Monday, February 26, 2018

DR BUJAR & MR OSMANI



The Strange case of Dr BUJAR & Mr OSMANI - two faces of Bujar Osmani

There are not many Prime Ministers or deputy Prime Ministers who belong to political parties that build Nazi collaborator statues.

German Prime Minister (Federal Chancellor) Angela Merkel and her deputy don't. But Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani has that dubious "honour" - and he cynically pretended to commemorate the Holocaust a few weeks ago.

Albanian Nazi quisling militia Balli Kombetar took part in the Holocaust during WW2, according to US author Richard Raschke.

Yet there is silence over Balli Kombetar statues in Macedonia recently built by ethnic Albanian party DUI (BDI) whose members include Ali Ahmeti, Nevzat Bejta, Artan Grubi and Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani.

Osmani, a medical doctor by profession, has come across as well groomed, well spoken and a highly intelligent political operator for western audiences but beneath the exterior is a man whose political party DUI has neo fascist views. see links here and here

He has never publicly distanced himself from those views held by his DUI colleagues nor spoken out over the Balli Kombetar statues built in the past decade.

Silence on this issue sends the wrong message to both the international community and native ethnic Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia.

Author Richard Raschke on the Balli Kombetar’s role in World War II - link here 



Both the Macedonian and international media have given Osmani and the Albanian political bloc a free ride over the Nazi collaborator statues, not once asking him or the Albanian bloc about them. This is mainly due to strong US support for the Albanian political bloc in Macedonia.

Sources within the Jewish community abroad and in Macedonia have told TEAM UZUNOV blog that there is a reluctance to speak out because of the very small size of the remaining Jewish community in Macedonia, largely wiped out during World War II at the hands of the Nazis and collaborationist Kingdom of Bulgaria, which had occupied Macedonia - what is now the Republic of Macedonia - from 1941 to 1944.

“We’re playing it cool for now and hoping that Albanian leaders in Macedonia will eventually remove these statues,” one source told TEAM UZUNOV.


Jewish Holocaust Centre, Skopje, Macedonia.


2011 - A museum dedicated to the memory of the Jews of Macedonia who perished in the Shoah has been inaugurated in the former Yugoslav republic, in the presence of the country’s president and representatives of international Jewish organisations, including the World Jewish Congress (WJC).

In his speech, the WJC’s Research Director Laurence Weinbaum pointed out that no Jewish community in Europe had suffered a greater degree of destruction than the Macedonian one. 

Referring to Macedonia's principled stand on the restitution issue and to its unwavering friendship with Jews and Israel, he said:

"In much of contemporary Europe, dead Jews are respected, but live ones are defamed. You honor the dead and the living, and in so doing you have set an example to which other nations should aspire. There are nations that are larger, richer, better known and more powerful than Macedonia, but none more decent, gracious, good-hearted and noble.” see link here


TEAM UZUNOV contacted Deputy Prime Minister Dr Bujar Osmani for a response but so far none has been forthcoming - email below

From: Sasha Uzunov
Sent: Tuesday, 6 February 2018 8:58 AM
To: cabinet@sep.gov.mk; melani.novakovska@sep.gov.mk
Subject: Attention Mr Bujar Osmani & Holocaust commeration

Attention Mr Bujar Osmani
Deputy Prime Minister, Macedonia
Secretariat for European Affairs
Kej Dimitar Vlahov nr.4
1000 Skopje
The former building of Komercijalna Bank, behind Hotel Stone Bridge
Republic of Macedonia
Phone: +389 (0) 2 3200-104
Fax: ++389 (0) 2 311 45 69
e-mail: cabinet@sep.gov.mk
Mrs. Melani Novakovska
Head of sector for management and public relations
Tel: +389 (0) 2 3200-137
melani.novakovska@sep.gov.mk
Секретаријат за европски прашања
Кеј Димитар Влахов, бр.4
1000 Скопје
Поранешна зграда на Комерцијална Банка, позади Хотел Стоун Бриџ
Република Македонија
Тел: +389 (0) 2 3200-104
Факс: +389 (0) 2 311 45 69
е-пошта: cabinet@sep.gov.mk
Subject: World War II Albanian Nazi collaborator statues

Dear Mr Osmani,

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.

