hmm didnt Greece arm the Maco army during the conflict they had to with the Albos during the late 90's and early 00's?

yes so as to kick the UCK ass , which it did

noone kicked uck azz. The "powers" intervened and things were settled.

At present, their internal affairs are at shumbles, because for a law to pass, it must be voted both by the slavs and the albos. Which means that nothing goes ahead in this plagiarist country

Please, go on...

UCK got its ass kicked in tetovo , do you have an idea how many guerillas were killed?

I dont disagree. But we shouldnt consider the issues as a "not that important"..We all know that in Balkans, there is not a "draw"...If someone loses, someone else wins..Nothing tragic will happen if we lose but it will be bad for the morale, the influence, the image of Greece in the area...

I dont want to see an UCFYROM too, but if the skopjans dont want to help themselves, what can we do? Also, if we close the borders, we will probably see an american "airlift of hope" like the one in East Berlin back in the '50s..not good for our reputation. Not to mention our businessmen who will grab the opportunity again to make huge profits in the black market as they did during Papandreous embargo..

Fuck it Duke

closing the border with them and putting them under a embargo will only cause you problems in the future.

fact is UCK has their eyes set on western Macedonia, an embargo would weaken the Macedons greatly and make it easier for UCK to gain territory and overtime lead to Albania annexing the region.

with Kosova already under Albanian control along with western Macedonia UCK will almost certainly look towards Chameria/southern Epirus to achieve their ultimate goal of a "Greater Albania".

Theres more chance of me winning ,the nobel prize for medicine,and wimbledon than there is of the Albanians gaining southern epirus.
if they really believe in this pipe dream then boy they are further removed from reality than I thought

Re -current round of talks in New york.
I sort of figured this round of talks was doomed to failure when i heard both leaders making threats and counter threats prior to the talks

This was the dilemma of the greek government. Thats why for 15 years we supplied FYROM with practically everything, thats why we invested and donated million of euros hoping that the skopjan government would decided to come to its senses. Obviously, they didnt. From now on, it will be their fault. Sure, they can keep their name but they will not become member of NATO or EU as long as we deny them their entrance. Anyway, concerning the albanians. i would say that they dont have a chance. The americans consider FYROM as a very important place for their interests. They will do everything they can to keep FYROM safe, including military support against the Albanians. As usual Balkans is a madhouse.

So why does the UCK still control those areas?
Why is their armed UCK terrorists roaming around up there?

They didn't get their asses kicked, they got partially what they wanted thanks to western intervention. Now everytime they want something in FYROM, they threaten to pull out of the government or block everything or whatever, and basically blackmail the FYROM government into submission.

There are no ethnic Albos in Epirus. It's not like in Kosovo or Tetovo where they can hide amongst the villages. Any UCK attack on Greece will be across the border, and Albania will find itself in a bind for allowing an armed incursion into a EU/Nato member.

And the the Albanians aren't as formidable as many make themselves out to be. In 1999 the Serbs had the KLA on the run until the Nato strikes. Even in Tetovo they were fighting against a poorly trained AoM, even then they could only occupy a few border villages. Against the Hellenic Armed Forces, well, I believe our boys will be able to give them a good bitch slapping.

Besides, Albania will find itself the biggest loser. With c.600,000 Albanian immigrant workers in Greece, last thing they'll need is for them to be suddenly deported back over the border together with the loss of remittances that easily run in the hundreds of millions

And why do the yanks give such a shit about this composite state? The only thing I can think of is that they're just trying to curtail any Russian influence in the southern Balkans by creating a strategically friendly zone across Albania, Fyrom and Bulgaria.

But was the US recognising them as RoM that as strengthened their resolve to reject all compromise with Greece. BTW did you know the Skops have also renamed their main square in Skopje as Pela ie Pella. Not only doesn't any of their republic include historic Macedonia within its borders but now they're trying to recreate it hundred of kilometres away.

IMO the problem with Greek politicians is that they seem to lack balls and brains. We have two very important US bases in Greece, Nea Makri and Iraklio, and by courtesy of the Greek tax-payer we've done them the "favour" by forking out $1.5 billion for those F-16's.

What about the Arvanites who are descended from ethnic Albanian settlers who live in Epirus?
and do you really think the international community will do anything to Albania for allowing militants to attack a NATO member? look at their pathetic reaction towards Iraq for doing next to nothing in preventing PKK from attacking Turkey which is also a NATO member

UCK will have a similar strategy to that of PKK. They will launch guerilla warfare rather than conventional warfare. Guerillas are notoriously difficult to defeat because they dont care how many fighters they lose as long as they have the enemy rattled.

a war against them will not be swift, it will drag on for years

Have you ever tried to tell an Arvanite that he is an Albanian? He would smother you on the spot. Even before the Greek revolution, the Arvanites had a Greek/Christian national conscience and that's why they fought against the Turks and their "compatriot" Albanians in their service. But this was 200 years ago. Arvanites are Greeks like Vlachs are Greeks. Besides, the Arvanites were living in south Greece, not Epirus. The ethnic Albanians of Epirus, the Chams, left when the Germans retreated in 1944. Even when they moved to Albania, the Albanians did not trust them very much and they did not want trouble with Greece so they moved them in north Albania. The surviving Chams are the ones who make all the fuss about Chameria and not because they want it back, but because they want compensation. Most of them don't deserve it, but it would be in Greece's interest to write each one a fat check and that will be the end of Chameria, outside of extreme nationalistic groups.