X-Envelope-to: POLITICS@OHSTVMA.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU
X-VMS-To: IN%"POLITICS@OHSTVMA.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU"
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics
Date:         Mon, 4 Jan 1993 16:42:59 -0400
From:         The Integral Differential <DEMON@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: On Bosnia, Serbia and a Potential "Third Balkan War," #800
Comments: To: POLITICS@OHSTVMA.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU

>
>>stated that Greece actually supported the Serbs in this, as they are
>>opposed to Macedonia's existence.
>>
>
>Greece actually has no quarrel about whatever arrangements the
>populations of former Yugoslavia decide to form, as long as its
>national security is not in any danger. By insisting to call itself
>the name of the northern part of Greece, the so called state of
>"Macedonia" actually presents such a threat. Throughout history

        Maybe in Greece's opinion...but not in reality.  The name "Macedonia"
is no threat to anyone.  Any more than the town of London, Ohio (USA) is a
threat to London, England.

        The only other explanation is that Greece harbors the desire to claim
the land of Macedonia for itself, and thus must contest any sovereign
nation--especially one that has a name which some may link to a past Greek
state.

>Macedonia has always been a part of Greek history and culture from the
>ancient times to now. That could have not been otherwise: one of the

        Are you sure that Greece hasn't always been part of Macedonia? :)

>most famous Athenian philosophers of the city-states of Greece,
>Aristotle was in fact the teacher one of the most famous Macedonians
>Alexander the Great.
>
>The "Macedonia" province of the former Yugoslavia is an artificial
>country created by Tito, the former communist ruler of Yugoslavia. A

        How do you account for the various incarnations of countries called
"Macedonia" occupying much that same region?

>"country" of 2 million with a large minority of both Serbs and
>Albanians may feel compelled to find a common "cause", a symbolism
>that will unite it together as a nation. Its choice and insistence of
>the name "Macedonia" is just that. Countries bordering Greece have
>always had territorial claims and aims for parts of Greece, and Greece
>has paid dearly for it: more than 400 years under Ottoman rule, the
>balkan wars and War Wolrd I and II. Obviously "Macedonia" is in no
>position to be a threat to Greece now, but how about the future? If
>Greece recognizes them as "Macedonia" doesn't that imply that it
>accepts their claim of been just that? A legitimate contender of what
>throughout history has been an indispensable part of Greece: Macedonia.

        No.

        Greece has ulterior motives.  They want Macedonia (or at least part of
it).

>>However, as always in the Balkans, there is a complication. There are
>>also a large number of Albanians, Bulgarians and Turks in Macedonia,
>
>People who forget their history are deemed to repeat it. In the
>colosal outcry about the atrocities of war, against the Serbs is all
>over the media now (maybe a lot of people start to realize that wars
>are not video games been played on the t.v. sets of their living rooms
>-see Gulf war-), most people seem to forget how the conflict started
>and what the roots of the problem have been. Serbs lost 700,000 to
>1,000,000 in WW-II from the Croats and others who collaborated with the
>Germans -talking about some ethnic cleansing- (quiz: Which was the
>first country in a rush to recognize Croatia, when the "cunning"
>English were arguing for a negotiated break-up of Yugoslavia? -that's
>right: the best qualified: Germany). Ethnic animosity goes even
>further back in history.

        WWII was 50 years ago.  Ethnic strife goes even further back.  Two
wrongs do not make a right.

        In other words: trying to justify genocide by pointing to a past war is
not valid.

        Tito and the Serbs did their own share of slaughter during that war.

>But if that whole area is taken over by Nationalism the American media
>is taken over by sensationalism and drama. If they are shocked by what
>can happen in a war (very poorly documented in my opinion anyway),
>maybe they have never been to their inner cities. In a profession

        What does innner-city America have to do with a Serb land-grab and
genocide?
        Nothing, of course.  It's merely a red-herring, an attempt for the
provocatuers to deflect criticism of Holocaust II by saying "people die in your
country, too".

        Greece should learn well from the current war.  Ethnic cleansing will
not be ignored by the world, nor will wars of conquest.  While leaders of
nations dither and dally, the people know who the perpetrators are.

        There will be a Nuremburg II, to go along with Holocaust II.  I would
think that Greece would be thus convinced not to start any IIIs over a name.

Brett'
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU