Who Is For DESTROYING The SDSM

[julie]

We would be better off NOt negotiating our identity.
We would be better off Not joining the EU,
We would be better off not joining NAto,
We would be better off without the SDSM,
We would be better off without the traitors.
We would be better off to tell our neighbour Greece to go to hell,

I agree whole heartedly

I could not have said it better myself , that is why i call them hell Ass

[Jankovska]

SDSM are easy to get rid off, we just need a goverment that has balls (our doesn't). Most of those are crooks and mafia boses who should be in jail, I know it, you know it. If our goverment had balls they would have put them where they belong, or are the too scared coz they are doing the same thing so a full investigation might show them in the true light as well. I don't trust our goverment at the moment, I think they exercise their power too much and the make the people of Macedonia suffer. As for SDSM I don't think they deserve a topic, they only deserve a long long jail sentence. Maybe Grujo should sell a flat or two and than turn into the superhero he pretends to be an actually do something about the country. Or is he gonna just finish the poor people off?

[Prolet]

Destroying anyone who supports Greece within the current framework of the negotiations, should be our goal.

A Macedonian who tells me or writes that the negotiations are necessary for our future - has been influenced by anti-Macedonian currents operating out of the E.U.

There is no reason why Macedonians are impervious to this kind of propoganda. They are as susceptible to it as anyone else. What bothers me is that Macedonians in the diaspora have taken up this position - organized themselves - have the ear of our top politicians and are gaining new recruits every day, who say the same thing. We must negotiate to get into the E.U - the E.U will save us ! What a load of garbage.

Pelister, Its quite obvious that you dont see how things work with Greece especially the politics.

Greece has a very tough lobby, it controls large portions of the media and parliament (within Australia) the Greek Government and the Greek Lobby in Australia spends millions of Dollars in looking after their interests hell there is even a Pan Macedonia Unit in Australia.

Its easy to bark like a dog and ask for the negotiations to end, however how do you expect this to happen without major consequences?? If it was that simple Gruevski and his team would have walked away by now, the Greeks are even offering concessions if we drop the law suit in the Hague which means its clearly bothering them.

The question we need to ask ourselves is really very simple, how do we counter the Greek attack?? We have the UMD which has done a very good job but this group is not fully professional, this group doesnt have a multi million dollar budget to spend and lobby world wide.

Pelister, These past few months have been hell for the Macedonian Delegation, they've had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them lets not mention the threats they've received. Its easy to talk from the side line, we should be looking to fight this every way possible as the old saying goes "Kolku Pari Tolku Muzika" with the amount of money and effort spent we cant exactly expect miracles to happen when we have one group from the Government defending our name while everyone else is pretty much just telling them not to change the name while the Greeks are leading a major offensive effort world wide and pushing all the way for us to have no choice but to change our name there is a big difference.

It doesnt help when we have people like Branko Crvenkovski,Ljubomir Danilov Frckovski, Kiro Gligorov,Ljubco Georgievski,Denko Maleski aswell as other Communists from MANU that openly state that we are Slavs and they themselves are pushing for a name change, Sardisani sne od site strani.

[Pelister]

ahh come on Pelister, look at what the EU has done or our neighbours Greece and Bulgaria an their budding economies. Surely we'd be better off..........

/sarcasm

Precisely.

The E.U is full of racist, dysfunctional Eurocrats.

Greece, Spain, France are the perfect examples of States that sign Treaties to protect their minorities, and rather than carry out their obligations to protect and nurture national minorities - they set out to destroy them. Welcome to the E.U !

The E.U insists that Macedonia meet "its standards". It has set the bar so high for Macedonia. It knows how badly Macedonian leaders want to be part of the E.U (not the Macedonians). This gives the E.U alot of leverage - and exposes the Macedonians to various nefarious forms of blackmail, which we see happening right now.

