Vulgar Bulgarians
I have written several times over the past 18 months that if Macedonia gave in to Greek demands and changed its name and identity (and everything else that makes it unique) then Greece — and Bulgaria — would then begin introducing ever-new demands after that point before agreeing to Macedonia then joining NATO and the EU.
While I was wrong about NATO I am correct on having stated that they would make ever-new demands before they signed off on EU membership. And they have at least 10 years of negotiations ahead of them to introduce those new demands but even before we get to the beginning of that 10 year process, they have begun: last week the Bulgarian leadership held a meeting to discuss whether or not Bulgaria will agree to allow Macedonia to start those EU accession talks next month. The hitch? Macedonia must agree that Goce Delcev was “Bulgarian” and other ludicrous demands.
The bottom line is that the Greeks and Bulgarians do not believe Macedonians exist as a people. And they object, vociferously, to the fact and reality that Macedonians actually do exist and that the country of Macedonia exists and that parts of Greece and Bulgaria (and Albania) have Macedonians living there. Furthermore, both the Greeks and the Bulgarians want the rest of the world to adopt their position and deny that the Macedonians — and Macedonia — exists. Therefore, membership in the EU is the perfect cover for them to chip away at any talk of a Macedonian identity, people, country, nation, heritage, culture, history, language, and much more.
So let’s talk about those vulgar Bulgarians. But before I do, the standard caveat that what follows applies to the Bulgarian Government and their bureaucracy, and any others who are part of the decision making and policy making in Bulgaria — to include media, academics, think tanks and others who deny that the Macedonians exist and really are “just Bulgarians.” Most Bulgarian people probably don’t think too much about these things and just want to get on with their miserable little lives.
Speaking of being miserable, Bulgaria is still an incredibly corrupt country, even after nearly 13 years of being in the European Union. The brain drain of young and educated people from Bulgaria to the various EU countries continues, unabated, because of low wages and corruption, and media freedom is still lacking. On the plus side, at least they don’t murder their oligarchs as often and as openly as they used to.
Despite all of this there are two main reasons why the Bulgarians engage in their vulgar behavior toward Macedonia and the Macedonians — subjugation and humiliation. The Bulgarians believe that Macedonians are really “Bulgarians” and they covet the land of Macedonia. They therefore wish to subjugate Macedonia and the Macedonians. Second, by demanding that Macedonia grovel before them — and Zoran Zaev is an expert in this — they aim to humiliate the Macedonians in the hopes that Macedonians will get sick and tired of the humiliation, throw in the proverbial Macedonian towel and join the Bulgarian bandwagon. That is one reason they hand out Bulgarian passports to Macedonians like candy. All one has to do is admit that one has a “Bulgarian” ancestor in the past.
The Bulgarians can claim whatever history they want — that is their choice. But what they cannot do is force another country to accept that they have no history or that that country’s history is actually Bulgarian history.
Zoran Zaev has never met an opportunity to surrender Macedonia to another power that he didn’t like. One could justifiably claim that he is, in fact, nothing more than a cannabis-consuming surrender monkey, trained to do tricks at the commands of others. Or perhaps he is merely “woke” (he might likely claim that). And also a coward. He cowardly ignored the consent of the governed after the vote of September 30, 2018 and went ahead anyway with his move to do the bidding of the Greeks and certain Western elites by ramming through parliament something Macedonians never asked for. Zaev has already given in, numerous times, to the Bulgarians and their demands and will do so again. And this is how it works with appeasement: it might be difficult the first time, but thereafter it becomes easy as the party demanding appeasement always asks for more.
So now, just before the EU decides on whether or not to open accession talks with Macedonia in the middle of October, Zaev is again cratering in to the demands of the Bulgarians with respect to history and the education of young Macedonians. The Bulgarians, once again, demand that Macedonians accept that Macedonian hero Goce Delcev was a “Bulgarian” and that Macedonians change their schoolbooks and other educational curriculum to reflect this. And what does Zoran Quisling Zaev say? “History is a living, breathing thing, it is debated over and in time new historic facts emerge. There are also undisputed historic facts. So we tell our members in the committee not to be afraid if something is documented and historically accepted by both sides, to quote the documents and talk about it. Find a way to build friendship, instead of something that will divide us again,” according to media reports. Shorter: give the Bulgarians what they demand and damn Macedonia’s history. This is “good neighborly relations?”
(The only good news here is that Zaev will be gone one day and individuals who respect Macedonia’s history will be back in power and they will change everything back — the treaty on so-called “good neighborly relations” be damned.)
Zaev shows no understanding, no respect, and certainly no humility for the past, for tradition, for heritage, for those who have come before and sacrificed their all for Macedonia. Zoran Zaev and his government — his ministers, parliamentarians, his party, and his junior partner party — have no moral right to govern Macedonia.
Decline is a choice.
Zoran Zaev and his government have made that choice.
Now it is time for the Macedonians to make theirs.
