Did Greece win the name dispute? Should it?

Conventional wisdom has it that the Macedonia dispute is an issue of national importance for Greece. But what kind of issue is it exactly? And how is Greece performing?

The Macedonia issue as a liberation struggle was closed in 1914, and wrapped up in 1945, with a complete and utter Greek victory. Thessaloniki, while having a minority of Greeks, became irreversibly Greek, along with the surrounding territory. Today no sane Greek would consider it fair to expand the country's territory northward, nor can there be any realistic dispute of the border from the other side.

Any mention of "Skopjan irredentism" in the Greek public debate is an insult to our ancestors' struggles, when even Crete alone would suffice to defend the border against the tiny Balkan state. Indeed, our struggles have not been so much armed as economic. The Greek economy, built with blood, sweat,...