From e-Kathimerini:
Athens stands firm at NATO gathering
Discussion of FYROM’s alliance bid may be postponed until coming fall
Greek diplomats attending a crucial NATO summit in Bucharest yesterday stood by their threat to veto the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s bid to join the alliance, as Washington appeared to tone down its insistence that the Balkan state be invited immediately.
“We are running out of time,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos told reporters when asked if there was any chance of a settlement of the Macedonia name dispute that is obstructing FYROM’s NATO bid.
According to sources, the discussion of FYROM’s membership bid may be postponed until the alliance’s next scheduled summit in the fall.
Sources said that the name issue will be broached by US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried who is to visit both Athens and Skopje later this month.
Earlier yesterday, US President George W. Bush reiterated his support for Albania, Croatia and “Macedonia” joining NATO. “There’s an issue with one country, in particular, but... I’m optimistic that it will get solved,” Bush said in a clear reference to FYROM. Other Western leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also expressed their staunch support for FYROM’s membership bid.
The European Union’s enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, said: “NATO membership for Croatia, Albania and FYROM will help prepare those countries for EU membership as well.” Earlier Rehn had criticized posters in Skopje streets showing the Nazi swastika superimposed on the Greek flag. This is hardly in keeping with the principles of good neighborly relations, he remarked.
In Skopje last night, hundreds of FYROM residents staged a candle-lit vigil to protest Greek “oppression.” There were no reports of violence.
Several US newspapers featured the comments of Greek diplomats and diaspora organizations yesterday – an apparent bid to counteract pressure from Washington on Athens to drop its veto threat. “Athens has shown its good will... and gone the extra mile,” US Ambassador Alexandros Mallios wrote in a letter published in The Wall Street Journal. “If the name issue is not resolved now, it may fester to poison future generations, undermining stability and cooperation,” he added. Meanwhile, yesterday’s editions of The New York Times and other US newspapers carried a one-page feature – an initiative by a Washington-based diaspora group – entitled “What’s in a name?” explaining Greece’s position on the Macedonia name dispute.
Skopelos and Virgin
-by Skorda
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.
Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.
The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.
Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.
Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
FYROM update
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