DESPERATELY SEEKING SEKERINSKA

Macedonia’s most powerful woman...
DESPERATELY SEEKING SEKERINSKA - who is the real Radmila? A woman of many faces, identities...

by Sasha Uzunov
Skopje, Macedonia

One of Macedonia’s most controversial politicians is under new scrutiny following the failed referendum of 30 September- Radmila Sekerinska, the current Defence Minister and onetime protégé of Branko Crvenkovski, SDSM’s (Macedonian Social Democratic Union) founding leader way back in the 1990s.

Although a darling of the West for many years, Sekerinska has long been heavily criticised and even mocked at home. Many of her foreign admirers seem, ironically, unaware of this.  The US sees her as more competent than Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev; a safer pair of hands so to speak. (see link here).

Now that the 30 September referendum on the Prespa Agreement has failed (link here), it is time to take a look in the mirror – is it possible that Radmila Sekerinska’s unpopularity among Macedonians would have something to do with the referendum’s failure?

IS THE INTERNAL PURGE / CONFRONTATION APPROACHING IN SDSM?

Now, TEAM UZUNOV can report that the knives are out for Sekerinska within her own party. A former apparatchik from the SDSM’s 2002-2006 government, who has knowledge of the current goings-on in SDSM, told TEAM UZUNOV that “if Zaev and Sekerinska fail to push the constitutional changes through parliament to please their Western backers, both of them may be replaced:

"It is common knowledge among Macedonians that the unpopular prime minister, Zoran Zaev, may be risking his political future with the failed name-change referendum. But until recently, the continued rise to power of his defence minister – who many believe is the real leader of the country – was ‘safe’ from any fallout of the referendum’s failure.

Nevertheless, the old political apparatchik tells TEAM UZUNOV, “no one is safe, there are new generations coming up, and a lot of people in SDSM intensely dislike or are jealous of Rada for how specially she is treated by Western diplomats.”

However, another Macedonian source with close ties to the US Embassy also tells TEAM UZUNOV that “the Americans were happy to let her become defence minister when Zaev came to power, but they were irritated that she did not hire two or three specific people into that ministry, who are under American patronage.” 

A BAFFLING BREAKDOWN- SEKERINSKA BLOWS UP ON CAMERA

There may be something to this, as TEAM UZUNOV clearly touched a nerve by simply asking her a simple question at a government press conference on the night of the failed referendum. The revealing footage reveals the two-sided nature of Sekeinska- going in mere seconds from smiling diplomat to angry politician.

In the clip, which received over 8,000 views on YouTube in one day alone, Sekerinska piles on the charm with select foreign journalists, while refusing to answer a fundamental question about who wrote the Prespa Agreement- the basic document on which the Macedonian voters were voting that Sunday. Bizarrely, the defence minister lashed out to the camera that ‘you’re threatening me’ and that ‘this is the third time’ you have asked the question. Of course, neither of these claims were true.

While TEAM UZUNOV has asked the question about Prespa’s authorship to Minister of Justice Renata Deskoska and US Ambassador Jess Baily, we had never until that moment addressed this key question to Sekerinska. Her infuriated and out of protocol remarks indicated that Macedonia’s ‘golden girl’ may be becoming a giant liability.

Crucially this is occurring at a moment of great controversy- as the government continues trying to thwart the public will by pushing through legislation that would see a majority of MPs vote through constitutional amendments in order to railroad through the same Prespa Agreement concessions to Greece that was rejected at referendum by a resounding 63 percent of Macedonian voters. The voters followed the logic of a new protest group Bojkotiram. The group claims on social media that a British company called Stratagem is trying to bribe the vital few MPs from opposition VMRO-DPMNE, to the tune of 250,000 euros each, so they will vote yes on the SDSM government’s amendments.

COMMUNIST YUGOSLAV BACKGROUND- A PASSPORT TO POWER

Sekerinska’s mother worked for the state electricity company ELEM, during the post-Yugoslav transition period when it was divided up partly sold to foreign investors. Macedonians have dubbed these kind of shady privatisations as ‘bonbona business’ (hinting at the massive kickbacks and bribes the 1990s privatisations brought). 

Sekerinska’s husband, Bozidar Jankovski, has long had the nickname ‘Bobo Diners’ for his longstanding role as director of Diner’s Club Macedonia. Bizarrely, he was one of the many politicians and others briefly pardoned by President Gjorge Ivanov in April 2016. It is still unknown why he was on the list with politicians like Nikola Gruevski and Zoran Zaev but according to media reports, like most of those he made a written request to the president to be un-pardoned.

RADA’S METEORIC RISE

Radmila Sekerinska gained altitude as a leading politician faster than an astronaut launcing into orbit. The meteoric rise in power of the admittedly clever and talented Sekerinska was thus hardly accidental-being part of the Yugoslav communist elite has been a ticket to luxury living for many Macedonians with ties to Tito’s former regime, political functions, companies, UDBA secret service and so on.

But though this family background would be enough to enter politics (firstly, as protégé of Branko Crvenkovski, SDSM founder and heir to the communist legacy). Indeed at the tender age of 26, she became Branko’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Coordination of Foreign Assistance, serving until the SDSM was booted out of power by VMRO-DPMNE in 2006.

