TEAM UZUNOV EXCLUSIVE: We ask Iron Mike Rann for a response
AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMAT- RANN WON'T DISOWN ANTI-MACEDONIAN VIEW
by Sasha Uzunov
A former New Zealand Greenpeace activist turned Australia's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, the equivalent of Ambassador, Iron Mike Rann, has refused to publicly disown anti-Macedonian comments he made whilst as South Australian Premier in light of recent disturbing political events in Greece.
Mr Rann unwittingly walked into a political firestorm in 2010 when he accused the Republic of Macedonia President Gjorge Ivanov (George Johnson in English translation) of "stealing Greek history and culture." see story in The Australian newspaper. link:
The extremist ultra nationalist Greek party, Golden Dawn, which has made recent inroads in Athens with its anti-Western, anti-Semitic rhetoric also has the same view as Mr Rann on The Republic of Macedonia.
We are not suggesting anything untoward by Mr Rann. We are not accusing him of being anti-Western nor anti-Semitic. We have asked him via email to clear the air on the issue- that is with hindsight would he disown his anti-Macedonian view and would he publicly condemn Golden Dawn.
Mr Rann was also asked if he felt regret at his actions as a Greenpeace activist in the early 1970s in New Zealand.
Greenpeace was sending boats into French pacific territory with the aim of interrupting nuclear weapons testing. In response the French State Security was provoked into bombing the Rainbow Warrior ship in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand, in 1985.Fernando Perreira, a photographer on board, drowned. Later Mr Rann as Premier of the state of South Australia supported uranium mining. We asked Mr Rann if this ideological about turn meant that the death of Fernando Perreira was in vain.
Fernando Perreira - Photographer who drowned when the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was bombed by French intelligence in 1985. photo: wikipedia.
In Australia the custom is when the actions of military officers, politicians or those who run organisations leads to casualties, it is assumed that those who caused the casualties be held accountable. According to The Australian newspaper: link: Born in Britain in 1953, Rann migrated to New Zealand in 1962 with his parents and brother, Christopher. While completing a master of arts in political science at the University of Auckland, he worked as editor of the university newspaper and participated in student politics. He was a member of the New Zealand Greenpeace executive that sent the Greenpeace III to Mururoa Atoll in 1972 to protest against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. Mr Rann moved to Australia in the mid-1970s and began a career as a politician with the Australian Labor Party (ALP), becoming Premier of South Australia, one of the six states in the Commonwealth of Australia, from 2002 to 2011. As Premier he did an about face and supported uranium mining in his state. In 2012 he was appointed UK High Commissioner.
A template response from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), which for some bizarre reason does not answer the questions put to Mr Rann but instead talks about another issue not connected, Australia's foreign policy and the controversy and Greek dispute over name of The Republic of Macedonia:
"Any comments attributed to Mr Rann in his former capacity as Premier of South Australia had then, and still have, no status with regards to Australia’s foreign policy – the states (parliaments/premiers) having no constitutional foreign policy role in Australia’s system of government.
"Australia’s position on the nomenclature of the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia is clear.
"The Australian Government is mindful of community sensitivities regarding this issue. Australia's policy follows UN practice and is a temporary measure pending a resolution between the governments in Skopje and Athens.
"We maintain warm bilateral relationships with Greece and with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and encourage the parties to resolve their differences and support the mediation process.
"Foreign Minister Bob Carr publicly re-iterated these views in early June 2013. The Minister noted that Australia’s position remains stable and is not under review.
"The Minister has agreed to address on 5 July the United Macedonian Diaspora ‘Gala Dinner’ event.
"Should you draw on any of these comments, please attribute them to a spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade"
- (end of quote) -
The United States and Canada recognise the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name as do over a 100 other states. Macedonia gained its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 but Greece forced it to be temporarily referred to by the United Nations as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Australia follows the Greek directive because of a strong Greek-Australian lobby, which has influenced both major political parties, the ALP and the Liberals.
Teuta Arifi, one of most capable and smartest politicians in The Republic of Macedonia. The paradox: can she be both a feminist and an ethnic Albanian nationalist? photo: GOM.
DOESN'T TEUTA ARIFI 'BELONG' IN SDSM?
by Sasha Uzunov
A fascinating and intriguing aspect of politics in the Balkans, namely The Republic of Macedonia, is the paradox: you have a coalition government consisting of a Macedonian nationalist party, VMRO-DPMNE and an ethnic Albanian nationalist party, DUI, both of whom were fighting each other in the 2001 conflict.
Another glaring paradox is DUI's Vice-President Teuta Arifi, one of Macedonia's most talented and skilled politicians. The question is: is she in the right party? Ideologically doesn't she belong to the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) Party? She is a feminist who has embraced Albanian nationalism--two highly contradictory ideologies.
However, we have to point out that that founder of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, launched the ethnic Albanian uprising in 2001 in order to get a piece of the political action in Macedonia but wrapped it up and packaged it for Western consumption as a "cry for civil rights" and in doing so muscled into the political turf of the already established Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), now run by Menduh Thaci.
Ahmeti has been smart in having Arifi as one of his chief lieutenants. She was at one time a Deputy Prime Minister of Macedonia but she was moved into the mayorship of the Western Macedonian city of Tetovo, the power base of ethnic Albanian nationalism.
POLITICAL CHESS - AHMETI'S TEUTA IN TETOVO MOVE - CHECKMATE FOR THACI ?
Ahmeti has moved the very capable Teuta Arifi out of the Macedonian coalition government and into the mayorship of western Macedonia town of Tetovo, the power base of Albanian nationalism in Macedonia. This sends two signals: one it tells the West of Ahmeti's "enlightened" view of women in a predominately conservative Albanian society and at the same time making Thaci look weak in front of a predominately conservative male dominated society by having a woman run Tetovo. An incredible and breath-taking political move.
