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Archive for 'Macedonia' Category

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In Eastern Macedonia, a Lost Fortress of Justinian

By Christopher Deliso*
High on a windswept ridge in Macedonia’s barren northeastern expanse, some 17 kilometers down a rough dirt track heading towards Kratovo, it stands as a cryptic reminder of the country’s still largely undocumented past: the rocky remains of what was once an important outpost in the Early Byzantine imperial hinterland.
Nevertheless, the lack of [...]

European Proportionality in Macedonia’s Political and Judicial Systems

By Ljubica Dzabirova*
The principle of proportionality implies balancing of power, actions and measures. Being a relatively young country, Macedonia does not yet have the experience and legal basis to really be able to apply proportionality in its judicial system. However, in the case of applying proportionality in the political system, the question is whether it [...]

Macedonia’s Elections and Police Readiness: Interview with Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska

By Christopher Deliso
In the following exclusive interview conducted on Wednesday, Balkanalysis.com Director Christopher Deliso gets the views of Macedonia’s interior minister, Gordana Jankulovska, about subjects ranging from the police’s efforts to guarantee peaceful elections and control outbreaks of tensions, to the fight against organized crime, special operations, foreign assistance and the expected outcomes of reform [...]

In Macedonia, Foreign Perceptions Indicate Government’s Blind Spots

While considerable foreign support remains for Macedonia and its leadership, the tenor and tone of recent foreign media reports reveal possible trouble ahead.
By Christopher Deliso*
After a snowy weekend in which first-round presidential and local voting unfolded peacefully and without major reported incidents of fraud, Macedonians are feeling relief that they seem to have passed their [...]

Quake

By David Binder*
The Convair 340 was packed with Macedonians anxious about their families and homes. In the cockpit the JAT pilot dipped the nose down over the city and rolled the plane slightly to the starboard to give me an opportunity to snap pictures from the cockpit with my clumsy but reliable Rolleiflex: A first [...]

As Elections Near, Euro-skepticism on the Rise in Macedonia

By Cvete Koneska*
Two years after the European Union’s last enlargement brought Bulgaria and Romania into the European bloc in 2007, the EU’s appeal in the immediate neighbourhood seems to be on the wane. Applicant and potential applicant countries, always the most enthusiastic supporters of EU integration, are becoming less so as domestic problems, the global [...]

Exclusive: NATO Internal Investigation to End with Staff Transfer in Skopje

On Monday, 19 January, a NATO general will be dispatched to Skopje from the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy, to look into complaints made against a military official currently employed in a senior position in the alliance’s Macedonia liaison office.
It is likely that this visit will result in an important personnel change in [...]

Snow Descends on the Balkans, to the Relief of Ski Resorts

The first New Year’s gift of 2009 to the citizens of many Balkan countries has come in the form of the season’s first significant snowfall, blanketing large areas in Macedonia, northern Greece, Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Albania.
In the Macedonian capital of Skopje, some 16cm of snow has accumulated in the past three days- posing a [...]

Victor Friedman on Macedonia: the Balkanalysis.com Interview

Professor Victor Friedman is one of the world’s foremost experts on Balkan languages, and has been studying them for almost four decades, since 1993 as a linguist at the University of Chicago. Professor Friedman has a special place in his heart for Macedonia, which he first visited in 1971. This year finds him back in [...]

Good Cheer, Cooperation Prevail as Macedonians Plant 6 Million Trees

Text and photos by Christopher Deliso
On Wednesday, Macedonians made history – for the second time this year – by planting some 6 million trees in a single day. An initiative of the non-governmental organization Den na Drvoto (‘Day of the Tree’), this astonishing event was the second coming of the inaugural efforts of March 12, [...]

Confronted with Greek Obstructionism, Macedonia Appeals for International Justice

At a special press conference at 4pm today in Skopje, Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Milososki announced that the government has opened a case against Greece at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. At issue is Greece’s blocking of Macedonian NATO membership at the alliance’s April summit, which occurred due to the [...]

Greek Crackdown on Macedonian Journalists Draws International Condemnation, New Questions

By Christopher Deliso
The tense ordeal of four Macedonian journalists detained by police in a northern Greek village on Monday is gaining wider attention, and has caused an international outcry against the perceived heavy-handedness of Greek authorities- and what their apparent contempt for the free press may be covering for.
For their part, the Greeks are claiming [...]

At Macedonia’s Concert for Tose Proeski, a Huge Outpouring of Love and Sadness

By Christopher Deliso
Macedonia, and indeed the entire Balkans, were transfixed last night by an event much larger than its confines in Skopje’s City Stadium. The massive humanitarian concert for Tose Proeski, held on the one-year anniversary of what would sadly prove to be the 26-year-old singer’s last concert, left tears in the eyes of the [...]

Macedonian Peacekeeping Contributions Recognized at International Defense Conference in Sofia

By Christopher Deliso
Two Macedonian Army representatives were among the chosen expert speakers at a conference last week in Bulgaria devoted to peacekeeping issues involving the former conflict in Bosnia and the Balkan security situation today. The conference was organized by the Bulgarian General Staff and NATO, and held at the prestigious G.S. Rakovski Defense and [...]

Vermonter Helps Macedonian Jews Plant Hope

By Christopher Deliso*
It’s a clear warm spring day high on a barren, charred plateau in Macedonia, and Mike Goldstein is holding a Hebrew prayer book in his hands, with a row of tiny saplings decorating the freshly-turned earth at his feet. A retired general in the Vermont National Guard, Mike has been asked by the [...]

In Difficult Times, Macedonia Plants Two Million Trees

By Christopher Deliso
You wouldn’t think they’d have time for it, but amidst all the domestic and international political turbulence surrounding their country these days, Macedonians managed to plant over 2 million trees — symbolizing one for each citizen in the nation — on Wednesday, March 12, in 43 locations across Macedonia. In a surprisingly adept [...]

Power Strategies Emerge Amidst Kosovo Turbulence

New information from regional intelligence sources, as well as open-source channels, indicates that cross-border militant activities on at least four fronts are among the new developments to watch in the aftermath of Kosovo’s independence declaration on February 17.
While world attention has focused mainly on the political and legalistic dimensions of the Kosovo Albanian government’s declared [...]

Balkanalysis.com Announces New 2006 Archive Uploads

Balkanalysis.com would like to announce that nine months’ worth of archived articles, many previously unavailable on the website, have now been uploaded to our page at the Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL.com).

The articles in question number more than 50, and cover the months March-December 2006. They will be of interest to researchers of contemporary Balkan history. They complete the current archive of Balkanalysis.com articles, covering the period 2001-2006. These articles specifically include articles on Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo.

Over 220 instititutions from 21 countries currently offer access to articles in the Library. If you would like to access these articles, but your institution is not yet a member of the CEEOL.com program, please have your institution’s acquisitions or reference librarian contact CEEOL.com directly.

Sincerely,

Balkanalysis.com team

No New Church without a Mosque, Macedonian Officials Warned

When government officials in Macedonia recently proposed rebuilding a church that once stood on the city’s central square, they received an abrupt warning: for the Islamic Community (IVZ), the recreation of Sveti Konstanin & Elena, destroyed in the 1963 earthquake, should guarantee them their own right to build a mosque in the prominent downtown area.
According [...]

Promising Projects for Macedonian Archaeology in 2008

By Christopher Deliso
Both tourists and academic experts will want to take note of some intriguing developments in the upper Mediterranean this year. According to Pasko Kuzman, archaeologist and Director of Cultural Heritage Protection in the Macedonian Ministry of Culture, 2008 will be an exciting year for the continued unearthing of unknown treasures from several sites [...]

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