According to Makfax, on the 20th of February
"Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski reiterated government's stance today that Macedonia will be careful in bringing decisions after declaration of Kosovo's independence.
Gruevski refused to give a concrete answer on whether will Macedonia recognize the independence of Kosovo, pointing out that the national and state interests will be taken into consideration.
"Kosovo is taking steps towards implementation of the Ahtisaari's plan. We are following closely the situation there as well as in Serbia. Macedonia has ethnically mixed population and we will make all future decision in line with the state and national interests," Gruevski said in Skopje today."
In other words, they're really chicken. Makes sense when you're a country trying to be stable in the Balkans...
On the 18th, the Defence Minister Lazar Elenovski said:
"Macedonia has a clear attitude towards Kosovo’s independence. For us, it is acceptable since it has been done under the Ahtisaari plan."
So the military says it's "acceptable." Very conclusive, eh?
No more recent info is available
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
More amazing Macedonian Music
Karolina Goceva appears to be a pretty popular Macedonian star. She likes blue filters, awkward camera cuts, hair gel, and lip synching. The only word I could make out from song was "musika" or something like that...I'm guessing it's a cognate. Mojot Svet is her most popular song.
There are no words to describe this next video, except that "Karolina Goceva vs Elena Risteska - Part 2" does not do it justice. It has some English, some partial nudity, lots of Macedonian, and pure sexxxxxy.
And how could I skip the aptly titled nationalist YouTube video, "Macedonia is Greece." It's...well...breathtakingly Balkan.
And as a final addition, I felt it necessary to give us a counterpoint: Macedonian Nationalism at its finest. Take note of
There are no words to describe this next video, except that "Karolina Goceva vs Elena Risteska - Part 2" does not do it justice. It has some English, some partial nudity, lots of Macedonian, and pure sexxxxxy.
And how could I skip the aptly titled nationalist YouTube video, "Macedonia is Greece." It's...well...breathtakingly Balkan.
And as a final addition, I felt it necessary to give us a counterpoint: Macedonian Nationalism at its finest. Take note of
- the baby wrapped in the Macedonian flag
- a turkey descending from the Macedonian sun
- lions, wolves, and a playboy bunny
- the phrase "sexy Macedonia" emblazoned on a map of Macedonia
- a Macedonian-flag clad Calvin peeing on the Greek flag
- the the phrase "Greece is Gay"
- a picture of the Greek flag with a swastika on top saying "Fuck Greece for injustice, Fucking Racists"
- MACEDONIA FOREVER!!!
"Macedonia is a Land of Justice"
Today, Macedonia has shown itself to be truly a progressive legal force in the Balkans, according to government-sponsored Makfax. After sentencing the former governor of the Central Bank Ljube Trpeski and the tycoon Metodij Smilenski to 4.5 years each in a Macedonian prison for embezzling more than 60 million USD of government funds, both remain free.
The criminal court in Skopje found Trpeski guilty of abuse of power as a former governor of the Central Bank, and the controversial businessman Smilenski was found guilty of conspiracy.
The verdict orders Trpeski and Smilenski to return around 20 million dollars to the state, around a third of the embezzled funds.
Trpeski remains free, waiting for "the verdict to come under force" and Smilenski's fled by using his Austrian citizenship.
Both the Prosecutor's Office and the defense announced appeals to the verdict. Now ain't that suspicious?
IN POLITICS...
Makfax (always impartial) also published an article titled, "We believe that Macedonia will recognize Kosovo soon." This is actually a quote from Crasniqi, the president of the Kosovar parliament. What on earth is Macedonia actually going to do?
ahhhh....
The criminal court in Skopje found Trpeski guilty of abuse of power as a former governor of the Central Bank, and the controversial businessman Smilenski was found guilty of conspiracy.
The verdict orders Trpeski and Smilenski to return around 20 million dollars to the state, around a third of the embezzled funds.
Trpeski remains free, waiting for "the verdict to come under force" and Smilenski's fled by using his Austrian citizenship.
Both the Prosecutor's Office and the defense announced appeals to the verdict. Now ain't that suspicious?
