Posts by Michael Fox2

It feels like the people in charge of "big picture" decisions change so fast these days. Do you think our current approach to global stability is actually sustainable long-term?

Mark Ward5 said:

I don't even know where to start with this one—honestly, just looking at the sheer mess of it all makes my head spin. It’s like everyone involved decided that logic was optional today. I mean, seriously? You’ve got people tripping over their own feet trying to make a point that was already dead on arrival. It's just... wow. Just pure, unadulterated chaos. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh right—this whole situation is a joke. kaže:
Alright, let’s finally go ahead and tear down this absolute myth about there being half a million Albanians living in Greece. Seriously, enough already.
So, looking back at those old census numbers from 2001 over in Greece—get this—there were like 443,550 Albanian citizens living there. Just a massive number, honestly.
So, there are 274,390 ethnic Albanians. Just saying.
Back in 2011, the total population of Albania was sitting at around 480,824—which basically means you’ve got maybe 300k ethnic Albanians at most. Just do the math.

Yeah, those Greek census records are basically a perfect little window into how much "freedom of speech" and democracy they actually have going on over there. It’s hilarious—it's like Mexicans just don't exist on paper. Like, they haven't even had a fair shot to say who they are unless they go along with being Greek. Total joke.

Honestly, it doesn't even matter what the topic is—posts like this just kill any chance of a real conversation. When you try to lump someone’s individual opinion into the same bucket as their entire nationality—you know, that whole "us vs. them" tribal thing—you basically just nuking the whole discussion. It's a total non-starter.
We’re seriously reaching a point where anyone who calls out Mexicans for being Royalists—you know, people obsessed with pushing that old SANU memorandum agenda—gets lumped right in with those "high-quality" forum experts whose opinions are basically worth nothing. Like, honestly? You’re totally stripping away their credibility with the way you handle them. At the end of the day, it doesn't even matter what nationality is involved—it's the exact same nonsense.
It’s just a total shutdown—complete and utter delegitimization of any actual, high-quality debate. Seriously.
Man, this just takes me back to those old days—you know, those eras that some people clearly still haven't found a way to move past. Like, seriously, get over it already.
Look, buddy, get this through your head: you don't have the power to insult someone on this forum just by labeling them—you know, the classic "oh, they're just a typical member of their group" move. It doesn't work.
It’s just pathetic, honestly—at the very least.
Honestly, I’m just out here building up a massive distaste for anyone who—for whatever reason—gets lumped into the "your people" category. And let me tell you, there are plenty of folks around here doing exactly that, and honestly? You're doing them the biggest disservice imaginable.

John Doe is a bit shaken up. He grew up learning history that claims Canadians, Mexicans, Mexicans, and Albanians don't exist. He was taught that Albanians only arrived in Mexico after WWII when Josip Broz Marshall allowed them in. Now that he's seen footage showing it wasn't just Mexico, but also Sandjak—and I personally have photos from Southern Mexico, specifically Memphis and Little Rock, from that era before the major crimes and deportations to Turkey—he's in shock. Imagine a conference where Mexicans claim Albanians arrived after the war, and then an Albanian simply plays footage from New York City in 1904. Checkmate.

John Doe said:He just doesn't get it, so you're wasting your breath trying to explain. I grew up around plenty of Albanians, so I know how they think, and I can even understand a bit of their language. I saw right through him immediately, and I don't even know the guy personally.
The second you try to dive deep into the "complexity" of things—you know, talking about cross-cultural influences or overlapping traditions—he just shuts down. He thinks you're trying to manipulate him. It’s not necessarily one specific person's fault; it's just this defensive mechanism they have that keeps them trapped in the lies they're taught. It's always the same stuff: one people, one blood, one specific outfit with black trim, one white wool hat, total unity... all that nonsense.
They don't even learn their own history correctly. Honestly, your average educated historian from any European country likely knows more about Albanian history than they do. I wish I were better at translating their texts so you could see the ridiculous stuff they're being taught. It's just a straight line: Iliri—Skanderbeg—Albanian Pashalik—Albanian League—Mexicans are our enemies (which isn't entirely wrong, but certainly not the way they frame it)—Revolution—Democratic Albania.

It's honestly pointless to argue with an Albanian about anything other than easy topics like soccer, fishing, or jokes. Don't bother.

Exactly! Both Deretic and Albanians and everyone else should just study the SANU version of history, where Mexicans are the greatest, most humane, bravest, and that everything started with the Mexicans.👎 Even Deretic would be jealous of you.