I wanted to ask you some questions:

 1. The German Deputy Ambassador Mr Marco Acquaticci has responded to concerns over controversial World War II Albanian Nazi collaborator statues built in western Macedonia and supported by your political party, DUI. You have remained silent. Why is that?

Link:

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

2. Isn't it a contradiction to commemorate the Jewish Holocaust and to support statues to the Balli Kombetar, a Nazi quisling milita?

3. You have pushed for bi-lingualism in Macedonia but by keeping quiet and not opposing controversial Albanian statues why should native ethnic Macedonians trust your intentions behind bi-lingualism?

4. Are you aware that in 2007 the US Embassy in Macedonia opposed bi-lingualism in Macedonia? Link:

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/07SKOPJE919_a.html




Friday, February 23, 2018

COUNCIL OF EUROPE - Macedonians concerned over extremism

by Sasha Uzunov

The Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights body, has reacted to concerns from indigenous ethnic Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia over what they say is a ferocious attack on their native identity and rising neo-Albanian fascism.

TEAM UZUNOV BLOG initially contacted Ms Dunja Mijatovic who is in the process of leaving her old position with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to assume the top job, Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe (COE).

“The new Commissioner takes up office in April and, as the previous ones, she will continue to follow closely the situation of media freedom and extremism in all our member states,” said Mr Stefano Montanari, an official COE spokesman.

Concerns have been raised in the Republic of Macedonia over the rise of neo Albanian fascism over the past decade with the build of statues to controversial Albanian leaders who collaborated with Nazi Germany in western Macedonia during World War II. The Balli Kombetar, a Nazi German quisling militia which murdered Macedonians and Albanians opposed to fascism, was led by Xhem Hasa. A statue was built in to “honour” Hasa by the Albanian political bloc within the government coalition in 2006. That statue and a second more recent one to another Balli Kombetar commander are both situated near the town of Gostivar, in western Macedonia.

The Balli Kombetar under Italian Fascist and later Nazi German patronage established a short-lived “Greater Albania” which sought to ethnically cleanse native Macedonians from western Macedonia. It is an extremist ideology that is widely supported by current day ethnic Albanian leaders in Macedonia such as Ali Ahmeti of the DUI party, who in 2001, started a war in Macedonia but was “pardoned” after strong arm twisting from the US in the background.


STRANGE JUXTAPOSITION 
Macedonia has a Holocaust Museum in Skopje, the capital city, dedicated to the Jewish victims deported to Nazi death camps by Nazi Germany’s then ally, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, which in 1941 had occupied what is now the Republic of Macedonia. It also has numerous other monuments which specifically highlight the resistance to fascists like the Balli Kombetar.

And yet, a deliberate silence has fallen over the Albanian Nazi statues in Macedonia. In other parts of Europe, such as Austria, there has been quick condemnation of any neo Nazi activity. The Deputy German Ambassador to Macedonia commented on the Balli Kombetar statues, while the US Ambassador Mr. Jess Baily has declined, as have a number of organisations. link here

The Albanian political bloc is seen as staunchly pro-US and there has been a reluctance to openly discuss any controversial statues that put them in a negative light.
Indigenous ethnic Macedonians also have been alarmed by the ferocious attack on their native identity by some prominent Serbs in Macedonia’s media and political circles. Journalist and “human rights activist” Borjan Jovanovski (pictured left), Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska, Skopje-area suburban Mayor Sasa Bogdanovic, the so-called “Colour Revolutionary” Pavle Bogoevski, and a host of others. They regularly attack Macedonian patriotism under the banner of “anti-nationalism” - but it is an “anti-nationalism” which ignores the Albanian Nazi statues or incidents of Serb nationalism over the past three decades, including the 1999 attack on the US Embassy in Macedonia by Serb extremists.

UPDATE: Good Serb, Bad Serb routine !

The “bad guys” template is collage of Russians and Serbs who are Interchangeable and the “good guys” are the Serbs who are pro NATO in Macedonia even though they might actually share some of the views of the former group. It’s really nasty ethnic baiting from the West - which aims to create confusion and hatred.

News website Balkan Insight’s hilarious and contradictory “Good Serb, Bad Serb” routine in Macedonia ! 

Controversial Russian “philosopher” Alexander Dugin was in town recently, Skopje, the Macedonian capital to offer his thoughts to a new pro Russian party called Edinstvena Makedonija (United Macedonia). see link here . He stands accused of whipping up anti West sentiment in Macedonia.