It’s therefore not puzzling in the slightest that Sekerinska was specifically chosen as an American pet- a role she has held for well over a decade. This is clearly obvious from her key position when SDSM was in opposition both before and after the political crisis that started in 2015, coinciding with the arrival of the highly unpopular American ambassador, Jess Baily. In fact some of the clearest indications of this come from the American official documents themselves as revealed in leaked Wikileaks cables.

SEKERINSKA IN WIKILEAKS- MAKING THE ‘WHO’s WHO’ LIST

The fact that Sekerinska was on the State Department and CIA radar is confirmed by none other than Wikileaks. A US Embassy Skopje cable dated 10 January 2007 lists Sekerinska as one of the ‘five most influential women in Macedonia.’

The cable recalls that the then-34 year old Sekerinska, an electrical engineer by training, had until 2006 been Crvenkovski’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration. Many Macedonians put Sekerinska in the category of those loathed politicians who have ‘never worked a day in their lives.’ Indeed the cable states that “she has been prominent in politics since 1998, when she was elected an SDSM Member of Parliament and served as the SDSM Spokesperson.” In other words, this descendent of prominent communist-era officials had a path to power ready and waiting for her, being elected to parliament at the tender age of 25.

The main reason that Sekerinska was on the American radar at the time of the cable was because she “was elected in November 2006 as the leader of SDSM, the largest ethnic Macedonian opposition party, and remains an MP.” - see link here 

WIKILEAKS ON SEKERINSKA’S STINT AS SDSM PRESIDENT- ESCAPING BRANKO’S ‘SHADOW’ 

Another Wikileaks cable, written by then Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic on 14 November 2006, discusses Sekerinska’s victory at the SDSM’s party congress held days before. It lays out in plain writing what many Macedonians have long known. It says that Sekerinska had “long been considered the heir apparent and who enjoyed the strong support of President Crvenkovski.” In typical communist style, she was the only candidate for party leadership: Sekerinska “won easily, receiving 456 votes of the 516 ballots cast.” One of the SDSM vice-president’s elected at the congress, Jani Makraduli, remained a party apparatchik through the recent crisis and was already very close to Sekerinska at the time she became SDSM president in November 2006. Indeed the US cable states that Makraduli was so closely aligned with Sekerinska that “he was her witness at her recent marriage. (As of 2018, Makraduli is deputy minister of environment in the Zaev-Sekerinska government). see link here 

In revealing language about SDSM’s future stepping ‘out of Crvenkovski’s shadow’ the US ambassador writes that  “although Sekerinska's rise to power in the party owes much to  Crvenkovski's support, that does not necessarily mean she  will repay the favor with blind loyalty to him and his  circle. “Indeed the cunning politician, the Americans estimated, was “likely to work to escape Crvenkovski’s shadow in order to strengthen her own control over the rank and file and implement the party reforms she has advocated.

All in all it’s clear that the US focused its efforts on building up the career of the new opposition leader to make a break with the past- something that insiders today have told TEAM UZUNOV the US is cynically prepared to do as well- but with Sekerinska this time getting the “Branko treatment.” In fact, this is what the former SDSM official had to say: “if Zaev and Sekerinska fail, she will probably be removed in a ‘nice’ way, by getting some important post in NATO or the UN as a compensation for losing the referendum.”

The US cable of November 2006 also showed high hopes for the newly elected prime minister from VMRO-DPMNE, another American puppet, Nikola Gruevski. It says that he “likely would jump at the chance to  widen any gap between Sekerinska and Crvenkovski, given his long-standing disdain for the President and refusal to recognise Crvenkovski's election as legitimate. Sekerinska  may therefore find a more flexible, compromise-ready  government ally will give her the leverage she needs to increase the distance between her and Crvenkovski.” Ironically, while Gruevski later became Enemy Number 1 of the US for his independent minded stance and nationalist views, Sekerinska became ever closer to Western ambitions for Macedonia’s future.

SEKERINSKA’S SUPPORT FOR ‘NORTH MACEDONIA’ NAME AND IDENTITY CHANGE- A RED LINE VIOLATED?

Part of the reason why many Macedonians consider Ms. Sekerinska a hypocrite is because she is now going back on former ‘red lines’ the SDSM set almost a decade ago, in talks with US representatives, with the Prespa Agreement concessions.

Much of the controversy over the recently failed Prespa Agreement was the SDSM government’s agreement with the Tsipras government on renaming the country ‘North Macedonia,’ and the ethnicity as ‘citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia’ rather than ‘Macedonian.’ This is a clear and cynical attempt by SDSM, as many have pointed to blur the lines between the definitions of the words ‘citizenship and ‘nationality.’

A 2008 cable (from the Athens US Embassy, the then Greek PM Karamanlis indicated that the idea was already being floated. Karamanlis blamed the Macedonians for the usual “intransigence” but said that: “a mutually acceptable solution -- which could include a composite name of "New, Upper, North, whatever Macedonia" for use in international fora and another name (i.e., the constitutional name) for internal use -- had to be found now before the NATO Bucharest summit or Greece would not approve FYROM's entry into Euro-Atlantic institutions.” These Greek demands violated Macedonia’s (until Zaev) red lines. see link here 

All together it is scandalous enough in that it indicates Washington was officially considering the current Prespa Agreement name formulation almost 10 years ago with both sides. 

