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SERB SPY SAGA - is there more to it?
by Sasha Uzunov
The revelation that an intelligence officer, Goran Zivaljevic, from Serbia’s Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia was spotted inside that country’s parliament on 27 April during a physical confrontation which saw leader of the Social Democrats (SDSM) Zoran Zaev attacked and bloodied and his deputy Radmila Sekerinsa yanked violently by the hair has set off tongues wagging about Russian involvement in allegedly provoking the incident. see link here to NOVA TV story.
The British newspaper The Guardian has picked up the story quoting a snippet of a Macedonian intelligence report alleging Russian influence. see link here
The British newspaper The Guardian has picked up the story quoting a snippet of a Macedonian intelligence report alleging Russian influence. see link here
But a number of things don’t add up. Why would the Russians send a Serb intelligence (BIA) officer to “monitor” the situation in the parliament when he is a designated intelligence office within the Serbian Embassy and is known? If anything it would be more logical for the Russians to send someone who is not known, thereby providing no link. Could there instead be a Greek intelligence link? But the story in Macedonia is more complex that just mere alleged Russian meddling - both of Macedonia’s major ethnic Macedonian parties, both VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM have “cooperated” with Serbia in varying degrees. Moreover, the United States since 1992 has been the major international player in the Republic of Macedonia and the cause of the ethnic Albanian uprising in 2001.
The deliberate selection of Talat Xhaferi as Macedonia’s Parliamentary Speaker:
LEAD UP TO PARLIAMENTARY VIOLENCE 27 January 2017-
The Tirana Platform - weeks after the Macedonian election had ended - was announced on 7 January 2017 - Macedonian Orthodox Christmas, deliberately designed to provoke anger within the wider ethnic Macedonian community. To say it lacked cultural sensitivity is an understatement. You have to ask why was it not announced before the election to give voters of all ethnic backgrounds a time to digest it instead of accept is as a fait accompli?
Without going over old ground here - the Tirana Platform is designed to federalise and partition Macedonia. The demands are deliberately unjustifiable and unreasonable, meaning they can never be fully met unless the Macedonian state ceases to exist. see links here and here.
In one of the oddest- downright stupid- political moves of the Nikola Gruevski government (2006-16)--a coalition of the nominally Macedonian “nationalist” VMRO-DPMNE and Albanian DUI led by Ali Ahmeti, the man who with US backing invaded Macedonia from Kosovo in 2001 and later “amnestied,--placed another Albanian insurgent and suspected war criminal Talat Xhaferi as Defence Minister in 2013.
see link here
It came as no surprise that Xhaferi would then be “selected’ in a controversial manner as the new Parliamentary Speaker by the Opposition SDSM led by Zoran Zaev in 2017. The reasoning would go if VMRO-DPMNE was willing to have Xhaferi as Defence Minister despite ordering an ambush that killed Macedonian security forces in 2001 known as the Vejce Massaccre on, ironically, 27 April 2001 - timing ! - why can’t he be Parliamentary Speaker? The West was quick to recognise Xhaferi as speaker.
All of this was guaranteed to raise the temperatures. The rest you all you know, the storming of the parliament by “nationalists” and attacks on Zaev, his deputy Radmila Sekerinska having her hair violently by a “wild man” and the inflammatory Albanian nationalist Ziadin Sela, pictured with a bloody face attacked allegedly by “evil Slav-Macedonians”- but according to sceptical Dutch journalist Treist made Sela made a very “speedy recovery.” Violence of any sort should not be condoned or used in parliament. Falling for provocation is no excuse either. Needless to say the violence in the Macedonia parliament ended up favouring the SDSM and Albanian coalition. In effect Macedonia has become a defacto Macedonian-Albanian bi-state. Why Macedonians are being forced to give up their state is breathtaking considering there are already two Albanian states in the Balkans already - Albanian and Kosovo. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia are no more than 17% of the total population. An accurate census is desperately needed. There are three Serbian states in the Balkans - Serbia, Montenegro, and the Republika Srpska in Bosnia.
The deliberate selection of Talat Xhaferi as Macedonia’s Parliamentary Speaker:
LEAD UP TO PARLIAMENTARY VIOLENCE 27 January 2017-
The Tirana Platform - weeks after the Macedonian election had ended - was announced on 7 January 2017 - Macedonian Orthodox Christmas, deliberately designed to provoke anger within the wider ethnic Macedonian community. To say it lacked cultural sensitivity is an understatement. You have to ask why was it not announced before the election to give voters of all ethnic backgrounds a time to digest it instead of accept is as a fait accompli?
Without going over old ground here - the Tirana Platform is designed to federalise and partition Macedonia. The demands are deliberately unjustifiable and unreasonable, meaning they can never be fully met unless the Macedonian state ceases to exist. see links here and here.
In one of the oddest- downright stupid- political moves of the Nikola Gruevski government (2006-16)--a coalition of the nominally Macedonian “nationalist” VMRO-DPMNE and Albanian DUI led by Ali Ahmeti, the man who with US backing invaded Macedonia from Kosovo in 2001 and later “amnestied,--placed another Albanian insurgent and suspected war criminal Talat Xhaferi as Defence Minister in 2013.
The AUSTRALIAN Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) story on ex terrorist Talat Xhaferi and its strong opposition to then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's decision to appoint him as Defence Minister.