At the end of the day the problem lies with the Macedonians. It is up to the Macedonian leadership to reject the E.U position, and ask for their legal human rights.

This business of negotiating our Nationality is madness. I can't believe UMD supports not only that, but a name change. Compromises every step of the way is the plan.

[George S.]

You never know the MTO Forum is widely read & someonefrom Macedonia might just get a hint & do something about SDSM.(Just ignore what i said.)

[Rogi]

SDSM are the weakest link in the big threesome.

People should look at some of the media organisations and some of the foreign-run NGO's in Macedonia and the connection between them and see SDSM simply as their mouthpiece.

Behind the scenes all those criminals who plundered Macedonia and those who made their millions selling Greek oil to Serbia are pulling the strings too and they too.

This is why, in its current state of corruption and with the existing behind-the-scenes power brokers, Macedonia is nowhere near ready to join the EU, nor should it have that as its primary focus.

We dislike Sam Vaknin because he angers us and gets on our nerves by trashing Macedonia and purports to be an expert in areas he knows nothing or next to nothing about. However, when he talks about the economic situation of Macedonia and some of the internal behind the scenes power plays, he is close to spot on.





Here is Vaknin's most recent interview, which I just came across....




Interview granted by Sam Vaknin to the Portuguese newsmagazine Politika, November 8, 2009

Q. In October the European commission has recommended that Macedonia should start its EU accession negotiations… Do you think the entrance of Macedonia in the EU will happen in 2012 as predicted?

No, I don't. Macedonia is not ready to accede to the EU and the EU bureaucracy know it. Macedonia has received a date for commencing the negotiations only because the EU is very troubled about the explosive situation in Bosnia, Kosovo, and in western Macedonia where restive and belligerent Albanians are a majority. The EU would rather postpone by as much as it can the accession of the "Ottoman Bloc" (Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, and Kosovo which were all under strict Turkish rule for centuries). Macedonia would never accede to the EU before Serbia and Albania do and definitely not in its current state: poverty, corruption, low level of education, problems with human and minority rights, incompetent public administration, dysfunctional institutions, bad relations with all its neighbors, and a budding authoritarian faux-nationalistic regime.

Q. In June 2008 elections there were violent conflicts between the Albanian parties DUI and DPA. However, in April 2009, presidential and local elections in the country were carried out peacefully. Do you think the disputes between the two Albanian parties are now permanently solved?

DPA received unequivocal messages from Albanians in Albania and in Kosovo and from the international community that another civil war (such as the one that ONA, DUI's military predecessor, provoked in 2001) will not be tolerated. They are now in search of an alternative, more peaceful strategy of deposing of DUI while complying with the rules of the democratic game. If they fail to be heard, however, the consequences in terms of strife could be dire. Political parties in this country function as combination employment bureaus and travel agencies. These vast, all-pervasive networks of patronage guarantee access to public funds and enhanced social mobility. Excluding the voters of any single party from this process of coordinated looting of the state is dangerously counter-productive and destabilizing.

Q. Do you believe the recognition of Kosovo independence, despite Serbia’s opposition, is an important contribution for the good relationship between Slav Macedonians and Albanian Macedonians?

The preferred term is "ethnic Macedonians", I believe. The recognition of Kosovo was mainly a nod to the West and an acquiescence to the relentless pressure exerted by the USA. DUI can present it as an achievement and, in this sense, it does reduce the friction between the two coalition partners. But DUI does not represent all the Albanians. DPA, for instance, is unlikely to be mollified by gestures that electorally buttress its main rival.

Q. How do you comment on the Greek persistent opposition to Macedonia’s name? Should European Union have a stronger influence over Greece, since most UN countries recognized the name Republic of Macedonia?