RADA’S GREATEST HITS- AND BLOOPERS

The West has propped up and sponsored a politician, in Radmila Sekerinska, who knows just what to say and how to say it to Brussels bigwigs and Washington head honcos, but is mostly mocked and reviled in her home country. The fact is, the average man on the street sees her as dismissive, often arrogant tone, superiority complex, and attempts to curry favour with foreign luminaries through artificial politeness. She is considered a political cynic who would sees benefit when her own party colleagues are criticised (most recently, Zoran Zaev with his high-profile role in the political crisis) to advance her own interests indirectly. This is possibly because she learned the hard way that her own lack of charisma and popularity were negatively impacting her ambitions.

This was seen when as party president in the 2008 elections, she came up with the disastrous campaign advert that literally states the Macedonian phrase, ‘posle ebenje, nema kaenje.’ (a vulgar term meaning ’no regrets after f**king.’ The video clip of 27 May 27 2008 aired in television, bewildering older voters.

In the spot, a young woman is depicted waking up next to a young man, looking in apparent horror at him as if wondering what she had done the night before. When the girl tells him to leave, the young man says he will spend the next four years with her. The point Sekerinska was cynically trying to make was that voters would regret it if they voted to re-elect VMRO-DPMNE. But for critics the whole concept just reaffirmed the popular view of Sekerinska as a cold and cynical politician, and her party was decisively defeated at the election.

In another video from her election campaign of 2008, Sekerinska made the odd claim that in six months she would start the EU negotiation process. Does this hint, as the Wikileaks cable reveals, that the specially-groomed American pet had already a plan in shape to change Macedonia’s name- 10 years before her current attempt through the Prespa Agreement? We may never know, since no one has asked.

A much more recent video that seeped into the Macedonian popular culture is of Sekerinska’s August 2016 visit to the village of Stajkovsi after torrential flooding. Sekerinska’s treatment of a weeping village women was captured in a video clip, and made her the butt of jokes when the TV and later video spot aired, with people seizing on the trip as a cynical attempt to show a ‘human side’ to a disinterested politician out to score popularity points.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR RADMILA SEKERINSKA?

The fact of the matter is that the West, and Branko Crvenkovski before that, groomed this heir to communist patronage from a very early age to become Macedonia’s main international power broker. But despite all the rhetoric and free rides, she has failed to deliver.

This was seen in the above mentioned 2008 elections, where she failed to unseat Gruevski. The results for SDSM were so bad that Branko Crvenkovski took over (after stepping down from the national presidency) for the 2011 elections, with SDSM also lost. When Zaev became SDSM president, and also lost the 2014 elections in humiliating fashion, Sekerinska got a second chance to prove her value to the Western powers with the political crisis and name change.

That opportunity hangs in the balance now, with the name change referendum failure marking the possible end for the Macedonian ‘golden girl.’ In her heart of hearts, Radmila Sekerinska already knows that all Macedonian politicians are inserted by the US, and all are removed when they have served their purpose or fallen out of favour- as is seen by the fates of the like of Branko Crvenkovski, Ljubco Georgievski, Nikola Gruevski and so on. 

At the end of the day, the failed referendum of 30 September- itself based on name issue ideas at least a decade old- may also prove to be a referendum on the politicians who made the deal with Greece. The US and its European allies have spent millions and lavished all sorts of favours on making Sekerinska Macedonia’s most powerful politician. But America’s patience does not last forever. Should SDSM fail to deliver, it’s likely that none of its leaders will be safe. But someone like Sekerinska, with longtime international contacts, she will probably have a soft landing- continuing her charmed existence in an international organisation somewhere outside of Macedonia.

SEKERINSKA’S BIZARRE SERB NATIONALIST CARD? Opportunist? Hypocrite? Chameleon?

In 2010 during a heated and emotional debate between Sekerinska and Serbian nationalist politician Ivan Stoiljkovic, a Macedonian MP, Stoijlkovic accused Sekerinska of being anti Serb. In reaction to the accusation, Sekerinska, a social democrat who publicly criticises nationalism, deliberately played the Serb nationalist card on Stoijlkovic by emphasising her Serb background and gave a pledge not to harm the interests of the local Serb community.

In over 20 years of political life she has never held a protest against Serbian nationalism outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje, not even when the US Embassy in Macedonia was set a light in 1999 by Serb extremists linked to the Milosevic regime.

In protests dubbed the Colour Revolution two years ago, Sekerinska was photographed hurling an object at a Macedonian statue in the capital.

You could argue her behaviour is racist towards ethnic Macedonians. see link here 

US PLAYING OFF ETHNIC HATREDS AS A STRATEGY?

One of the questions that TEAM UZUNOV posed to US Ambassador to Macedonia, Mr Jess Baily, was the US deliberately using ethnic hatreds as a political weapon to attack native ethnic Macedonian identity. It was a question the Ambassador declined to answer. see link here 

The West’s “Good Serb, Bad Serb” routine:

Then Serb Prime Minister and now President Alexander Vucic was pelted with rocks and bottles at Srebrenica during the massacre remembrance ceremony. Angry Bosnians were not labelled as “nationalist.”

On 27 April 2017, Sekerinska who has attacked native Macedonian statues is attacked in Macedonian Parliament by angry native ethnic Macedonians. Macedonians are labelled “nationalist.”

Strange paradox. in fact hypocrisy. The man who attacked her was justifiably jailed for assault.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t advocate violence and both incidents of violence are wrong. But note the selectivity by the West.

FRENCH DUPLICITY - Thimionier’s Timing ! 

The French have also invested heavily in Radmila Sekerinska, so much so they have decorated her with a high state award amongst deliberate fanfare.