It came as no surprise that Xhaferi would then be “selected’ in a controversial manner as the new Parliamentary Speaker by the Opposition SDSM led by Zoran Zaev in 2017. The reasoning would go if VMRO-DPMNE was willing to have Xhaferi as Defence Minister despite ordering an ambush that killed Macedonian security forces in 2001 known as the Vejce Massaccre on, ironically, 27 April 2001 - timing ! - why can’t he be Parliamentary Speaker? The West was quick to recognise Xhaferi as speaker.
JOINT SERB-RUSSIAN OPERATION?
One of the Macedonian journalists who, paradoxically, has pushed a Serb-Russian intelligence “joint operation” is an unusual character by the name of Borjan Jovanovski, a half Macedonian, half Serb who is married to an ethnic Albanian woman, and scion of a powerful political dynasty set up by his late father the writer Meto Jovanovski during Macedonia’s Yugoslavist era pre 1991.
The story sounds like a public relations exercise in trying to tone down Jovanovski’s long standing Serbian Cultural Hegemony hiding behind internationalism” routine (pardon the long winded phrase!) or “Cultural Belgradism” (for short) and bolster his “Macedonianess” and “pro western” behaviour, which poses a serious problem to his public image, especially amongst the Western donors funding his tv station, NOVA as well as the ethnic Albanian political bloc. The interesting thing is many who are “pro West” are also openly pro Serb or pro Serb Yugoslavist in Macedonia and some have called for Macedonia to “return” to defacto Serb control or in some kind of federation, with the western part of the country handed over to Kosovo. Some have advocated partition of Macedonia between Kosovo (or Albania) and Bulgaria.
The story sounds like a public relations exercise in trying to tone down Jovanovski’s long standing Serbian Cultural Hegemony hiding behind internationalism” routine (pardon the long winded phrase!) or “Cultural Belgradism” (for short) and bolster his “Macedonianess” and “pro western” behaviour, which poses a serious problem to his public image, especially amongst the Western donors funding his tv station, NOVA as well as the ethnic Albanian political bloc. The interesting thing is many who are “pro West” are also openly pro Serb or pro Serb Yugoslavist in Macedonia and some have called for Macedonia to “return” to defacto Serb control or in some kind of federation, with the western part of the country handed over to Kosovo. Some have advocated partition of Macedonia between Kosovo (or Albania) and Bulgaria.
Jovanovski regards Macedonians as being “Slavs” - a pro Serb and pro Greek ideology, popularised by both Tsarist Russia and later by Stalin’s Soviet Union and accepted as “gospel” in Tito’s Communist Yugoslavia (1944-91). Mainstream academics such Dr Florin Curta of Florida University in the US argue that there was no “Slav Migration” into the Balkans. see link here
Despite being an anti nationalist, Jovanovski hasn’t called for protests outside the Serb Embassy in Skopje over recent events even though he has over 11,000 followers on Twitter and could mobilise 50 to 100 people within minutes. Not even a protest outside the Serbian Embassy over the blatant interference by the Serb intelligence officer being in the Macedonian Parliament. Odd. Very odd !
BORJAN’S SELF-HAGIOGRAPHY - apocryphal tale of a dissident?
He tells of an incredible story about being an inadvertent dissident of the Yugoslav system, despite being the privileged son of a prominent Macedonian Yugoslavist writer, Meto Jovanovski, who was a trusted member of the Yugoslav regime as head of the foreign news / language department of the then Radio Televizija Skopje (RTS), the forerunner of Macedonian State broadcaster during Yugoslavist era. In 1995, his father Meto then decided to set up his own Helsinki Watch committee in Macedonia, despite having no history as a human rights advocate in the Yugoslavist era. A prominent Helsinki Watch committee board member and a close associate of Borjan Jovanovski is ex Macedonian Interior Minister Ljubomir Frckoski, who was accused of being very close to the Serb nationalist regime of Slobodan Milosevic in the early 1990s, especially in turning a blind eye to UN sanctions busting imposed upon Serbia at the time. British academic James Pettifer once described Frckoski a hardliner who was close to Belgrade.
Wall Street Journal - 1994
Borjan Jovanovski in his hagiography claims the following:
“I was declared a Macedonian nationalist. Why? There was a regulation in the army that if you are Macedonian, you could take your classes in the army in the Macedonian language. That was a clearly stated regulation, but nobody wanted to implement it. When I asked why, the captain declared me a Macedonian nationalist and a “Serbophobe”. I was hurt, also because due to my mother I felt part Serbian myself. It was a huge frustration for me.”
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Why is it that those who claim to be anti nationalist in Macedonia and attack so called Macedonian nationalism with ferocity (are themselves of Serb background) never protest against Serb nationalism but to cover themselves will write a clever formalistic criticism in which so called Macedonian nationalism is lumped in with genuine Serb nationalism?
This 1930 article link - Daily Standard (Brisbane, Australia) Sat 1 Feb 1930 Page 2 DEATH AND TERROR IN YUGO-SLAVIA. “Croatia and Macedonia are the most ruthlessly suppressed nationalities…” by Serbian monarchists.
The same technique is used by Lithuanian extreme nationalists and anti Semites who liken Soviet rule with Nazi Germany in order to excuse the targeting of Jews in Lithuania during World War II. The same strategy is used by Macedonia's "internationalists" in lumping in Macedonian so called "nationalism" with others - it gives Greek, Serb, Bulgar, Albanian nationalism & colonialism an alibi or lets it off the hook !
