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BTW Robert,
it actually could be said that from our perspective, it was the West that picked the wrong side in the Balkans, not Bulgaria, which has always been on the same side - that of Bulgaria.

All those tales of petty nationalism and ethnic cleansing, done by the Serbs that shocked the West in the 1990s - well, we've been dealing with that since the 1890s.

Good that that finally everything came out, and everyone knows who the players are...

I will say in short without the sermons BG, has always rolled over by anyone that tells it to and its the ordinary people that always pay for it.

Robert,

".. this is maybe an uninformed myth but several of my bulgarian friends have this feeling.."

That's exactly right Robert - "feeling". Feelings are the most natural substitute for basic information. If I may explain a few things about your Bulgarian friends - the vast majority of us are complete prisoners of our unfortunate excuse for education - what our schools passed for "history" was little more than internationalist Marxist propaganda.
The problem is that reform was slow, and even relatively young people, were still severely misinformed, as late [...]

Read the full comment as the 90s.

What I find amusing though, is the apparent ease with which a westerner would be indirectly influenced by the long forgotten Commie propaganda machine, through his East European friends, and go so far as to post the misinformation on the Net.
I think it's fascinating...

As far as "deviousness of those in power":
Robert, make no mistake. The only difference between the Bulgarian and - lets take the American, since we are discussing the American ambassador here, government, is style.
I've lived in the US for decades, done business there and trust me when I tell you that our politicians and crooks have sooo much to learn from their American counterparts!
Wall street and their relations to the US Treasury is one big incestuous viper's nest of technically corruption, the size of which is almost impossible to absorb with our minds - it's kind of similar to the size of space - can't even imagine.

Our politicians are crude and unsophisticated, and obviously in many ways similar to your Bulgarian friends - seriously - most politicians in most countries, are little more than a population sample....

Wendy,
Is anyone "justifying" anything here?
We are discussing alliances, in the context of the article, and the American ambassadors' some what presumptuous behavior.

Bulgaria was allied with Germany (the core of the EU today), for very good reasons, as well as she should've.
Before you jumped in to exhibit your gift for stating the obvious, I was attempting to explain to Robert, that all of our 20th century policies and alliances, were motivated by self-interests - nothing to do with betting on horses, or wrong associations.
Our [...]

Read the full comment enemies, were constant - they not ideologies nor were they some players in the world's super power tectonic shifting, but our neighbors, Greece, but especially Serbia, who has always been a very unpredictable and nationalistic entity.

Bulgarians can wrap it up in all kinds of semantics and use all kinds of excuses to justify their choices. The end result was that Bulgaria was allied with Nazis.

Period.

hey valeri this is maybe an uninformed myth but several of my bulgarian friends have this feeling . maybe they just feel let down by their politicians when they see the level of deviousness of those in power use for their own interests

"historically Bulgaria has always backed the wrong horse when it came down to taking sides .."

That is one of those myths that many uninformed individuals repeat.

Historically Bulgarian has always taken one side only - that of Bulgaria. Perhaps you can say that the problem really steams from there - that would be a more intelligent generalization.

Right after liberation, at the Congress of Berlin,(1878) with British (and German) duplicity, Europe placed half of the newly liberated by the Russians territory, populated with majority Bulgarians, back under [...]

Read the full comment Ottoman rule. (the Brits got Cyprus in return, from the Turks, and Bismarck only got the satisfaction of denying the Russians their political gains).

That right there was the nucleus of the following Balkan wars, which started essentially with the goal of expelling the Turks from the Balkans (Europe) all together. That goal was achieved after which the allies turned on each other. Without getting into it, Bulgarian lost, again all those lands populated by majority Bulgarians - like today's FYROM and the northern part of modern Greece.

That was in 1913. Two years later with the beginning of the Great War, BG saw an opportunity to redress, what we saw as injustice and re-unite all Bulgarians, so we joined the enemies of our enemies - nothing to do with choosing sides or betting on horses.

After Versailles, BG lost our lands with the people again, and was punished and isolated by the victorious Entente, just like Germany. When Hitler came around, we again saw an opportunity to redress the same injustice, so again, we joined the enemy of our enemies.

All that time, we NEVER fought against Russia, regardless that technically we did indeed end up on the opposite sides - that for the purely sentimental reasons of gratitude for liberation. When the Russians drove in (Sept. 1944), we welcomed them as we NEVER saw them as enemies.

If anything one can say that Bulgarian foreign policies and alliances throughout the 20th century, have been remarkably consistent in their single minded focus on the most burning issue of Bulgarian National Interest, that has nothing to do with sides and allies. Sadly, after every one the above mentioned attempts to unite, those territories saw increased, what we call today "ethnic cleansing" and most of the 20th century for BG is one extended period of miserably mistreated refugees from those lands, streaming into the much reduced BG we have today.

The only other constant feature of our domineer, has been friendliness towards Russia. The Germans couldn't even get us to declare war on the USSR, (Russia to us) much less use us in fighting there like the Romanians, Hungarians and Italians did, with such a disastrous results.

historically bugaria has always backed the wrong horse when it came down to taking sides with another country/regime this time bulgaria seems to be trying to back two horses eu and usa both of which are extremely unknown entities and dangerous in their own ways to the evolution of a nation. i say forget them both and try to look after bulgaria first.

We got plenty of crime and corruption to take care of here in America. Come home Warlick and take care of the warmongers and others in this country that are ruining the U.S. Clean House!

EX-EXPAT,


This is not about Bulgarian sovereignty.
As a Bulgarian I will be perfectly happy to see the EU with much more actual power in BG, than the proverbial carrots, which are not enough to force through the needed reforms.
What does the EU, have to do with the US - that I don't get.
We are not a part of the US nor is frankly the American role VS the EU a very positive one. Dealing on individual country's level, on every issue with which they can't [...]

Read the full comment get their way in Brussels, does nothing but undermine the European institutions and the Union we are all trying to build.
I would actually prefer to close down ALL foreign embassies in Sofia, and pack them to Brussels - just like the US states. Keep a Consul only in BG, to assist your nationals in need, but please take the international issues to the EU.
We are represented there, and just like any US state, we shouldn't allow ourselves to become .. er - Trojan Horse of any type. for forces outside the EU.

In the Netherlands it does not come in the press but it is all the same

@ Valeri
I understand your comments: It is hard to have some unknown poeple, probably not really aware of the complexity and allow themselves to judge and comment BUT Bulgarians today cannot tell others not to interfers in Internal Affairs: It is EU and your country receives huge funds from Brussels( Are most of them been use righefully?)as well as internationaly known corruption problems where significant part of the poeple in power have some ghost in the closet, it makes all chages very long and difficult..BUT BG is an amazing country, I lived and worked many years, met [...]

Read the full comment some amazing poeple, made life long friendship...BG is on the right way, it is a long and difficult path, where at some point, time will be the main factor! I miss BG!

This guy doesn't know when to stop.

Mind you own business Mr."War"-lick! You represent America ONLY! Take care of US inerrsts and do not meddle in internal Bulgarian affairs!

Now if they could only start on Wall Street we might get somewhere.
Cheers,
RR

Why don't you start raiding the major local councils since most are controlled by organised crime groups.