The Greeks not only oppose Macedonia's constitutional name, but they dispute the Macedonians' self-imputed identity as the direct descendants of the ancient Macedonians (with or without Slav blood). They also do not recognize the Macedonians within Greek borders as a separate minority, having persecuted them in the 20th century and having confiscated swathes of their property now worth billions of euros. Thus, the "name issue" is a multi-layered, complex bilateral dispute. The EU cannot sacrifice well-entrenched principles of governance just to resolve a single conflict with a minor wannabe Associate Member. Greece is far more important to the EU (and, more generally, to the West). It also has vested historical and institutional rights in the EU. Finally, Greece's flirt with Russia is a trump card. The West will easily sacrifice Macedonia to prevent a Greek-Russian axis on its southern flank. Macedonians must now choose between letting go of their identity, or ditching their future in the EU.

Q. Macedonia has lodged a lawsuit against Greece at the International Court of Justice in the Hague for blocking its NATO entry. Do you think the court decision will be in favor of Macedonia?

Yes, I think that the Court will rule in Macedonia's favor and Greece will ignore the ruling. Still, such a judgment would be an important moral victory for Macedonia.

Q. Macedonia's Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is ready to continue talks with Greece in order to try to find a solution to the name row UN. However, the prime-minister Nikola Gruevski doesn’t seem willing to change the country's name. Which solution can be found?

Greece is not negotiating with Macedonia. Greece owns large chunks of Macedonia's economy and has enormous leverage over the country. Greece is negotiating the name issue with the USA and, to some extent, within the EU. Any concessions Greece makes, it would make in order to curry favor with the new Obama administration. Finally, Macedonia will have to change its constitutional name (probably to "The Republic of North Macedonia").

Q. Macedonia’s junior government party, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) set a deadline of December for its senior ethnic Macedonian partner to solve the ongoing “name” row. What does this means in terms of government coalition?

It means nothing. The issue will not be solved until December, of course. Still, the government will be able to show some "procedural" progress, make a few "creative" proposals and DUI will declare itself satisfied with these "achievements". The state administration is a goose that lays numerous golden eggs for DUI activists and members. Why slaughter it?

Q. Is the name dispute affecting the important economic relationship between Macedonia and Greece? Or could it affect this relationship in the future, is the dispute stands longer?

Macedonia's economic relationship with Greece is completely divorced from this and other political disputes between the two countries (for instance, regarding the Aegean Macedonians which were expelled from Greece last century). Greece continues to invest in Macedonia and trade with it and Macedonian tourists continue to flock to Greek resorts. This cannot change: Macedonia is partly-owned by Greek companies and banks and, as a land-locked country, depends on Greece for access to the sea. In fact, persistent rumors are that Greece is preparing to offer Macedonia a a packet of economic measures and “goodies” to help resolve the name issue.

Q. EU has urged the country to cut down on corruption before accession talks. Is this being achieved?

Overt corruption by small-time functionaries is definitely down. Whether institutionalized, high-level venality is on the rise is anyone's guess. The government has succeeded to change the atmosphere and the parameters of public debate, so that corruption is no longer tolerated, expected, or accepted by citizens and law enforcement authorities. But the ruling political elite is still untouchable, unaccountable, and non-transparent. In this sense, nothing has changed.

Q. The U.S. has invested in the judicial reform and that Rule of Law in Macedonia. Do you believe this reform is happening?

No, if we go by public perceptions, it has been a complete failure. Macedonia's courts have the somewhat justified reputation of being a travesty: clogged, politicized, corrupt, incompetent, and biased. The law is applied selectively against political opponents and investigative journalists. The average citizen has no recourse and equality before the law. Proceedings are often so slow as to constitute an abortion of justice. Some judges are ill-educated, misinformed, under political or police dictates, eminently bribable, luddite, and provincial.

Q. In 2009 Macedonia's unemployment rate is expected to hit 35% and youth unemployment, which currently stands at 54 per cent, is particularly worrying for the EC. How can Macedonia invert these statistics? Macedonia’s largest export oriented branches such as the metal, building and textile industries are being affected by the international crisis. Can tourism or other industries be a good bet in terms of GDP?

