Apply London Mayor’s Anti-EU, US Arguments To Macedonia Name Dispute And It Would Be Over – OpEd

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In anticipation of Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to the United Kingdom, in which he will implore the UK to stay in the European Union, London mayor, Boris Johnson, said that, “…coming from Uncle Sam, it is a piece of outrageous and exorbitant hypocrisy.” True. No nation has the right to tell another how to run its internal affairs.

The perfectly glib sarcasm by Johnson continues, “The British people will be told to be good to themselves, to do the right thing. We will be informed by our most important ally that it is in our interests to stay in the EU, no matter how flawed we may feel that organisation to be. Never mind the loss of sovereignty; never mind the expense and the bureaucracy and the uncontrolled immigration.”

The “loss of sovereignty”. Johnson hits the nail on the head. Apply any of his arguments to the US and EU demanding that Macedonia change its name to appease Greece. Just ask fellow Brit Robin O’Neil, the first UN mediator for the Macedonia-Greece name dispute, “Macedonia must not and will not change its name in order to appease Greece. If Macedonia succumbs to pressures and changes its name, such events will only give more firepower to Greece until it reaches its final goal – Macedonia to vanish from the map.”

As Boris Johnson says, “There is no country in the world that defends its own sovereignty with such hysterical vigilance as the United States of America.” So why is it acceptable for the US to threaten Macedonia’s sovereignty by demanding a name change? Back to Johnson’s hypocrisy point. The US, much like the UK and the vast majority of the world, have already recognized Macedonia using its proper name. Yet, one can only explain the United States’ actions as foolishly believing that it knows best, and that it has the right to interfere in foreign affairs as it sees fit.

The Macedonia name issue comes down to common sense. No nation has the right to name another. Macedonia’s name has always been Macedonia. Greece denied its very existence until 1988 and, as admitted by former Greek PM Constantine Mitsotakis, initiated the name dispute as an excuse to keep denying the existence, and persecution, of its large Macedonian minority. The West partitioned Macedonia in 1913 among Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia (a portion later went to Albania) and Macedonians have endured over 100 years of various governments trying to eradicate or forcibly assimilate them.

A part of Macedonia declared independence in 1991, and now the West, led by the US, as usual, and epitomized by the farcical UN-sponsored name negotiations, is demanding that Macedonia “compromise” on its own name. In the “interim” (over two decades), the UN refers to Macedonia as “FYROM” (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). How fun it must be for Macedonian athletes to walk in Olympic opening ceremonies behind the letter “F”. How would it go over if the US was called “FBCOA” (Former British Colony of America). They would declare war before accepting any negotiation of its name and invade a country that has nothing to do with it.

One would imagine that if any of Boris Johnson’s points were applied to Macedonia’s situation, we wouldn’t be in this mess today. Let’s see if the UK can teach its American younger brother some good judgement and denounce the Macedonia name negotiations as an attack on human rights and common sense.

*Bill Nicholov, President, Macedonian Human Rights Movement International

27 thoughts on “Apply London Mayor’s Anti-EU, US Arguments To Macedonia Name Dispute And It Would Be Over – OpEd

  • March 28, 2016 at 7:16 am
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    LOL!! Obvious this article is written by a slav of FYROM which fails once again to mention that FYROM are Bulgarians and speak Bulgarian, and that before the 1950s their tiny Slavic/Albanian country was known as “Vardaska” and the only reason it was changed to the Greek name of “Macedonia” was to create a separate identity and culture that is NOT Bulgarian and to claim territory of northern Greece’s “Real Macedonia” which was and always is known to be Greek as it has been for over 4000 years!!!

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    • March 30, 2016 at 4:19 am
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      LOL,LOL! FYROM are Bulgarians? How do you know idiot? I went many times in Macedonia and NOBODY has ever declared like Bulgarian. This country has never been known as Vardarska- because Vardarska REGION is majority occupied by GREECE from Thessaloniki to Evzoni border. Well, “Real Macedonia” has NEVER been known to be GREEK because they were the WORST ENEMIES in Ancient times. And by all census data from 1370 until 1913 , majority of population were Macedonians,Turks,Albanians and less than 10% Greeks when “REAL Macedonia” was part of Ottoman Empire.

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      • March 10, 2017 at 8:33 pm
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        don’t. you do not know history. you’re not from there. the slavs from the former yugoslav republic of macedonia are ethnic bulgarians. nothing else nothing less. they speak bulgarian. gruev, dulchev, samule ect ect – all ethnic bulgarians. the name macedonia is exclisely greek and can only be used by greeks. no one else can use the name. full stop. they will never be recognized. academia does not allow it. if they keep on promoting hellenic history they will lose their country. once they rebrand all will go smoothly.

