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Comment by malermeister | Hacker News Reader

Using the Serbian flag for a liquor that's popular all across the Balkans certainly is a choice, especially in an area that's infamous for its ethnic tensions...

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I suppose so. The article does focus on Serbia pretty heavily though, and states that rakija originated there.

I don't think there's any conclusive evidence on rakija's origin, afaik the earliest evidence found so far is from 11th century Bulgaria.

Claiming it originates from Serbia is straight up Serbian nationalist propaganda imo.

Claims that "$foodstuff originated in $sountry" when it's more a than a few hundred years old should generally be read as a puff piece to raise tourism and country profile. They're common, e.g.

Hummus: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20171211-who-invented-hum...

halloumi is from Cyprus, but that's ... divided now: https://www.halloumicheese.eu/halloumi-cheese/the-history-of...

Wine plausibly originated in Georgia (the country) but it's so old, who can really tell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine

Arguing continuity of national borders over centuries in the Balkans is a fools game anyway.

Since you say that Cyprus is 2 countries now, you must be from Turkey.

I apologise if I offended you, yes it's complex and I no doubt oversimplified. But you don't know me in the slightest, assume nothing.

I have edited, since as you can surely see, nitpicking over this border is, as stated above "a fools game anyway".

It's not really that complex to be honest.. Turkey invaded Cyprus, occupied half of it and instated a puppet state.

It might be unpalatable for some, but it is the truth.

Yep, fools game to argue it under this topic.

> Arguing continuity of national borders over centuries in the Balkans is a fools game anyway.

Hear, hear.

Yet, the knowledge of the so called historical regions will get you far in Eastern and Southern Europe. The maps of voting behavior pop up here every now and then. And this is only one aspect.

Why are some Western people so stubborn about "branding" some parts of the world as "former warzone" for a way too long time?

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