Macedonia is not a viable economic entity in its current form. Macedonia sustains an enormous trade deficit (equal to 45% of GDP) because its export markets are not diversified (60% of its exports go to the EU); its industry is non-competitive; its currency is way overvalued; and its exports are subject to cyclical price movements. It must dump its antiquated industry and agriculture and concentrate its efforts on services, tourism, biotechnology, finance, education, healthcare, entrepreneurship, microlending, and information technology. It must export its manpower to other countries willingly and in a planned fashion. It must wean itself from its dependence on borrowing and liberalize its foreign exchange regime. It must actively encourage exports and vehemently discourage imports. But, Macedonia's leaders always look for a miracle: loans from Taiwan, foreign investors, Jewish money. They are unwilling to confront reality, preferring instead to live in a fantasyland. The government sector constitutes 60% of the country's GDP and the state employs a whopping one third of the active workforce. Macedonia has had no economic crisis because it does not have an economy.

Q. After the NATO bombing, important trade links with Serbia have been broken creating economy slumps and unemployment. Is it possible to get these ties fixed?

This ties have been fixed long ago, with the rise of pro-Western politicians in Belgrade. Serbia is one of Macedonia's main trading partners, shares with it critical infrastructure (electricity, roads), and collaborates with Macedonia's army and intelligence services. Macedonians are essentially a Slavic, Christian Orthodox nation, very much like the Serbs.

Q. After the Kosovo war, the West, namely USA and EU, promised foreign help, a Stability Pact, to repair the damage in Macedonia economy. 10 years after the war, do you think this promise materialized?

Only a small fraction of the international aid pledges made to Macedonia in various donor conferences in the wake of the Kosovo crisis
has actually made it to its coffers. The Stability Pact was a glorified talk shop, though it helped the countries of the region to maintain a productive dialog and encouraged economic collaboration among them.

Q. Despite its economic, judicial and political challenges, Macedonia was ranked, in 2008, as the fourth 'best reformatory state' out of 178 countries ranked by the World Bank. What were the most important achievements of Macedonia since independence?

There is no question that - like Obama - "reform" and "change" have been the mantras of the Gruevski administration. But the changes implemented were shallow, cosmetic, populist, and mainly intended to foster foreign direct investment. The World bank and the IMF are creditor institutions. Their main concern is to make sure that Macedonia's balance of payments can guarantee debt service and the repayment of loans to commercial creditors. Their ranking is meaningless because it does not reflect the truly salient issues: was the economy thoroughly revamped and restructured (no); did the government's policies create sustained jobs (no); was the dependence of foreign capital reduced (no); did domestic investment in crucial areas of the economy increase (no); did the country's multilateral standing improve (no).

Macedonia's main accomplishment hitherto is to have survived. It was the subject of an economic embargo, internal conflict, wars on its border, floods of refugees, economic meltdown, hyperinflation, brain drain - and, yet, it is still here, looking forward to a European and prosperous future. Macedonia is resilient, if nothing else.

Sam Vaknin is the former Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

[Rogi]

Here is something else worthy of reading, it is old but nonetheless worth reading...

MACEDONIAN NOUVEAUX-RICHES

AIM, Skopje, October 6, 1995

The class of nouveaux-riches in Macedonia originates from the former Communist nomenclature, from the circle of former half-successful entrepreneurs, typical dreamers of the American dream, returnees from abroad, but street pick-pockets and bandits as well.