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Link to Slate article:
To Leonidas Donskis, a part-Jewish Lithuanian intellectual who has served in the European Parliament in Brussels where he has opposed official Nazi/Soviet equivalence resolutions, the ultimate purpose of the “double genocide” theory is to allow Eastern European ultra-nationalists to “portray the people who were killing the Jews as people who fought the Soviet regime. [It is] dangerous nonsense.”
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TEAM UZUNOV contacted the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb, requesting if any documentation from old Yugoslav Army records, Zagreb command, existed, relating to Borjan Jovanovski’s alleged incident, and because of its “serious” nature would have been noted in a file somewhere.
No documents were located. Furthermore, Amnesty International was keeping detailed records of dissidents in the then Yugoslavia. Illustrated (right) is an Amnesty International booklet.
If anything all of this sounds like a well crafted media release designed to soften Borjan’s “Serbianess” post 1991, should it become an issue later over his attacks on so called Macedonian “nationalism.” As you will see below the above story doesn’t quite tally with his truly feelings and actions (or deliberate in-actions):
Some time ago TEAM UZUNOV was contact by Jovanovski who complained we were not asking him for his views and comments on public affairs in Macedonia. Since then we have tried to accommodate his demand.
On 20 March 2017, we posed some question concerning Serbian cultural hegemony in Macedonia, a touchy subject, as well as raising the link between Russian and Serb intelligence in the Balkans. As you can see below. But he didn’t respond. And we did raise the link between Russian and Serb intelligence (circled in red ) !
We also asked about the Draskovic Double Act (circled in blue) - the Draskovic Double Act is explained here - see link. It means saying one thing for public consumption but meaning something different privately. For example - publicly acting like an “internationalist” but really being a Serb cultural hegemonist in private and just saying enough to cover your tracks without really meaning it. That’s the Draskovic Double Act in a nutshell. Put in practice it would be a refusal to protest against Serb nationalism.
We also asked about the Draskovic Double Act (circled in blue) - the Draskovic Double Act is explained here - see link. It means saying one thing for public consumption but meaning something different privately. For example - publicly acting like an “internationalist” but really being a Serb cultural hegemonist in private and just saying enough to cover your tracks without really meaning it. That’s the Draskovic Double Act in a nutshell. Put in practice it would be a refusal to protest against Serb nationalism.
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On April 14 and April 15, we followed up with similar questions, some two weeks before the Parliamentary violence, we broached the issue of Serb intelligence and nationalism posing a threat to Macedonia. His response, to say the least, was bizarre, as you can see from the messages below. We even cited Western experts such as Dr John Schindler.
Jovanovski refused to entertain the idea of Serb intelligence interfering in Macedonia as well as protesting against Serb nationalism. Why? We posed a relevant question “why are you not organising protests outside the Serb Embassy in Skopje over rising Serb nationalism which poses a threat to Macedonian Security?”
BUT HERE IS BORIS MALAGURSKI: Canadian Serb nationalist film maker Malagurski who hides behind “anti globalism” with this preposterous documentary film, The Weight of Chains, which more an apologist for Slobodan Milosevic, is a staunch critic of the West yet his views reflect “pro West” Borjan Jovanovski’s view of Macedonia being in some kind of “federal union” with Serbia…interesting, hmmmm !
Jovanovski portrays himself in the media as an “anti nationalist” and Albanian “rights” activist. So his reaction, his stubborn refusal to protest outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje, puts him at odds with this public image that he cultivates as well the story he is now peddling. Again we ask, if he is an internationalist why is Serbian nationalism and Serbian cultural hegemony such a very very sensitive subject? Young people in Macedonia can openly discuss drug addiction, political corruption, gender and gay rights issues but Serbian cultural hegemony remains a taboo. Very odd indeed !
The purpose of the story which has also splashed across the pages of the esteemed Guardian is to make all those who oppose the new government in Macedonia as stooges of both Serbia and Russia, even if you are critical of both Serbia and Russia; and critical of both SDSM and VMRO-DMNE. You’ve been boxed in deliberately in a cunning Check Mate.
It is not about examining or chastising Serbian nationalism - as you can clearly see by Borjan Jovanovski’s words and actions or lack of actions in NOT protesting against Serbian nationalism and interference in Macedonia but by bludgeoning you into submission - the change of Macedonia’s name, federalisation and ironically partition between Kosovo and Serbia. Again that polarisation technique. Moreover, the purpose of the story is also to take attention off those in the SDSM ranks, including Borjan Jovanovski’s close associate Ljubomir Frckoski and his extensive links to Serbia during the 1990s and breaking the UN and EU sanctions imposed upon Slobodan Milosevic’s rump Yugoslavia as it fought the wars in Croatia and Bosnia (see below).
IN 2012 - Macedonia’s President George Ivanov snubbed Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic’s inauguration over Nikolic’s comments about a Greater Serbia. see the link here . It’s hardly the behaviour of a Belgrade “stooge.” Ironically, The Macedonian Democratic Party of Serbs kicked up a stink.
BUT HERE IS BORIS MALAGURSKI: Canadian Serb nationalist film maker Malagurski who hides behind “anti globalism” with this preposterous documentary film, The Weight of Chains, which more an apologist for Slobodan Milosevic, is a staunch critic of the West yet his views reflect “pro West” Borjan Jovanovski’s view of Macedonia being in some kind of “federal union” with Serbia…interesting, hmmmm !