But you’ll note in the story below from earlier this year how the French Ambassador to Macedonia Mr Charles Thimonier waited many weeks until he had decorated Sekerinska first before responding to questions about her and then declined to comment. see link here

THE WOMAN OF MANY FACES: one minute she is the consummate “internationalist,” next playing the Serb nationalist card, now a firm supporter of the controversial and so called “Good Neighbourly Agreement” between Bulgaria and Macedonia, which in effect means the end of a separate Macedonian identity as a the price for Bulgarian support for Macedonia to join NATO and the EU. (link to Good Neighbourly Agreement story here). She is pictured below with Bulgaria’s Defence Minister Kressmir Karakachanov (left), a right wing nationalist who denies the existence of a separate Macedonian identity, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, whose coalition government includes neo Nazi leader Volen Siderov of the notorious ATAKA party.

And not to mention her support of the outrageous Prespa Agreement...(link to Prespa Agreement story here) which turns Macedonia into a de facto Greek Hellenic Hong Kong.

TEAM UZUNOV contacted Ms Sekerinska a number of times via email to her officer and text message to her advisors with questions but has never received a response:


 From: Sasha Uzunov
Sent: Thursday, 4 January 2018 9:30 AM
To: kabinetMO@morm.gov.mk
Subject: Media query - Defence Minister Sekerinska

Subject: media questions for Macedonia's Defence Minister Ms Radmila Sekerinska

Dear Minister Sekerinska

My name is Sasha Uzunov, an Australian journalist who was recently in Macedonia. I have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am also a former Australian soldier.

See link here:

https://www.google.com.au/amp/ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/afghanistan-outside-the-wire-end-game-a-new-documentary-about-canada-in-afghanistan-to-air-on-cpac-this-week/amp

I wanted to ask you some questions:

1. In 2010 you made a bizarre statement during a heated debate with Serb Nationalist MP Ivan Stoijlkovic where you declared your Serbian background. Isn't this strange or contradictory  for someone who claims to be a social democratic and who campaigns against "nationalism?" Why was it important for you to boast of your Serbianess if you as a politician criticise so called Macedonian nationalism?
Link:
http://vecer.mk/makedonija/rada-pogolema-srbinka-od-srbite


2. On your official Defence Ministry website, your biography makes no mention of your Serbian background. Why is that?
Link:
http://morm.gov.mk/?page_id=48

3. There is a public perception amongst many Macedonians you are a Serb chauvinist who attacks native Macedonian statues and who is culturally insensitive. What is your response to this?  You have never protested against Serb nationalism outside the Serb Embassy in Skopje yet you throw paint at Macedonian statues? Do you have a conflict of interest?

4. In South Africa white politicians are very carefully or sensitive in their criticisms of native Black African identity for fear of being branded a racist. Bearing in mind that Serbia was the former brutal colonial ruler in Macedonia (1912-41) and played a hegemonistic role in Tito's Yugoslavia, should you being of Serb background refrain from attacking Macedonian statues in case you are accused of racism, chauvinism against native ethnic Macedonians ?
Link: https://www.google.com.au/amp/amp.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1541843/full-helen-zille-apologises-colonialism-tweets/

5. The German Deputy Ambassador Mr Marco Acquaticci has responded to concerns over controversial Albanian Nazi collaborator statues in western Macedonia. You have remained silent instead attacking Macedonian statues. Why is that?
Link:

http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/germany-responds-to-albanian-nazi.html?m=1

Yours sincerely
Sasha Uzunov
Journalist / filmmaker
Australia

MACEDONIA’S REFERENDUM FARCE

analysis/comment:
Sasha Uzunov
Skopje, Macedonia

REFERENDUM FARCE - the flop being hailed as a “success’ - we’ve all had over 24 hours to digest the outcome of Macedonia’s failed referendum held on Sunday 30 September, which is what it was despite the deliberate spin from the Zaev government and its foreign backers, namely US Ambassador to Macedonia Jess Baily.

By the Macedonia criterion for referenda, it did not reach the required 50% threshold of eligible voters needed but fell far short. The non-binding referendum question posed to voters was “are you in favour of the European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?”

If you do a break down of the figures - 36.9% of eligible voters turned out and 94.18% voted in favour. Rough arithmetic that’s about 25 to 30% of all eligible voters voted in favour of the referendum. Simply put the vast majority of Macedonians and even a sizeable number of ethnic Albanians don’t want to change Macedonia’s name.

Regardless of how people voted or didn’t vote, what can’t be ignored is there was a movement/s dedicating to boycotting the referendum. If a large number of people didn’t turn out then that must be attributed to this movement. Obviously, regular voting patterns in Macedonia can’t be ignored.

According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, whose reporting has been skewed in favour of the Prespa Agreement:

“Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has said the result is enough indication of support from the electorate for him to continue to push for implementation of the deal”

“MPs now have an obligation to make Macedonia a better place for all of us,” Zaev told reporters late on Sunday” - see link here 

So it’s now hard for PM Zaev to claim a moral mandate over the main Opposition party VMRO-DPMNE led by Christian Mickovski to support the Prespa Agreement through a parliamentary vote.

Zaev needs a two-thirds majority - 80 out of 120 MPs to vote in favour. At the moment he doesn't have the numbers. But has stubbornly vowed to push on and change Macedonia’s name and backed by the EU and the US who have hailed the referendum flop a “success.”

