Voters in Macedonia are supposed to decide today whether to accept the re-districting law designed to give ethnic Albanians more power and influence in the government. Unlike the elections in the U.S., this referendum actually can make a difference. If Macedonians reject the government (i.e. Imperial) proposal, they may well derail the Ohrid Agreement and its slow murder of that country. Also, EU and NATO may then refuse to admit Macedonia – which actually isn’t a bad thing.Western press reports from the area are woefully inaccurate, as usual, but Chris Deliso of Balkanalysis (and often a contributor to Antiwar.com), has put together a list of nine chief misconceptions that ought to set things straight fairly well.
There is tremendous pressure to disrupt the referendum…
Albanians are boycotting it, not unexpectedly, but the Empire is doing everything to interfere as well. Washington just dropped a diplomatic bomb on Thursday, recognizing the name “Macedonia” (it was earlier referred to as “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” or “FYROM”), apparently with the intent of influencing the referendum. According to AFP, the government (which wants the referendum to fail) has gone so far as to temporarily lift the ban on bars staying open past midnight, clearly in hope that revelry over the name recognition will result in hangovers and abstinence from the polls.
So much for valuing “democracy,” then.