[interact_list] [Macedonia] New Albanian Territorization Organisation vs 'Alexander'(who?)
- From: Akio Fujita <A.Fujita@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: interact_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 22:32:08 +0100
Opportunism still leads the situation in Macedonia.
Well, you can push situation to the direction you want -
unless your action really leads into catastrophe.
The solution? - CIA or NSA is seemingly profiling Albanians
and EU/NATO is basically sealed off from this decisive resource.
SO YANKEE is aiming to take up the region, probably.
But - I think those Balkan mafias are much more lethal than
CIA or NSA. Ah, American Empire.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010830/n29173278.html
Kosovars Play Themselves in U.S. Army Training (Reuters)
- Military doing group excercise. (Is this CR? maybe,
what a peaceful place Bradford is)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010901/wl/yugoslavia_montenegro_dc_1.html
Montenegro Break Won't Destabilize Region-President
``On the contrary, I am convinced that the finalization of dissolving
the former Yugoslavia is a prerequisite for starting new integration by
European standards,'' he said adding an independence referendum would
be held soon.
And this following one is really 'cool'. (look url!) So quote is long
(almost entire article)
We can try out how it is - just asking to a Greek student in Campus.
She/he will start to lecture you about 'Slav Macedonians' and 'Original
Macedonians(or something like that). I tried twice. The thing is even
people from Greece is really concerned about this kind of stuff.
Slav...it's a creation of French Revolution and a German thinker
Herder. In the process of 'progress' or 'achievements' - Western Europe
ranked down many other people on the way - and it's backfiring.
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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010902/wl/macedonia_state_of_confusion_3.html
'What has surfaced is a raw and angry brand of nationalism infused with
the elements that have fed many Balkan conflicts: a feeling of being
righteous victims under threat from all sides.
``We must break out of this way of thinking,'' said Stevo Pendarovski,
an adviser to President Boris Trajkovski. ``Otherwise we go backward,
not forward.''
For the moment, such voices of moderation appear overwhelmed.
Many Macedonians shudder at the peace deal to end the six-month ethnic
Albanian rebellion. They perceive dark implications for the proposed
constitutional changes giving greater language and political rights to
ethnic Albanians, who comprise about a third of the nation's 2 million
people. They fear it's a death sentence for a spiritual and political
homeland for Macedonians.
``I am a Macedonian with deep roots, with long traditions and customs
and identity,'' proclaimed parliament member Gjorgji Kotezski during
the opening of debate Friday on whether to move ahead with the peace
plan. ``I will never give that up. Macedonians are now entering into an
era when their country could disappear.''
That debate was suspended Saturday, reflecting hardline opposition to
what nationalists say are concessions to ethnic Albanians gained at the
point of a gun. The political impasse finally broke Sunday with an
announcement that debate would resume Monday.
But the rally cries for the country are undercut by a lingering
insecurity about what it means to be Macedonian.
Over the past century, the territory around Skopje has been snared in
nearly every major Balkan power-play. Macedonian eventually became a
backwater republic of Yugoslavia and kept under the shadow of the
dominant Serbs. A decade of independence - which will be marked Sept. 8
- has left Macedonia on the defensive against more powerful neighbors.
To the east, Bulgaria considers the Macedonian language a Bulgarian
dialect and stakes claim to heroes revered in Macedonia, including the
guerrilla leader Gotse Delchev who was killed fighting the Muslim
Ottomans in 1903. Some irredentists still refer to Macedonia as
``western Bulgaria.''
Greece, to the south, imposed a crippling economic embargo until 1995
in opposition to the name Macedonia, which Greeks claim is part of
their Hellenic heritage as the birthplace of Alexander the Great.
Relations have sharply improved, but the name issue remains unresolved.
Some Balkan scholars have even argued there is no distinct Macedonian
ethnicity at all.
``Garbage,'' cried Igor Svetanovska, waving a flag bearing Alexander
the Great's star symbol. ``We are the descendants of Alexander. We are
a great people.''
State television often displays the image of Alexander. Radio programs
pump out a stream of patriot songs.
The term ``Slav'' - once widely used to differentiate from ethnic
Albanian countrymen - is now considered an insult suggesting ethnic
links to Serbs and others.
``I don't want to be named Slav Macedonian,'' parliament deputy Filip
Petrovski told the chamber. ``I am Macedonian. The deepest humiliation
is when Westerners and Albanians call me Slav.''
Others have turned to the Christian Orthodox church as a common bond
against the Muslim ethnic Albanians.
``Pray for our Christian nation. The church is our strength,'' shouted
a woman waving a bible outside parliament. She gave only her first
name, Svetlaka, and her intolerant dream: rid Macedonia of all mosques.
``There a tendency to define ourselves by whom we oppose,'' said
Mirjana Nagcevska, a researcher at the Institute of Social and
Political Research in Skopje. ``This is not national identity. It's
just a dangerous illusion.''
But still the anger pours out. NATO is widely perceived by Macedonians
as allies of the ethnic Albanians - first in Kosovo and now in
Macedonia. The rebels are resented for the apparent success of their
uprising. Paramilitary groups - with names such as Tigers and Lions -
are openly recruiting and are lauded in graffiti
``Lions roar. Save the country,'' said a message on a Skopje apartment
building.
``I am not a psychologist,'' said Hansjorg Eiff, the NATO ambassador to
Macedonia. ``But this war in Kosovo has created a trauma here and this,
I must say, pathological state of affairs.''
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continued)
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