IN POLITICS...
Makfax (always impartial) also published an article titled, "We believe that Macedonia will recognize Kosovo soon." This is actually a quote from Crasniqi, the president of the Kosovar parliament. What on earth is Macedonia actually going to do?
ahhhh....
Sunday, February 17, 2008
What? Background on Macedonia?
There's almost nothing in the state of Macedonia that's not contested, including (if you ask the Greek Government) their name and (if you ask the Bulgarian Government) the existence of Macedonian as an ethnicity or language! Not to mention those pesky religious conflicts--a daily affair in a country with a 33% Muslim population coexisting with a 64.7% Macedonian Orthodox population... And those pesky Catholics occasionally show up and cause problems.
Macedonia is indeed a bit of a mixed-up country in an ethnic and linguistic context. The state's population of 2.038 million (as of 2006) was comprised of 1.2 million people who identified as ethnic Macedonians, while the remainder were Albanian, Turkish, Romani, Serbian...heck, even a few Bulgarians. Interestingly, the Macedonian information agency has been known to count only ethnic Macedonians in many of its statistics, inflating income stats to make it look like they've got more GDP per capita than the 8400USD the CIA says they have.
The MIA is also quick to point out the great cultural traditions of Ethnic Macedonians, the people that Bulgaria says don't exist. Poetry is a big national pastime, as well as folk dances an Emo Techno.Many Macedonians celebrate Christian holidays in Orthodox tradition. Most sites don't mention this, but since 1/3 of the population is Muslim, I'm guessing that there are a few Muslim cultural traditions in there somewhere...
Here's Some EMO TECHNO!!!
Macedonia's history is characterized by chaos. The territory that comprises the modern state of Macedonia has passed through so many hands and experienced so many population shifts that nobody except a nationalistic government would dare claim credit for all the land's history... Of course the government claims just that. Did I mention that Mike Ilitch, the founcer of Little Caesar's Pizza, is Macedonian?
During the Hellenistic period, Alexander the Great's hometown was in the vicinity of Skopje, and the Roman emperor Justinian was born there too. Several Bulgarian empires controlled the land during the middle ages between occupations by Serbian-speaking people. The MIA notes proudly that for a time in the 1300s, the small country's territory played host to the capital of Czar Stefan Dusan's Serbian Empire (Not that anyone's ever heard of that). From the 1400s onward, the Ottoman Empire controlled the entire area, giving rise to a significant local Turkish population as well as causing many people to convert to Islam.
The concept of a "Macedonian" national identity did not come into play until after the First World War with the creation of a Yugoslavian state. During the Second World War, the Axis powers controlled the area and victimized many minorities, including the small but significant Jewish population. After this period, the area was considered to be on "the other side of the Iron Curtain." Then, on September 8, 1991, Macedonia peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia and everybody was happy for ever after...
There were a few ethnic tensions, though. People who identify as Bulgarians have repeatedly tried to secede from the state in the Northeast Region, as do Albanians in the West. During the Kosovo conflict in 1998-1999, 360 thousand ethnic Albanians took refuge in Macedonian territories. These Albanians then tried to break off and form a separate state. By 2005, after some interventions by NATO troops, the perfectly peaceful and democratic "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (as the Greeks insist it be called) started EU membership negotiation.
Now the illustrious Former Yugoslav Republic, in additon to cultivating bids for NATO and the EU, has joined the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, The Council of Europe, the WTO, and inexplicably, La Francophonie.
Macedonia is indeed a bit of a mixed-up country in an ethnic and linguistic context. The state's population of 2.038 million (as of 2006) was comprised of 1.2 million people who identified as ethnic Macedonians, while the remainder were Albanian, Turkish, Romani, Serbian...heck, even a few Bulgarians. Interestingly, the Macedonian information agency has been known to count only ethnic Macedonians in many of its statistics, inflating income stats to make it look like they've got more GDP per capita than the 8400USD the CIA says they have.
The MIA is also quick to point out the great cultural traditions of Ethnic Macedonians, the people that Bulgaria says don't exist. Poetry is a big national pastime, as well as folk dances an Emo Techno.Many Macedonians celebrate Christian holidays in Orthodox tradition. Most sites don't mention this, but since 1/3 of the population is Muslim, I'm guessing that there are a few Muslim cultural traditions in there somewhere...
Here's Some EMO TECHNO!!!
Macedonia's history is characterized by chaos. The territory that comprises the modern state of Macedonia has passed through so many hands and experienced so many population shifts that nobody except a nationalistic government would dare claim credit for all the land's history... Of course the government claims just that. Did I mention that Mike Ilitch, the founcer of Little Caesar's Pizza, is Macedonian?
During the Hellenistic period, Alexander the Great's hometown was in the vicinity of Skopje, and the Roman emperor Justinian was born there too. Several Bulgarian empires controlled the land during the middle ages between occupations by Serbian-speaking people. The MIA notes proudly that for a time in the 1300s, the small country's territory played host to the capital of Czar Stefan Dusan's Serbian Empire (Not that anyone's ever heard of that). From the 1400s onward, the Ottoman Empire controlled the entire area, giving rise to a significant local Turkish population as well as causing many people to convert to Islam.
The concept of a "Macedonian" national identity did not come into play until after the First World War with the creation of a Yugoslavian state. During the Second World War, the Axis powers controlled the area and victimized many minorities, including the small but significant Jewish population. After this period, the area was considered to be on "the other side of the Iron Curtain." Then, on September 8, 1991, Macedonia peacefully seceded from Yugoslavia and everybody was happy for ever after...
There were a few ethnic tensions, though. People who identify as Bulgarians have repeatedly tried to secede from the state in the Northeast Region, as do Albanians in the West. During the Kosovo conflict in 1998-1999, 360 thousand ethnic Albanians took refuge in Macedonian territories. These Albanians then tried to break off and form a separate state. By 2005, after some interventions by NATO troops, the perfectly peaceful and democratic "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (as the Greeks insist it be called) started EU membership negotiation.
Now the illustrious Former Yugoslav Republic, in additon to cultivating bids for NATO and the EU, has joined the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, The Council of Europe, the WTO, and inexplicably, La Francophonie.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Some Recent Political Ambitions
I figured I might as well see what the Macedonian Government was up to with respect to the EU and NATO. It turns out that the small country wants in on both, and has a few backers. Here are a few links that I found interesting:
Bulgaria has been backing a Macedonian bid for NATO membership http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/bulgaria-supports-macedonias-nato-membership--passi/id_18591/catid_68
Perhaps more useful and up to date is the BBC World Service country profile for Macedonia. Has tons of neat links to news services
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1067125.stm
My favorite of these links is the Macedonian Information Agency, a Government-Owned affair that's just fantastic, and not a little nationalist...
http://www.mia.com.mk/portal/page?_pageid=113,102330&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&prikaz=1&cat=10&prikaz=1&cat=10
And finally, MakFax, everyone's favorite news agency, which has informed me that the Gov. has just introduced Agrobusiness insurance. YAY!
http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/section.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrIssue=577&NrSection=10
Bulgaria has been backing a Macedonian bid for NATO membership http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/bulgaria-supports-macedonias-nato-membership--passi/id_18591/catid_68
Perhaps more useful and up to date is the BBC World Service country profile for Macedonia. Has tons of neat links to news services
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1067125.stm
My favorite of these links is the Macedonian Information Agency, a Government-Owned affair that's just fantastic, and not a little nationalist...
http://www.mia.com.mk/portal/page?_pageid=113,102330&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&prikaz=1&cat=10&prikaz=1&cat=10
And finally, MakFax, everyone's favorite news agency, which has informed me that the Gov. has just introduced Agrobusiness insurance. YAY!
http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/section.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrIssue=577&NrSection=10
Monday, February 4, 2008
Curiosity about music
I am on the hunt for Macedonian music. I recently discovered the Belgrade-Based Turbofolk megastar Ceca, and am looking to see if she has a counterpart in lovely Macedonia. Preliminary searches indicate that YouTube-featured Karolina Kozak may be Macedonian. Here's a link to her recent and very odd video...
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