Macedonian public was not surprised at all when some time ago a local businessman, Amdi Bairam, paid more than ten million German marks for the former (state-owned) "Beko" department store in downtown Skopje. This is the same Bairam who became famous a few years ago for a spectacular wedding of his first-born son at which even aviation was engaged, fortunately, not the air-force. A poor lad from the Gypsy "favellas" in a record time, who started as a street huckster, grew rich by producing large quantities of blue jeans from locally-made denim, and became a millionaire. Instant millionaires appear daily, completely anonymous people buy business premises by auctions at as much as eight thousand marks per square metre. Buyers who have literally snatched the most expensive models of cars from this year's car fair at the same rate underwear is usually sold at sales, probably originate from the same circle. Fuad Amic, representative of VW for South Balkans, claims that Macedonia ranks first among all the former socialist countries according to the number of bought luxury cars. Per capita, of course. The Zivojinovic couple, Brena and Boba, cannot order all the sports' "Mercedes" cars they can sell here. Skopje parking lots are full of "Audi", Lancia", large "Opel Record", "Fords", "BMW" cars and of course, Japanese cars of all existing performances.

Owners of all these cars that any European capital would be proud of, are mostly young people who comfortably leaning back in their cars, communicate by telephone even while driving around, because business, of course, cannot wait. An elegant suit as if just out of a fashion magazine, a gaudy silk tie, a samsonite brief-case, UNPROFOR haircut, indispensable pager or even more often lately a motorolla, define the image of yapi-businessmen who can be seen in Skopje streets. It would be a dangerous mistake though to think another type of young men is less rich. They get out of equally expensive cars in dark blue sweat-suits, white socks and dark brown moccasins, conspicuously decorated with finger-thick necklaces and bracelets made of pure gold.

Naturally, it is all a matter of taste, just like whether they will spend moments of leisure and relaxed meetings with business partners in exclusive cafeterias such as "Paris", "Alexandria", "Dal Fufo", with discreet music interrupted only by characteristics jingling of ice cubes in the beverage from the vicinity of Glasgow, in elite resaurants "Marakana", "Sofka", "Tri bisera", with European menus which lack nothing but quail tongues, or whether they will occasion some of the numerous national restaurants away from the centre of the city, drinking domestic wine in an atmosphere thick with the smell of blazing grills. Somewhere between these two stereotypes of successful business people who are doing their best to be registered as the new social elite, several richest Macedonians stand, who simply have no reason to try to show how rich and powerful they are, because it is self-understood, regardless of what they look like (and they ususally look quite ordinary), what they drive or how they relax in their own hotels, at their own swimming-pools or tennis courts.

Even a hurried inventory of the forms of appearance of the social elite points out to the fact that it is impossible to determine where its members actually come from. From which social layers have they stepped on to the path of their happy future. The time and space, politically and economically defined as transition, accompanied by an unbelievable combination of circumstances (embargo, sanctions) which make this insufficiently defined concept utterly exclusive, made social mobility in this space even more dynamic than it used to be at the time denoted by science as the primitive accumulation of capital. The Macedonian nouveaux-riches were accordingly recruited from among a very wide spectre of social strata, ranging from those who originate from somewhere close to the communist class (the first of the second generation), those from among half-successful entrepreneurs, typical dreamers of the American dream, returnees from abroad, but probably also from among street pick-pockets and bandits who have reregistered their firms in time and changed their professions.

The answer to the question who is at the moment the richest Macedonian is purely rhetoric, because the time we belong to has not determined adequate parametres, but it may be conditionally put anyway - if for nothing else than for the sake of determining which is the most efficient way to get rich. The first to catch attention are those who have acquired their wealth during the somewhat forgotten "Ante Markovic's" privatization, so everyone will say that Ljubisav Ivanov - Yingo is at the top of the rating list, who is a deputy in the parliament, an owner or one of the owners of a widespread retail and wholesale trading network "Silex", department stores, factories, hotels, a football club, a television station and God knows what else. Or perhaps, Velija Ramkovski, owner of the firm "Uniprokom" which is also a chain for selling all sorts of things, but mostly and primarily computer equipment, of a very successful bank, a majority shareholder of the greatest private television in Macedonia, the man who is claimed to have complete control over imports from Turkey, but owns state business deals with that country, too. Privatization counterparts to these two are owners of enterprises which have implemented the latest regulations on property relations or are on their way to do it, primarily Sveto Janevski, the majority owner of Skopje Brewery which does not produce only beer. The man whose fvourite sport is to lend money to the state, Sterjo Nakov, leader of the management team of a very successful "Fersped", transport organization which has in time and quite successfully separated from the ZTO. Sude by side with them are owners of a few firms which have in the past several years simply regenerated when ownership structure was changed in them, and it will never be clarified how the unsuccessful directors have overnight become successful owners and how much effort they had invested to prove economic justification of privatization. Ilija Kamcev, former Director of "Makedonijasport" which is in a hopeless situation, is now making enormous sums of money in the same branch through a firm called "Orkasport", and is at the head of a powerful clan which might be insulted by the fact that it has not been mentioned earlier in this text.