2004 MACEDONIA REFERENDUM JUXTAPOSITION - The US State Department letter reveals the real reasons for the US recognising Macedonia in 2004: to kill off a referendum that would if successful oppose the territorial reorganisation of Macedonia - the objective of the reorganisation was to lead to municipalities with artificially constructed Albanian majorities and place the country onto the path of de facto federalisation. see link here 

We’ve seen enormous contradictions over the Prespa Agreement, the basis for the referendum on 30 September 2018. This controversial deal aims to change Macedonia’s name and identity to appease Greek nationalist demands in exchange for Greece removing its veto over Macedonia’s NATO and EU membership. It’s simply for US strategic needs - meaning to keep Washington's longtime ally Greece happy but it’s been dressed up as being favourable to Macedonia. see link here

The standard mantra from the Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who immediately after the referendum flop broke a promise that he would resign if it failed, is the Prespa Agreement was the best possible deal that Macedonia could get and was the result of Greek and Macedonian compromise.

TENSIONS & CONTRADICTIONS OVER THE PRESPA AGREEMENT

One of his senior cabinet ministers, Justice Minister Renata Deskoska doesn't even know who wrote the agreement, which is an incredible and embarrassing admission to make.

Macedonia’s Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska, when asked if an American academic and ex US State Department official Dr Amanda Sloat was the real author, exploded with inexplicable rage.

The woman who is alleged to have put the agreement together, Dr Sloat, has remained silent despite being contacted and asked to set the record straight.

What is telling is the US Ambassador to Macedonia Jess Baily after also being asked to comment more than a month go if there was any US involvement behind the scenes declined at that time until he was confronted at a doorstop interview yesterday where he gave an answer after an OSCE post referendum media conference. The OSCE was tasked in monitoring the referendum for any irregularities.

Ambassador Baily was asked at point blank about Dr Sloat’s involvement. In an amazing display after deliberately walking past in an attempt to ignore the question he decided to comeback and stand his ground and answer the question in which he maintained the mantra of it - the Prespa Agreement - being the product of Greek-Macedonian negotiations.

It would have looked horrible if the man who has staked his diplomatic career on the Prespa Agreement was seen to run away from it.

This isn’t Ambassador Baily first time to dodge a question over the controversial agreement.

If it takes all of this effort just to get a response over the Prespa Agreement - using pliers to extract words out of key people’s mouths figuratively speaking - despite all the positive spin placed on it then this suggests there is clearly something wrong with it.

The US is riding roughshod over Macedonia’s sovereignty by Ambassador Baily taking such an “active” role in now pushing the Prespa Agreement through the parliament after the failed referendum.

Support for the US Macedonia was historically high especially amongst the diaspora - that has dropped remarkably because of the antics of Ambassador Baily and without Russian strongman Putin needing to lift a finger.

THE BAILY ULTIMATUM PART 4- SPOOKY SHENANIGANS

Fourth and Final part in the series examining US Ambassador Jess Baily’s controversial role in Macedonia

The Baily Ultimatum - Part 4
ARMED INTERFERENCE? SPOOKY SHENANIGANS FROM THE  KALE (U.S. EMBASSY) AND ADVISORS

by Sasha Uzunov
Skopje, Macedonia

Among the 23 questions (see Part 1) that Ambassador Baily dismissed as ‘bullshit’ and failed to answer, is the following:

Did any US Embassy officials counsel Zoran Zaev in his approach to phrasing the words of the paper he signed to win the mandate from President Ivanov? If so, what did they do?

The truth is that the Americans have constantly mentored the SDSM leader – a former mayor from the provincial town of Strumica – as they sought to make him fit for the role of international statesman. This process has included increasingly frequent trips to foreign capitals, and a noticeable improvement in his English-language skills over the past three years. However, lurking closely behind the scenes is the Defence Minister, Radmila Sekerinska, who is popularly understood to be the real brains behind the government. This American pet was isolated in an Embassy diplomatic cable over a decade ago as one of the top five most powerful women in Macedonia. After the referendum, she is expected by many pundits to take on an important international job, perhaps in the United Nations or elsewhere in relation to EU structures as a reward for helping Macedonia change its name.

None of that would be possible, of course, without a Zaev government and that brings the strange story of The Baily Ultimatum full circle, back to the summer of 2016. Following the 27 April 2017 storming of parliament put an end to three months of protests against the Tirana Platform, foreign officials put overpowering pressure on Macedonian leaders – particularly, President George Ivanov – to grant Zaev a mandate to form a government. However, the president would not do so unless Zaev dropped the racist and chauvinistic Tirana Platform backed by his crew of ethnic Albanian parties, that discriminated against Macedonian and all other ethnic populations in Macedonia and contradicted former U.S. policy as well.

There was considerable scepticism that Ivanov would back down, with some media speculating that he would declare martial law rather than give Zaev a mandate. In the end, they were wrong, as the president finally caved in to the pressure. However, he required a written guarantee that the new coalition would uphold the constitutional order because the Tirana Agreement violated it on constitutional grounds. That’s where the US Embassy came in. According to several informed sources, US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm--pictured above with President Ivanov and who is more than just a US State Department diplomat--and now-resigned US Embassy political officer David Stephenson played key roles in shepherding Zaev through the process of going through drafts of the memo.