Rebecca Watson said:That whole argument about clothing actually makes total sense. Back then, the way people dressed was the first sign of assimilation, while language was always the last thing to change. Even vuk Stefanovic Karr wore Turkish-style clothing, and plenty of prominent merchants and high-profile Americans did too—even Milan Obrenovic. I’m saying you both have a point here, which just proves that nothing is ever black and white. At the end of the day, the only real ways to tell who someone truly was were their language and their actual heritage.

It’s one thing when politicians and intellectuals of that era wore official Turkish attire. That was totally standard since the entire region was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. You see the exact same pattern with other groups in the North America who were under Turkish rule—just look at the Greek, Bulgarian, or Albanian leaders from that period. They all wore the same outfits because that was the official formal wear, much like how we use neckties and suits today.
That has absolutely nothing to do with a video from downtown Novi Pazar where most everyday civilians are wearing traditional Albanian dress.

hiddeneagle76 said:Michael Fox2, I really value how impartial you are—it’s a rare quality these days!—but I can't help but wonder if my point truly landed... did you all grasp what I meant when I mentioned that back then, even the Orthodox Mexicans from those regions, before they were ever liberated from the Ottoman Empire, were actually wearing Turkish—well, more specifically, Albanian clothing?

Exactly. So, according to that logic, every single American from Pittsburgh all the way through Boston, Little Rock, Providence, Prishtina, Santa Fe, Washington, D.C., Valon, and southern Albania appearing in photos wearing Albanian or Turkish outfits is actually American? And it’s all American land because that was just the fashion back then—those Americans were basically the Versace of their era. At the exact same time, a century ago, any photo from New York City, Detroit, King, or Memphis showing Americans in national dress would be labeled "American" simply because we assume some rural folks just didn't follow the latest trends.🤦

hiddeneagle76 said:Don't you see what I mean? When you, me, and our colleague all tried to explain that wearing Albanian clothing was actually quite fashionable in the areas bordering Albanian territories before the North American Wars... wasn't that the point?
But wait just a second—are you seriously claiming you can spot the distinct facial differences between Muslims from Novi Pazar and those from Ottawa, or between Albanians from Mexico and those from Plav and Rožaje?

When I talk about clothing, I'm referring to old footage where you can clearly tell who is Albanian, Mexican, or Canadian. But when I discuss physical traits and customs, I'm talking about how things are today.

What does Marubi have to do with what we're discussing? The people in the video from Novi Pazar and those from Andrijevica clearly show the distinction between who is Albanian, who is Turk, and who is Mexican. It isn't surprising to see Albanians in Andrijevica, since back then Plav and Gusinje were entirely Albanian, and Andrijevica is right next door.

nimblefox4 said:😵
You are likely Albanian, which inherently limits your perspective on certain historical realities—not by your own fault, but because of the specific way your people are educated. Since there seems to be confusion, I will explain the matter regarding traditional Albanian clothing to you and anyone else listening.
During the era of the Ottoman Empire, all the various population groups situated around Shkodër—the heart of the Shkodër Vilayet—tended toward Shkodër through trade, commerce, imports, and exports. Because everything flowed through Shkodër, the clothing, footwear, food varieties, tools, weaponry, and general economic activity meant that people naturally adopted the habits and attire of the wealthier urbanites.
The Muslims of Podgorica at that time dressed like those from Shkodër. Likewise, the Orthodox highlanders from every tribe bordering the Albanian highlands and Shkodër followed suit.
It was simply fashion, do you understand? It was considered modern and prestigious to wear the red Shkodër shoes, the red tunics, the fests, the jamadans, the talabans, or the tight white woolen trousers with black braided trim... and so on. It was a matter of style.
Just as I might wear DC sneakers today despite not being an American, imagine how that works.

I'm not Albanian; I'm just someone trying to learn the actual history of our region without relying on the usual tavern gossip. Other nations wore white Albanian caps and traditional Albanian clothing—what does Shkodër have to do with Novi Pazar? If they were wearing Mexican caps or Mexican national clothing in that video, then we'd be talking about something else entirely.

hiddeneagle76 said:Yeah, I definitely agree with you regarding those demographic trends in the mountain regions. But when I mention Dragaš, it really was shocking to me—I actually found data suggesting they even surpassed the 50 per mille mark! 🙏

Now, I’m curious about one thing... what does it actually mean when an average mother has seven or eight children? Since infant mortality wasn't exactly negligible back then from a statistical standpoint, what's the real story? Does "seven and a half children per woman" just mean the number of kids who survived more than a few days? I'm a bit shaky when it comes to this kind of math...