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  • March 28, 2016 at 9:20 am
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    Dear Sir,
    Your article is flooded with historical inaccuracies. Kon. Mitsotakis’ quote is taken out of context and is largely misrepresented. In fact, what he said is that there are SOME who claim that the name dispute was manufactured in order to distract people from the real issue which is no other than than the status of the “Makedonian” minority in Greece. He did not deny however the existence of a slavomacedonion community in northern Greece nor did he accept the argument of some.

    You make the mistake that most people do: you treat Macedonia as a political and national term. Macedonia is a geographical term used to define the area that was inhabited historically by a plethora of communities ( Othomans, Greeks, Jews, Armenias, Bulgarians). By stating that part of Macedonia was declared independent in 1991, you are basically stating that the government of the fYRoM lays claim over the aegean Macedonia (in Greece) and Pirinska Macedonia (in Bulgaria) and that these parts need at some point to be united with the fYRoM. This is precisely the VMRO irridentist policy that continues to feed tensions in the region and raises concerns about the true intentions of the VMRO government.

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    • March 29, 2016 at 9:57 am
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      YOU simple minded brain washed nation every one knows what happened to MACEDONIA in 1913 stop spreading false history and stop telling lies.Macedonia never was greek and never will be. greeks he’s never existed till 1836.That artificial made nation is so sick in ther brains its radicals.

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  • March 28, 2016 at 6:33 pm
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    Bill Nicholov is right.The Americans are very quick to divide and weaken.Robin O’Neil is correct,how about USA,call yourself FBCA.Why not call the UN and the French together with the Prussians(Germany)and remind them what punishment thry did to the Macedonian people in 1913.Why did the above mentioned Big Powers did not allow Macedonia to become independent nation in 1821,but allowed the Ottoman Empire to hold on to Macedonia.One of the founding fathers of America in 1783 John Adams said”The project of setting at liberty the whole country of ancient Greece,Macedonia ,and Illyricum,and erecting independent Republics in those famous seats,however splendid it may appear in speculation,is not likely to be seriously entertained by the two Empires,because it is impracticable.The Greeks of this day,although they are said to have imagination and integrity,are corrupted in their morals to such a degree,as to be a faithless,perfidious race,destitute of courage,as well as of those principles of honor and virtue,without which nations can have no confidence in one another”.
    “John Adams,one one of the founding fathers,in a statement written back on July 14th 1783 to the first US State Secretary Robert Livingston,clearly states he wanted to see Macedonia as well as Greece independent from Ottoman rule”.
    Unfortunately for some Balkan nations(including Macedonia),it was the French,Prussians(Germany)who decided who gets independence.
    It is sad to hear that the USA pressures Macedonia to change its centuries old name.Don’t forget,Macedonia’s name is the only country from BC to today to carry on its name MACEDONIA.

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  • March 28, 2016 at 9:51 pm
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    Oh what rot Peter Givens, what utter rubbish. The Macedonia of classical antiquity is today to be found precisely where it was then ….. firmly within the Hellenic body politic and society. Even a halfwit would know that the fake entity presently and temporarily known as FYROM occupies the territory of Dardania and Paeonia. Further, evidently you’ve not heard of Vardarska Banovina either.

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  • March 29, 2016 at 12:16 pm
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    Give Macedonia back to the Macedonians stop the Greek tyrany. Greeks have enough of their own problems economically they have lost respect from the rest of the world just move forward and let the historical truth be finally told. Give Macedonia back to its rightful people including the Agean Macedonia which was stolen from the Macedonians by the Greeks, Serbian,and Bulgarians. Let justice and history. Finally be served…

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    • March 11, 2017 at 4:03 am
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      “Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev used to pass Death Sentences to those who claimed the blood of Alexander runs in us“

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  • March 29, 2016 at 12:53 pm
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    no one other than Greeks and the former Serbian Royal Family has ever heard of the term Vardarska Banovina. It has popped its head up in Greek rhetroic in the last 3 or 4 years in a desperate attempt to rename a part of the world that has carried the name Macedonia for 2500 years irrespective of who lives there. Seeing as Greeks are such prolific history buffs I bet they’ve have seen this video that they themselves have produced to educate themselves on their own ‘diverse’ origins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M99ze151HvA

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    • March 11, 2017 at 4:03 am
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      “Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev used to pass Death Sentences to those who claimed the blood of Alexander runs in us“

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  • March 30, 2016 at 8:55 am
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    I trust you faks have heard of Herodotus. Herodotus wrote of Macedonia and the Macedonians, and he did so more than 2,400 years ago. Around 1,000 years before you Slavs, or is that slaves, arrived on the scene. What follows next is from Herodotus. Speak to that Slavs ….. or is that slaves.

