Pseudo-Human Rights : Freedom House on Macedonia

If anyone knows of a student looking to do a report on political science you can mention an analysis of Freedom House's position on the Balkans.

I don't really have time to read this report. It is not good for the lovers of truth, putting Macedonia in the lower rankings of the "Freedom Index".

Nor do I have the time or inclination to read its report on Greece. In previous years, it has not mentioned the Macedonian minority in Greece at all. We must remember that even the State Department and the CIA (yah! That CIA) both discuss the status of the Macedonian in Greece.

I am interested in the bureaucratic hoops that the staff at Freedom House must have jumped through to avoid mentioning us. Please send any anonymous information to me or post it to Alt.News.Macedonia

Southeast Europe Online

Shaky Balkans need 'new strategy,' panel says

Dear Judy Dempsey,
International Herald Tribune

Next time some lame "commission" discusses the Balkans can you ask this question:

"If any former communsit country adopts the Greek position on minority rights, will they be accepted in the EU and Nato." (Hint ... Greece denies it has any minorties)

Note: Kiro Gligorov seems to be part of this "International Commission of the Balkans

Shaky Balkans need 'new strategy,' panel says

Shaky Balkans need 'new strategy,' panel says
By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2005
BERLIN A high-powered International Commission on the Balkans has issued a scathing critique of EU and UN policies in the Balkans, accusing both organizations of hindering democratic growth and warning that bleak economic and political conditions may lead to renewed instability.

"The red lights could soon start blinking if we don't take stock of the reality on the ground," said Alex Rondos, former Greek ambassador at large and member of the commission. "The region is not as stable as the EU makes out."

The commission asserts that democracy has been stifled in Bosnia "by the coercive authority" of Paddy Ashdown, the EU's high representative.

The international representatives, the commission says, "dabble in social engineering but are not held accountable when their policies go wrong. If Europe's neocolonial rule becomes further entrenched, it will encourage economic discontent and European electorates would see it as an immense and unnecessary financial and moral burden."

The commission challenged the European Union to formally offer Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia, Macedonia and the province of Kosovo a timetable for admission to the Union, warning that failure to do so could lurch the Balkans into another period of instability and leave the EU mired in the region.

The recommendations by the independent commission, made public in Europe's main capitals over the past few days, propose that in late 2006 the EU should sponsor a summit meeting "that aims to present all Balkan countries with their accession road maps."

Once the countries have met the EU's criteria on respect for human and ethnic rights, implementation of the rule of law and the introduction of a functioning market economy, the commission says these countries could start accession negotiations around 2009-2010 and be ready to join by 2014-2015.

Macedonians need to struggle for unity

This is an article about how to deal with the Quislings among our people. It tempting to agree but we must resist this temptation.

Many good Macedonians are working with American and EU governments and pseudo-human rights groups in the Balkans at the time that these groups are working against the interests of Macedonia. My hope is that our people are keeping their eyes and ears open. At the time that they are being asked to betray our country, they should reverse the pressure and try to get their organisations to change to a pro-Macedonian policy.

Lets assume that all our people are acting in good faith. Let's not sow more division than already exists.

Reality Macedonia : Quislings

Second, we must identify the QUISLINGS in our midst and deal with them appropriately [expletive omitted].

We have two groups of traitors: On the one hand, we have those who are earning their pay from Greece, while the others have ties with foreign secret services from the times of KOS and Belgrade’s influence in Macedonia [KOS – intelligence service of former Yugoslavia (SFRJ)]. Today, they have been placed in Athens’s route.

Rainbow/Vinozhito is alive and kicking

Rainbow/Vinozhito, the political party representing Macedonians in Greece, is one of the most effective forces in promoting the interests of Macedonians in the balkans. It has been ingored for years, but seems to be making more stride of late.

Reality Macedonia : Rainbow/Vinozhito Letter to EU Council of Foreign Affairs Regarding Macedonia Name Issue

Florina/Lerin, April 21, 2005

TO: The members of the EU Commission on External Relations
Honorable Foreign Ministers

Dear Mr. Minister,

On the occasion of the recent developments in the relations between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia concerning the issue of our neighboring country’s name as well as its prospective accession into the European Union, permit us to point out the following.