Privatization is, of course, just one of the ways to make a fabulous wealth overnight. In this space, there are numerous other ways, not less efficient. The closed Southern, and especially the Northern border, opened boundless possibilities to men with ideas and good connections. According to official knowledge of the competent international bodies, Macedonia was the transit country over which international sanctions imposed on the SRY have been violated all this time. Only naive would believe that peasants who live by the border have grown rich smuggling oil in metal canisters or tanks of their own cars or tractors. Real business here is sending whole tank trucks with fuel over the border, and there are numerous testimonies about these illegal crossings carried even by local newspapers. Using Macedonia as a transit, Greek goods were constantly taken to "brotherly" Serbia, and all that had to be "covered" somehow. Skopje, but other Macedonian towns too, are full of big and small enterprises or banks with mixed Macedonian and Serb, or Macedonian and Bulgarian capital, which in itself need not necessarily mean anything, but then which may mean a lot. After all, during the summer, the current authorities launched a campaign against corruption and crime, directed primarily against "rascals in our own ranks". This action has not clarified much, but it has certainly indicated a lot.

It is, of course, just a speculation to what extent some persons from political life are involved in the sudden growth of some enterprises and to what extent family ties have been decisive for obtaining export-import permits, concessions for dealing with the state or for using duty-free shops, construction sites, etc. In a comparatively small country such as this, it is hard to find a successful businessman who has no relatives within or close to the authorities. Therefore, rumours about close connections of Stojan Andov, Chairman of the Assembly, with the highly successful "Makpetrol" the very name of which implies the possible sources of its rapid growth, can be kept only on the level of rumours. Just like the possible participation of the Minister of finance Jane Miljovski in the capital which is a catalyst of success of the highly promising Macedonian firm called "Jukan".

Almost at first sight, it is evident that among the most successful people in this country are mostly members of the majority nation. Ethnic Albanians are apparently absent from distribution of the wealth resulted from privatization, for instance. But, it seems that they were "privatized" from the very beginning. Nevertheless, the fact that in Western Macedonia there are a few tens of for the time being anonymous businessmen whose wealth is measured by European parametres cannot be disregarded. They mostly deal with highly profitable transfer of large groups of people, from pilgrimage to Mecca to communication of Kosovo Albanians with Western Europe. "Aborigines" in this space, however, have lately been threatened by a vital Zandjak business lobby whose leaders, brothers Muminovic, are rising on the scale of business success every day, and that of social influence accordingly.

http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/archive/data/199510/51027-002-trae-sko.htm

[Risto the Great]

Sam Vaknin is the former Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Indeed he was.

[Soldier of Macedon]

We dislike Sam Vaknin because he angers us and gets on our nerves by trashing Macedonia and purports to be an expert in areas he knows nothing or next to nothing about. However, when he talks about the economic situation of Macedonia and some of the internal behind the scenes power plays, he is close to spot on.

Indeed, that is why Shmuel needs to restrict his comments to the field he is familiar with, rather than spread baseless accusations against Macedonians as a people.