DUI's constituency, electorate or audience is predominately socially conservative Sunni Muslim Albanian nationalist and traditionally moderate in its Islam compared to the Wahabists.. This is where it gets tricky for Ahmeti but he manages the great balancing act—he does not alienate Western Liberals but at the same time he does not scare the Imams. In all honesty, the Imams would not be too happy with the Western Liberal agenda of feminism and gay rights. But the Western media has largely ignored taking a closer look at DUI on this. So far the more radical Islamists outside DUI and DPA have largely remained silent on the issue as well. Many in the Macedonian media mistakenly believe Ahmeti and Thaci are Islamists. They are not. They speak to an Albanian nationalist audience. The very capable late Ibrahim Rugova, the one President of Kosovo, was an Albanian nationalist and secularist, as is the former Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku.
FEMINISM VERSUS NATIONALISM - can Teuta Arifi be both a feminist and an ethnic Albanian nationalist ?
Iranian feminist scholar Valentine M. Moghadam in her book, Gender and National Identity: Women and Politics in Muslim Societies," makes the following point:
"In all these, and the other Asian cases, feminism and nationalism were complementary, compatible, and solidaristic. This has clearly changed. Today, feminists …and nationalists view each other with suspicion if not hostility…."
The hostility, according to Moghadam, comes from women being perceived as mothers and providers of children for the nationalist cause.
Further, if you have studied the canon of modern feminism from Simone Beauvoir to Germaine Greer to Sheila Jeffreys, you are reminded of "evil patriarchy"…the system of male dominated rule over women, which would include nationalism.
Before going into politics Teuta Arifi made her name as a feminist scholar in Macedonia. If you read her resume, available on this link, you will see her list of achievements and so forth. In all honesty a very impressive academic background.
Critics would say and in particular Western Liberals and US diplomats in Macedonia who have fallen under Ahmeti's spell, that DUI is not an ethnic Albanian nationalist party but a party defending the interests of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia at the hands of those "evil nasty soft, weak, over-educated Slav-Macedonians."
But sometimes the most obvious of signs tells you what an individual or party really thinks. Congressmen and Senators in the United States of Italian ancestry use the American flag, the stars and stripes, at their political rallies. The legendary Greek Socialist Left faction of the Australian Labor party (ALP) uses the Australian flag. DUI at its political rallies uses the flag of a foreign state, the Republic of Albania, and rarely do you see the official state flag of The Republic of Macedonia.
Ahmeti has told his coalition partner, the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, that the days of a Macedonian only Macedonia are over and that Macedonia has to be inclusive of others. Fine words. But then Ahmeti contradicts himself by flying a flag from a foreign state and by "importing" political "helpers" from a foreign state, Kosovo.
Moreover, by using tough guys from Kosovo to intimidate opponents, namely other ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, it is a form of patriarchy…the use of male violence against other males and females. It is classic text-book patriarchy. Arifi is DUI's Vice President and this behaviour contradicts her feminist principles.
Another example is
"Arifi has shown she can be tough as steel but subtle as well. In an excellent Good Cop/Bad Cop routine she warned the US Ambassador on 2 February 2007:
"that DUI cadres are becoming "more militant" as they perceive the FWA [Ohrid Framework Agreement] is under attack, but she ruled out any resort to violent action as a political tactic."
So you are now getting an idea of Ahmeti's train of thought. But he has a double-track strategy: playing the victim of “nasty Slav-Macedonians” in front of Western liberals but then importing foreign thugs from Kosovo for the 2006 Macedonian elections. A US embassy cable spells this out: see link for document
May 12, 2006
“Anecdotal evidence indicates that DUI and DPA, despite
their protestations to the contrary, have imported K-Albanian
"muscle" to assist them in the elections. Such K-Albanian
involvement could lead to electoral fraud and violence,
damaging Macedonia's democratic system and near-term
prospects for NATO membership. It would be useful if local
authorities in Tirana and Pristina strongly urged K-Albanian
political parties to avoid providing such "reinforcements" to
their eAlbanian counterparts in Macedonia, and to recall
those already here."
This revelation raises the question, why does DUI and DPA, need to bring in foreigners to help in the election campaign if they have such supposed strong support from the local ethnic Albanian community?
Perhaps it suggests there is a large body of moderate ethnic Albanians in Western Macedonia--predominately Sunni Muslim and socially conservative--who do not necessarily agree with Ahmeti's methods or goal.
The goal of most in the Albanian nationalist political bloc is a Greater Albania or the federalisation of Macedonia, which would spell the end of the country. It would simply be ignoring the elephant in the room.
ARIFI IN SDSM?
As a politician who gets paid by the Macedonian taxpayer, Arifi has an obligation to spell out her actual political beliefs and platform. The same goes for Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, Ali Ahmeti, and Zoran Zaev, the leader of the opposition party, SDSM.
If Arifi is a feminist doesn't she belong in SDSM, not DUI? Zaev has loudly beaten his chest in his attempt to win over the ethnic Albanian vote by declaring his party had renounced "patriotism:" see link
"Answering a journalist question in Alsat M TV show whether the policy of patriotism proved fatal for SDSM, new party leader Zoran Zaev qualified such policy as mistake. “We tried several times to impose the policy of patriotism as a party which does not befit such a policy. And this is where we lost in absolute terms. It is honourable to admit this so we can seek another chance and not repeat these mistakes in the future. The people do not expect from us to play patriots. We are a stately party. We are a party which served as a model for the multi-ethnic cohabitation, we are the party that laid the solid foundations of our country,” emphasised Zaev. Among the wrong policies of patriotism he mentioned the support to the law on defenders and the coalitions with VMRO-DPMNE in Struga and Kicevo."
In essence what Zaev is saying is that his party is giving up on maintaining its Macedonian identity and gone for a European Union Nanny State salad bar of multiculturalism, in order to make the Albanians feel more "inclusive."
If that is the case, and Arifi has packaged herself as a feminist to the Liberal West, then she should leave DUI and join SDSM. But you know this won't happen !
ANTI-ALBANIAN NATIONALISM BUT IT WON'T COME FROM…THE MACEDONIANS ?
