I'm Not in Love With Obama

By David Edenden

Wise words from from a Greek pundit ... which should be required reading for our friend Senator Barack Obama and the Greek Issues Caucus. These pathetic posers are throwing oil on the flame that is the Greek Macedonian dispute.

Not again

By Alexis Papachelas
ekathimerini.com | In Brief:

History has a strange way of repeating as a caricature of its former self. A full 14 years have passed and we are back to square one. A government with a slim majority is starting to feel the Macedonia issue as a threat. On its right, a small extreme party is exerting heavy pressure. To its left is the main opposition party which wants to promote unrealistic stances through aggressive rhetoric.

Unfortunately, the Macedonia dispute has completed a long 14-year cycle only to land back at the center of the political agenda.

It would be a shame – or rather a major historical error – if we allowed this matter of questionable importance to draw us into a political crisis. It is not a crucial issue of national security, it does not pose a threat to us and we have a lot of other massive problems that need to be solved.

We are at a crucial juncture, again. The matter has to be handled effectively. For example, a government cannot allow a diplomat to assure it that what happened in the UN yesterday was not going to happen and then kick up a fuss when it did.

The prime minister has to decide very quickly what he wants. Solution 1: He vetoes Skopje’s accession to NATO and presses for a compromise such as “Republic of Macedonia-Skopje.” Can he survive this politically?

Solution 2: The government accepts the name FYROM for the accession to NATO and then invokes the interim agreement signed by Andreas Papandreou. This way, Karamanlis will accept that he cannot allow any compromise and this will postpone the solution of the problem.

These are the only possible scenarios. Above all, the government should not allow the Macedonia issue to dominate Greek politics. It will be a vindication for all those who persistently cry “full speed backward” and it will make the country hostage to extreme minorities.