Boo Hiss

Immediately following his re-election, President Bush had to go and ruin things by recognizing the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" as "Macedonia."

This is a very bad move for two reasons. First, it's a smack in the face of history. Macedonia has, in modern times, always been a Greek province. In ancient times Macedonia was a part of the larger Greek nation, just as Athens and Sparta were (the only difference was that Macedonia didn't adopt the city-state model of politics, and thus was considered a little primitive; that didn't stop Macedonians from competing in the Olympic Games, where participation was limited to Greeks).

Second, this recognition causes unnecessary problems in Europe. Tensions are always high in the Balkans. Why enflame passions by recognizing "Macedonia?" This just enrages Greeks and further polarizes Europe.

Either way, since the 1960s American ruling elites have been less than friendly to the Greek people (evident in everything from dimished levels of cultural respect to the US-sanctioned Turkish invastion of Cyprus). Certain anti-civilization forces have an interest in ensuring that memories of past glories (which could translate into present achievements) are extinguished, I suppose.