flamming_python wrote:Hannibal, I have you on my ignorelist, but I can still see your posts due to others quoting them.
Here's a life tip for you - don't look for problems, look for a solution.
No chance of that I'm afraid. Here in the Balkans everyone hates everyone they share a border with. For Greeks "the Macedonian question" is especially sensitive...but I don't want to get into that at this time.
Perhaps the percentage of hate between Serbia and Macedonia, and Macedonia and Bulgaria isn't that great. Especially between us and the Serbs, since we've been a part of the same country for 50+ years, and there's a lot of contact between us...mixed marriages, relatives and so on... You could say I'm partly Serbian (a very small part though), though I consider myself Macedonian. Doesn't really make a difference.
My only wish is that nations that share similar culture like Macedonians, Serbs and Bulgarians could show the same unity like the Greeks do...but that ain't happening anytime soon.
Divide et impera, and all that...
Cyberspec wrote:I find it difficult to believe that Nato didn't know about a fairly large group (estimated at 50-70) crossing from Kosovo. Especially since a couple of weeks ago there was an incident when a MK Police outpost was captured on the border and later the assailants crossed back into Kosovo.
The 'bigger picture' to all this....call me a pessimist but I think things will get worse
Gas for Greece, Mayhem for Macedonia
Andrew Korybko had a few good texts about the Balkans, and Macedonia in particular even before this sh_t went down.
He seems to be a knowledgeable analyst. You can read most of it here >>.
Oh, and I share the opinion that things could only get worse.
zg18 wrote:Most people in fmr. Yugoslavia simply don`t know how religiously diverse Albania is. Kosovan and Macedonian Albanians are like 95% Muslim and therefore Albania must be the same.
For Serbs (and some other to be honest) , Orthodox Albanian sounds like Catholic Saudi , unbelievable.
My dad's best friend is an Albanian catholic. Of course both him and my dad are communist, so nothing like that matters to them.
His son is my friend, and married another friend who is Orthodox. Now they've baptized their children Orthodox. But I don't think they're all too religious.
The problem with ethnic Albanians here derives from Kosovo. And most of the local Albanians are(were) different to those that settled here from Kosovo. Sadly the Kosovo stream dominated...and voila...
Cyberspec wrote:The fallen policemen....interestingly, 1 is an ethnic Albanian and 3 are ethnic Serbs.
Ethnic Serbs in Macedonia just call themselves Macedonian. As do ethnic Macedonians in Serbia (call themselves Serbian, I mean). I'm sure our Serbian members can attest to that.
I mean, sure, they have their Macedonian/Serbian organizations, but it's merely a club where they listen to folk songs and celebrate national holidays. After that, they go back to being Serbs/Macedonians.