We are members of the national Macedonian minority in Greece as well as members of the Rainbow Party, which has been active in Greek politics since 1994 and in the European Parliament via the European Free Alliance (5 EMPs), which Rainbow joined in 2000. We have every respect for your undertaking with the “Macedonian issue”, for which we wish you every success, and we would like to express our views on the issue of the name – and thus perhaps assist you in your endeavor.

Our political position on the issue of the name of the Republic of Macedonia is based on the democratic principle that every individual and every people has the right to choose the name by which it wishes to define itself. We believe that this individual and collective democratic right is a European as well as a universal value. After all, it is on the basis of this principle that we call ourselves ethnic Macedonians in Greece.

Yikes! Macedonia ...nuclear dump for "the west"

I don't know much about this issue, but lets put a call in to PBS' Frontline!

Environment News Service (ENS)

Macedonia Constructs Nuclear Waste Dump in Secret

By Natasa Dokovska

SKOPJE, Macedonia, April 25, 2005 (ENS) - The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Spatial Planning is constructing a nuclear waste dump in the new community of Petrovec, near Skopje. Unannounced, the ministry is building the facility only three kilometers (two miles) from the Skopje airport, on the site of the Cojlija military airport.

The residents of this village and of 14 other local communities have made the existence of the dump public, and they say it is almost finished. These citizens and activists in environmental nongovernmental organizations say that the dump will be filled with radioactive waste imported from other countries.

United States Sees Progress, Challenges in Macedonia - US Department of State

Americans making "nicy -nice" with Macedonia

United States Sees Progress, Challenges in Macedonia - US Department of State

United States Sees Progress, Challenges in Macedonia

Ambassador Stephan Minikes addresses OSCE Permanent Council

Although Macedonia has made undeniable progress in recent years, the country remains in transition and faces some serious challenges, according to U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Stephan Minikes.

Corruption, organized crime, money laundering, discrimination against women and minorities, and electoral shortcomings were the challenges cited by Minikes, who addressed the OSCE Permanent Council April 21. He was responding to a report by Ambassador Carlos Pais, head of the OSCE Spillover Mission to Skopje.

Minikes congratulated the people of Macedonia for rejecting an anti-centralization referendum in October 2004, thereby signaling their commitment “to creating an integrated, multi-ethnic, democratic country on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration.”

“The question is not if Macedonia will join Euro-Atlantic organizations, but when,” said Minikes. “But this is a question that only Macedonia's government and people can answer by demonstrating clearly the will to push through the tough reforms that are still required.”

Some "blah blah" from Michael Sahlin is the EU`s special representative to Skopje

I have no idea what this EU guy is talking about but t might offer some clues to those who are willing to slog through his double talk!

Institute for War and Peace Reporting

...

It means that in the Western Balkans our political agendas match one another to a high degree and that the two organisations can work very closely together in the region.

Aside from the technical aspects, the broad conditions for membership of both organisations can be broken down into three main areas – governance, judiciary and international cooperation.

Governance is perhaps the most obvious. NATO and the EU are democratic clubs that require members to exhibit high standards of governance. All Western Balkan states pass this essential test. The Adriatic Charter countries also pass the test of civilian control over the military.

... In FYROM, (puke!!!) which has a population of just over 2 million, about a million legal cases have built up in the courts. Even I can do the maths needed to work out the ratio of unresolved cases per head of the population. So can prospective investors.

Welcome to "Republika Makedonija - Skopje"

If anyone needs to know, this is further proof that "the West" is the primary focus of de-stabilization in the Balkans see the below for a discussion of the compromise name of "Republika Makedonija - Skopje".

Matthew Nimitz's may or may not be a decent individual, but he is given a task of trying to reconcile human rights (Macedonia) with human wrongs (Greece). Can't be done Matt! Resign your position and go to Macedonian and beg for forgiveness!

Balkanalysis.com Rapid Reactions: Congratulations, Macedonia! As if You Weren't Enough of a Banana Republic Already...

Of all the idiotic suggestions that have ever been made regarding the Macedonian name issue, UN "mediator" Matthew Nimitz's brilliant idea - "Republika Makedonija - Skopje" - has got to be the most horrific. He has taken things to a new level, hyphenating the ICG's old insult with a solution used only in deepest Africa.