Jovanovski portrays himself in the media as an “anti nationalist” and Albanian “rights” activist. So his reaction, his stubborn refusal to protest outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje, puts him at odds with this public image that he cultivates as well the story he is now peddling. Again we ask, if he is an internationalist why is Serbian nationalism and Serbian cultural hegemony such a very very sensitive subject? Young people in Macedonia can openly discuss drug addiction, political corruption, gender and gay rights issues but Serbian cultural hegemony remains a taboo. Very odd indeed !
The purpose of the story which has also splashed across the pages of the esteemed Guardian is to make all those who oppose the new government in Macedonia as stooges of both Serbia and Russia, even if you are critical of both Serbia and Russia; and critical of both SDSM and VMRO-DMNE. You’ve been boxed in deliberately in a cunning Check Mate.
It is not about examining or chastising Serbian nationalism - as you can clearly see by Borjan Jovanovski’s words and actions or lack of actions in NOT protesting against Serbian nationalism and interference in Macedonia but by bludgeoning you into submission - the change of Macedonia’s name, federalisation and ironically partition between Kosovo and Serbia. Again that polarisation technique. Moreover, the purpose of the story is also to take attention off those in the SDSM ranks, including Borjan Jovanovski’s close associate Ljubomir Frckoski and his extensive links to Serbia during the 1990s and breaking the UN and EU sanctions imposed upon Slobodan Milosevic’s rump Yugoslavia as it fought the wars in Croatia and Bosnia (see below).
IN 2012 - Macedonia’s President George Ivanov snubbed Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic’s inauguration over Nikolic’s comments about a Greater Serbia. see the link here . It’s hardly the behaviour of a Belgrade “stooge.” Ironically, The Macedonian Democratic Party of Serbs kicked up a stink.
MIROSLAV LAZANSKI - is he freelancing for the Greeks? US? Russians? Serbia?
We are told of a grand conspiracy involving a Serb journalist Miroslav Lazanski, who we outed on Facebook a year ago on 9 March 2016 (see link here) as having an intelligence background before this NOVA story, which didn’t draw any interest from Jovanovski and NOVA. Lazanski is also a Serbian member of Parliament who is aligned to the same political party, Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of newly elected Serb President and outgoing Prime Minister Alexander Vucic. Vucic has been endorsed by the West. This is the strangest part. if he is colluding on whose behalf is he colluding? Is it Russia?
Team Uzunov outed Martin Trenevski, a handpicked Gruevski appointee as NATO Ambassador, as being a former Yugoslav Intelligence officer under journalistic cover in Australia (1986-89) for the then Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug. see link here
Into this parliamentary conspiracy involving Lazanski, we have Ivan Stoijlokovic, an ethnic Serb who is a member of the Macedonian Parliament and aligned with ousted Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Into this mix are thrown the usual suspects, the Russians. To say Russian intelligence is not operating on Macedonian soil is to say that Father Christmas (Santa Claus) is real. And for that matter, Greek, Bulgarian, US, British, German intelligence are also operating on Macedonian soil. But did the Russians engineer the violence in the Macedonian Parliament? We can’t say for sure either way. However on the balance of probabilities, if having a known Serbian intelligence officer inside the Macedonian parliament is an indicator of Russian involvement, then it sounds, smells, looks amateurish from Moscow’s end.
Jovanovski tells us that Ivan Stoijlkovic is a hardened Serb nationalist who is anti west. Yet surprisingly within Prime Minister elect Zoran Zaev’s camp is the controversial Dragisa Miletic, who is an even bigger and harder Serb nationalist, a Chetnik, and who in 1994 acting on the orders of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic tried to destabilise Macedonia.
The Canberra Times newspaper, Saturday 18 June 1994, page 12, running a Guardian article by Helena Smith:
"But Macedonians are increasingly afraid that the Serb violations are also linked to the forthcoming and long-awaited census.
"Radical Serb leader- Dragisha Miletic appealed this week to members of Macedonia's Serb minority to boycott the population count on Tuesday.
"His move was quickly interpreted as an attempt by Serbia to further destabilise Macedonia, Which is still referred to as Southern Serbia in Belgrade.
"There are growing fears that the Serbs want to close their front in Bosnia and open up a new one in the south," journal ist Vladimir Petrevski said. “They still feel very angry and betrayed that we Macedonians didn’t remain part of rump Yugoslavia.” link here to the full article
That’s an odd coalition partner to have, to say the least? Keeping the back door open to Belgrade?!
If anything, these recent revelations are simply a continuation of an old policy. But in those 26 years of independence there has been largely silence and no protests, even when the US Embassy in Skopje was vandalised in 1999 by those with links to Serbian intelligence. Odd.