The Islamists in Macedonia are working in the space created by the 2001 conflict which was started by Ahmeti. The long term danger to DUI and DPA comes from radical Islamists trying to subvert the parties. If elements within DUI or DPA were trying to exploit these radicals for their own political ends, then it is playing with fire. The radical Islamists are both anti-Albanian nationalist as well as anti-Macedonian nationalist. Their goal, as outlined in Chris Deliso's book The Coming Balkan Caliphate, is a fundamentalist pan-Islamic entity. The concept of a Greater Albania, which would include Albania, Kosovo and Western Macedonia, is doomed to fail just as Slobodan Milosevic's Greater Serbia. If a Greater Albanian ever eventuated it would be taken over by outside forces, which would not be too friendly to women such as Teuta Arifi.
DUI’s GREAT BALANCING ACT – how long can Ali Ahmeti keep it going?
By Sasha Uzunov
Ali Ahmeti, since his 2001 ethnic Albanian uprising made him a political powerbroker in the Republic of Macedonia courtesy of getting the West on side, has successfully played a great political balancing act, keeping two contradictory forces, the Liberal West and his conservative electorate on side. But for how long can he keep this up before his opponents--and we are not talking about the Macedonian political bloc but from within his own camp-- see the contradictions?
Ahmeti heads the DUI party - (Democratic Union for Integration or BDS in Albanian).
For those, and that includes leading Macedonian “public intellectual” Dr Vasil Tupurkovski, who still have a misguided nostalgia for Yugoslav Communist strongman Marshal Josip Broz Tito, might remember Tito’s great balancing act between East and West which kept Tito in power during the Cold War.
Tito, who learnt his communism at the feet of Soviet dictator Stalin during the 1920s and 1930s, played the independent communist from the Soviet bloc shtick from the late 1940s onwards and was rewarded with Western aid, namely US cash but from time to time, paradoxically, the Marshal would condemn Western imperialism to keep him on side with the Third World and Oil-rich Arab states.
So you would have thought that Dr Tupurkovski would have copied his idol Tito in learning to play the balancing act between keeping the West happy without offending the lone surviving Communist superpower The People’s Republic of China?
But unfortunately, despite all his university degrees and having his photo taken with his idol Tito in the 1970s, Big Tupurko or Cile as he is nicknamed failed that test when he rushed to recognise Taiwan in 1998 and incurred Beijing’s wrath—with disastrous consequences for Macedonia.
We can only speculate that whilst planning his 2001 ethnic Albanian uprising in Macedonia during his Swiss exile, Ali Ahmeti must have been watching Turpurkovski and other members of Macedonia’s "over-educated" elite make some real stupid political and diplomatic moves.
DUI became the partner in the Macedonian coalition government with Macedonian nationalist party, VMRO-DMPNE, a paradox in itself, in 2008. Since Macedonia's independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, one Albanian party or another has been a coalition partner of successive Macedonian governments headed by either VMRO-DPMNE or SDSM, Macedonia's social democrats. When Ahmeti's war broke out in 2001, DPA (Democratic Party of Albanians - PDSH) was in coalition with VMRO-DPMNE.
IS AMERICA UNFAIR TOWARDS MENDUH THACI?
So far the contradictions within DUI’s political behaviour has slipped under the radar of the West, namely the United States and the European Union. You can argue that maybe they have deliberately ignored looking at the radar screen. If you read the various diplomatic cables from the US Embassy in Skopje, the Macedonian capital, published in wikileaks, you get the sense that Washington’s man in Western Macedonia is Ahmeti and not Menduh Thaci, leader of rival Albanian party DPA.
You can understand Thaci’s anger and frustration at DUI's ursuption of power but when it comes to the crunch he will do as Washington tells him to do:
"The US Ambassador in 2007: warned DPA against attempts to destroy ethnic Albanian opposition party DUI, and asked for full support for the Kosovo status process…and advised DPA to let the…government enforce rule of law in accordance with applicable procedures in countering criminals and potential Islamic radicals in Macedonia…"
Both Ahmeti’s DUI and Thaci’s DPA have tried to outdo each other with grand gestures of Albanian nationalism, flag waving, pushing for Federalisation of Macedonia, blaming the “evil Slav-Macedonians” , and repeating to the West over and over the mantra about “Albanian human rights” and so on until it becomes a reflex action with the western media. We all know the 2001 conflict was started by Ahmeti to grab power in Macedonia and to put DPA's nose out of joint. But to present a united front in public both parties have wrapped the war as fight for Albanian civil rights.
The Macedonians political bloc, whether they be on the left such as SDSM or on the right, VMRO-DPMNE, are simply not smart enough to play the divide and rule tactic with the Albanian nationalist bloc—DUI or DPA. Ahmeti has already sized them up: he calls Macedonian President Georgi Ivanov (George Johnson in English translation): “a professor not a politician” and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as being too young.
WHAT ARE DUI’S CONTRADICTIONS?
Ahmeti and DUI have cleverly sidestepped the political minefield of Western style identity politics such as feminism, gender, gay rights, homosexual (same-sex) marriage, abortion and so on. They've left that to the Macedonian political bloc to take the heat over from Brussels or Washington or Amsterdam or San Francisco !
Here is where Ahmeti, the politician, is at his brilliant best, and why the US has hitched its wagon to DUI and not DPA.
It is no coincidence that Ahmeti, who packages himself as the alcohol drinking Albanian nationalist secularist, has two very capable and highly intelligent females by his side in DUI. One is the sultry Ermira Mehmeti, who resembles a young Isabelle Adjani, the French actress and sex symbol. The other is Teuta Arifi.
POLITICAL CHESS - AHMETI'S TEUTA IN TETOVO MOVE - CHECKMATE FOR THACI ?
Ahmeti has moved the very capable Teuta Arifi out of the Macedonian coalition government and into the mayorship of western Macedonia town of Tetovo, the power base of Albanian nationalism in Macedonia. This sends two signals: one it tells the West of Ahmeti's "enlightened" view of women in a predominately conservative Albanian society and at the same time making Thaci look weak in front of a predominately conservative male dominated society by having a woman run Tetovo. An incredible and breath-taking political move.
