Manipulating the Dead
Abuse of death is nothing new in the Balkans or, indeed, the Empire. It was
perhaps too much to expect that Boris Trajkovski's tragic end in the Herzegovina
mountains would be spared the same fate.
Antiwar.com's resident Macedonia
expert Chris Deliso has a great
piece on his site Balkanalysis, examining the misleading and
manipulative eulogizing of Trajkovski over the past 48 hours. I think much of
what he says can be applied retroactively to several notable Balkans luminaries
who passed away recently (e.g. Zoran Djindjic, Alija Izetbegovic). Definitely
worth a read...
MORE...
Here's Deliso's conclusion, which, adapted only slightly, goes for most
Successor States of the former Yugoslavia:
"Trajkovski’s legacy as a
peacemaker, confidence-builder, and all around purveyor of Europhilia have as
much to do with the West’s perception of itself, its role in Macedonian history,
and the expected behavior of its Balkanian underlings as it does with anything
having to do with the men whose passing has left Macedonia dazed, trying to
understand what its next incarnation may bring."
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/more.php?id=507_0_1_0_M