2010 - EX US AMBASSADOR BECOMES ADVISOR TO SERBIAN PROGRESSIVE PARTY - playing off East and West
In 2010 the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to which Tomislav Nikolic (Serbian state President 2012-17), and his successor Alexander Vucic and Miroslav Lazanski belong or are aligned to, hired an ex US Ambassador William Montgomery, the man who took down Slobodan Milosevic, as a lobbyist. This is strange “pro Russian behaviour !” link here
Montgomery was a Clinton appointee. He advocates the partition of Bosnia with the Republika Srpska component joining Serbia. see link here. You can read the agreement / contract here between Nikolic and Montgomery - link here
VMRO-DPMNE’S JOINT SERB-MACEDONIAN EMBASSY IN 2014 & SDSM’S SERB SPINNERS
In a puzzling move for a Macedonian government which likened itself to be patriotic, a joint Serb-Macedonian Embassy sharing agreement was reached in 2104. Why Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski pushed such an idea remains strange. What is even stranger is there were no opposition protests in the streets against it. Borjan Jovanovski, Branko Geroski, and the other assortment of “internationalists” did absolutely nothing. Why? As you can see from the comments above, Borjan becomes aggressive when asked why he chooses not to protest outside the Serb Embassy in Skopje.
There have been other incidents, such as Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic’s nasty racist comments about Macedonians and largely silence from both sides of Macedonian politics. You have to ask why?
Gruevski and Dacic get up close and personal. Absolutely no protests in the streets in Skopje from anyone, nationalist or internationalist, during the joint Serb-Macedonian Embassy deal. How odd?
In 2010 the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to which Tomislav Nikolic (Serbian state President 2012-17), and his successor Alexander Vucic and Miroslav Lazanski belong or are aligned to, hired an ex US Ambassador William Montgomery, the man who took down Slobodan Milosevic, as a lobbyist. This is strange “pro Russian behaviour !” link here
Montgomery was a Clinton appointee. He advocates the partition of Bosnia with the Republika Srpska component joining Serbia. see link here. You can read the agreement / contract here between Nikolic and Montgomery - link here
VMRO-DPMNE’S JOINT SERB-MACEDONIAN EMBASSY IN 2014 & SDSM’S SERB SPINNERS
In a puzzling move for a Macedonian government which likened itself to be patriotic, a joint Serb-Macedonian Embassy sharing agreement was reached in 2104. Why Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski pushed such an idea remains strange. What is even stranger is there were no opposition protests in the streets against it. Borjan Jovanovski, Branko Geroski, and the other assortment of “internationalists” did absolutely nothing. Why? As you can see from the comments above, Borjan becomes aggressive when asked why he chooses not to protest outside the Serb Embassy in Skopje.There have been other incidents, such as Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic’s nasty racist comments about Macedonians and largely silence from both sides of Macedonian politics. You have to ask why?
Gruevski and Dacic get up close and personal. Absolutely no protests in the streets in Skopje from anyone, nationalist or internationalist, during the joint Serb-Macedonian Embassy deal. How odd?
In early 2016, Zoran Zaev’s SDSM (Social Democrats) engaged a controversial Serbian Public Relations firm, Ruskin and Hunt, known for spinning news and for close connections with Serbia’s political elite. TEAM UZUNOV followed up by contacting both the Australian and United States Embassies for Macedonia. The Australian Ambassador responded whilst the US Embassy didn’t respond:
Ruskin & Hunt Managing Director Milan Scepic was a close advisor to the Serbian “Iron lady” Maja Gojkovic, a hardcore Serb nationalist and one time defender of extremist Vojislav Seselj.
Our email to the US Embassy (redacted):
COLOUR REVOLUTION - SERB ASSISTANCE?
Story from April 2016: TEAM UZUNOV contacted the Serbian Foreign Ministry, and Canvas, as well as Canvas founder Srdja Popovic to comment. But as yet no responses have been forthcoming.
PRETEND CONFLICT BETWEEN VUCIC AND ZAEV? US endorses Vucic, US endorses Zaev. What conflict?
"One lesson from this visit — they want Western attention,” McCain said. “There is nothing they would appreciate more than high-level visits.
"That attention, he said, should come in the form of increased commercial, cultural and diplomatic ties to keep countries such as Serbia from drifting deeper into Russia’s sphere.
“It is particularly important to engage with Serbia, the largest country in the region and its political fulcrum, said McCain, who held extensive discussions with the country’s prime minister and soon-to-be president, Aleksandar Vučić. See link here
SERBIA - POLITICAL FULCRUM FOR THE US
“I think Vučić is trying to walk a very fine line between East and West,” McCain said. “He realizes that his population, particularly the young population, are western oriented. They don’t want to be like Russia. Yet at the same time, the orientation historically has been to Russia.”
There has been over the past two to three months “tensions” building between Serbian President elect Alexander Vucic, who is endorsed by the West, and Zoran Zaev, also endorsed by the West. Is this real or some deliberate stage managed incident to throw up red herrings? The Serb media is largely controlled by Vucic, who remains one of the most corrupt and authoritarian politicians in the Balkans, far worse than any in Macedonia, with the exception of Ali Ahmeti, (pictured, greying hair shaking hands with NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson) who started the Kosovo invasion of Macedonia in 2001 and because of western arm twisting was granted an amnesty by the Macedonian government instead of facing war crimes charges in The Hague.
Vucic, in typical hyperbole, claimed that he too would be the target of a “Macedonian Style” Colour Revolution aimed at toppling him, even though the Colour Revolution was western backed and Serb assisted in the first place by Serb “internationalist” NGO Canvas run by the controversial and enigmatic Srdja Popovic, banned from entering Russia but who has lobbied on behalf of the Serbian state against Kosovo’s recognition and has aligned with nationalist politicians in the past.
