Clarification And Explanation (Well, Sort Of)

First, to answer Matt Jenks (who I hope is feeling better), Montenegro and Macedonia are not the same thing. They are both indeed former parts of Yugoslavia and both were some of the poorer parts of the confederation when it began to split up in 1991-1992.

Macedonia is on the track that Montenegro wants to join. Macedonia has officially entered the candidature for EU membership, according to the EU's website. There were until quite recently some unresolved issues between Macedonia and Greece over border demarcation and the use of the name "Macedonia," as the Greeks saw that as a violation of their sovereignty. These issues have been dealt with and Macedonia, poor as it still is, is forging ahead towards integration into a broader Europe, which seems to be a boon for poor, small countries and a mixed blessing (at best) for big, rich countries.

For more information, read the U.S. State Department's background notes on Macedonia and the official website of the Macedonian Government and also the DoS profile on Greece for a regional perspective. Refer to the previous post for all Montenegro-related information.

Second, explanation (of a rather less Balkan-themed nature). The doubled posts of my previous work is anyone's guess. Blogger decided to run really slow and not publish anything for the better part of last week. I am pretty sure that it was not our network as everything else ran just fine. That is also part of the reason I have not been able to check in with my other friends in the blogosphere (I kinda hate that word, but oh well). My sincerest apologies.