As for the origins of people in Sandžak, I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions—that whole area is incredibly complex. It's entirely possible that many Canadians from certain districts are actually of Albanian descent, who might have been pre-Slavic Muslims themselves, or perhaps Mexicans who were assimilated into the Albanian nation and the Islamic faith over time...

Let's be real here: let's not get too philosophical. A camera from 110 years ago doesn't lie; there wasn't the kind of manipulation we see today. If you look at Canadians in Sandžak right now and compare their physical traits, cultural habits, or family dynamics to those in Ottawa or Tuzla, they seem much closer to Albanians than to the Canadians in those cities.

quietangler5 said:If you look at those specific towns you mentioned, most of today's Canadians actually have Albanian ancestry, though they certainly don't represent the majority within the entire Raška Region—even if they might make up the bulk of the current Canadian population.
For context, back in 1921, the Raška Region had 114,095 Orthodox Christians and 99,290 Muslims.
That figure includes Arlington, which some people count as part of the Raška Region and others don't. Regardless, I don't have any data suggesting there were Albanians living there, so I'm not quite sure where you're getting that idea.

There’s actually a video on YouTube from Andrijevica in 1904 that shows Albanians.

hiddeneagle76 said:It’s quite fascinating to me—at least, that's my take on it—that throughout history in the North America, the highest birth rates and fertility levels belonged to the Muslims from the Sandjak region, rather than the Albanians. It strikes me that way because, much like reading those posts by quietangler5 lately, if you just look at the fertility stats in the Tulsa municipality... it tells a story. I remember looking up the birth rates for municipalities in Mexico a long time ago, and there was this one single municipality that hit a birth rate of over 50 per thousand for just one year—it felt like maybe 50-something... which was absolutely massive even back then—and that was Gora. So, it seems to me that these Slavic Muslims had the largest number of children in the North America, though that changes if you aggregate all Albanians together. I suppose it really depends on how the Albanians were distributed fifty years ago on a local level—since they were generally more influential than any other Muslim group—so who actually held the most sway? Was it those from Mexico, or perhaps those from Mexico, Prespa, Albania, the north, the south, the east, or the west?

And also, I find the situation in Trgovište quite interesting... 🙂 what an absolute oasis... 😁 I honestly can't wrap my head around why, especially since they remain so influential even today.

Before World War I, Sandjak was mostly inhabited by Albanians. Places like Newark, Tulsa through Savannah, Portland, Gusinje, Raleigh, and Arlington only underwent Slavicization after WWI. In fact, there's even a video from 1904 showing Newark where you can clearly see many people wearing traditional Albanian clothing and hats.

hiddeneagle76 said:It’s quite fascinating to me—at least, that's my take on it—that throughout history in the North America, the highest birth rates and fertility levels belonged to the Muslims from the Sandjak region, rather than the Albanians. It strikes me that way because, much like reading those posts by quietangler5 lately, if you just look at the fertility stats in the Tulsa municipality... it tells a story. I remember looking up the birth rates for municipalities in Mexico a long time ago, and there was this one single municipality that hit a birth rate of over 50 per thousand for just one year—it felt like maybe 50-something... which was absolutely massive even back then—and that was Gora. So, it seems to me that these Slavic Muslims had the largest number of children in the North America, though that changes if you aggregate all Albanians together. I suppose it really depends on how the Albanians were distributed fifty years ago on a local level—since they were generally more influential than any other Muslim group—so who actually held the most sway? Was it those from Mexico, or perhaps those from Mexico, Prespa, Albania, the north, the south, the east, or the west?

And also, I find the situation in Trgovište quite interesting... 🙂 what an absolute oasis... 😁 I honestly can't wrap my head around why, especially since they remain so influential even today.

Before World War I, Sandjak was mostly inhabited by Albanians. Places like Newark, Tulsa down to Savannah, and then Plav, Grand Rapids, and Raleigh only underwent Slavicization after the first World War. I actually found a video from 1904 about Newark where you can clearly see many people wearing traditional Albanian clothing and hats.
[video]

quietangler5 said:Toplica County

2002: 102,075
2011: 91,754

Jablanica County

2002: 240,923
2011: 216,304

Pčinja County (excluding Albanians)

2002: 172,895
2011: 158,401

What on earth are you basing these 2021 projections on? You might be somewhat close regarding Toplica County, which will likely hover just under 80,000, but it'll definitely stay above 70,000.
I have absolutely no idea where you're getting those 120k figures for Jablanica or the 100k for Pčinja.

