September 16, 2002
By Christopher Deliso Along with the sea and sun, the olive tree is one of Greece’s best-known symbols. Paradoxically, however, olive oil sometimes seems to be one of the country’s best-kept secrets. Despite high levels of production and domestic consumption, Greece trails a distant third behind heavyweights Italy and Spain on the export market. The [...]
September 12, 2002
The September 15th Macedonian elections are not, in fact, the subject of this piece. But they do provide a convenient jumping-off point. For the elections in themselves are insignificant; they are only symptomatic of a greater malignancy. Even for the country’s sake, it no longer matters who wins the elections – and perhaps it never [...]
September 12, 2002
By Christopher DelisoˆšÃ‡ The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus spoke of the world as a place of constant flux. Heraclitus lived in the Balkans ˆšÂ¢Â¬Ã„” a land that continues to be plagued by economic uncertainty and erratic progress. This is the second part of an analysis of Balkan infrastructure; part 1 appeared Wednesday. In matters [...]
September 11, 2002
By Christopher Deliso When lightning struck the main power plant in Pristina, Kosovo, 2 months ago, the damage was spectacular. Someone allegedly had forgotten to turn on the plant’s lightning detection system, and a heap of melted metal was all that remained of the West’s huge investment. The chief of the United Nations mission, Michael [...]
September 5, 2002
It happens all too often in the world of European telecom sales: a post-contractual commercial dispute between the seller and buyer. Although the longstanding dispute involved with the sale of Makedonia Telekom was resolved in June, further criticisms have been levied against the Macedonian government- and, as we will see, also invited not a little [...]
September 5, 2002
By Christopher Deliso A unique perspective on issues of Macedonia national security – including last year’s war, relations with NATO, and trouble from Kosovo – is that of Col. Blagoja Markovski, Macedonia’s outgoing defense spokesman. Recently, I met with the cheerful colonel in his office in the Ministry of Defense, only a week before he [...]
