North Macedonia (NYT)

Belated reactions to this under discussed story. This is very exciting going forward! In my opinion the West should be integrating these Balkan states ASAP. And remarkably, this happened in a time of European disunity and weak American leadership. What is not mentioned in this story: China as a large financier for Greece post-euro crisis has partially freed Greece from Russian influence which sets the larger stage for moves like this. Russia will continue to lose influence as long as energy and antagonism are their main exports.