So, when he writes garbage like the below:

Macedonia will have to change its constitutional name (probably to "The Republic of North Macedonia").

.........he should be disregarded as the pessimistic fool that he is. And right there is the crux of the matter with Shmuel, he talks like an economist on the one hand and a SDS politician on the other, when in actual fact he clearly knows jack about our history and should stick to counting his beads.

Seriously, until that moron made an open attack against the MTO by creating a false picture to attract viewers to his ghost town website, he didn't even register on the radar, being the moron he historically is.

[Prolet]

I must say that Sam Vaknin is an absolute fuckwit and thats being nice. What a disgrace our government hires this hitman to write all sorts of crap against us, there is so much negativity in his writing that it would make any normal Macedonian want to throw up. Who is he to decide weather we should change our name?? Who is he to decide weather we meet Nato and EU standards??? Za sramota

Sam Vaknin is in Macedonia to make a difference, if he is there to talk crap and piss on our country he can wait in line we have our neighbors around us who are doing it as we speak.

We might aswell post negative posts from enemies like Karadzaferis,Dimitrov,Karakachanov etc im sure they will be very similar.

I'd much rather have an honest enemy then a dishonest friend, at least we know what to expect with these people while Sam Vaknin is more of a dishonest friend if you ask me..

[Risto the Great]

He can be honest. I don't mind that, but I absolutely detest the following comment:

The preferred term is "ethnic Macedonians", I believe.

Aren't you 100% sure Shmuel? Is there some room for doubt on this. Who on Earth are you consulting to?

[Prolet]

Risto, Well we cant be Ethnic Macedonians in Macedonia, you cant be an ethnic in your own country. He should call himself an Ethnic Israeli in Israel, since the Palestinians own that land.

[Prolet]

In fact, persistent rumors are that Greece is preparing to offer Macedonia a a packet of economic measures and “goodies” to help resolve the name issue.

Oh really what are these so called economic measures and "goodies" ???

Overt corruption by small-time functionaries is definitely down. Whether institutionalized, high-level venality is on the rise is anyone's guess. The government has succeeded to change the atmosphere and the parameters of public debate, so that corruption is no longer tolerated, expected, or accepted by citizens and law enforcement authorities. But the ruling political elite is still untouchable, unaccountable, and non-transparent. In this sense, nothing has changed.

So why is Macedonia the fastest moving nation for battling corruption in the past 2 years?? We've gone down the list more places then anybody else in a very long time.

No, if we go by public perceptions, it has been a complete failure. Macedonia's courts have the somewhat justified reputation of being a travesty: clogged, politicized, corrupt, incompetent, and biased. The law is applied selectively against political opponents and investigative journalists. The average citizen has no recourse and equality before the law. Proceedings are often so slow as to constitute an abortion of justice. Some judges are ill-educated, misinformed, under political or police dictates, eminently bribable, luddite, and provincial.

Is there any reason to state such a lie?? We are not Zimbabwe, what a disgraceful reply this person is not even eligible to discuss the Macedonian Justice System what an absolute slap to our face. We wouldnt get the nod by the EU if our Justice System was flawed like he suggests. One of the most important bench marks that needed to be met before getting an EU recommendation is to improve the Justice System in Macedonia and i can say its not perfect but its not like what he is saying it is. Maybe he listened to one of his mates in Macedonia that was steeling in the 90s and now they have to face the music.

Macedonia has had no economic crisis because it does not have an economy.

Wow what a response, this guy is such a champion Israel has a great Economy in my opinion being surrounded by 300 million Arabs, building walls on Palestinian lands, getting Billions of Dollars from USA in Donations, Getting free Weaponry and transport wow what a great Economy. For a guy who's meant to be a self proclaimed economic expert to come to our country and say that we have no economy what a disgrace, he has the nerve to talk about our unemployment when infact in USA its 15% from 300 million people.

We are a small country thats been in War,unrecognized,worst neighbors does he expect us to be Switzerland or something??

