Word: macedonians
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...Macedonian conflict borders on the absurd - at least through the prism of NATO's wishful thinking. The troubled Balkan nation appeared to accelerate down the slide towards full-blown civil war Monday as ethnic-Albanian rebels fought government forces for control over Tetovo, Macedonia's second city which is claimed as an unofficial capital by the rebels. At the same time, Macedonians driven out of their villages by rebel forces in a familiar spectacle of Balkan "ethnic cleansing" vented their rage on Western embassies - and, inevitably, a McDonalds - in the capital overnight. The facts on the ground suggest a rapid...
...reluctance to stand up to armed Albanian extremism saw NATO shift its position. Western mediators have spent the past two months brokering cease-fire agreements that effectively legitimize the guerrillas, which will ultimately give the "murderers in the hills" a role in shaping Macedonia's future. The Macedonian government accuses the West of siding with the guerrillas; Western mediators protest they're maintaining neutrality - but it's precisely that new-found neutrality that has left the Macedonian establishment screaming betrayal...
...Still, whether or not the Macedonians feel betrayed by NATO's cease-fire efforts may prove to be a moot point. Right now, the rebels are advancing on a number of fronts, looking to cement territorial gains. Government forces are launching fierce artillery assaults in their general direction, inevitably inflicting civilian casualties that will radicalize the wider ethnic-Albanian population. And back in Skopje, President Trajkovski faces mounting pressure from Macedonian nationalists baying for a military solution. The odds against the center holding are growing longer...
...state to face a war-crimes tribunal, will appear before the court this week to hear the charges against him. MACEDONIA Back from the Brink Mediators pulled Macedonia back from civil war after the evacuation of armed ethnic Albanian rebels from a village near the capital sparked violent Macedonian Slav protests. Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity - a new E.U. envoy, François Léotard, arrived in Skopje - NATO approved a conditional plan to deploy 3,000 troops and Macedonia's Interior Ministry said it would demobilize some police reservists. Earlier in the week, U.S. President Bush signed...
...foot down in Macedonia is understandable: Confronting Albanian extremism - which the alliance itself appears has identified as the primary source of the current violence there - potentially exposes alliance troops to risks of a backlash both in Macedonia and in Kosovo. And there is no doubt that the Macedonian military's tendency to rain down bombs and shells on villages occupied by the guerrillas will drive many Macedonian Albanians into the arms of the rebels. Yet the absence of any strong disincentive for the guerrillas to continue fighting may be the fatal flaw of NATO's strategy, which appears...