Prometheus 6

I'm an African American woman living in Greece and I can tell you that there is more to this name thing than is reported in the American press, but that's because George Bush officially recognized the country and its name before even telling the Greek leadership. Typical Bush league behavior.

But the problem is the Greeks want the Macedonians to at least add a geographic designator (or even New Macedonia) to their name because they are afraid the Macedonians have designs on that portion of Greece that is also known as Macedonia.

At first, I thought the Greeks were being paranoid. Yeah, the Macedonians had appropriated the Greek symbol for Macedonia as their flag, but still. But then it has been reported here, that in an interview in Newsweek, the Macedonian foreign minister criticized Greece for neglecting the rights of its "Macedonian minority." The only problem, there is no such thing as a Macedonian minority.

Macedonia seems to think that once they join NATO with the Macedonian name they are going to try to join the parts of ancient Macedonia that are now parts of Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece into one country. There was also no such thing as a Macedonian language or culture. What we know about ancient Macedonia is Alexander the Great and his father King Phillip. But they lived in what was clearly present day Greece.

So, while the Balkans are many things, and this spat, viewed from abroad may seem silly, here it is serious. It would be like if Canada wanted to take parts of Alaska and Montana, and all of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho because this was once an ancient forest that included British Columbia. Folks, wouldn't be happy.

Anyway, love the blog. Read it daily.

Amaliada -

Why did the U.S. State Department recommend recognizing Macedonia and why do you think it did so without informing the Greek government? What do you think are the motivating factors behind this push to create a "Greater Macedonia"? I just don't see the Romanians, Bulgarians and Greeks buying into this program. Do you think it might portend armed conflict at some future date? 

You know how violent those tribes are...like the article says, they've been at it for thousands of years. It's in their culture.

Yeah, I had forgotten that these folks have uniquely evolved to be hypervigilant for triggering cues. Tribal life is stressful.