Lands That Time Forgot

Judging by the way CNN and BBC covered the news, world media has more pressing matter than the death of President Trajkovski. US presidential race, UN spy scandal, Haiti crisis, gay marriages in San Francisco and overhyped religious movies – all that is deemed more important than the plane crash that could very well reignite war in Macedonia.

But, this is hardly surprising. Southeastern Europe is the region that world media forgot and would like to remain that way. Countries are at peace, ruled by democratic pro-Western government and on their way to enter new era of prosperity under EU and NATO banner. News that could make cracks in that rosy facades are suppressed.

That explains why there is very little talk about new Serbian minority government being de facto supported by SPS, party made of the followers of Slobodan Milošević (Slobodan Milosevic). After Vojislav Koštunica (Vojislav Kostunica), leader of moderate pro-Western nationalists, claim that SPS is "reformed and doesn't have anything in common with the party that misbehaved in 1990s" most Western diplomats would gradually accept his view, only to pull Serbia out of media spotlight.

There is very little care about complex details of this part of world. CNN in its report about Trajkovski describes recent war in Macedonia as "conflict between Muslims and Christians". Words "Albanian" or "Slav Macedonians" were never used, although they would be more appropriate in the description of those events.

Needless to say, Matt Drudge never bothered to put news of Trajkovski's death on his website.

Same goes for ethnic clashes in eastern Slovakia. As Petr Bokuvka a.k.a. Daily Czech reports in his blog, Slovakian government used military forces in order to crush Roma (Gypsy) riots and plundering of shops. That news is not likely to be reported because Slovakia is supposed to be stable emerging pro-Western democracy where such things perhaps in the troubled past, but they don't happen now.