by Sasha Uzunov
The man who many Macedonians see as one of the chief architects of changing Macedonia's name and erasing Macedonian identity, the Svengali-like Phillip T. Reeker is about to arrive in Macedonia just in time to head off a number of difficulties the pro-US Zaev government is facing such as a brewing corruption scandal involving extortion and the sudden and unexplained resignation of Katica Janeva, chief of the much-vaunted Special Prosecturors Office (SJO), set up under Western pressure.
Reeker served a tour of duty as US Ambassador to Macedonia (2008-11) and laid the groundwork for name change of the country by lowering just enough Greek and Bulgarian opposition to Macedonia joining NATO - put into effect by another controversial US Ambassador Jess Baily (2014-19) via the Prespa Agreement and the so-called Good Neighbourly Agreement between Macedonia and Bulgaria. The US maintains it had had nothing to do with it. But the evidence - as outlined extensively by both TEAM Uzunov blog and Alternate Comms website - reveals a totally different picture. see links here and here
TEAM UZUNOV blog has sent Mr Reeker a list of media questions in relation to his upcoming visit to Macedonia. Going by past experiences the likelihood of a response is next to zero. Trying to get the US to comment over its support of Albanian Neo-Nazi leaders in Macedonia is deliberately avoided. There is simply no attempt to dismiss or to put it to rest. That's odd. It strongly suggests deliberate avoidance of the issue.
"FAKE NEWS?"
In trying to hose down the damage from the brewing Katica Janeva scandal - in reality, close down investigative journalists from investigating - Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has proposed what some say are draconian laws to combat "fake news." - more on Katica Janeva here and here
You might recall PM Zaev was the subject of a prank call by Russian comedians passing themselves off as Ukrainian President Poroshenko and NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg. see link here
SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER
Two Macedonian journalists, Goran Momirovski, the elder statesman of Macedonian journalism, and Ljupco Zlatev a younger reporter were summoned to the Interior Ministry, which runs the police and intelligence service, for an "interview" over their stories relating to corruption scandals. It's nothing more than old fashioned intimidation by those in power. see link here and here and here
This is the environment in which Mr Reeker will find himself when he lands in Macedonia sometime soon. But it's an environment he helped to create and now ironically rushing in as the White Knight to save the day. see link here
A journalist asking a direct question and expecting an answer - and then running the answer in full - cannot in any way be construed or regarded as "fake news" and it explains why the US avoids uttering a single word about WW2 Albanian Nazi collaborator statues or any other sensitive topic as you will see below:
Questions:
1. Why does the United States support Albanian Neo Nazi leaders in Macedonia such as Ali Ahmeti, Bujar Osmani, Artan Grubi, Nevzat Bejta of the Albanian nationalist party, DUI?
2. Why have you and the US remained silent over the World War II Albanian Nazi collaborator statues built in Macedonia post-2001 war by Albanian nationalist Nevzat Bejta? One statue is to a Xhem Hasa Gostivari, who according to British wartime eyewitness accounts, was a proven Nazi collaborator.
In comparison the US Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia immediately condemned a Croatian far-right extremist march through the Croatian capital in 2017. Why the US silence over WWII Albanian Nazi collaborator statues in Macedonia?
3. Did you have any role in writing, drafting or assisting in writing the controversial Prespa Agreement which erases Macedonian identity? If called upon would you testify in front of the US Congress about any role or non role you had in the Prespa Agreement?
4. The pro-US Zaev-Ahmeti coalition government in Macedonia has been hit with a number of large corruption scandals. The Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva has unexpectedly resigned. Do you wish to comment over why she would have resigned if she has received enormous backing from the US, EU to combat corruption in Macedonia?
5. Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski and Macedonia's Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska, of Serb background, were once staunch Slobodan Milosevic and Serb-Yugoslavist supporters who were anti-West and anti-US up to the year 2000 when the Milosevic regime fell. Mr Pendarovski was in the early 1990s a counterintelligence officer in Macedonia's Interior Ministry. A number of declassified CIA reports and a US army report have revealed the massive scale of UN sanctions-busting in Macedonia in support of the Milosevic regime which would have required the complicity of the Interior Ministry which runs the police, border guards and intelligence.
Why does the US support Mr Pendarovski and Ms Sekerinska? Does this reveal a Machiavellian or cynical side to US foreign policy in Macedonia which has more to do with US strategic interests rather than morality or principle?
6. Bulgaria has waged blackmail and bullying in order to get Macedonia to surrender its history and in return receive Bulgarian support for EU admission. The Bulgarian Defence Minister, Mr Kressimir Karakachanov, an extremist, claims that in 1941 Bulgaria "liberated" Macedonia. This provocative statement is deliberately contrary to the facts and is an indirect and clever form of Holocaust denial. Bulgaria was an ally of Nazi Germany and as a reward was allowed to occupy Macedonia, and in return assisted in the round-up of Jews in Macedonia, sending them to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps. You and the US have remained silent over this behaviour from extremist Bulgarian politicians such as Mr Karakachanov. Could you explain why you have been silent, considering your former role in Holocaust Issues in the US State Department?
7. A 2008 wikileaks cable reveals you as then US Ambassador to Macedonia asking that Mr Nikola Dimitrov, now Macedonia's Foreign Minister, be protected as a confidential source for the US. To the average Macedonian reader that has a kind of sinister or negative inference about Mr Dimitrov's behaviour towards his own country, Macedonia. Some would see that as leaking sensitive information to a foreign power, in this case, the US. As you are well aware the issue of foreign interference of any kind, such as allegations levelled against US President Trump and his links to Russian President Putin has created great consternation.
Do you wish to comment on or react to this - that is your comment about Mr Nikola Dimitrov being protected as a US source of information? What would your reaction be if say a US official leaked sensitive information about the US to a foreign country, say for argument's sake the Democratic Republic of Congo or the People's Republic of China etc.?
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UPDATE: US ENDORSEMENT OF ALBANIAN EXTREMISM - a picture tells a thousand words!
During his visit to Macedonia on 26 July, 2019 ,senior US State Department official Phillip T Reeker met with Albanian nationalist leader in Macedonia Ali Ahmeti whose political party DUI venerates WWII Albanian Nazi collaborators such as Xhem Hasa Gostivari & supports statues to them in Macedonia. As yet Mr Reeker has not responded to the media questions that Team Uzunov blog sent him prior to his visit to Macedonia.
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