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Actually the "realistic" alternatives were there: a parition of Kosovo, in which the Northern tip of Kosovo remained in Serbia, was feasible but for the fact that the Kosovo Albanian side had no incentive to negotiate as it knew that the West would back up full independence without any need to make any territorial sacrifices.
Also it would be conceivable under different circumstances that a general peripheral agreement could be reached, that would include Bosnia, and the whole W.Balkans, guaranteeing among other things the free return of all refugees and funds for return or relocation (a vastly better allocation of EU money than the current situation)...
BTW I'm not sure how adamant Greece will be regarding the recognition of Kosovo. There is talk that Greece has very good relations with the Albanian parties in the Republic of Macedonia and given that for some bizzare reason the issue of our Northern Neighbour's name is seen as a major national threat, there might be some sort of quid pro quo there - although given Turkish occupation of N. Cyprus that would be suicidal IMHO. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
- Jake Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.
However, there are some marginal real issues here, minor ones that could be settled with some goodwill, such as irredentism in the RoM (a political minority but firmly entrenched in school curricula and public discourse there) and product names (all things exported as "Macedonian" from Greece, or public institutions would be forced to change their name if there is no other arrangement).
Both of these issues could be settled by no more that a month's sincere discussions, and some sort of arbitration from the EU - but positions are entrenched now and both countries will have a hard time bargaining... So the whole thing degenerates into discussing the "nationality" of Alexander the Great instead... The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
The people posting these screeds actually thought that they could change peoples' opinions this way, when for outsiders it was a perfect hall of mirrors of fanatical nationalism and mythologised history, each side asserting that their people had lived in Macedonia in unbroken historical continuity for thousands of years while the other lot were recent interlopers, with everything the same on both sides except for the names...
You have Greeks in the Macedonia region who are themselves refugees from either the Ottoman Empire or the Soviet Union. They moved en masse to the region while at the same time Pomaks and Bulgars and Slav speaking Greeks were moved out (for many reasons, losses from Balkan Wars, siding with the Nazis, or also aiding the Communists for the Greek civil war). Karaskidou's book Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood does a pretty good job of showing the ethnic mix over the last century in this area. Outside of Greece, Albanians and Macedonians are aggrieved for land losses. Meanwhile, inside of Greece, you have Greeks aggrieved for their own land losses elsewhere. Plus, ww2 and the civil war were not only "cause" for expulsion of other ethnic groups, but a good number of Greeks as well (such as my uncle, a 12 year old drafted into the ranks of the guerillas, he lived in the Eastern Bloc up until the early 1990s). This is why Greek sentiment is so adamant about the Greek part of Macedonia. It's a rather recent addition to Greece, and it was gained through much bloodshed in Balkan Wars, WW2 (against Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, Italy, 1 million Greeks died), and the Civil War.
In Macedonia, meanwhile, you have a national crisis right now because former Macedonian Presidents have become Bulgarian citizens and moved to Bulgaria, as have a great many young people, which further fuels Bulgarian arguments that Macedonians are simply Bulgarians converted to a national mythology by Tito. Ultimately, I think all this mixing speaks to our tenuous identities and the bankruptcy of romantic nationalism. Let them call themselves whatever they wish, whoever they think they are, but maybe to avoid future bloodshed a distinction could be made between Greek Macedonia and whatever. New Macedonia as the US recently proposed?
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