DUI's constituency, electorate or audience is predominately socially conservative Sunni Muslim Albanian nationalist and traditionally moderate in its Islam compared to the Wahabists.. This is where it gets tricky for Ahmeti but he manages the great balancing act—he does not alienate Western Liberals but at the same time he does not scare the Imams. In all honesty, the Imams would not be too happy with the Western Liberal agenda of feminism and gay rights. But the Western media has largely ignored taking a closer look at DUI on this. So far the more radical Islamists outside DUI and DPA have largely remained silent on the issue as well. Many in the Macedonian media mistakenly believe Ahmeti and Thaci are Islamists. They are not. They speak to an Albanian nationalist audience. The very capable late Ibrahim Rugova, the one President of Kosovo, was an Albanian nationalist and secularist, as is the former Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku.
Arifi has shown she can be tough as steel but subtle as well. In an excellent Good Cop/Bad Cop routine she warned the US Ambassador on 2 February 2007:
"that DUI cadres are becoming "more militant" as they perceive the FWA [Ohrid Framework Agreement] is under attack, but she ruled out any resort to violent action as a political tactic."
Reading between the lines, DUI would not be able to "control" its hotheads if the party did not get its way.
WHAT'S THACI'S COURSE OF ACTION?
Thaci has been playing it "safe" and stickingwith the same game plan by being "more Albanian nationalist than Ahmeti" but he has not tried his own balancing act in order to neutralise Ahmeti's support from Washington Liberals. He has never tried appealing to the Conservative West, the Republicans in the United States, by strongly opposing for example gay marriage and other Western identity politics. It is a gamble to do so but he won't lose his traditional support base in Western Macedonia, he might upset some activists in Brussels or San Francisco.
ALBANIAN SURROGATE FEMINISM?
In a sub-theme, which would make an ideal Phd thesis for someone out there, Albanian feminism is permitted within the context of Albanian nationalism because it allows independent women to vent their frustration at their own socially conservative society by turning that anger onto the “nasty Slav-Macedonians.” In reality, the frustration is with their own male dominated society.
The Macedonian Nanny State has realised probably too late that demography will determine who ultimately decides Macedonia's destiny. The recent abortion rights protests in the country highlighted this concern, as ethnic Albanians have the highest birth rate in Europe as opposed to ethnic Macedonians. The ethnic split is 65 to 70% ethnic Macedonian, predominately Orthodox Christian, and 20 to 25% ethnic Albanian.
MASTER MOVE BY MEHMETI
In one of the best moves of political chess, Ermira Mehmeti, without sacrificing her “Western Liberal” credentials on feminism has slammed the new abortion laws introduced by the Macedonian government, formed by the Macedonian nationalist VMRO-DPMNE and her own DUI. An incredible paradox if there ever was one. But this is the Balkans and anything is possible.
And without scaring the Imams or Mullahs, she has expressed this in the context of Albanian nationalism. This is such a brilliant strategy that not even Macedonian “public intellectuals” such as Dr Biljana Vankovska or Ljubomir Frckoski could have thought of.
In doing so Mehmeti has highlighted the fact that Albanians are self sufficient and do not need the Nanny State to regulate their birthrate: see link for full story
“The reasons for bringing this bill in parliament are political. They are not humanist, moral or religious. The only scope is to encourage artificial birth by exploiting the mechanisms of the system for populist projects. Secondly, the creation of first instance commissions threatens privacy and exposes women to unpleasant and indiscreet situations. Albanians have never needed state programs to increase population, therefore they don’t need legal projects for the restriction of birth rates.”
PLAYING THE ISLAMIST CARD?
In one of the wikileaks documents dated 11 December 2008, Ahmeti's lieutenants Abdulkadir Memedi was appointed the Secretary of Macedonian Foreign Affairs in 2008. In his powerful position he offered on behalf of the United States to combat “Islamic fundamentalism” in Macedonia if the country was turned into a federation, which in effect would mean the end of Macedonia. It is ironic that Ahmeti, who is not an Islamic fundamentalist, and his KLA and NLA colleagues created the space in which the Islamists were able to move into Western Macedonia. American author Chris Deliso in his The Coming Balkan Caliphate goes into more detail on the subject.
...own projects in MFA, chief among them building a cadre of
ethnic Albanian diplomats and ensuring money from, the Middle
East does not reach any radical Islamists in Macedonia.
Memedi believes only a "federal" system of government where
e-Albanian consent would be required on all major policy
decisions is the way to avoid ethnic confrontation...
future.
In another delicious irony, the profile of your typical anti-American terrorist does not fit the description of someone who is an Orthodox Christian or Catholic from Macedonia but nevertheless the US government:
"encouraged Macedonian government officials to continue strengthening the country's counter-terrorism financing and anti-money laundering law, as well as those institutions responsible for implementation of the law.
ANTI-ALBANIAN NATIONALISM BUT IT WON'T COME FROM…THE MACEDONIANS ?
The Islamists in Macedonia are working in the space created by the 2001 conflict which was started by Ahmeti. The long term danger to DUI and DPA comes from radical Islamists trying to subvert the parties. If elements within DUI or DPA were trying to exploit these radicals for their own political ends, then it is playing with fire. The radical Islamists are both anti-Albanian nationalist as well as anti-Macedonian nationalist. Their goal, as outlined in Chris Deliso's book The Coming Balkan Caliphate, is a fundamentalist pan-Islamic entity. The concept of a Greater Albania, which would include Albania, Kosovo and Western Macedonia, is doomed to fail just as Slobodan Milosevic's Greater Serbia. If a Greater Albanian ever eventuated it would be taken over by outside forces, which would not be too friendly to women such as Ermira Mehmeti and Teuta Arifi. ------- other related stories:
AHMETI UNDERSTANDS THE WEST BETTER THAN MACEDONIAN ELITE link
The problem with many of Macedonia's leading “public intellectuals” is they make the mistake of underestimating the political ability and natural intelligence of controversial ethnic Albanian leader Ali Ahmeti--for he understands better how the West operates. read on...
Macedonian Politician Zoran Zaev in trying to impress the West is impersonating Jane Fonda but 40 years too late!
HOLLYWOOD COMEDY GOLD - IS ZORAN ZAEV (SDSM) THE JANE FONDA OF THE BALKANS?
by Sasha Uzunov
If you're a Hollywood comedy writer working for the biggest names in show business such as Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan, Steve Carrell and you're running out of ideas, THEN GO EAST YOUNG MAN, GO EAST AND SEEK YOUR FORTUNE IN MACEDONIA for there are comedy gold nuggets such as politician Zoran Zaev just waiting for you to dig up.
