What if Robert Kaplan, in his book, "Balkan Ghosts" had said the following:
"The mistreatment of ethnic Macedonians in Greece is the inspiration for every racist, every fascist and every ethnic cleanser in the Balkans. The United States, the EU and Nato are complicit in the ongoing cultural genocide, of a people who have lived in, what considered the cradle of democracy, for 1,500 years".Now I know that president Bill Clinton was a fan of the book and was influenced by its theme of "ancient tribal hatreds" which gave him pause to intervene to stop the war in Yugoslavia.
I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that nothing would have changed. The US political class is married to the concept of "national interest" and is quite content to discuss, in polite company, horrific policy decisions (see David Brooks comments on Robert Gates).
The bombings of Sarajevo and Mostar would have continued and Srebrenica would still have been emptied of its men. Darfur would still be treated, as it is today, like a hemorrhaging patient languishing in the emergency room of a upscale private hospital, while a clerk sees if he has insurance coverage.
The question for Macedonians is ... "what is to be done"?
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