On 13 September the Macedonian Opera and Ballet brought the Bulgarian audience in Sofia to its feet with "Nabucco". Here the great composer Verdi tells the fate of the Jews, captured and exiled by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II.
Today we are witnessing another biblical epoch, a true tragedy with Macedonist protagonists.
The Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, the professor-president Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, and his protégé-foreign minister, Timčo Mucunski, staged an excellent performance in the Bulgarian capital.
Two Bulgarian flags and the absence of the Macedonian flag, in a photo from an unofficial meeting, stirred the rebellious spirit of politicians in our neighbour. Well, if only that spirit was Macedonian. Alas, it is foreign... We are obliged to tell the truth.
Mr Mickoski, why did you forget about the Vergina Sun when you smiled for the cameras while greeting the Croatian Prime Minister and President, only in front of the flags of Croatia and the EU?
Mrs Siljanovska, why are you offended by the understanding that Macedonians and Bulgarians are blood brothers. Was it easier for you to tell Vucic that Serbs live on both sides of the Serbian-Macedonian border?
Mr Mucunski, what was the reason for your nervous smile while Siljanovska was answering questions from Bulgarian journalists?
It was not "cultural" to pull and nudge an elderly woman, after all we are talking about "diplomacy".
The weather in Sofia has already turned cold, but the sweat ran down your forehead at a question about Corridor 8. Are you afraid that NATO and the EU will not allow you to scrap this strategic route as well in order to bow to Serbia?
Let us continue with the backbone of Macedonian society, the bending and the red lines - Hristijan Mickoski's terminology in his dramatic yet soap opera.
The politics of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party unfolds in four acts, after Giuseppe Verdi. The opposition in North Macedonia is not happy. The hatred towards Bulgaria is not enough.
Act 1
With the falsification of Mickoski, called "Bulgarian dictate", the European dream of the Macedonian citizens is gaining momentum on the runway of the Skopje airfield. It is preparing to take off in the Belgrade-Moscow direction - a favourite route of Ivan Stoilković, the Serbian deputy prime minister in Mickoski's cabinet. He vowed to leave North Macedonia if the Bulgarians were included in the constitution, but today he is in charge of the "inter-community relations" department.
Act 2
The plane could end up in Beijing, from there to Budapest under Orban and back to Skopje. This is the "red line" along which a crippling loan taken by the Macedonian government passed. 500 million euros! Hungarian in words, Chinese on documents.
The backbone of North Macedonia is breaking. Every year Belgrade publishes thousands of books in which Macedonia=Vardar Banovina or South Serbia and Macedonians are South Serbs. Gotse Delchev Boulevard in Belgrade has been renamed for years now because the leader of IMRO identified himself as Bulgarian.
Mickoski is silent, he is busy NOT putting "a hundred Bulgarians" in the constitution, the Egyptians are enough for him.
Act 3
Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski prepares joint meetings of the Macedonian and Serbian governments.
The negotiating framework, approved by all EU countries, goes in the trash. Bulgaria is to blame, of course. What good is the European family when you have "Serbian World" and "Open Balkans" or mini-Yugoslavia?
Act 4
"The loss of national identity is the greatest defeat a nation can suffer, and it is inevitable under the modern form of colonization. Countries that are under foreign command quickly forget their history, their past, their traditions, their national symbols, their way of life, often their own literary language" - speech by (pre)last Yugoslav/Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic (2 October 2000)
Yugoslavia is gone. Until its remnants are completely extinct, they will continue to block the future of Macedonian citizens.
Yet, with or without the "cultural diplomacy" of Macedonia's Kamala Harris, rapprochement between Bulgaria and North Macedonia is doomed to succeed. | BGNES
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Dimitar Ruskov, International Department of BGNES News Agency