Who is Zoran Zaev? It does not really matter who Zoran Zaev is and for that matter the European Union and the West think the same way too about the guy, even though he thinks Brussels, Berlin, London and Washington do take notice of him. To humour the guy they pretend to act as though they take this guy seriously, even though they prefer Albanian tough guy Ali Ahmeti; they might even throw Zaev a scholarship or a seminar invite or two. But when it comes to formulating policy they prefer the bad boy and Albanian Alpha Male Ahmeti (AAMA), the leader of DUI, ethnic Albanian nationalist party.
Zaev has just taken over the leadership of the SDSM party , ethnic Macedonia's version of the social democrats. His party is in opposition at the moment. And one way he has tried to get his name up in lights is to do an imitation of Jane Fonda, Hollywood movie star and of feigned 1970s radical chic fame.
You might recall Jane Fonda flew to Hanoi, North Vietnam in 1972 and denounced her own US government as war criminals during the Vietnam War (1962-72). It did not go down too well with the US military, especially downed pilots who were being held as Prisoners of War (POWs) and tortured. She later expressed regret at her involvement with North Vietnam.
Forty-one years later, Zaev has just made an overture to the ethnic Albanian bloc, in an attempt to woo tough guy Ali Ahmeti, the boss of DUI party which is in coalition with the Macedonian nationalists VMRO-DPMNE, a paradox in itself. But unlike the US in Vietnam, Macedonia did not invade another country in 2001 but simply tried to defend itself.
In comments made during a television interview Zaev talked about in bizarre terms "renouncing Macedonian patriotism" as his party's major platform.
This is the poorly translated version--probably by someone with a Phd from Skopje--of what he said, taken from a news website: link here:
"Answering a journalist question in Alsat M TV show whether the policy of patriotism proved fatal for SDSM, new party leader Zoran Zaev qualified such policy as mistake. “We tried several times to impose the policy of patriotism as a party which does not befit such a policy. And this is where we lost in absolute terms. It is honourable to admit this so we can seek another chance and not repeat these mistakes in the future. The people do not expect from us to play patriots. We are a stately party. We are a party which served as a model for the multi-ethnic cohabitation, we are the party that laid the solid foundations of our country,” emphasised Zaev. Among the wrong policies of patriotism he mentioned the support to the law on defenders and the coalitions with VMRO-DPMNE in Struga and Kicevo."
In essence what Zaev is saying is that his party is giving up on maintaining its Macedonian identity and gone for a European Union Nanny State salad bar of multiculturalism, in order to make the Albanians feel more "inclusive." Ahmeti and the other Albanian tough guy Mendu Thaci, leader of the DPA, must be laughing their heads off at Zaev. For they have already sized up the Macedonian political bloc as being too soft, over-educated and child like. (see the story below).
You might recall Ahmeti, whilst living in Switzerland decided as a hobby in his spare time to launch an ethnic Albanian uprising in 2001 in Western Macedonia whilst Zaev was probably earning a university degree or attending some international seminar or drinking coffee in a Skopje cafe or singing John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" or whatever. I mean you start a war like Ahmeti, you get the West to back you by pretending you are fighting for "human rights" and you become a political king maker in the Macedonian parliament. You don't face the consequences of the Hague or any other international tribunal for your actions. But guys like Macedonian Police commander Johan (John) Tarculovski end up being thrown in jail simply because he was fighting in a conflict started by Ahmeti. Crazy logic
I don't know how much more "inclusive" you can get in surrendering a third of your country over to Ahmeti…
Zaev is 40 years behind the West in trying to impress the West by pretending to be an anti-patriot. The Catalans and the Basques are trying to escape a sinking Spain; the Scots are holding an independence referendum next year in the hope of quitting the United Kingdom after 200 years of British rule. Where has Zaev been these last 40 years? Just listen to Canadian Free Speech activist, Mark Steyn in a television interview in Denmark:
TV Host Kurt Strand: "Why isn't the European Culture strong enough to defend [itself against] this."
Mark Steyn: "I think, since the Second World War, and even since the First World War, European elites have not believed in themselves or their own people.
"I think European elites drew the wrong conclusion at the end of the Second World War, when they said, 'never again', on the German death camps. They didn't really mean never again to standing up to intolerance and,..
"They drew the wrong conclusion; they thought it meant rejecting nationalism, rejecting national identity, rejecting your own cultural inheritance." see video below:
Let me remind Zaev that US President Bill Clinton as a young man was against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s but as President sent in US and NATO troops into Kosovo in 1999. He was of the Democrat Party, America's version of SDSM. How come he didn't abandon "patriotism?'
Ahmeti has done a better job in playing to the West by being a tough and smart Albanian nationalist. Zaev talks about multiculturalism but its not a real multiculturalism…its a pretend multiculturalism. It is in fact monoculturalism for the City of Skopje elite, both SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE, to maintain power by cutting a deal with whoever. Today it is Ahmeti, tomorrow it could be the Eskimo's from Canada. Deep down Ahmeti knows that what Zaev is offering is pretend and that it simply for the City of Skopje elite to maintain its power and privileges by any means.
It is like the pretend feminism promoted by Macedonian "public intellectual" Professor Dr Biljana Vankovska who during a recent Facebook discussion declared she would be going to the barricades to protest against the Macedonian government's abortion laws. Even though DUI's Ermira Mehmeti played the contentious issue much better (see story below). If you are that Hollywood comedy writer visiting Macedonia, you could have Dr Vankovska as the feisty Roseanne Barr and Mehmeti as Angelina Jolie!
If you where say to Dr Vankovska, OK let's get real feminism, real equality in Macedonia for both ethnic Macedonian and Albanian women. Let us have women break through male dominated trades such as motor mechanics, carpentry, building, construction…or start a business and give women real independence, real economic power. But because it involves physical work, and any physical work is frowned upon by the over educated elite, both men and women. I bet you Dr Vankovska wouldn't be interested. Her feminism is within the scope of the Nanny State. She wants a well paid and comfortable government job paid by the taxpayer.
