Mike Ilitch/Ilievski

[Risto the Great]

You can explain it however you want, but if you see "ff" you will tend to think it is a Bulgarian. The same thing applies between Polish vs Macedonian (sky vs ski) ... one would tend to make assumptions about the people based on the ending.

[Soldier of Macedon]

You can explain it however you want, but if you see "ff" you will tend to think it is a Bulgarian. The same thing applies between Polish vs Macedonian (sky vs ski) ... one would tend to make assumptions about the people based on the ending.

I not explaining it the way I want, I am explaining it the way it actually is. People could just as easily assume the 'ff' for a Russian surname also, if they are that ignorant. When western writers wrote articles about Delchev and Alexandrov with a 'ff' instead of 'v' at the end of their names, they knew they were writing about Macedonians, not Bulgarians or Russians.

The Polish/Macedonian comparison of sky/ski is different, because this is the actual spelling in each of the languages. In this instance, the English translation is directly copied from the original languages, otherwise, if they followed the 'ff' principle and their own phonology, it would be rendered as 'skee' for both sky/ski.

[Big Bad Sven]

I have shown some friends books/photos of macedonians were their surnames end with the "ff", and all of them ask me why macedonian surnames sound/look like german....

I think not all russians and poles have surnames that end with "sky", alot also with "ski"

I believe in the old days when macedonians migrated to "anglo" countries their surnames were modified e.g. ov to off and ski to sky

[osiris]

ozimak take it from me university education is not always and indicator of anything other than some one has taken the time to study and achieve a degree in some discipline. it doesnt indicate intelligence wisdom or even knowledge other than that particular area they have studied in. some of the most boring and uniformed people i know have a university education and rest on that laurel as if it was a definitive indicator of superiority.

having said that i can assure you rtg does have a university education and a thriving business that most people i know who love to have.

[Big Bad Sven]

hi all,
if mike illitch is a successful businessman, its probably because he makes good business decisions, and investing in macedonia is a risky proposition. i don't blame him in the least for not doing that. i think there's a big difference between giving to charity and investing... if there isn't a legitimate business case to invest but you do it anyway, that's not investment, although it may be admirable and a nice gesture. a rich man's desire to help might be much better served by simply giving a portion of their fortune to a macedonian charity. to be honest, i have no idea how generous illitch is in this regard, but i wouldn't be surprised if he gives something significant. a lot of people donate without big fanfare, so i won't simply assume he is a cheapskate, just because i havent heard about his overt philanthropy

illitch is a millionare probably because he busted his ass and got a little lucky, just like many other millionaires. we shouldn't begrudge his good fortune, or overtly criticize the rich diaspora individuals for not swooping in on private jets to solve all of macedonia's problems. that's a naive, fantasy scenario anyway... macedonia needs to take responsibility for itself, and 100 illitches can't fix that for them.

i would feel bad for illitch if he invested in macedonia just for emotional reasons, because they'll probably rob him blind and take advantage of him, and only a few banditi will benefit, not the country. without a legitimate court system, foreign companies have no recourse when dealing with conflicts, so its diva liga... its very sad. i wish gruevski would improve this important area, because a functioning court system is essential to running a modern economy

also, i really don't care how illitch spells his name. its his business. i know lots of patriotic macedonians with greek, bulgarian or serbian name spellling, and there's nothing wrong with that. there are various reasons why some people choose to keep their imposed name, and theres no reason to suspect someone because of that.

thank you

Would it hurt one of the richest men in america to give something back to his people and land or origin? Im sure something like a hundred thousand American dollars would be mere pocket money for Ilitch.

He could do something like build a school or museum, something were he wouldn't have to worry about making a profit or "loosing money" to.

The Hungarian nobleman and reformist István Széchenyi donated the full annual income of his estates for the establishment of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, i would imagine in his time Istvan would no way be as rich as Mike Illitch. At least he cared about the future and education of his people, unlike the poser macedonians who are millionaires.

Honestly if i had the money and was a millionaire i would invest in a school or some sporting facility in macedonia for the children and their future of macedonia.

[fyrOM]

The point I was making about the University education and the business is that one would think such a person would be more switched on, yet RtG, to support his point, makes out like he has never seen anyone other than Asians diaspora trading with their home country and wants me to list examples - do you live in Australia and see all the wog shops - it's common knowledge, or do you only have Asians in Adelaide.

