My letter to the new-elected US President Barack Obama .......

Mr President Barack Obama

I would like to express my warmest felicitations as about your win in the Presidential elections. US foreign policy during the last years has been a challenge to foes and allies since it has lost its "persuasive credibility", arbitrariness and ability to see the obvious. It has led allies to question NATO´s scope, its utility and above all its ability to impose norms of international behavior based on rigid, uncompromised principles and values. Above all it lacks the ability to devise policies formulated outside the current militarily and power-imposed ethos.

You said that "It's been a long time coming, but tonight... change has come to America"

As Macedonian native the first that concerns me is the FYROM Name Dispute, a country north of Greece that wishes to be called Macedonia. In this dispute, Greece has made every single effort to meet the other side half way. It is obvious that the Greek political elite -despite the opposition of the majority of the Greek people- is ready to accept a name with a geographical definition that leaves no space for further misunderstanding. Greece has taken a step back in its rhetoric and policy with a view to enhancing stability in the region.

As Senator you have signed the Senate Resolution SR-300 which calls on the FYROM to stop its propaganda against Greece and to diligently negotiate a mutually acceptable name that would provide long and lasting peace in the Balkans.

Irredentist behavior towards Greece has been taught in FYROM classrooms and showed in the face of Greeks for nearly two decades now in every spot of our world. Greece has a legitimate argument when it says this sort of behavior threatens peace and the often tenuous security situation in the Balkans.

The Bush administrationʼs recognition of FYROM as ʽMacedoniaʼ in 2004 (2 days after the presidential election) has put the USA in the untenable position of effectively supporting FYROMʼs irredentism against the north of Greece, an American traditional ally. FYROMʼs irredentist aims were made clear by its recent rejection of Macedonian names that describe only territory within their borders – Northern Macedonia or Upper Macedonia – and by its Prime Ministerʼs recent appearance at a ceremony standing before a map showing northern Greece annexed.

Constructiveness may be a useful, at times, approach to international relations, yet it runs the risk of over-extending into relativism, thus making any claim, whether sustainable or not, appear attractive or noble. Eventually it dramatically blurs the dividing line between facts and beliefs, something American officials should comprehend. The semantics of Skopje rejecting the covertly implied by the Greek government solution enhances suspiciousness in Athens and eventually reveals the real motives behind Macedonianism, a state ideology built on Great Idea inspiration.

Mr President we like to see from you Presidential actions that based in your words as Senator and Presidential Candidate.

Greetings from the beautiful Greek Macedonia.