Dr Vankovska is a member of the City of Skopje elite. This elite "owns" the Macedonian state, not the poor Macedonian guy driving a taxi in Bitola or the young girl picking tobacco leaves in Prilep or the guy from Stip who has to ride on a bus to Istanbul for hours and hours, buy cheap goods come back to Macedonia and then sell the stuff at the local market just to feed his family. So when this elite, whether they are from SDSM or VMRO-DPMNE, protest against the Macedonian state over abortion or civil rights for Martians or Green Polar Bears, they are protesting against themselves. It is simply childish and decadent and self-indulgent.
We are all for inter-ethnic harmony and peace in Macedonia. One vote, one person. Equal rights. But trying to sell to the Macedonian people the phony idea of the City of Skopje elite's version of "multiculturalism" just does not wash.
Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any mature minded leaders running Macedonia. Once guy who I have enormous respect for is retired Macedonian Army Colonel Blagoja Markovski. He seems to be one of the few "adults" still left in Macedonia. During the 2001 War he was a calming and dignified figure. And when he was called to testify on behalf of Tarculovski in the Hague, he remained cool under tough questioning by the prosecution.
When the 2001 conflict erupted in Macedonia, it was the "patriots" who were called in to defend the Macedonian state. Perhaps Zaev is suffering from selective amnesia.
AHMETI UNDERSTANDS THE WEST BETTER THAN MACEDONIAN ELITE
Photo: Ethnic Albanian leader in Macedonia Ali Ahmeti (on the right) shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson. Ahmeti understands the paradoxes that make up West Liberal thinking unlike Macedonia's elite.
Wikileaks documents on ethnic Albanian nationalist leader in Macedonia.
Ali Ahmeti is smarter than rival Menduh Thaci and the Macedonian elite.
AHMETI UNDERSTANDS THE WEST BETTER THAN MACEDONIAN ELITE
by Sasha Uzunov
The problem with many of Macedonia's leading “public intellectuals” is they make the mistake of underestimating the political ability and natural intelligence of controversial ethnic Albanian leader Ali Ahmeti--for he understands better how the West operates.
On paper anyway, soft and fuzzy pacifist Brits, Dutch and Swedes (the hat trick of Euro-cool) are happy to dole out the university scholarships and invites to international seminars to anyone wanting to "make the world a better place" or embrace the European Union Nanny State.
These people are happy to read the endless "scientific papers" on "international law" written by the over-credentialed Macedonian elite such as Dr Vasil Tupurkovski, Dr Ljubomir Frckoski or Professor Doctor Biljana Vankovska. Even former Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, from the once nationalist VMRO-DPMNE, is tolerated with his rantings on “a questionable Macedonian national identity” which contradict his earlier view.
You deserve a medal if can get through reading these pieties to peace, written or translated into awkward and awful bureaucrat English and which a student at Outback High School somewhere in the Australian bush or a first year university student (freshman) at Banjo Playing College in the Deep South of the United States or Diversity Outreach Community College in Chicago could do a better job at composing.
But the Euro-cool guys and gals in reality are secretly turned on by Albanian Alpha Males, tough guys and terrorists or "romantic rebels" such as Ali Ahmeti, the former Commander of the NLA and now political king maker in Macedonia's parliament.
Ahmeti clearly understands this. He managed to package his ethnic Albanian uprising against the Macedonian state in 2001 as a "cry for civil rights" successfully winning over the West. By doing so he became a major political player and gaining a slice of the action, in which he missed out in Kosovo in the 1999 War backed by NATO and in the process putting rival ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia, DPA's nose out of joint.
Macedonia had cooperated with NATO during the Kosovo War and took in many Kosovar Albanian refugees but later was "rewarded" with the 2001 war.
Conservative Canadian thinker Mark Steyn in his book "After America - Get ready for Armageddon,” identified this phenomenon--the West's penchant for bad boys:
"There is a moral frivolity to the…generalised concerns for "the planet." But it quickly advances to the next stage--a moral decadence that expresses itself by venerating those who will gladly kill them when they have served their purpose as useful idiots."
Early in the 2001 war NATO-Secretary General Lord George Robertson called Ahmeti's NLA murderous thugs but later changed his tune.
In a 2001 interview with British academic and journalist Timothy Garton Ash, Ahmeti spelt out his course of action:
"Summarising what he told me, I would say that the now forty-two-year-old Ahmeti drew two main conclusions from the Kosovo war. First, you could win more by a few months of armed struggle than Albanian politicians had achieved in nearly a decade of peaceful politics. As in Kosovo, so in Macedonia. Second, that you could do this only if you got the West involved. That was the great tactical goal—and the great unknown. He told me that when the insurgency took off in February, “I knew that without the help of the West we couldn’t win. But we didn’t know how much they would help….” So he had to do everything possible to bring the West in. That meant being deliberately restrained in both their goals and their methods. This was Albanian Macedonia’s chance. This was Ali Ahmeti’s chance."
As a clever bush lawyer, Ahmeti was preparing his defence in advance, should he be called to face charges of terrorism or war crimes. As he explained to Ash:
“After a few minutes of preliminary conversation, I told Ahmeti that there was much discussion since September 11 [2001 attack on New York] about terrorism and that “some people would say you are a terrorist.” How would he answer them?
"As my question was translated, his bodyguards shifted slightly in their seats. Ahmeti replied calmly and quietly. I expected him to say words to the effect “No, I’m a freedom fighter,” but his response was more thoughtful. “That person cannot be a terrorist,” he said, “who wears an army badge, who has an objective for which he is fighting, who respects the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Tribunal, who acts in public with name and surname, and answers for everything he does…. Someone who is aiming for good reforms and democracy in the country—and that people should be equal before the law.”
Danish academic Anne Marie Dinesen took a more sceptical view of Ahmeti's motivation, highlighting the ethnic Albanians, who form about 20 to 25% of the population in the Republic of Macedonia, already had their rights protected by the Macedonian Constitution as approved by the European Union a decade before the Albanian insurgency erupted and more importantly Albanian parties since independence in 1991 from Yugoslavia had been members of successive Macedonian coalition governments.
Ethnic Macedonians form 65% to 70% of the population of the Republic of Macedonia and are predominately Orthodox Christian.
