The roots of Balkan failure

Bogdan G. Popescu and Mircea Popa, Romanian I think, have taken a shufty at the Ottoman legacy in the Balkans today. A correlation is derived between Ottoman-rule and modern dysfunction. Popescu and Popa blame the banning of the printing-press.

Such antiOttoman sentiments explain the EU's reluctance against Erdogan's sultanate today. I am, however, unsure whether the press-ban was a cause ... or a symptom, of an underlying problem. I did not enjoy Graham Fuller's book. But even "Islam!" might not be the underlying problem.

Duggan noted, because as an historical-fiction author he had to note, that the Macedonian system in the Balkans was not doing well for the Balkan people. Hence how the Normans, inheriting the Carolingian system, so easily enlisted the locals into their own rule. The Seljuqs, not even Christian and in fact adherent to the Christian Greeks' historical anti-ideology, also were able to acquire the locals' support against Byzantium.

The Comnenids, especially John, did see how narrow was their escape from the Seljuqs. Over Anatolia they attempted reform. But local interests persisted, who did not desire reform. When the Ottomans inherited the Byzantine Empire, they inherited the Byzantine lords - or at least the lordships.