A Turko-Skopian Axis?

The last bit that I highlighted seems to have some kind of undertone me thinks.

Firstly, as others have explained in this thread Arvanites self-identify themselves as Greeks. They do not consider themselves Albanian-descent rather as Greeks who once spoke Albanian many, many years ago.

Secondly, their communities are located in south-central Greece and not Epirus.

Thirdly, having a Greek national conscience and being adherents to Orthodox faith they’re not going suddenly support Muslim Albanians.

There will be more of a chance of your Laz fighting a successionist war and push for union with Georgia. And we both know there are two chances of this happening: buckleys and none.

Any "guerilla war" war by the UCK/KLA mafia thugs against Greece would be instigated by an interested third-party anyway. And if this happens, Greece should follow Turkey's example and bomb over the border.

Anyway, Albanian irredenists will be too occupied with "liberating" lands that actually have Albos such as west Fyrom and south Crna Gora.

The Arvanite Greeks are about as likely of supporting Albanian UCK/KLA as Trabzon Turks of supporting Armenian terrorists because of their mixed historical descent.

As for the Balkans, Greece is not being dragged towards a war, not even close. The Balkans are certainly a messy place, full of claim, counter-claim and a mixed ethnic breakdown with a volatile past, but ultimately none of it is a threat to Greece.

The only military threat to Greece in the region is Turkey, even if the rest of the Balkans combined forces to attack Greece they would be bombed to the middle ages.

I'm not saying this as a nationalist or because of any sense of superiority, but as a realist. Greece has a strong economy, modern military hardware and capabilities that vastly exceed anything anyone in the Balkans has. Albania for example spends less on defence than Cyprus..........

On internet forums, everyone is full of claims and bs. Thankfully, most of it is not based in reality and is of no outcome other than verbiage on the internet.

The only possible problem would be if there was an armed insurgency similar to the Kurds in Turkey. It is very difficult to extinguish such a threat, however in Greece's case such an outcome is impossible.

A successful insurgency requires a level of public support, large numbers, good knowledge of a region, a cause etc... All of this is missing in Greece.

Kosovo had almost 2 million ethnic Albanians born and bred there, it was a region practically at war with the Serbs, the outcome was obvious....

The talk of "greater" this and "greater" that is all a wet dream.

The breakup of Yugoslavia has been a difficult and an ugly reminder of where historic hatred, nationalism and failed states can lead to. However, Yugoslavia is not necessarily a blueprint for what will happen across the region.

The Skopian issue is an annoying one for Greeks, the frustration is that they are stealing Greek culture/history to make a name for themselves, the idea that FYROM would send tanks towards Salonika is not even worth contemplating.

Greece totally mishandled the name issue back in the 1990's, and managed to lose the diplomatic battle, now the scramble is on to try and get any concession which will likely require a lot of carrot and stick (like a veto).

I'm certainly not going to paint Greece as the most liberal state on the planet, certain policies like the 'Turkish' identity of a large section of Muslims in Thrace for example is archaic and paranoid, the events in the Balkans are unfortunately not helping things progress.

I also doubt there is a vast US conspiracy to use the Balkans to 'punish' Greece, the Yanks were too busy dropping the ball to notice the damage they were casing. I suspect when they realised the only way to try and extend FYROM's existence was to recognise them, they weighed the damage with Greece and knew that Athens would scream and shout but ultimately take it.

The whole thing has been a mess, even the Kosovan independence has been very badly mishandled, and has understandably pissed off a lot of countries.

Good points, but here's some things to think about.
Kosovo's outcome was not obvious, until western interference. If left alone, it will still rightfully be a province of Serbia.
The Albanian's in FYROM who are also referred to as ethnic ( ), a lot of them are actually refugees from Kosovo who simply never went back.

No, its outcome became obvious once Yugoslavia started breaking apart along ethnic lines.

The Albanians of Kosovo and FYROM are the descendants of the Dardanian Illyrians and have been in the very same part of the Balkans for well over two thousand years. Anything else is Slavic bullshit of the same quality as the ones about Macedonia.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, I thought Serbians were a mix of Slavs and Illyrians?

Also nearly all the Albanians in Turkey (around 1.500.000/half of them are assimilated) are from that region.

and turks.

And what is considered to be a Turk?

Hmmmmm... how about Slav + Greek + Albanian + Armenian + etc...

Sounds fair if you add some asian blood in it. But seriously, even serbians mock dark haired serbs as Turks.

I also mock people by calling them Turks.

That is probably the case with the Montenegrins. The area that is today Serbia was mainly inhabited by Triballoi and Dacians.

Greece rejects Macedonia Nato bid


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7280723.stm