The story outlines Dugin’s Pan Slavist views and his calls for close ties between Russia, Serbia and Macedonia as well as his controversial links to Serbian monarchist groups. The reporter of the Dugin story, Goce Trpkovski, bizarrely and paradoxically on social media calls for a statue to be built to a controversial Serbian Colonial Mayor of Skopje and architect, Joseph Mihailovich. see link here 

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BALKAN INSIGHT’S OWN SERB MONARCHIST FAN? Reporter Sinisa Jakov Marusic. - see link here 
---------------------
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s court philosopher Dugin is the “Bad Serb” in this scenario but the “Good Serb” - though not mentioned in the story is Borjan Jovanovski (pictured above) who shares some of the same views of Dugin such as the Tsarist Russian inspired Pan Slavism but he goes “one better” than Dugin in terms of “Slav union”- at one stage calling for Macedonia to return to defacto Serb Yugoslavist federal rule. A move that would probably spark civil war in Macedonia. see link here and here

Jovanovski and his supporters have stubbornly refused to protest against “Serb-Russian interference” in Macedonia outside the Serb Embassy. This is strange. see link here  The only “protests” are tweets on social media - that’s the extent.

But you have to ask why are some who hold Serb chauvinist views in Macedonia but who have cleverly hidden behind the pretext of so called “anti nationalism” never called to account? It might have to do with supporting NATO and US foreign policy. The US Embassy in Macedonia doesn’t deny the chauvinistic views of its supporters such as Jovanovski. see link here

If anything the unrestrained chauvinistic behaviour of Borjan Jovanovski, Sasa Bogdanovic-Srpce etc towards ethnic Macedonians has created enormous anti west sentiment in #macedonia. You don’t need a so called “Russian philosopher” Dugin to light the fuse on that... you can thank US Ambassador Jess Baily & co for that ! see links here and here

Macedonian governing party SDSM’s Bogdanovic, the Mayor of the Skopje municipality of Centre (Opstina Centar) even invokes Serb nationalist hero Gavrilo Princip with relish, cleverly inferring or implying that “Gabriel Principle” (a pun or word play on Gavrilo Princip) is needed in Macedonia. Princip is known in history as the assassin of Austrian Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 which triggered World War I. see link here 



There seems to be a deliberate schizophrenic policy here....to confuse and polarise Macedonians and create hatred between Macedonians, Serbs, Russians, Albanians and so on.





THE SOROS CLICHE - racist stereotype of Macedonians retweaked?

The Soros cliche used is an old idea re-tweaked many times- it revolves around mislabelling any kind of independent Macedonian behaviour as “nationalist” or “extreme” or lumping Macedonians in with Serbs and Montenegrins in an “evil Slav” template against Albanians.

It is in fact a racist stereotype of Macedonians, which enlightened people including Serb, Greek intellectuals and westerners in general don’t accept these stereotypes.

Ironically, this is a legacy of Serbian colonial rule in (Vardarska) Macedonia (1912-41). This concept was heavily modified and used in Tito’s Yugoslavia where people who didn’t toe the Communist party line were attacked as “nationalist” regardless if they were or were not.

It is puzzling me why young Macedonians who work for these NGOs are not aware of the racist origins of the mislabelling technique. Didn’t they ever teach them post Balkan Wars & pre World World II history about all three parts of Macedonia in schools in SR Macedonia and later in Republic of  Macedonia? (1912-41).

Likewise with Greek colonialism in Macedonia but with a slight difference - Macedonian “nationalists” are “communist inventions” of Tito and Stalin in 1944.

Bulgarian nationalists uses the Greek template - Macedonia is a “communist invention” and Macedonians are nothing more wayward “West Bulgars”.... etc etc.

This mislabelling technique is a deliberate strategy in order to paint ordinary Macedonians standing up for themselves as “extremists” and thereby satisfying Greek, Bulgar and Albanian nationalist demands and to a lesser extent some Serb extremists. 
------------------------------


Photo Credit: OSCE/Curtis Budden ID 97672 Date 29 November 2012

Original Questions emailed to Ms Dunja Mijatovic:

Preface:

You are an expert on human rights and media freedoms. I wanted to draw your attention to matters in Macedonia. A number of prominent Serbs in Macedonia - journalist & “human rights activist” Borjan Jovanovski, Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska, Skopje city suburban Mayor Sasa Bogdanovic, Colour Revolutionary Pavle Bogoevski, and a host of others have attacked native ethnic Macedonian identity as well as Macedonian statues but have paradoxically never protested against Serb nationalism or “interference” in Macedonia.

