Word: yugoslavia
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...aspiration got lost in the Madman's House because of a long-running but apparently trivial dispute over a name. Macedonia, a former constituent republic of Yugoslavia, had expected to be invited to join NATO alongside Albania and Croatia, another successor state to Communist Yugoslavia. But Macedonia's southern neighbor Greece perceives the name "Macedonia" as a threatened territorial claim on its own northernmost province, which is also called Macedonia. Right up to the wire, some NATO delegates remained optimistic about a solution for the country, which Greece still refers to as the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, or, more...
First he was a Pivotal Balkan politician, then an eccentric New Age guru. The earnest Janez Drnovsek led Slovenia to independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and, as its popular Prime Minister and President, built coalitions, revamped the economy and brought the country into NATO and the E.U.--the only former Yugoslav republic to join either. After learning in 2001 that he had a recurrence of cancer, the President claimed a "higher consciousness." He ditched his palace for a mountain cabin, renounced "all things evil," became a vegan and resolutely pushed for peace, often unsuccessfully, on diplomatic missions around the world...
...Just like its slightly older siblings - Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro - Kosovo rose from the ashes of the former Yugoslavia, whose destruction was caused by the brutal policies of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. But there are key differences. Unlike the others, Kosovo was not a Yugoslav republic, but an autonomous province within Serbia. It is mostly populated by ethnic Albanians, while the other post-Yugoslav states have Slavic majorities. And Kosovo has been effectively ruled by the United Nations since 1999, when Milosevic's troops were forced to pull out under NATO bombs, although Serbia was allowed to retain...
...issue is most volatile in in Europe, where the collapse of Yugoslavia reignited conflicts that date from the Crusades and the Ottoman advance into Europe - conflicts in which European leaders appeared incapable of intervening to stop repeated crimes against humanity. Last November, I went to Kosovo to visit Ramadan Ilazi, who was 14 when I'd met him during the war in a refugee camp in Macedonia. He supported Kosovo's independence for historical reasons, but mostly because he thought it was the best bet for a peaceful future. "I want the path with the least amount of conflict...
...have waited for this day for a very long time," Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told the parliament before reading the declaration at 3 p.m. on Sunday. "The independence of Kosovo marks the end of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia," he said, adding that "Kosovo was a unique case that should not set a precedent." Outside, the crowd cheered in the biggest celebration Pristina has ever seen. Ethnic Albanians started their celebrations on Saturday, with cars circling the streets of the capital draped with the flags of Albania and the United States, dancing to the sound of traditional...