tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post4460053622707540949..comments2023-06-14T09:10:27.097-04:00Comments on Gray Falcon: "Twice the Winners" of WW2CubuCokohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14128683147101484237noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-12670188636732410342012-04-28T10:51:22.175-04:002012-04-28T10:51:22.175-04:00Thank you. I'll give it a look.Thank you. I'll give it a look.CubuCokohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128683147101484237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-4052508157193711282012-04-28T08:15:36.902-04:002012-04-28T08:15:36.902-04:00I wholeheartedly agree with the last paragraph of ...I wholeheartedly agree with the last paragraph of your last comment.<br /><br />As for credible sources, they are hard to find, since history depends so much on interpretation. Take a look at this: http://www.makedonika.org/history.html and maybe you'll find some of the texts useful.Shulehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17018110478060221357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-30430377977396588632012-04-27T21:53:01.961-04:002012-04-27T21:53:01.961-04:00Fair enough. As a historian by training, I am alwa...Fair enough. As a historian by training, I am always curious to track down (credible) contemporary sources, so if you can point me the way of some good Macedonian history, I'd appreciate it.<br /><br />Modern Greeks can trace their culture at the very least to the Byzantines. I'm not sure how much of the Hellenistic traditions survived under Rome, and the age of the <i>poleis</i> is truly ancient history. <br /><br />So little is known of actual ancient and medieval history - those murky waters are a favorite hunting ground of politically motivated pseudo-historians - that I'm always leery of making claims to a continuum that cannot be backed by evidence. Take, for example, the famous "Illyrian hypothesis" the Albanians have embraced, which has been conclusively <i>dis</i>proven. <br /><br />In any case, a nation's future isn't going to be determined by its history, real or fabricated, but the ability to defend its territory and identity. Sadly, both the Serbs and the Macedonians presently appear to be failing on that account.CubuCokohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128683147101484237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-29888171332816696842012-04-27T16:20:28.909-04:002012-04-27T16:20:28.909-04:00I would never presume to call anyone a chauvinist,...I would never presume to call anyone a chauvinist, without a good reason. And, I don't see any reason to do so when I read your posts on this blog.<br /><br />But, since you write about the history of the Balkans and how it shapes the present, sometimes I feel the need to comment and tell "the Macedonian side of the story".<br /><br />I know for a fact (family history, etc.) that people calling themselves Macedonians (not in the Hellenic sense, nor "of Bulgarian descent") existed well before the events that transpired in 1912-1913. The fact that Tito allowed the Macedonians to constitute (for the first time) their own administrative unit in the modern sense can be labeled by what it was - a state building, but not nation building. The Macedonian nation was already there. And, in 1991, it constituted its own nation-state (the fact that it squandered it in 2001 is another story).<br /><br />Further, don't see why the Macedonians have not got the right to (if they choose so) invoke their connection to the Macedonians of ancient time. We have that right as much as the Greeks (Hellenes) do when invoking their ancient roots. The fact is that the Macedonians of old have never been conclusively proven to be Hellenes (in the ancient sense; whatever that means in the modern nation / state paradigm is yet another story) and we do share the same geographical coordinates (less so since 1913, thanks to the Greeks who "liberated" their ancient stomping grounds - if one subscribes to their propaganda).<br /><br />Things are always more complicated than one can say in a two-sentence reply, hence the length of this post.Shulehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17018110478060221357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-56201665707155612332012-04-27T15:11:47.274-04:002012-04-27T15:11:47.274-04:00Ah, I see. I should have paid attention to the quo...Ah, I see. I should have paid attention to the quotes. But still - thanks.<br /><br />As far as I know, Serb treatment of Macedonians is nothing like that extended to you by Bulgarians and Greeks. Modern Macedonia is the territory liberated from the Ottomans by Serbia. So the Serbs (myself included) absolutely recognize the existence of the Macedonian identity and state as a fact - unlike any other neighbor of yours.<br /><br />Does this mean one ought not be critical of the ludicrous theories about the modern Macedonians' antique origins? Or gloss over the role of Tito's "nation-building" in shaping the modern Macedonian identity? I think not. <br /><br />While I absolutely don't consider you "Serbs with a severe speech impediment", as the politically incorrect joke goes, I do consider you kinfolk. And I fully sympathize with the tragedy that your "reward" for being all friendly to the Empire is to be partitioned between Albania and Bulgaria. <br /><br />But if I'm going to get the "you Serb chauvinist, respect our identity!" speech every time I defend you, I don't see why I ought to bother.CubuCokohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128683147101484237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-80827670194359129982012-04-27T13:26:00.493-04:002012-04-27T13:26:00.493-04:00I just posted the comment of Kars on that post, I ...I just posted the comment of Kars on that post, I am not Kars :)<br /><br />I went on reading your older posts, and I must say that I agree with most of your writings.