However, the Americans panicked at one point, a fired Macedonian intelligence officer tells TEAM UZUNOV: “they were on and off the phone with Zaev constantly as his team and the president’s team went through competing drafts… the Americans were very surprised and dismayed by Zaev because he signed the final agreement as ‘we’ on behalf of his whole coalition, rather than ‘I’ on behalf of himself. It is still not clear why they had this obsession, but maybe if the whole agreement fell apart and DUI or others were angry, then the Americans could easily replace Zaev with [Radmila] Sekerinska [now Defence Minister], pictured above, who they respect more anyway.”

TEAM UZUNOV has published here, possibly the first time, the actual agreement as would be signed by Zaev. With the referendum coming up soon, it is shocking evidence that he has violated his mandate to form a government in almost every way. A careful reading of the document shows precisely why the government’s negotiated position with Greece, its referendum, actions against the media and some economic decisions are exactly counter to the agreement. However, to this day the president has not said a word about the violations and it is likely that he, along with VMRO-DPMNE politicians and others, are under tremendous pressure to toe the American line. The recent talk of possible border changes between Serbia and Kosovo – which would inevitably result in talk of the same for Macedonia – is being held like a sword over leaders’ heads by the US and EU.

But the American involvement with Zaev’s government did not end with its creation- that was just the beginning. In spring of this year, as negotiations with Greece under the auspices of longtime UN negotiator Matthew Nimitz got serious, the Embassy brought in some big guns. In another question that Ambassador Baily would not answer, TEAM UZUNOV got feedback from the Macedonian-American lobbyist based in Washington. According to him, “much of what you know as the Prespa Agreement, allegedly written by Greek and Macedonia officials, was actually written at the Brookings Institute in the US.”

AMANDA SLOAT - was she the shooter ? more on Amanda Sloat’s role at this link here

More specifically, the source told TEAM UZUNOV, the key activity was done by Dr. Amanda Sloat, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at the Center for the U.S. and Europe at the influential American thinktank.

Like many of the others lurking in any around Macedonia during its three-year political crisis, Sloat has ties to the former Obama Administration: she was the deputy assistant secretary for Southern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Affairs at the State Department, where she was responsible for U.S. relations with Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey as well as for coordinating European engagement on Middle East issues. Previously she worked on other issues, like Britain, Scotland Northern Ireland, but by working on Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey throughout the entire Obama Administration, Sloat would have worked closely with Jess Baily, who came to Macedonia after serving for several years as Deputy Chief of Mission in Ankara. Considering his behavior in Macedonia, it’s no surprise to know that Baily was also considered as controversial by the Turkish government during his time there.

According to this Washington source, the US administration used Brookings as a “side office” for creation of the Prespa Agreement. “Sloat was included in the draft text given on May 24 to Greek Foreign Minister Kotzias in Washington DC,” the diaspora official told TEAM UZUNOV. “The basic agreement was reached on both sides the next day in the UN.”

If these accounts are correct, it seems that the Prespa Agreement will be Macedonia’s nation-ending agreement...

THE COUP DE’GRACE- USAID FUNDING NOW BEING USED TO SHORE UP THE REFERENDUM

The kicker in all this, coming back to the fast-approaching referendum, is that the supposedly apolitical USAID funding managed through Ambassador Baily’s State Department and Embassy cronies, is still being clearly used for political purposes- that is, supporting a ‘yes’ vote on the referendum in favour of a Prespa Agreement that the Macedonians and Greeks didn’t even write!

TEAM UZUNOV here reproduces a document from the CEPS program, that reveals the official request for applicants for four ‘Rapid Response Grants’ with an application date of 31 July, 2018. This indicates that the USAID’s ‘flagship program’ had been strategically picked for siphoning off votes in favor of the referendum – possibly, even before the Prespa Agreement was formally signed in Greece on 17 June.

According to the USAID document, the four grants would be of $7,500 US Dollars each, and would be used “to support the initiatives that focus on the upcoming referendum.” Further, the USAID document states that referendum-education focus of grant winners should be “youth, women, minorities, the disabled and those outside the capital.” The project applicants are suggested to apply for grants with projects of between 3-6 months. Hypothetically, this would have to mean that USAID was already expecting to do not only pre- but also post-referendum brainwashing on the Macedonian population, after 30 September.

It will come as no surprise to readers of TEAM UZUNOV’s 2017 expose of the East-West Management Institute and its ties to the so-called National Youth Council, and Soros-related NGOs like Metamorphosis and the Association for Democratic Initiatives, and the ‘big daddy’ of them all, the Foundation Open Society in Macedonia (FOSIM)- George Soros’ international franchise which operates worldwide wherever ‘democracy-building’ needs to take place. see link here

In the end, by using his Washington connections and some ‘heavy lifting’ by the likes of USAID’s “secret operations unit’ the Office of Transition Initiative (OTI), Ambassador Jess Baily was able to get out of trouble in 2017- and stick around to see his ultimatum to Macedonia finally fulfilled with the referendum on the Prespa Agreement on 30 September 2018, which will change the country’s name to satisfy the nationalist appetites of US allies - Macedonia’s neighbours and long standing negators - Greece, Bulgaria and Albanian at Macedonia’s expense. It’s the old taking the path of least resistance. That’s what it all comes down to. Easier to Washington to sacrifice Macedonia than have to deal with a hostile Greece, Bulgaria and Albanian political factor - US clients nonetheless.

The name of the game is to get Macedonia into NATO and the EU to deny the Russians any opening in the Balkans. But that premise is faulty to begin with. Macedonia since its independence in 1991 from Yugoslavia has been under US’s patronage. The 2001 ethnic Albanian war in Macedonia and the 2003 Khaled El Masri rendition scandal, just to name two of many examples, hammers home the US’s vice like control of events in Macedonia.

