The Macedonian Tendency: September 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Vampire Watch: Janusz Bugajski and Macedonia and Peace in the Balkans

By David Edenden


I don't have time to go write a long article on the recent CSIS newsletter and CSIS Report on the Macedonian - Greek "name dispute" (here) by Janusz Bugajski, Director of the Lavrentis Lavrentiadis Chair; Director, New European Democracies Project; and Senior Fellow, Europe Program at CSIS. (except to say ... Edward Joseph ... you really disappoint me!)


I just want to point out that is a Janusz Bugajski is vampire and a supporter of Greek racism against its ethnic Macedonian minority.


I have written before that our friend Janusz has crusaded to de-stabilize Macedonia and thereby the Balkans.  I assumed that it was a personal quirk but now learn his adoption of the Greek position on Macedonia and Macedonians was a professional decision to market CSIS to the Greek government for funding for his project and thereby guarantee a job for himself for the foreseeable future ... pathetic. Here, he is following the well worn path of the Wilson Center.

U.S.-Greece Task Force: Transforming the Balkans

A collaborative bilateral initiative by two key policy institutes in both countries, Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States and the Hellenic Centre for European Studies (EKEM) in Greece, will help promote this process by establishing a U.S.-Greece Task Force consisting of two Working Groups, one based in Washington D.C. and one in Athens.
The Lavrentis Lavrentiadis Chair in Southeast European Studies, established at CSIS in early 2009, serves a leading role in advancing the international policy discourse at CSIS and among its external constituencies in Washington, D.C., including the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government and the U.S. policy, academic, NGO, and business communities. 
The Chair has been made possible by the generous support of Greek entrepreneur, Lavrentis Lavrentiadis.


Observations:


1. Western Balkans (CSIS Report 2010)


Anytime you see a report or document discussing problems or progress on the "Western Balkans" you can assume that the author, in order to get funding, from the EU/US/Nato has ignored the treatment of the ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria and Greece (both EU and Nato members). It is ironic and a testament to the decentralized nature of the US bureaucracy that one oorganization, SETimes  funded by the Pentagon and established during the tenure or Donald Rumsfeld (here).


2. Bulgaria


I am always amazed that Bulgaria and the Bulgarian media are working hand in glove with the Greek government to bring Macedonians to their knees notwithstanding Greece's treatment of its ethnic Macedonian minority ... but derugo!


3. "Slav Macedonians"


Janusz, notwithstanding Obama's desire to pander to the Greek lobby, the US government recognizes Macedonia under its constitutional name and Macedonians in the US Census. The only qualifier and necessary is "ethnic Macedonians" when disusing the difference between Macedonians and Greeks. It is racist when you discuss Albanians and "Slavic Macedonians". The term denies our ethnic identity.

In fact, three (Edenden - should be FOUR) distinct questions will need to be dealt with in any bilateral resolution – first, the country’s actual name, such as the Republic of Northern Macedonia; second, the uses of that name in international diplomacy, foreign trade, passports and other documentation; and third the relevant adjective and noun for the language and nationality of the Slavic Macedonians and (Edenden - fourth,  the attempt by Greece to wipe "ETHNIC MACEDONIANS OF THE MAP OF GREECE.)