    Choke on that Slavs. Lol.

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  • March 30, 2016 at 8:59 am
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    On the Greekness of ancient Macedonia and the ancient Macedonians consider Herodotus, who wrote hundreds of years earlier than the likes of Arrian, Plutarch, Curtius Rufus (before Alexander III, before even Philip II) and wrote of and as regards another Alexander of Macedon ….. another Greek of Macedon.

    On Herodotus

    “Everything we had, and everything we could get, has been yours; and now, to put the finishing touch to your entertainment, we make you a free and generous offer of our mothers and sisters, that you may know without any doubt that we honour you as you deserve, AND THAT YOU MAY TELL YOUR KING, WHO SENT YOU, THAT A GREEK, THE LORD OF MACEDONIA, ENTERTAINED YOU ROYALLY BOTH WITH BED AND BOARD.” (Herodotus, The Histories, Penguin Classics, page 317 (5, 20))

    “I HAPPEN TO KNOW, AND WILL DEMONSTRATE IN A SUBSEQUENT CHAPTER OF THIS HISTORY, THAT THESE DESCENDANTS OF PERDICCAS ARE, AS THEY THEMSELVES CLAIM, OF GREEK NATIONALITY. This was, moreover, recognized by the managers of the Olympic Games, on the occasion when Alexander wished to compete and his Greek competitors tried to exclude him on the ground that foreigners were not allowed to take part. ALEXANDER, HOWEVER, PROVED HIS ARGIVE DESCENT, AND SO WAS ACCEPTED AS A GREEK AND ALLOWED TO ENTER THE FOOT-RACE. He came equal first.” (Herodotus, The Histories, Penguin Classics, page 318 (5, 22))

    “The Athenians at once accompanied the guards back to their post, and Alexander delivered his message. ‘Men of Athens,’ he said, ‘I trust to your honour for what I am about to tell you: keep it a secret from everyone except Pausanias or you will ruin me. I SHOULD NOT BE HERE AT ALL IF I HAD NOT AT HEART THE COMMON WELFARE OF GREECE – I AM MYSELF A GREEK BY DESCENT, AND HAVE NO WISH TO SEE GREECE EXCHANGE HER FREEDOM FOR SLAVERY.” (Herodotus, The Histories, Penguin Classics, page 573 (9, 45))

    “This Alexander was descended, in the seventh generation, from Perdiccas, who won the lordship of the Macedonians in the following way. THREE BROTHERS, GAUANES, AEROPUS, AND PERDICCAS, DESCENDANTS OF TEMENUS, HAD BEEN EXPELLED FROM ARGOS and had taken refuge in Illyria. Thence they crossed into upper Macedonia and went to the town of Lebaea, …..” (Herodotus, The Histories, Penguin Classics, page 549 (8, 137))

    This is what I know Turko-Slavs, Herodotus demolishes Turko-Slav propaganda. For the record Turko-Slavs, so does Arrian, and Plutarch, and Curtius Rufus too. We Hellenes couldn’t give a stuff what you force yourselves to believe. As you can see, we have the testimony of history. You have the delusional and illusory musings of Stefov and Grezlovski.

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  • March 30, 2016 at 12:58 pm
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    Dear Mitch I don’t know where you’re from, but I know where my descendants, for example, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great great grandfather .They are native from the city of Edessa original ВОДЕН.Please find some Greek who now live there to see where his roots and Normally from this part of Macedonia does Not Have them, because they are passed to acting native Greeks but unfortunately that does not exist.And another thing we’ve always talked to the Macedonian language (mother language) because we are( ENDOPI)

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    • March 11, 2017 at 4:02 am
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      “Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev used to pass Death Sentences to those who claimed the blood of Alexander runs in us“

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  • March 31, 2016 at 8:00 pm
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    Im reading all this comments and can not understand how you are trying to rename 2 milion people in one small country that is just a part of real Macedonia, and you keep trying trying and pressing and worst thing is that you dont feel any regret sorrow any filing. What are you doing people???? You are human beings or im wrong? We are MACEDONIANS our fathers are MACEDONIANS our grandparents were MACEDONIANS and you can not do anything about that.