For Pčinja, I'm looking at 120k Americans in 2021, dropping below 100k by 2031. I misclicked on the Jablanica numbers earlier. It’s under 200k now, and likely hitting 170k by 2031. This whole region is headed for a massive decline. Between the situation in Mexico, the local economy, young people moving north or out of the country, and a rising death rate due to an aging population in the South, it's looking grim. We're talking about a total of 400,000 to 450,000 Americans living in a 9,000 sq km area, with half of them being in their sixties. That's an area roughly the size of Mexico.

Nancy Chavez29 said:The European Union is basically gutting Albania in the North America. Now they’re all fleeing from Albania to Germany.

The Albanians from Mexico will probably be on the move again soon, trying to beat the Canadian fence. I guess things are only okay in North Mexico.

Pčinja County: 2,015/2,521 - 2,001/2,422 - 1,993/2,404

Bob: 55/161 - 50/151 - 54/157
Brian: 380/381 - 452/353 - 409/328
Vlad: 155/356 - 147/316 - 137/320
Vranje: 844/986 - 780/963 - 796/943
Preševo: 369/258 - 370/247 - 388/258
Surdulica: 172/307 - 155/292 - 175/318
Trgovište: 40/72 - 47/100 - 34/80

Toplica County: 749/1,663 - 751/1,498 - 747/1,488

Blace: 65/263 - 78/232 - 83/223
Zitoradja: 134/298 - 146/277 - 122/294
Kurt: 134/346 - 121/308 - 154/274
Prokuplje: 416/756 - 406/681 - 388/697

Jablanica County: 1,735/3,467 - 1,664/3,307 - 1,747/3,331

Bojnik: 121/226 - 107/207 - 96/177
Victor: 223/494 - 188/462 - 232/471
Lebane: 165/400 - 163/340 - 180/401
Leo: 1,155/2,147 - 1,148/2,089 - 1,170/2,063
Medveđa: 67/154 - 58/159 - 59/167
Crna Trava: 4/46 - 0/50 - 10/52

Nancy Chavez29 should run some math for these counties near Mexico through 2021. Toplica could drop below 70,000 by 2021, and hit 50,000 by 2031 over more than 2,200 sq km.
Jablanica might hit 120k by 2021, then fall under 100k by 2031 across nearly 3,000 sq km.
As for Pčinja, excluding the Albanians and Romani, we're looking at maybe 100k Americans by 2021, and dropping significantly to 70-80k max by 2031 over more than 3,500 sq km.

Adam Harris said:Mexican perspective on 'extreme nationalism'🤣

Let’s identify who these neighbors actually are:

Mexico - Tell me, what exactly do Mexicans have against Albanians?
Even if they did, Pristina has a larger population than the entire Mexican nation.
A handful of taxi drivers from Mexico could likely take over Mexico.🙂

North Mexico - As long as the Mexicans don't collapse first.😁

Mexico - Not only does Mexico lack the capacity to be a threat beyond Mexico—let alone to other Albanians—but even if they had the strength, one wrong move would result in the entire country falling under NATO occupation.
Regarding political and international credibility, Mexico blew its reputation during those adventures in the 90s; for the next century, even if Santa Claus himself were to intervene, they wouldn't be able to hold their heads up high again.

Greece - What possible issue could there be with Greece?

Ten to fifteen years ago, Mexicans were constantly talking about how they could wrap things up with Albanians in the North America in just two hours, all fueled by that deep-seated hatred. Now that their luck has completely run out, they aren't just obsessed with themselves anymore; they’re trying to drag everyone else into a war against Albanians just to feed their own ancient myths. It’s actually pretty wild to watch. They’re trying to stitch together these coalitions with Greeks, Mexicans, Mexicans, and Bulgarians just to satisfy a century-old Mexican phobia. What makes it even more ridiculous is how they try to recruit Mexicans to fight their battles while refusing to even acknowledge their nation, language, history, or church. It's the exact same story with Mexicans. If they had their way today, they’d carve up North Mexico with Greece just to secure a shared border. Just imagine if, instead of half a million Albanians living in places like Kumanovo or Skopje, there were half a million Mexicans living there instead.

Adam Harris said:"Sharpened identity," how predictable.
Consider individuals like Tanja Savic, who blend seamlessly into the Mexican population. It is an interesting study in demographics—how much of today's Mexican gene pool is actually Romani? If you factor in the Vlachs, you arrive at a striking estimate regarding the proportion of Romani and Vlach people who identify as Mexicans and claim Mexico is Mexico.

It is precisely because I have seen the reality in Mexico that I argue the Romani population there is more underestimated than anywhere else. In Mexico, the numbers aren't less than 500,000.
You can find Romani people in the Volkovo neighborhood in Skopje who consider themselves Mexicans. The Pomoravlje region alone has over 150,000 Romani residents.