If you are in Melbourne sometime RtG stop off at the Queen Victoria Market and find an African guy selling spices and other products from his home country. He came over as a refugee to Australia and when he settled here he went back and started a business with his cousin who lives there. They prepare the spices and other products and ship them out to Oz and he sells them here. Try also the Footscray shopping area and you will find similar shops with African clothing ect.

Not so long ago I was watching a business show where a woman from South America similarly came over as a refugee and now imports coffee beans from her former village and surrounds and roasts them here in Oz for sale.

What do you expect - that I have all the Government stats and lists of examples to prove it to you? Have you never heard of such examples?


This sort of thing is on one level.
In a different way (in a different thread), I was suggesting the human rights guys might want to look into a virtual phone/isp company - donations are one thing but earning money could be more.

[Risto the Great]

fyrOM, you are talking about one of your African brothers selling some spices in a market? This is a little different from some rich Diaspora Macedonian throwing millions of dollars at shaky investments in Macedonia. Isn't Marco Polo Foods doing what you are talking about?

So if I start a little shop selling little Macedonian salt & pepper shakers, I would be a better Macedonian? Because if I sell anything bigger, I would need some serious assurances from the little country that cannot be named.

[fyrOM]

fyrOM, you are talking about one of your African brothers selling some spices in a market? This is a little different from some rich Diaspora Macedonian throwing millions of dollars at shaky investments in Macedonia. Isn't Marco Polo Foods doing what you are talking about?

So if I start a little shop selling little Macedonian salt & pepper shakers, I would be a better Macedonian? Because if I sell anything bigger, I would need some serious assurances from the little country that cannot be named.

Don't worry, it's not that small an enterprise, he's making a mint becoming a major importer and from a refugee - and like I said he is not the only one.

I have always been saddened to find Maco stuff in Greek own dellies and have to buy it there - where's the Maco?

Marko Polo's a good start - F his name.

But for real coin can't Macos collectively, under say the Human Eights guys, run a virtual phone/isp company and use the profits to invest in Macedonia? Earnings got to be worth more than donations alone.

The Macedonians in the past have not been so business orientated preferring to look for places offering the most overtajm (overtime) and hosing down the driveways of their MacMansions.
Too bad, really.

Where is there one Maco mini-supermarket like the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, African, I can go in these places and buy everything from a stick of gum or a soda can upwards.

[osiris]

Why dont you do it ozimak. I think its a fair point you make but dont confuse business and patriotism. Personally I feel more inclined to make my living in a more stable situation and support our brothers in the occupied areas of Macedonia. As I have already explained we tried on 2 occasions to set up state of the art cold storage controlled atmosphere fruit facilities but were unable to come to reasonable fair terms . We are still having trouble establishing current legal titles for land ws have owned for a few hundred years . We are treated with disdain because ws refuse to pay bribes non Macedonian businesses on the otherhand are treated like royalty.

[fyrOM]

Why dont you do it ozimak. I think its a fair point you make but dont confuse business and patriotism. Personally I feel more inclined to make my living in a more stable situation and support our brothers in the occupied areas of Macedonia. As I have already explained we tried on 2 occasions to set up state of the art cold storage controlled atmosphere fruit facilities but were unable to come to reasonable fair terms . We are still having trouble establishing current legal titles for land ws have owned for a few hundred years . We are treated with disdain because ws refuse to pay bribes non Macedonian businesses on the otherhand are treated like royalty.

That's discussing! Not so long ago, in Vest newspaper they were writing of a Croatian company is going to build just that - I thought do we need Croatians to show us how to grow and store apples ect when most Macedonians have some farming connection. Have they forgotten the Yugoslav days when Macedonia produced most of the food but farmers were paid a pittance by the state then on-sold for export and the Serbs made the big profits - they treated the Macedonians like voloj - and now do they want to reinvent Yugoslavia but in trade form?

After my last trip and seeing how a lot of the locals and most of my relatives are, you can't imagine how conflicted I am about that place and doing anything there but supposedly the government is fixing this up with the 'one-shop-stop' formula whereby government liaison officers help with fast tracking the red-tape. Was your experience recent?

For whatever reason my grand-parents gave everything to one galen sin a long time ago so there really isn't anything there for me.

[Momce Makedonce]

Heard a claim that Mike Ilitch used to donate to the MPO and let them use his facilities for events, any truth to this?