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    • March 11, 2017 at 4:01 am
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      “Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev used to pass Death Sentences to those who claimed the blood of Alexander runs in us“

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  • April 4, 2016 at 11:20 am
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    Bulgaria hands over EU Bulgarian passports to FYROM citizens – excluding ALBANIAN ethnics of course – with the greatest ease. And of course FYROMians take them. Bulgaria is looking forward to FYROM becoming part of Bulgaria as it should be. They speak the same language as the so-called Macedonian language is a Bulgarian dialect. Many FYROMians consider themselves as nothing but Bulgarians and look forward to join Bulgaria, although they don’t speak about it very openly. I believe that this is inevitable though. Sooner or later the large ALBANIAN MUSLIM MINORITY will be the MAJORITY in FYROM, and even before that happens, all hell will break loose. This is their only chance to prevent it.

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  • May 19, 2016 at 7:22 am
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    Sure enough, wherever Macedonia is mentioned, Greeks will gather – shouting in the hopes of drowning out the truth. Because once the truth has been learned, any honest person would see what a despicable bunch these Greeks truly are.

    As John Adams described them in the 1700’s, the description still applies to many Greeks today,
    ” The Greeks of this day, altho’ they are said to have Imagination & Ingenuity, are corrupted in their Morals to such a degree, as to be a faithless perfidious Race, destitute of Courage, as well as of those principles of Honor and Virtue, without which a Nation can have no Confidence in one another, nor be trusted by others. ”

    http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-15-02-0057

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    • August 29, 2016 at 4:44 am
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      You write of truth yet you know nothing of it. This truth I know ….. Herodotus, Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus, Curtius Rufus, Isocrates, Strabo, Polybius, Josephus (to name a few among many) wrote of the Greekness of Macedonia and the Macedonians. Their truth, the testimony of history, will be around long after Skopians have turned to dust. Lol.

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  • June 25, 2016 at 5:19 pm
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    Macedon was Greek Kingdom. Macedonians are Hellenic on this basis. Hence, Macedonians are the Greeks who to this day, practice their self determination right in the tradition of their Paleo-Haemus Hellenic ancestors. FYRoM cannot use the name of ancient-Greek Kingdom for country-Name…sovereign sate-name, nationality, language and ethnicity on same basis.

    Western Civilization supports one (historical) Macedonia story. History cannot support two different versions of the Macedonia story…one pseudo and (Yugo) Slavic, the other one Hellenic and mainstream.

    The West reject outright, FYRoM besmirchment of Western worlds cultural-historical narrative. Why? Because in that narrative, Macedon was Greek Kingdom, and Macedonians, a regional historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock.

    Lest we forget – Alexander the Great never met Slavs, never spoke Slavic, never lived in FYRoM.

    No credible person of worth in the West, from Politics Diplomacy or Academia, puts FYRoM self-determination right above the rights of Macedonians wanting to keep the Macedonian name in the Greek domain. Macedonians have UN recognized rights, autochthonous right, to keep, to cherish, and to preserve their Hellenic cultural historical heritage.

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  • August 16, 2016 at 6:28 am
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    If Greeks are so concerned why did your government only rename northern greece Macedonia in the late 1989s and why did Greece simply say Macedonia does not exist until then? Amazing how this 2000 yeats of histort was not part of Greek policy until the late 1980s when everyone knew Yugoslavia was imploding…

    Alexander wasnt allowed to compete at the Olympics because he wasn’t Greek. Claiming lineage was a political move which Philip also did to compete.

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    • August 29, 2016 at 4:29 am
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      The Olympics thing ….. again. The 1989 thing (or is that the 1988 thing or, indeed, the 1987 thing (Skopians can’t quite make up their minds in that respect)) ….. again. However many times and however often Skopians are repudiated they keep coming back with the same discredited assertions. That is the real story here. As regards the Olympics thing, I trust that my earlier posting will suffice. Here we Hellenes have the testimony of history. Skopians conversely have illusion and delusion. As regards the 1989 (or whatever) thing, I note that the former Greek Ministry of Northern Greece (which at that time encompassed both Greek Macedonia and Thrace and thus the name) had been known as Governorate General of Macedonia from 1912. But one should not confuse the name of an administrative organ like a government ministry with that of a land region. Greek Macedonia has been known as Macedonia since ancient times. One can’t quite say the same for the territory of FYROM. Think Paeonia. Think Dardania. Lol.

