For the Macedonia, once part of Yugoslavia, membership in NATO could be blocked by Greeks who don’t like the country’s name:
ATHENS — NATO’s secretary general said Monday that Macedonia’s bid to join the military alliance could be blocked if it failed to resolve a long-standing name dispute with Greece, a longtime NATO member.
Macedonia, the former Yugoslav republic, hopes to win NATO’s invitation to join the 26-member alliance at a summit in Bucharest, Romania, next month.
But Greece has threatened to scupper those plans if Macedonia does not relinquish its claims to a name Athens says is exclusively Greek. Greece says that using the name implies a claim to the northern Greek province of the same name.
“There is no certainty that invitations will be issued to aspiring nations,” said the secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, following talks in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis. “A solution to this dispute will be a big plus for us, but it has to be made possible.”
Good luck with that one. This is a dispute that has been going on since 1991, and given the seemingly irreconcilable positions of the parties would seem to make resolution impossible unless somebody budges.
Here’s just one example, the United Nations refers to Macedonia as “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and, when it came time to figure out where the Macedonian delegate to the General Assembly would sit, the Greeks became incredibly anal:
Greece rejected seating the Republic’s representative under M (as in “Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of”), and the Republic rejected sitting under F (as in “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, which turned the reference into a proper noun rather than a description). Instead, it was seated under T as “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and placed next to Thailand.
It’s an incredibly minor issue but it’s having major impacts because it’s also holding up Macedonia’s admission to the European Union. At some point, it would seem logical for both sides to give in a little, but we’re dealing with European nation-states here and logical really doesn’t apply.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
And one has to wonder why the Founders warned us not to get involved in the petty affairs of Europe?????
March 4th, 2008 at 12:28 am
WHAT’S IN BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA, JR? I AM GLAD YOU ASKED.
The boy’s name Barak \b(a)-rak\ is pronounced ba-RAHK, BARE-ek. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is “flash of lightning”. Biblical: a valiant fighting man who cooperated with the prophetess Deborah to win victory in a battle against overwhelming odds
The boy’s name Hussein \hu(s)-sein\ is pronounced hoo-SAYN. It is of Arabic origin, and its meaning is “good; small handsome one”. The name of a prominent person in Shiite Islam and a royal name in Jordan.
The boy’s name Junior \j(u)-nior\ is pronounced JOON-yer. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is “the younger one”. Occasionally used as a given name, though more usually the abbreviation Jr. is used with a full name when it is identical to a father’s or grandfather’s name.
BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA, JR.