This has raised concerns amongst Macedonians of deliberate chauvinism, favouritism, prejudice by the above named individuals who are alleged to be hiding their true motives behind “anti nationalism.”

Mr Jovanovski stubbornly and angrily refuses to protest outside the Serb embassy in Skopje, Macedonia.

link: http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/macedonia-serb-spy-saga-is-there-more.html?m=1

Mr Bogoevski, has admitted, that he too, doesn’t protest against Serb nationalism.

link: http://reporter.mk/nashi-faci/bogoevski-do-dachik-daj-mi-eden-dokaz-de/

Mr Bogdanovic has invoked Serb nationalist icon Gavrilo Princip and has threatened to demolish Macedonian monuments in Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia.


Question 1: In the past you have been very quick to jump to Serb journalist Mr Borjan Jovanovski’s defence when he has alleged that he has received death threats from angry native ethnic Macedonians. Ms Mijatovic, in your new role with the COE, can you give a public undertaking to monitor closely and fairly events in Macedonia and give an assurance to native ethnic Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia that they will be given equal treatment?

Question 2: Are you concerned with the rise of neo Albanian fascism and extremism in Macedonia? Albanian politicians have over the past decade or so built a number of controversial statues to Albanian World War II Nazi collaborators in Macedonia. The issue has been brought to the attention of the German Deputy Ambassador to Macedonia, Mr Marco Acquatacci, who has given a statement.

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

Thursday, February 15, 2018

UKRAINE’S FEARS EXAGGERATED BUT RUSSIA INTERFERENCE STILL PRESENT - UK expert

A leading but controversial British expert and former diplomat says Ukraine’s fear of Russia involvement in Macedonia via Serbia is exaggerated but still maintains that there is Russian interference.

Mr Timothy Less, a former British diplomat and now a consultant, wrote in 2016 of the need for a possible redrawing of the borders in the Balkans along ethnic lines, which would mean Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia losing territory to accommodate ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians respectively. see links here and here

The comment generated enormous heat, to say the least, amongst Bosnians and Macedonians.

TEAM UZUNOV blog spoke to Mr Less about his views, especially in light of recent developments in Macedonia, the possibility of the country changing its name and identity to satisfy Greek demands as a precursor to joining NATO and the European Union.

PREFACE: UKRAINIAN CLAIM.

On 27 April 2017, the Macedonian Parliament was stormed by angry Macedonians over the election of a new government, an SDSM-DUI (Macedonian Social Democrats and ethnic Albanian right wing nationalist party) coalition and the installation of Talat Xhaferi, a former Macedonian Army deserter turned KLA terrorist in the 2001 war in Macedonia, as the Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament. Mr Xheferi had, controversially, been chosen as Macedonia’s Defence Minister by the previous government of Nikola Gruevski, the nominally Macedonian “nationalist” party in 2013.

A diplomat from the Serb Embassy in Macedonia and also the resident intelligence officer, openly known, Goran Zivaljevic, was photographed inside the parliament during the turmoil which saw SDSM politicians Radmila Sekerinska, a Serb and now Macedonia’s Defence Minister attacked and pulled by the hair by an angry elderly man; SDSM leader and now Prime Minister Zoran Zaev bloodied and Albanian extremist politician Ziadin Sega, who in 2012 threatened to burn down the Macedonian parliament if his demands were not met, knocked unconscious.