But to end the 2001 Albanian insurgency, the EU and NATO strong-armed the then Macedonian government and President Boris Trajkovski into signing the Ohrid Framework Agreement and permit Ahmeti to enter the Macedonian parliament with his own party, DUI (BDS) – Party for European Integration. DUI is a coalition partner in the current Macedonian government with nationalist VMRO-DPMNE. Paradoxically, VMRO-DPMNE was ruling government partner in coalition with DPA at the time of the 2001 War.
The mistake made by Macedonia's “public intellectuals” --and the cultural elite in general--is they refuse to recognise Ahmeti's ability as a politician and natural intelligence. He has already sized up his opponents, those in the ethnic Macedonian political bloc, as being over-educated and soft.
United States Ambassador Reeker, according to diplomatic cables published in wikileaks, visited Ahmeti at his farm in Western Macedonia in August 2009. An interesting conservation developed:
“Ahmeti said President Ivanov actually seemed like a "good guy," but felt that he was "more of a professor than a president" and lacked real power as a de facto subordinate of the Prime Minister [Nikola Gruevski]. see link for document
Gruevski--Ahmeti also told Reeker--was too young to be Prime Minister.
KOSOVO TOUGH GUYS ?
So you are now getting an idea of Ahmeti's train of thought. But he has a double-track strategy: playing the victim of “nasty Slav-Macedonians” in front of Western liberals but then importing foreign thugs from Kosovo for the 2006 Macedonian elections. A US embassy cable spells this out: see link for document
May 12, 2006
“Anecdotal evidence indicates that DUI and DPA, despite
their protestations to the contrary, have imported K-Albanian
"muscle" to assist them in the elections. Such K-Albanian
involvement could lead to electoral fraud and violence,
damaging Macedonia's democratic system and near-term
prospects for NATO membership. It would be useful if local
authorities in Tirana and Pristina strongly urged K-Albanian
political parties to avoid providing such "reinforcements" to
their eAlbanian counterparts in Macedonia, and to recall
those already here."
This revelation raises the question, why does DUI and DPA, need to bring in foreigners to help in the election campaign if they have such supposed strong support from the local ethnic Albanian community?
Perhaps it suggests there is a large body of moderate ethnic Albanians in Western Macedonia--predominately Sunni Muslim and socially conservative--who do not necessarily agree with Ahmeti's methods or goal.
The goal of most in the Albanian nationalist political bloc is a Greater Albania or the federalisation of Macedonia, which would spell the end of the country. It would be ignoring the elephant in the room.
THE OVER-EDUCATED MACEDONIAN ELITE?
Ahmeti rocked many of the illusions and complacent attitudes held by the over-educated Macedonian elite when on a disability pension in Switzerland and only holding a Philosophy degree from Pristina University, he launched an ethnic Albanian uprising with the intention of grabbing Macedonian territory.
Now the term "public intellectual" here in Australia sets off alarm bells. And anyone being a member of Macedonia's "Capital City of Skopje" elite sets off more alarm bells.
What do I mean by Capital City of Skopje elite? It is a milieu, or a tiny group of people, ethnic Macedonians, marinated in a way of life oblivious to ordinary Macedonians. You do not have to be born in Skopje, as long as you adopt the behaviour and you have the "street cred" then you are in. You know you say: U'Skopje instead of V'Skopje. Bingo, you are a member of the in-club.
They are either on the left or right in politics, whether they be members of SDSM or VMRO-DPMNE Parties. They are highly educated, some say over-credentialed, and who are obsessed with their own cultural superiority.
They engage in Western style debates about gender, feminism, the environment, freedom and so on. But it is not a real feminism they seek where truly liberated women determine their own fate and break through male dominated professions such as say motor mechanics-- for that would involve physical labour and that's a big no-no. Nothing beats a state or government job in a comfortable office. For that matter, not many of the City of Skopje males would go for the motor mechanic thing either! They are probably busy playing video games.
They usually hold high positions in academia or public service, funded by the Macedonian taxpayer or by some European Union grant or international organisation.
Many of them have never worked in a real job: either in a factory or run their own business and so on. They go to university till they are in their 30s. This born to rule mentality was fostered by the old Communist Yugoslavia until 1991 when Macedonia broke away and in essence has not changed. Some have replaced the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) with the Socialist Federal Republics of the European Union (SFREU)!
But the cold hard reality is that their country may or may not survive within the next 25 years because of enormous demographic changes sweeping all of Europe. From time to time to show their radical chic they complain about a police state--even though they are the ruling elite within in it.
They expect to be the leaders of their country. Some advocate a soft warm fuzzy naive pacifism which appeals to soft warm and fuzzy Westerners and earns them visits to seminars and scholarships to foreign universities. The irony is that the old Yugoslav Communists realised that national service (conscription) was the last mechanism left to snap people out of the Nanny State torpor. But with the abolition of national service in Macedonia in 2008, it raises the question who will defend the country?
So if you some poor slob ethnic Macedonian from Bitola driving a taxi, or some girl picking tobacco leaves on a farm in Prilep or a Macedonian deep Southern "redneck" from down under in Australia and you question the Capital City of Skopje elite then the default setting is abuse. You are the one who is "uncultured" or glup (dumb).
In stark contrast to Ahmeti, you have the “overly credentialed” Dr Vasil Tupurkovski, a one time member of the Collective Presidency of the then SFR Yugoslavia in 1990-91 and later to become Macedonia's Deputy Prime Minister in 1999 till 2000.
He holds a Law degree from the Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje; is a postgraduate of Michigan State University in the United States and obtained a Doctorate from Skopje.
He boasts on his website:
“At a professional level, he is member of the International Association for International Law, as well as the Association World Peace through Law, and held lectures in over 40 states through-out the world.”
On his website Tupurkovski, an international law expert, has proudly placed a photo of himself with then Yugoslav Communist ruler Marshal Josip Broz Tito, the man responsible for the Nanny State mentality that still exists and who did not respect international law when it came to his secret police, the UDBa, assassinating opponents abroad.