What gives the game away is that there is no real conflict between Belgrade and Skopje is there have been absolutely no protests held outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje by Macedonia’s leading “internationalists” including Jovanovski, Branko Geroski, Colour Revolutionaries Pavle Bogoevski, now a government MP. and Zdravko Saveski of the Levica (Leftist) Movement. Not one ! Strange internationalism !
SOAP OPERA - SPY SCANDAL - HIGH FARCE - RED HERRINGS:
Bogoevski only goes 25% Belgradist !
Pavle Bogoevski denies Serb Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic’s claim of fomenting protests against Serb President Vucic in Belgrade. Pavle Bogoevski has no history of protesting against Serb nationalism. He didn’t even throw a paintball at the Serb Embassy in Skopje during last year’s Colour Revolution protests in Macedonia. He is more likely to give Serb nationalism a free pass in Macedonia. He did nothing when Dacic made racist comments about Macedonians and Macedonia. Therefore the Dacic claims against Pavle Bogoevski were odd to say the least!
The whole saga is bizarre on a number of levels - first a Serb intelligence officer inside the parliament (but no protest outside the Serb embassy in Skopje over that by Bogoevski or Borjan Jovanovski or Branko Geroski or Vlatko Vasilj, Mirjana Najcevska and other leading Macedonian “internationalists” etc etc), which is obvious foreign interference; Dacic then justifying it by crazily blaming Bogoevski who then adds to the circus by admitting that as an “anti nationalist” he doesn’t protest against Serb nationalism but instead tells Dacic he is a “quarter Serb" (what relevance does that have?)
These are very strange “anti nationalists” in Macedonia who get attacked by the Serbian state with false accusations but don’t protest instead reveal their family tree has a Serb connection, hoping for some “empathy” and “cultural connection” with those in Belgrade. Truly truly bizarre, tv soap opera material ! Comedy Gold ! Seinfeld material
In contrast these so called “internationalists” were willing at the drop of a hat to protest against a Croatian MEP Marijana Petir who barely just arrived in Skopje last year to endorse Nikola Gruevski. Vucic has endorsed Gruevski many times yet not one protest outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje nor when outgoing Serb President Tomislav Nikolic was in Macedonia late last year. How odd?
THE CONTROVERSIAL LJUBOMIR DANAILOV FRCKOSKI:
Macedonia’s ex Interior and Foreign Minister, Frckoski, remains an enigma - a man with fingers in many pies: politician, pundit, “public intellectual” but a controversial figure, nonetheless. During his time as interior Minister in the 1990s he was accused by prominent British academic James Pettifer (see link) of being too close to Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic and Serbian intelligence in sanctions busting during the Yugoslavist wars. Frckoski is also a close associate of Borjan Jovanovski and a fellow member of the Helsinki Watch Committee in Macedonia. A strange place for a politician known for his heavy handedness in dealing with “dissidents.” during his time as Macedonia’s Interior Minister - see link here
According to a 1995 report compiled by 1st Lieutenant Preston V Murray, US Army’s 432d Civil Affairs Battalion, there was widespread corruption amongst Macedonia’s Border and Customs officials, who come under the control of the Interior Ministry. The US together with some Scandanavian nations were part of the UNPREDEP (United Nations Preventative Deployment mission in Macedonia) to monitor Macedonia’s border and to ward off possible Serb aggression. There were UN sections imposed upon the Milosevic regime coupled with a deliberate and nasty illegal Greek blockade against landlocked Macedonia in an attempt to strangle the nation to death. In order to survive, Macedonia partook in massive smuggling on behalf of Serbia. Serb intelligence was very active on Macedonian soil and as Pettifer explained (see above) there was collusion between Belgrade and Skopje. Moreover, there was collusion between Serbia (rump Yugoslavia) and EU/NATO member Greece during the Yugoslavist wars aimed at destroying Macedonia (see below).
MILENKO NEDELKOVSKI - Borjan Jovanovski’s nemesis.
The larger than life, bombastic Milenko Nedelkovski, a TV shock jock close to ex PM Gruevski, despite Nedelkovski’s fierce rivalry with arch-nemesis Borjan Jovanovski; he too like Jovanovski is also for Belgrade culture. That doesn’t really give you much “diversity” in modern Macedonian culture.
THE RISE, SLIGHT FALL IN PARLIAMENT AND RISE AGAIN OF SELA!
THE CONTROVERSIAL LJUBOMIR DANAILOV FRCKOSKI:
Macedonia’s ex Interior and Foreign Minister, Frckoski, remains an enigma - a man with fingers in many pies: politician, pundit, “public intellectual” but a controversial figure, nonetheless. During his time as interior Minister in the 1990s he was accused by prominent British academic James Pettifer (see link) of being too close to Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic and Serbian intelligence in sanctions busting during the Yugoslavist wars. Frckoski is also a close associate of Borjan Jovanovski and a fellow member of the Helsinki Watch Committee in Macedonia. A strange place for a politician known for his heavy handedness in dealing with “dissidents.” during his time as Macedonia’s Interior Minister - see link here
According to a 1995 report compiled by 1st Lieutenant Preston V Murray, US Army’s 432d Civil Affairs Battalion, there was widespread corruption amongst Macedonia’s Border and Customs officials, who come under the control of the Interior Ministry. The US together with some Scandanavian nations were part of the UNPREDEP (United Nations Preventative Deployment mission in Macedonia) to monitor Macedonia’s border and to ward off possible Serb aggression. There were UN sections imposed upon the Milosevic regime coupled with a deliberate and nasty illegal Greek blockade against landlocked Macedonia in an attempt to strangle the nation to death. In order to survive, Macedonia partook in massive smuggling on behalf of Serbia. Serb intelligence was very active on Macedonian soil and as Pettifer explained (see above) there was collusion between Belgrade and Skopje. Moreover, there was collusion between Serbia (rump Yugoslavia) and EU/NATO member Greece during the Yugoslavist wars aimed at destroying Macedonia (see below).MILENKO NEDELKOVSKI - Borjan Jovanovski’s nemesis.