The new moniker Republic of North Macedonia and erasing Macedonian identity, if it comes to pass, will be the legacy of the Baily Ultimatum !

THE BAILY ULTIMATUM PART 1- link here
THE BAILY ULTIMATUM PART 2 - link here
THE BAILY ULTIMATUM PART 3 - link here


Canadian Macedonia pundit Mark Branov’s 2017 analysis about where powers really rests in Macedonia has turned out to be correct and highly applicable even to events relating to the controversial 2018 name change referendum.

WAS SHE THE SHOOTER BEHIND PRESPA AGREEMENT?

A former US State Department official may have been the academic gun for hire, the shooter, behind the controversial Prespa Agreement, signed by both Greece and Macedonia, which aims to change Macedonia’s name and identity, according to an influential American Macedonian lobbyist with ties to US politicians.

According to him, “much of what you know as the Prespa Agreement, allegedly written by Greek and Macedonia officials, was actually written at the Brookings Institute in the US.”

More specifically, the source told TEAM UZUNOV, the key activity was done by Dr. Amanda Sloat, a Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, one of the influential American think tanks. see link here

Like many of the others lurking in any around Macedonia during its three-year political crisis, Sloat has ties to the former Obama Administration: she was the deputy assistant secretary for Southern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Affairs at the State Department, where she was responsible for U.S. relations with Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey as well as for coordinating European engagement on Middle East issues.

Previously she worked on other issues, like Britain, Scotland Northern Ireland, but by working on Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey throughout the entire Obama Administration, Sloat would have worked closely with now US Ambassador to Macedonia Jess Baily, who came to Macedonia after serving for several years as Deputy Chief of Mission in Ankara. Considering his behavior in Macedonia, it’s no surprise to know that Baily was also considered as controversial by the Turkish government during his time there.

According to this Washington source, the US administration used Brookings as a “side office” for creation of the Prespa Agreement. “Sloat was included in the draft text given on May 24 to Greek Foreign Minister Kotzias in Washington DC,” the diaspora official told TEAM UZUNOV. “The basic agreement was reached on both sides the next day in the UN.”

It was made to appear that it had been the work of both Greece and Macedonia, without any foreign interference.

TEAM UZUNOV blog has contacted Dr Sloat via email and telephone and left a message with her Personal Assistant at the Brookings Institute, Mr Ted Reinert, who said he had no inkling of any involvement of Dr Sloat with the Prespa Agreement. Should Dr Sloat reply, TEAM UZUNOV will publish the response.

TEAM UZUNOV BLOG releases emails

- one sent to US Ambassador Jess Baily-  about Dr Amanda Sloat, ex US State Department official, asking if she is the real author of the Prespa Agreement.

Original email sent to Dr Sloat and a follow up to her Personal Assistant Mr Ted Reinert at the Brookings Institute. (please note the hotmail account is set to Australian Eastern time +8 hours from Macedonia).

Macedonian senior government minister, Justice portfolio, Mrs Renata Deskoska, says she doesn’t know who wrote the Prespa Agreement and won’t comment on claims that former US State Department official Dr Amanda Sloat is said to be the real author.

- background story in part 4 of The BAILY ULTIMATUM link here -

The Role of Controversial US Ambassador to Macedonia Jess Baily examined in a series of articles:

PART 1 - The Baily Ultimatum - link here 
PART 2 - The Baily Ultimatum - link here 
PART 3 - The Baily Ultimatum - link here

The Prespa Agreement story link here 

THE BAILY ULTIMATUM - PART 3: O.T.I. REGIME CHANGE UNIT

by Sasha Uzunov
Skopje, Macedonia


PART 1 - THE BAILY ULTIMATUM - Questions about Macedonia -link here 
PART 2 - THE BAILY ULTIMATUM - Bringing the Heat -link here

As TEAM UZUNOV has revealed, the U.S. State Department has officially claimed that its funding to NGOs and general activities of USAID in Macedonia are all above-board, both in public statements and official letters to legislators. Since Ambassador Baily did not respond to TEAM UZUNOV’s questions, we have to assume he shares that opinion.

OTI: BAILY’S ACHILLES HEEL
However, there is one lingering scandal that has been an open secret in Macedonia, discussed in the local media for over two years- though oddly enough, nowhere else in the world. This is in reference to USAID’s semi-secret ‘regime change’ unit, Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), which was created by former President Clinton in the 1990s to give a ‘rapid reaction’ capacity to USAID activities. In reality, it is somewhat a combination between the Peace Corps and the CIA, and in Macedonia has come under severe ridicule while causing great stress among embassy bigwigs.

CUBAN TEMPLATE?
OTI has gotten into trouble before, as a 2014 Guardian report disclosed its secret plan to build a ‘Cuban Twitter’ first of all, seeming innocuous, but with definite regime change goals. The article reads:

‘Documents show the US government planned to build a subscriber base through "non-controversial content": news messages on soccer, music, and hurricane updates. Later when the network reached a critical mass of subscribers, perhaps hundreds of thousands, operators would introduce political content aimed at inspiring Cubans to organise “smart mobs” — mass gatherings called at a moment’s notice that might trigger a Cuban spring, or, as one USAid document put it, “renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society.” - link to Guardian article here

To organise the OTI Cuba operation, the newspaper said, required much mischief: “to hide the network from the Cuban government, they would set up a byzantine system of front companies using a Cayman Islands bank account, and recruit unsuspecting executives who would not be told of the company’s ties to the US government.”

