"they speak a language virtually identical to Bulgarian."
I wouldn't say "virtually identical" but similar. Than on the other hand most slavic languages are similar. But that's not the point with my posting of this article.
Macedonia is "boiling" so to say. The country is under a lot of international pressure to accept the Ohrid decentralisation plan yet the Macedonian community is very much against it. Having a referendum on the issue is the democratic way to deal with it, yet many international organisations are "warning" Macedonia that the results could have serious consequences for Macedonia. As to Bulgaria helping out if the situation gets serious, I tend to agree with you as they have said on several occasions that they support the Macedonians. But than at the same time they did give in to NATO when NATO was bombing Serbia during Clinton's Kosovo war. I guess only time will tell.
Bulgarian is my second language, it's very, very close. Reading Macedonian is far easier than understanding a Macedon for me. It's my mother's first language and she has no problem understanding them.