The larger than life, bombastic Milenko Nedelkovski, a TV shock jock close to ex PM Gruevski, despite Nedelkovski’s fierce rivalry with arch-nemesis Borjan Jovanovski; he too like Jovanovski is also for Belgrade culture. That doesn’t really give you much “diversity” in modern Macedonian culture.
Here is a social media comment from Nedelkovski at the joint Vucic-McCain media conference - Nedelkovski expresses fury at Vucic “selling out” to the US and Vucic acquiescing to a Greater Albania at Macedonia’s expense.
THE RISE, SLIGHT FALL IN PARLIAMENT AND RISE AGAIN OF SELA!
Firebrand ethnic Albanian nationalist politician in Macedonia, Ziadin Sela, who coincidently threatened to burn down the Macedonian Parliament in 2012, in playing the tough guy went off script and revealed the following to Balkan Insight website:
“He is not worried, either, by Zaev’s statement to the Belgrade-based paper Kurir, in which he called the Serbs “our brothers”, which has upset many [non-Slavic] Albanians, few of whom view Serbia so benignly.
“I don’t care if the Serbs are his brothers or his nephews as long as he respects the agreements he has made with his Albanian partners,” Sela added.
Meaning he didn’t buy the Vucic-Zaev showdown. What’s also interesting is despite being “attacked” during the parliamentary showdown on April 27 and images of his bright red bloody face and dragged out of the Assembly, he has miracoulsy and suspiciously made a very very speedy recovery despite the alleged severity of the assault.
Here Dutch journalist based in Tirana, the Albanian capital, Vincent Triest, tweets:
OTHER SCENARIOS EXPLAING THE SERB INTELLIGENCE OFFICER PRESENCE:
-- Belgrade going rogue - as in acting on its own in mischief making. Serbia deliberately playing off the Russians against the West in order to get the best possible deal, and using the Macedonian “scenario” to do so; or
-- a joint Greek-Serb intelligence operation in deliberately planting the Serb intelligence officer in the Macedonian parliament; this fits in with standard Serb intelligence operations of using agent provocateurs or false flags, inherited from the federal Yugoslav intelligence service, the dreaded UDBa (or SDB) which successfully planted agent provocateurs abroad in undermining the emigre Croatian and Macedonian communities. Belgrade and Athens have a long standing relationship in intelligence sharing and cooperation.
PAST FALSE FLAG OP
Bilateral defence consultations Greece-Serbia - 25 May 2016
PAST ACTIVITIES:
In the early 1990s, Serb and Greek intelligence conspired in what was known as Operation Samaras’s Pincer to destabilise Macedonia. see link here
In 1985 the then Australian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, of which the Republic of Macedonia was a federal unit until independence in 1991, found there was collaboration between Athens and Belgrade in trying to undermine the Macedonian independence movement based in Australia. see link here
-- What the Macedonian parliamentary incident reveals, and it is not mentioned in the Jovanovski article, is the internal conflict that exists within Serbian intelligence between those who are pro Russian and pro West. At the end of the day, both factions are “nationalistic” in their attitudes towards Macedonia. The leaking of material to NOVA by either Serb intelligence and or Macedonian intelligence (most likely source) may simply be an attempt by the pro West faction within Serb intelligence to undermine and destroy the pro Russian faction. Macedonia is simply a convenient pretext for achieving this and also implementing the Tirana Platform - killing two birds with one stone. Also, the Macedonian intelligence file mentioned in the Guardian newspaper story leaves out the long standing involvement of Serbian intelligence in Macedonia which predates Russian and Putin involvement. It sounds complicated when it shouldn’t be. In other words making the Balkans a nice neat package where borders can be changed much easily….which leads us to…
END GAME? Name change? Federalisation? Partition? GREATER ALBANIA?
What is the end game of all of these red herrings, stage-managed conflicts, false flags?
A number of clues exist. Firstly, by removing all effective opposition, changing Macedonia’s name becomes easier; and
Secondly, by tarring all opponents of the Albanian nationalist Tirana Platform, agreed to be implemented by Zaev, as Russian stooges, it allows for the platform to be rammed home and promulgated under the guise of pro western reforms to the judiciary, bureaucracy etc. with the end result of turning Macedonia into a federation: an Albanian republic in the west of the country which surely will seek to break away when a pretext is found or some other “crisis” manufactured, whilst a rump Macedonia is subsumed by Serbia or Bulgaria. In other words, “tidying up” the Balkans to US tastes. see link here
In a throw away line at a US Congressional Sub-committee hearing, Balkan expert Professor Daniel Serwer posited an interesting scenario:
Hearing on The Balkans: Threats to Peace and Stability House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe, Asia and Emerging Threats May 17, 2017 - link here
Quote:
"Arrange for ethno-territorial partition of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. The U.S. and EU could conclude that state-building in the Balkans within existing borders is impossible and embark instead on an effort to negotiate ethno-territorial partition of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia, with the right of the resulting states to join neighboring states. This would require heavy diplomatic lifting on the part of the U.S. and likely also a deployment of thousands of U.S. and European troops to minimize the likelihood of associated violence. They would likely need to stay for that purpose for many more years, if not decades."