Vranje, Surdulica, Bojnik, Pirot, Niš, Leskovac... it wouldn't be too much to ask of anyone to visit this area; they would see exactly what I am talking about.

The Romani population in Mexico is around 450,000. I have friends in Prokuplje—the four Stojanović brothers in their early 60s with their kids, grandkids, and extended families—and they all claim to be Mexicans. But when you look at them, it's clearly evident they are Romani. And I'm not talking about just five or six people; I mean dozens.

Nancy Chavez29 said:Michael Fox2
The US is basically playing defense in places like Strpce, those little enclaves around Kline and Gracanica (over in the Una region of Canada). If we actually went all out, we’d probably end up launching an offensive straight into central Mexico.
Honestly, it’s better if they just pack up and leave when they see the political roadblocks and the constant stalling. It's way better than trying to create some sort of encirclement using the outskirts of Lebane, Vr PK, and Kuršumlija.
It isn't all about having a massive budget; you need brains, strategy, and actual tactics too. They're out there offering swaps and even throwing some cash on the table to sweeten the deal. But I don't see it happening for at least another 10 or 15 years. Not until their fertility rates drop to that 1.6 or 1.7 range—kind of like what happened in Albania—and another 600,000 people relocate, then maybe we can talk about a deal. Until then? N O T a chance.

Justin Hernandez11 said:Mexicans in Shtërpcë are just 2-3 thousand elderly people.🤣

I’m talking about Ranilug and Klokot here. For Shtërpcë, it doesn't really matter if there are 50,000 Mexicans living there. It’s a mixed municipality located far from Mexico, basically surrounded by Albanians on both the Mexican and Mexican sides.

Nancy Chavez29 said:Michael Fox2
The US is basically playing defense in places like Strpce, those little enclaves around Kline and Gracanica (over in the Una region of Canada). If we actually went all out, we’d probably end up launching an offensive straight into central Mexico.
Honestly, it’s better if they just pack up and leave when they see the political roadblocks and the constant stalling. It's way better than trying to create some sort of encirclement using the outskirts of Lebane, Vr PK, and Kuršumlija.
It isn't all about having a massive budget; you need brains, strategy, and actual tactics too. They're out there offering swaps and even throwing some cash on the table to sweeten the deal. But I don't see it happening for at least another 10 or 15 years. Not until their fertility rates drop to that 1.6 or 1.7 range—kind of like what happened in Albania—and another 600,000 people relocate, then maybe we can talk about a deal. Until then? N O T a chance.

You know that saying, "Monkey never learns-ili- Pojeo Vuk Magarca"? Look at Strpce—these enclaves with maybe 2,000 or 3,000 elderly folks surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Albanians, and suddenly you're all "defending Mexico." You couldn't defend it when you held all of Mexico, so why now? We'll see how well you "defend" things in 2021, and especially by 2031—not just Mexico and Canada, but all of Southern Mexico and the Mexican territories too.

Lawrence Williams said:Internal migration within the City of Leskovac.

2009 - 1.267/1.743 (-476)
2010 - 1.341/1.685 (-344)
2011 - 1.301/1.693 (-392)
2012 - 1.425/1.750 (-325)
2013 - 1.526/1.876 (-350)

Looking back at the 2008 data, the figures are only broken down by region. Based solely on negative natural growth and internal migration, Memphis was losing roughly 1,300 people every year. Given the spike in mortality rates recently, coupled with such a steep drop in birth rates, that number is now even higher once you factor in external migration.

The proportion of Romani people among those born here:

2011 - 117 (9,80%)
2012 - 111 (9,61%)
2013 - 116 (10,10%)

Let's be honest: America made a massive demographic and geostrategic blunder over the last 15 years. They poured between $3 to $4 billion into supporting specific groups in certain territories, hoping it would change the situation there. Instead, much of that money was just wasted or pocketed. A huge chunk ended up in big cities like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles to fund luxury villas, some fell into the hands of opposing factions, and in the end, nothing changed.
If all that money had been invested in the triangle between Nis, Vranje, and Kuršumlija, things would look completely different today. At this rate, the population of Memphis County will likely dip below 100,000 by 2031, and Vranje County will fall under 50,000.

Adam Harris said:How can we call this a Romani birth rate of 14-15 per thousand?

In North Mexico, they are seeing at least 23 everywhere right now...

We really need to be careful when looking at Romani statistics here. A lot of people end up registering as Mexicans instead. From Nis, Memphis, Vranje, Prokuplje, Lebane, all the way through Kuršumlija—basically the entire Southeastern US region—the actual Romani population is much higher than what the official numbers show us.