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Posted June 4, 2001
Greece Could be Next
…The NLA is not fighting for the rights of Albanians; they are fighting for the Greater Albania that includes Kosovo, most of Macedonia and northwest Greece. If the Albanian minority was so bent on demanding more rights, then why…have they been silent since Macedonia broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991? They have political leaders that could have fought for these rights democratically and peacefully. …Albanians have been living in Macedonia peacefully for the last decade and now after the NLA moved in from Kosovo have we heard of their complaints….
…The saga of the Greater Albania continues thanks to Western leaders. Only Greece with its nearly 1 million minority Albanian population remains. Reports have already surfaced that a group calling themselves the Liberation Army of Chameria (UCC) has already been created in northwest Greece and they are prepared to employ the same tactics we have seen in Macedonia, Presevo Valley and in Kosovo… The notion of the Greater Albania must be stopped now in Macedonia or we risk an actual NATO member, Greece to be dragged into the fray and who knows what might happen from there!
~ Pete Papageorge, Beloit, WI
Who Saved Who? Part II
A.B. ended his e-mail (May 30 Backtalk) by suggesting that Stalin saved the free world. His underlying premise is that, had he not been so badly damaged by Stalin, Hitler would have been able to conquer all of Europe and then merrily cross the Atlantic and conquer the United States (presumably a part of the "free world") and the rest would be a history of Hitlerian world domination.
There are a few problems with such a domino theory: 1) No command economy …could …solve the problem of production required to carry on such a massive war effort. In a war with capitalist countries, [the Nazis were] eventually doomed because [they] did not have the free capital markets… 2) Russia was fighting for its survival in its war with Hitler and hence fought fiercely to stave off extinction. Hitler faced the same problem wherever else he went. Fierce nationalist pride is generally spawned in a nation that is invaded. Hitler knew this, so he went after what he considered the weak nations of Europe. (He…left tiny Switzerland alone, as he could sense a severe conflict with a very stout, nationalist, and well-armed foe.)
Russia had no hand in "saving" the "free world." They saved their own skin, and then were handed a huge chunk of Europe courtesy of the U.S. military and Roosevelt-Truman. As for the U.S., it merely won a big victory for Big Government at home…
~ Dan W.
Malic "On the Ball"
…I live in Australia. My parents were born in Macedonia. Nebojsa is right on the ball with his interpretation of the situation in Macedonia today. I want to express the point that when a referendum was held in Macedonia, 99% (1991) of the people wanted to separate from Yugoslavia and have a country of their own. Why have foreign countries collaborated to make this simple idea a modern tragedy whereby thugs (with USA and NATO support) are reportedly fighting against the idea of Macedonia remaining a sovereign nation?
(…It would be good to add the English versions…of Balkan newspapers, or for other hotspots…in the world.)
~ Vlado Mitreski
The Backtalk editor replies:
Antiwar.com does link to English-language articles from the Balkans and elsewhere. Please email us with the web address of any appropriate article that we may have missed.