Going back to 1992 - The United State’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefing paper on conflict in the former Yugoslavia - CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) “solution” is to change borders and exchange populations in the Balkans. link to CIA assessment paper here
Ex CIA Chief in the Balkans and an advocate for Republika Srpska in Bosnia, Steven Meyer, made the following comment recently:
In Serbian:
Na pitanje kakva sudbina očekuje Makedoniju, Mejer odgovara:
"Ako Crna Gora i Kosovo mogu da tvrde nezavisnost, smanjena Makedonija bi mogla takođe. Ali, to možda nije najbolji pravac delovanja za tu - manju Makedoniju. U tom slučaju bi za njih bilo mudro i da razmotre federalnu zajednicu sa Srbijom.”
English Translation:
When asked what will happen to Macedonia, Meyer responds:
"If Montenegro and Kosovo can claim independence, rump Macedonia could also. But it might not be the best course of action for that - rump Macedonia. In that case the order for them to be wise is to consider a federal union with Serbia.” see link here
US INTELLIGENCE TURF - Macedonia
The Russian presence in Macedonia remains at strong influence peddling level, which is what most nations do anyway, especially if they have a specific foreign policy agenda.
Macedonia is firmly in the Western camp. You might recall the Khaled El Masri rendition / torture scandal from 2003.
Macedonia is firmly in the Western camp. You might recall the Khaled El Masri rendition / torture scandal from 2003.
The innocent German Lebanese man arrested in Macedonia at the behest of the United States and handed over to the CIA. El Masri was taken to Afghanistan and “rendered" on the mistaken belief he was an Islamic terrorist.
The European Court of Human Rights later awarded El Masri compensation when he sued the Republic of Macedonia and was scathing in its judgment of El Masri’s mistreatment. link here
2012 EUROPEAN Court on Human Rights ruling on the Khaled El Masri case: Macedonian intelligence (UBK) routinely consulted with the CIA…over counter-terrorism.
THE 2001 ETHNIC ALBANIAN UPRISING IN MACEDONIA - who engineered it?
According to the same Guardian Newspaper, the war in Macedonia was the consequences of US support for the Kosovo Liberation Army, which then decided to “chance its arm” and grab territory in adjoining Macedonia. see link
When that failed, as in the Macedonian security forces got the upper hand after starting on the back foot, the US and NATO intervened to save their political clients in Macedonia. A lot of the current tensions, traumas in The Republic of Macedonia come from this period. Ali Ahmeti the ringleader was never brought to justice, instead rewarded for starting a war. The point is now largely irrelevant if he has aligned with VMRO-DPMNE or SDSM.
The Ohrid Framework Agreement, nothing more than a face saving gesture for the US support of the KLA in Macedonia, is death by a thousand cuts for Macedonia. see link
The Tirana Platform is the coup de grace to the Macedonian state - the road to federalisation and partition between Kosovo and Serbia - or if that doesn’t tickle you fancy, then Kosovo and Bulgaria.
According to the same Guardian Newspaper, the war in Macedonia was the consequences of US support for the Kosovo Liberation Army, which then decided to “chance its arm” and grab territory in adjoining Macedonia. see link
When that failed, as in the Macedonian security forces got the upper hand after starting on the back foot, the US and NATO intervened to save their political clients in Macedonia. A lot of the current tensions, traumas in The Republic of Macedonia come from this period. Ali Ahmeti the ringleader was never brought to justice, instead rewarded for starting a war. The point is now largely irrelevant if he has aligned with VMRO-DPMNE or SDSM.
The Ohrid Framework Agreement, nothing more than a face saving gesture for the US support of the KLA in Macedonia, is death by a thousand cuts for Macedonia. see link
The Tirana Platform is the coup de grace to the Macedonian state - the road to federalisation and partition between Kosovo and Serbia - or if that doesn’t tickle you fancy, then Kosovo and Bulgaria.
LOYALTY TO THE WEST - the notion that successive governments of the Republic of Macedonia have “strayed” towards Moscow is a fantasy, considering the tiny nation’s contribution to NATO missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. But that loyalty has been a one way street. Macedonia is now being forced to change its name to accommodate NATO member Greece for no other reason than Greek chauvinism towards Macedonia.
The Life of Brian and the False Flag - but wasn't there an alleged "Russian-Serb" intelligence link in the Macedonian Parliamentary violence on April 27?
After all Borjan Jovanovski and his crew from Nova TV and the Serb KRIK said so! Ironic & symbolic it was a joint Macedonian and Serb reporting effort (hint at cultural "union" here?)
Isn’t it odd for young Brian Hoyt Yee of the US State Department to be attending the inauguration of Serb President Vucic? After all Vucic’s intelligence officer is allegedly at the centre of the “controversy."
The officer in question couldn’t have gone rogue but was following orders from his government in Belgrade. You would think young Brian would “boycott" the event not endorse Vucic's inauguration unless..... of course the whole incident was......heaven forbid.....
....a red herring, a false flag set up by Greece & Serbia at the US's behest? Could that be a plausible "explanation?"
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