And in what can only be described as breathtakingly insane, Tupurkovski, pushed for Macedonia's recognition of Taiwan in 1998 and thereby angered the People's Republic of China. In revenge, Beijing cut off the UN peacekeeping mission on Macedonia's border known as UNPREDEP, which had been successful in keeping Macedonia's northern border safe from infiltration from hostile Kosovo and Serbia.
With UNPREDEP gone, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and Ahmeti's western Macedonian off-shoot, the National Liberation Army (NLA) were able to roam across the border bringing in weapons in the lead up to the 2001 war.
So you have to say that Ahmeti's degree from Pristina University would be more valuable to Tupurkovski's many degrees!
This obsession with over-education in Macedonia has reached such a pathological level. You look at history and you see US President Abraham Lincoln had 2 years of formal schooling but won the Civil War (1861-65); Tupurkovski's idol, Marshal Tito barely passed primary school before becoming a blacksmith and later ruler of a communist empire.
Let us not forget Dr Ljubomir Frckoski, who revels in being called a “public intellectual.” But when not writing lengthy theses or the Macedonian Constitution or the Ohrid Framework Agreement or showing off his long flowing hair, he is busy denouncing as kitsch art the heavily nationalistic Macedonian monuments that have sprung up in the capital, Skopje and playing to a post-nationalist West which in fact prefers the other guy, Ahmeti.
Ljubomir,his first name, means Love able-peace in Macedonian. Ljubomir just doesn't get it – the West and its secret fetish for bad boys ! Hasn't he heard of Hybristophilia or the Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome? It is where people, usually women, fall in love with violent male offenders in jail and send them fan mail and even marry them.
Frckoski the SDSM politician is a different species to Frckoski the soft intellectual. He was Macedonia's Interior and Police Minister between 1992-1996 and Foreign Minister in 1996-97. Read an in depth interview of Frckoski by respected Balkan Watcher Dr Sam Vaknin. Link
THE POLITICAL MINEFIELD OF WESTERN IDENTITY POLITICS?
Whilst Ljubomir is now seeking peace and indulging in western style post-nationalism, Ahmeti and DUI have cleverly sidestepped the political minefield of Western style identity politics such as feminism, gender, gay rights, abortion and so on. They've left that to the Macedonian political bloc to take the heat over from Brussels or Washington or Amsterdam or San Francisco !
Here is where Ahmeti, the politician, is at his brilliant best, and why the US has hitched its wagon to DUI and not DPA. There is no love between Ahmeti and DPA leader and real tough guy Menduh Thaci. Reading the US cables on wikileaks, you get a sense Washington does not like Thaci either. The US should not be playing favourites.
Ahmeti is smarter than Thaci and the Macedonian elite. It is no coincidence that Ahmeti, who packages himself as the alcohol drinking Albanian nationalist secularist, has two very capable and highly intelligent females by his side in DUI. One is the sultry Ermira Memeti, who resembles a young Isabelle Adjani, the French actress and sex symbol. The other is Teuta Arifi.
DUI's constituency, electorate or audience is predominately socially conservative Sunni Muslim Albanian nationalist. This is where it gets tricky for Ahmeti but he manages the great balancing act—he does not alienate Western Liberals but at the same time he does not scare the Imams.
PLAYING THE ISLAMIST CARD?
In one of the wikileaks documents dated 11 December 2008, Ahmeti's lieutenants Abdulkadir Memedi was appointed the Secretary of Macedonian Foreign Affairs in 2008. In his powerful position he offered on behalf of the United States to combat “Islamic fundamentalism” in Macedonia if the country was turned into a federation, which in effect would mean the end of Macedonia. It is ironic that Ahmeti, who is not an Islamic fundamentalist, and his KLA and NLA colleagues created the space in which the Islamists were able to move into Western Macedonia. American author Chris Deliso in his The Coming Balkan Caliphate goes into more detail on the subject.
...own projects in MFA, chief among them building a cadre of
ethnic Albanian diplomats and ensuring money from, the Middle
East does not reach any radical Islamists in Macedonia.
Memedi believes only a "federal" system of government where
e-Albanian consent would be required on all major policy
decisions is the way to avoid ethnic confrontation...
future.
ALBANIAN SURROGATE FEMINISM?
In a sub-theme, which would make an ideal Phd thesis for someone out there, Albanian feminism is permitted within the context of Albanian nationalism because it allows independent women to vent their frustration at their own socially conservative society by turning that anger onto the “nasty Slav-Macedonians.”
The Macedonian Nanny State has realised probably too late that demography will determine who ultimately decides Macedonia's destiny. The recent abortion rights protests in the country highlight this concern, as ethnic Albanians have the highest birth rate in Europe as opposed to ethnic Macedonians.
MASTER MOVE BY MEHMETI
In one of the best moves of political chess, Ermira Mehmeti, without sacrificing her “Western Liberal” credentials on feminism has slammed the new abortion laws introduced by the Macedonian government, formed by the Macedonian nationalist VMRO-DPMNE and her own DUI. An incredible paradox if there ever was one. But this is the Balkans and anything is possible.
And without scaring the Imams or Mullahs, she has expressed this in the context of Albanian nationalism. This is such a brilliant strategy that not even Macedonian “public intellectuals” such as Dr Biljana Vankovska or Ljubomir Frckoski could have thought of.
In doing so Mehmeti has highlighted the fact that Albanians are self sufficient and do not need the Nanny State to regulate their birthrate: see link for full story
“The reasons for bringing this bill in parliament are political. They are not humanist, moral or religious. The only scope is to encourage artificial birth by exploiting the mechanisms of the system for populist projects. Secondly, the creation of first instance commissions threatens privacy and exposes women to unpleasant and indiscreet situations. Albanians have never needed state programs to increase population, therefore they don’t need legal projects for the restriction of birth rates.”
Albanian self-reliance and strength to Macedonian laziness and softness !
That is the moral to the story: Albanian self-reliance and strength to Macedonian laziness and softness ! Guess who the West secretly prefers? Let me give you a hint, Lord George Robertson was British Defence Secretary and later NATO Secretary-General and in 1999 strongly supported independence for Kosovo but is now petrified of his own country Scotland from leaving the United Kingdom, even though not a single bullet or bomb will be fired or exploded.. that sums up the paradox of the West.
