Balkan Express
by Nebojsa Malic
Antiwar.com

August 9, 2001

Murdering Macedonia

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Old and worn as that phrase may be, it is no less accurate today than it was the first time it was spoken. The familiar descent of Balkans nations first into warfare, then into servitude and poverty, ought to stand as a living example. Now that Macedonia is being torn apart as the old Yugoslavia, then Bosnia and Serbia were, most Balkans nations look upon the unfolding grisly spectacle with a mixture of relief and fear: relief, for it is not them on the sacrificial altar of the "international community"; fear, for they are not at the altar yet.

Indeed, most Balkans nations try to think about Macedonia as little as possible. Slovenia is too busy trying to become a NATO fiefdom; Croatia has its own troubles, which - most inconveniently - its politicians cannot blame on Serbs anymore; Bosnia is preoccupied with pretending it is not a dysfunctional foreign colony, losing what little of its youth survived the 1992-95 war; today's Yugoslavia is but a shadow of a shadow, with Montenegro's regime determined to secede, federal leadership downright comatose, and Serbia in hands of men with an eighteen-fold personality disorder and a gargantuan inferiority complex. Indeed, on a good day, Yugoslavia cannot decide whether it exists or not. Bulgaria is still waiting for the difference King Simeon promised. Greece watches its northern border not so much out of principle as out of territorial curiosity. And Albania... no one really knows, though whoever ends up running the illusion of government in Tirana will surely do as they are told.

DEATH OF A THOUSAND CUTS

Those that survived firsthand the kind of death currently administered to Macedonia know the script by heart, including the inevitable local variations. Most often, the Empire gives its verbal support to the legitimate government while maintaining a more practical relationship with its enemies. (The scenario in Bosnia-Herzegovina had a modified cast of characters, but that merits a column of its own at a later date.)

If there is fighting, the Empire's true protégés are always saved by a timely ceasefire, one they have no compunction breaking. Peace talks organized by the Empire's envoys almost always involve an ultimatum to the government to accept its enemy's demands. When the government refuses to submit - stubbornly believing in sovereignty, rights and justice, or whatnot - the Empire blames it for everything: obstructing "peace," violence, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, even genocide, if that's what it takes.

Overwhelmed by this sudden "reversal" and the onslaught of propaganda, the targeted government always chooses surrender.

MURDER BY SUICIDE

Thus, as Macedonians are being stretched on the rack to sign the "agreement" with Albanian separatists that would effectively destroy their nation, those very same separatists are growing stronger and bolder every day - a fact that is then used to increase pressure on the Macedonians even further.

The Empire grows frustrated. Its troops are ready to occupy Macedonia and pretend to disarm the Albanians as soon as the blasted politicians sign the surrender papers. But the accursed wretches just keep dithering... Well, wouldn't you? If your country was being drawn and quartered by supposedly well-meaning foreigners, wouldn't any one of you out there at least think twice before putting a torch to your own funeral pyre?

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