NATO is coming...or at least Bush says so!

President George W. Bush reassured Macedonia on Saturday that the United States believed it should join NATO as soon as possible. This comes in the wake of unprecedented US involvement in the area. Why? Who knows. (this comes from makfax, Macedonia's illustrious news agency.

According to the Canadian website DOSE.CA,

"The Macedonians walked out of this week's NATO summit when Greece blocked their invitation because of a long-running dispute over the country's name, which is that of Greece's northern province, birthplace of Greek hero Alexander the Great.

In a speech in Croatia, which was invited on Thursday to join the Western military alliance with Albania, Bush said he hoped Macedonia would join NATO, along with former Yugoslav republics Bosnia, Montenegro and perhaps Serbia.

"We look forward to Macedonia taking its place very soon in this great alliance for freedom," he said in a speech attended by Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski."

As violence in Kosovo continues, this all seems very dubious. Greece is unlikely to give up its attachment to Macedonia's name.