake a hand with a Greek, make sure that you have all five fingers of your hand back.”
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