A very similar thing happened in Macedonia, under the purview of Ambassador Baily. Given his failure to respond to TEAM UZUNOV’s questions, it is unclear who requested the mission- which was definitely not specified anywhere in the July 2015 Przino Agreement for reforms, signed by Macedonia’s four major political parties.

-(The OTI Macedonia keeps an official webpage here: www.usaid.gov/political-transition-initiatives/macedonia)

OTI was used in the Balkans before, such as to help take down Milosevic.

All that is known for sure is that by September of 2015, USAID in Washington DC was holding secretive job interviews for a mission in Macedonia. This would infer that the background plan for the program had been made earlier- possibly even before the controversial July Przino Agreement, which itself was signed only five months after tennis playing Ambassador Baily’s deployment to the Macedonian theatre.

You cannot be serious ?
SECRET CLEARANCE NEEDED FOR AID WORK? - Handing out pens, brochures ? Unless of course it’s not aid work?

Although USAID has always claimed its programs for civil engagement, media and NGOs are benign and harmless one has to wonder why (according to an official job application form for the position), a Security Clearance-level Secret is required. ( Request for Personal Services Contractor - see below).

To cover its tracks locally, OTI contractors were hired through the Washington firm AECOM, given a separate address, and kept away from Baily and other prominent Embassy persons.

Even stranger, the USAID head in Macedonia (then, James Stein) sent official requests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a Special Identity Card for OTI contractors, not the typical residency or work ID that most foreigners get. They do this, it is believed, to make sure OTI staff qualify for some kind of diplomatic immunity- even though they are private contractors and not diplomats.

Although Macedonian government officials and intelligence services clearly knew all about the OTI’s activities in organising concerts, working on political radio shows, youth networking throughout the country, etc., they gave the operators a wide berth, fearing to upset their American overlords.

However, at times this was humiliating: a former intelligence official fired after the coming of the SDSM government tells TEAM UZUNOV that “the OTI operators were directly involved with the Colourful Revolution organising… we saw them literally going into the shop to buy the paint that the Soros activists would then throw at monuments- but never Albanian monuments, of course.”

This direct involvement of USAID operators with violent activists during 2016 was one of the many questions that Ambassador Baily refused to answer when asked by TEAM UZUNOV. The Colourful Revolution crowd – composed of hard-leftists as well as political opportunists and pro-Belgrade chauvinists – used a cut-and-paste communist rhetoric, street protests and signs that echoed the catchphrase used by Soros-funded groups like Black Lives Matter in the USA (‘No Justice, No Peace,’ or ‘Nema Pravda, Nema Mir’ in Macedonian)

Although Macedonia successfully created a new government and now seems on the verge of changing its name in the controversial referendum of 30 September 2018, OTI lingers on in Skopje. There’s a comical contrast between what the OTI says of itself on its ‘highlights’ page and what local information obtained by TEAM UZUNOV discovered. See link here

As for the official ‘highlights,’ the above-cited official OTI website lists activities that are suspiciously to the Cuba model- that is they seem innocuous but have a political goal. They are:

Professionalising the Macedonia media environment.  USAID/OTI supported the creation of political debate show “Only the Truth” as part of a wider media portfolio. The show presents civil dialogue and diverse viewpoints on critical issues affecting Macedonians. ”Only the Truth” has succeeded in presenting issues in a non-partisan way, changing perceptions of the media environment in Macedonia.

Promoting citizen participation in public discourse. Activities such as “Transforming Public Spaces” use the arts to create social change by promoting discussions that encourage citizens to engage in positive actions in their communities.

Supporting key institutions to implement critical reforms, consistent with EU standards. The Government of Macedonia, governed by a new coalition, is undertaking a bold and long-overdue set of legislative, policy and systemic reforms. USAID/OTI is providing assistance to reorganise, equip and enable key sectors of the Macedonian government, better positioning it to advance the democratic reform process.

Despite these optimistic words, TEAM UZUNOV found that Macedonians themselves felt differently. During the 2016 period of peak activity/Colourful Revolution, a few journalists (most notably, Mirka Velinovska of the long-running newspaper Dnevnik) lampooned OTI and its activities. However, since SDSM took power, the long-running newspaper was shut down and no media criticism of the powerful American regime-change operation can be found.

Velinovska lost valuable traction after becoming obsessed with the catchy phrase of The Umbrella (chadorot) to describe the US’s all encompassing reach in or cover of all aspects of life in Macedonia. This allowed any crackpot with a bizarre theory such as Freemasons etc to hitch their wagon onto Velinovska for better to worse.

In private Macedonians have different opinions. One local academic denounced the OTI radio call-in show as “a total failure” and another local complained that its television program was “obviously political, favoring SDSM.” All of TEAM UZUNOV’s sources agree that the USAID program appeared to work in tandem with the same Soros-linked NGOs that roused attention from conservative lobbyists and the U.S. Congress in the first place.

“The foreign media and government call us anti-American, pro-Russian, dangerous nationalists,” the former intelligence officer told TEAM UZUNOV. “The truth is, we could have done a lot of damage to OTI and secret groups like it, but we left them alone- and that is because we see America as our ally, even despite everything they do against Macedonia.”