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  • August 28, 2016 at 10:11 am
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    Like all nations of the world, the Hellenic Republic has right to protect the country’s national history and heritage. Greek governments are morally and legally obliged to do that. So Greece fights for Macedonian rights, to keep as Greek as possible, the identity-characteristics of their regional-historical Paleo-Haemus Hellenic ancestors. The UN recognizes the rights of indigenous populations to keep as close as possible the identity-characteristics of their ancestors. So where does that leave FYRoM?

    Lest we forget – FYRoM fights for recognition of the Macedonian name for country-name…sovereign state-name, nationality, language and ethnicity. FYRoM vies and competes with Greece over the Macedonian name, Identity, History, Heritage, Legacy.

    In FYRoM, the peoples there learn to call themselves Macedonians. They call the land Macedonia and their language, Macedonian-language. But none of this is true factual or historically accurate. The peoples there are [Yugo] Slavs, they live on Paeonian soil and speak Serbianized Bulgarian, developed for them back in 1944 by slavist philologists following blue-print for creation of Macedonian people-group inside Yugoslavic federal collective. Yugoslavs attempted to erase the demographic history of the Haemus [Greek] peninsula by wiping off the historical record, all references to Macedonian Hellenic identity…they unashamedly superimpose Slavic identity on Macedonians dating back to before Slavic arrival to Haemus [Greek] peninsula.

    With challenges like this, to Western worlds cultural-historical narrative, Greece is right wanting to confront them head-on, eyeball to eyeball. Greece is right, fighting for the preservation of historical accuracy and historical cohesion. Greece is right in wanting to keep Macedonian name in Greek domain. And Greece is right in wanting to keep Macedonian identity anchored to Greek heritage. Lest we forget – Greece has historic rights over ancient-Kingdom of Macedon.

    Looking back, it is clear now, that FYRoM underestimated the worlds collective intelligence on matters Macedonian…overestimated it’s fiscal value and strategic position to the West. In the end, FYRoM overplayed it’s importance. For the West, FYRoM is simply minor Slavic country recently established 1991. Greece on the other hand remains the Western world’s number one, major cultural contributor. On this basis, Greece is right to fight for the preservation of historical accuracy, historical cohesion depends on it.

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  • March 6, 2017 at 4:59 am
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    The root of Fyroms problem is the identity issue. It has to be brought up. The country has been built on bad foundations so its now faltering. had it had a sound foundation of multiculturalism it would not be in the mess. The Albanians are indigenous and as such deserve equal rights. Just the name Macedonia is offensive to the Albanians. Its offensive the the Greeks. its offensive to the Bulgarians. When a new nation offends its neighbors from the gecko it is doomed. add to this the cultural fabrications of antiquity. Slavic denials. stolen national heroes. theme parks that are the product of a mad man. languishing economy. ect ect. all these social and economic issues are brought upon from one thing – the identity. Its false. The minute they redefine who they are in a correct historical and scientific manner the country will thrive. they don,t take criticism. its impossible to criticize them. they don’t get it. Macedonia is a name that is not exclusive to FYROM. They cannot use it. They have had ample time to fix the name issue. Instead they forged along with a false antiqization policy. Inflammatory airport names. Cheap Italian statues of historical figures that are not ethnically connected to them. Ect Ect. The media has been shut down. Take Mina as an example of Gruevski propaganda. The place stinks. The best option they have is to take Rohrabacher advice. They will save themselves a civil war. Partition for peace. Let the Albanians split. They will never be accepted by their Slav co occupants. The fragmented mess can then decide to either forge along in their historical fantasy land or joint their ancestral homeland Bulgaria.

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  • March 11, 2017 at 4:00 am
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    “Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev used to pass Death Sentences to those who claimed the blood of Alexander runs in us“

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  • March 11, 2017 at 4:14 am
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    you can have a country. call it whatever you want but just don’t call it Macedonia. New Macedonia, Slavomacedonia, DonkeyMacedonia just don’t call it Macedonia. it’s either you claim Slavic history and not Hellenic history or you claim Hellenic history and not Slavic history. you cannot have both. you’re not that evolved.

    “Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev used to pass Death Sentences to those who claimed the blood of Alexander runs in us“

    you either destroy your antiquization reproduction statues or destroy your Bulgarian reproduction statues. what are you? Slavs or Hellenes. you cannot be both. science has proven you are slavs. history has proven you are not Hellenes.

    back off our history you farm animals.

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