<br /><br />One thing, however, I can't understand, and that is your refusal (in a way) to accept the existence of the Macedonians as a separate ethnicity.<br /><br />Being a Macedonian myself, I want to point out that being a patriot should include granting others the right to feel the same about their own heritage. Especially since I think that the Macedonians aren't aggressive towards the Serbs and respect them. It seems to me that you're going right along with the Bulgarians and the Greeks in addressing the Macedonians in pejorative terms (to say the least).Shulehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17018110478060221357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-88788670885030543362012-04-27T11:52:46.193-04:002012-04-27T11:52:46.193-04:00The former Nazi Party member Genscher did not forg...The former Nazi Party member Genscher did not forget this old relationship and enforced the recreation of Croatia. The required armament supply was organized by the German intelligence service (created by Nazi general Reinhard Gehlen and other nazis after WW2) that fully cooperated with the Ustashe since the 60s.<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed2E3jzwmo8#t=4m<br /><br />"We must force Serbia to its knees", is the official goal of German foreign policy. They even sent German Nazi soldiers to this recreated Croatia to celebrate thier victory with "Sieg Heil" and "Heil Hitler".<br />http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=632_1323437313balkaninfohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02483353746920215100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-81503183143548647642012-04-26T00:04:22.944-04:002012-04-26T00:04:22.944-04:00Ah, I remember you, sir - thank you for posting th...Ah, I remember you, sir - thank you for posting this. <br /><br />David Phillips of the CFR has made a career out of supporting "Kosovians", so I'm not at all surprised he's once again maligning the Serbs. <br /><br />As for your question, there seems to be a strange new "logic" in effect in the West, wherein it doesn't matter what is done, so much as who is doing it. So, Albanians can do no wrong, while Serbs can do no right. <br /><br />I also owe you my thanks for posting that translation of the Norwegian news report in 2004, which debunked the Bosnia death toll fabrications. When I first heard your name last year, I knew it sounded familiar - and then I looked through my archive, and understood why.CubuCokohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128683147101484237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-38802800753393731122012-04-25T16:38:10.366-04:002012-04-25T16:38:10.366-04:00An authentic comment on a very biased post (http:/...An authentic comment on a very biased post (http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-is-showing-its-anti-european-side):<br /><br />"Hm, I still have a bad taste after I did an interview with some<br />supposedly political prisoners in Belgrade Central Prison in December<br />2000. They said they were victims of arbitrary arrest by the Serbian<br />police, and I wrote their story in Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.<br />After international pressure these prisoners were released, and a couple<br />of months later I met one of them in Pristina. He gave me a big smile<br />and said that even if he said to me that he was never UCK, he had lied<br />to me and Serbian authorities. He was not a political prisoner.<br /><br />In this article I react to David Phillips choosing the headline Serbia<br />is showing its anti-European side. Having a critical distance to the EU<br />is not the same as being anti-European. In Kosovo, there seems to be a<br />consensus that they want to be members, but there is much less respect<br />for the rule of law in Kosovo than in Serbia, but why is not Kosovo<br />criticized for showing its anti-European side?<br /><br />Phillips has pretty strong statements about Hasan Abazi's innocence, but<br />his perspective is totally one-sided. What if the Serbian charges are<br />correct? Should he not answer for the crimes he allegedly has committed?<br />When did an Albanian last apologize for crimes committed against Serbs<br />and non-Albanians? <br /><br />For those who do not know who I am, I can say that I am the former Norwegian NATO officer who gave a personal apology to the Serbian people for not being able to protect Serbs and non-Albanians. Read more on:http://serbtrade.no/2011/sorry-serbia/ "Shulehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17018110478060221357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9230592.post-68485734924404095862012-04-23T21:00:11.132-04:002012-04-23T21:00:11.132-04:00Your last question is unfortunately rhetorical.Your last question is unfortunately rhetorical.robert49rmlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03183050696421179031noreply@blogger.com