They are unwilling to confront reality, preferring instead to live in a fantasyland.

Is Sam Vaknin in Macedonia to tell us who we are and what we Believe?? I cant remember anybody else disrespecting us this way not even our Enemies from Bulgaria and Greece that live in Macedonia what a pathetic statement.

Finally, Macedonia will have to change its constitutional name (probably to "The Republic of North Macedonia").

How dare he make such claims?? What an absolute disgrace that is, who is he to tell us what we should be doing with our name and identity??

Pelister, Shouldnt you be having a go at Sam Vaknin after stating such things??

The West will easily sacrifice Macedonia to prevent a Greek-Russian axis on its southern flank

Wow this guy is a genius how did he figure that one out??

We are some rag that the EU can wipe its arse with and throw us out the window?? He makes it sound like Greece is some major EU partner and that we are worth nothing.

Macedonians are essentially a Slavic, Christian Orthodox nation, very much like the Serbs.

So we are Serbs now?? How is that??

Because we share the same Religion?? I guess we are very much like the Russians too then.

We dislike Sam Vaknin because he angers us and gets on our nerves by trashing Macedonia and purports to be an expert in areas he knows nothing or next to nothing about. However, when he talks about the economic situation of Macedonia and some of the internal behind the scenes power plays, he is close to spot on.

Rogi, i dont know what you see in Sam Vaknin's comments about our economy however he is nothing short of disgraceful and pathetic to say the least. I got no idea how you would even think about making such comments, knowing what you stand for i dont see how this so called reality check which we know is bullshit can help us in anyway. We have far too much negativity in Macedonia alone and not to mention our neighbors around us in which none of them even recognize us fully to begin with. How can you have good relations with your neighbors when they dont recognize you?? Maybe Sam Vaknin has the answer to that, he seems to have an answer for everything else.

[Rogi]

I don't consider any of his views or opinions as relevant on anything other than the field in which he is touted as an expert - economics. So I skim past all of that crap, it's useless babble, it's the bit on the economy I look out for and nobody else tells the following like this...

"Macedonia sustains an enormous trade deficit (equal to 45% of GDP) because its export markets are not diversified (60% of its exports go to the EU); its industry is non-competitive; its currency is way overvalued; and its exports are subject to cyclical price movements. It must dump its antiquated industry and agriculture and concentrate its efforts on services, tourism, biotechnology, finance, education, healthcare, entrepreneurship, microlending, and information technology. It must export its manpower to other countries willingly and in a planned fashion. It must wean itself from its dependence on borrowing and liberalize its foreign exchange regime. It must actively encourage exports and vehemently discourage imports. But, Macedonia's leaders always look for a miracle: loans from Taiwan, foreign investors, Jewish money. They are unwilling to confront reality, preferring instead to live in a fantasyland. The government sector constitutes 60% of the country's GDP and the state employs a whopping one third of the active workforce."

[George S.]

Sam Vaknin seems to have a lot of preconceived ideas one that Macedonians should be considered more as ethnic Macedonians.I would prefer it to be indigenous Macedonians.According to Sam Vaknin Macedonia is going to be the sacrificial lamb if it chooses to join the EU.In whatever way he doesn't think Macedonia is ready to join the EU.He He beleives Macedonia has too much corruptionSam beleives the negotiations about the name issue are negotiated with the EU & USA.He beleives that Macedonia will be forced to change her name to the republic of northern macedonia.I think all the more for Macedonia to pull out of the negotiations & not join the EU.If these are the views of SAm Vaknin well May God help Macedonia because it's people like SAm Vaknin that will sell it out.Who needs enemies when you got people in Macedonia that are willing to sell out on Macedonia.It seems to be that the last thing on these people's mind at the top is to consult with the people.I smell a big dirty rat.Ethnic indeed.WE decide what& who
we are not someone who is not even a Macedonian like SAm Vaknin.