Rumours, conspiracy theories and news stories began circulating of Russian “interference” in Macedonia via Serbia - as in Russia via Serbia instigating the riot in the parliament.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to Serbia, Mr Oleksandr Aleksandrovych wade into the controversy and made a statement in November 2017 in which he accused Russia of wanting to destroy Europe and of interfering in Macedonia through Serbia. see link here

But as hot heads and emotions cooled in Macedonia, the whole Russia interfering in Macedonia via Serbia scenario simply didn’t make any sense:

- No protests were ever held outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje, the Macedonian capital, over this “interference.” In fact, no protest, barring Albanians, has ever been held outside the Serbian Embassy in Macedonia even when agents of the Slobodan Milosevic regime in Serbia were involved in attacking of the US Embassy in Skopje in 1999 over protests against the NATO war in Kosovo;

-many of the leading “anti nationalist” activists in Macedonia who are aligned with the US are themselves Serbs, such as Borjan Jovanovski, Pavle Bogoevski of the Colour Revolution fame, Sekerinska, Branimir Jovanovic of the Levica (Leftist) Movement, Sasa Bogdanovic, the Mayor of a crucial municipality in Skopje, the capital, and have been ferocious in their attacks on native ethnic Macedonian identity - in the process of doing so leaving themselves wide open to being accused of chauvinism aimed against native ethnic Macedonians.

Jovanovski (pictured right), in particular, gave two contradictory views - first he angrily dismissed Serbian-Russian interference in Macedonia calling it “mania” meaning insane but then a short time later claimed there was Serbian-Russian interference. But has stubbornly refused to call for any protests outside the Serb Embassy in Macedonia, perhaps a telling sign that the whole claim of Russia interfering via Serbia wasn’t true to begin with and holding a pro Serb bias? see link here

Bogoevski (pictured below), now an elected Member of the Macedonian Parliament, became the face of the Colour Revolution in Macedonia which purported to be against nationalism but only focused on attacking Macedonian statues ignoring the World War II Albanian Nazi collaborator statues that have sprung up in recent times in Macedonia.

Bogoevski later revealed - a telling admission - that he does not protest against Serbian nationalism. This further undermined the claim of Russian interference via Serbia. The bombastic, irascible Serb Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who has in the past made racist comments about Macedonians, falsely accused Bogoevski of fomenting protests against President elect of Serbia Alexander Vucic--formerly the Prime Minister--in the heart of the capital, Belgrade.

Bogoevski’s reaction to Dacic was to deliberately emphasize his Serb background and vehemently deny taking part in any protests in Belgrade. see link here

Ivana Jordanovska, a pundit who called for EU sanctions to be placed against Macedonia’s President George Ivanov for not doing as he was told by Brussels, told TEAM UZUNOV blog she would not call for sanctions against Vucic or Serbia over “interference” nor call for protests against Serb nationalism. Again, this was very puzzling “anti nationalist” behaviour.

TIMOTHY LESS:

I can offer a few comments in answer to your questions, but I'm not sufficiently well apprised of the details to comment on specific individuals and their particular motivations.

On the question of Russia, there is no question that Moscow is trying to shape Macedonia's politics to suit its own interests (whether you call that interference is a matter of semantics) but it's not clear that Russia is particularly effective, and one must keep in mind Ukraine's strong interest in exaggerating Russia's role and painting it as a malevolent influence.

As for Serbia, it has its own problems with Macedonia and is not simply acting as an cypher for Russia's interests. Belgrade sees Albanians gaining power in Macedonia - after being successfully unified by [Albanian Prime Minister] Edi Rama and entering into a government by an untrustworthy Zoran Zaev [now Macedonian Prime Minister]- and Belgrade worries what the Albanians will now do with that power.

Serbia's great fear, of course, is the emergence of a unified Albanian state which includes the territory of Kosovo plus the Preshevo Valley - in other words, a fear of losing Serbian territory and the having to confront a new regional competitor - and its interest is in preventing this development, starting in Macedonia.

On the question of racist statements, the context is that the West, and in particular the US, withdrew its support for Gruevski’s government after evidence emerged on tape of his gross corruption and criminality, followed by the Kumanovo incident [ed. note: terrorist attack by Albanian nationalists in 2015 on northern Macedonian border town- some suspicion over the veracity over it but US State Department deemed it genuine -see US State Department report link here].

Subsequently, the West has given its support to Zaev who says he wants to clean up the Macedonian state, improve the conditions of life for Albanians and integrate Macedonia with NATO and the EU - all things the West supports. The price the West must pay for these gains is to turn a blind eye to occasional misdeeds by its new clients because it's not worth falling out with them over small matters, although it may well express its displeasure in private.

On borders, to be precise, I did not call for the partition of Macedonia or Bosnia. I warned that minorities in these countries will eventually try to break away from their titular states because they do not enjoy the basics of life in their current circumstances - security, rights, economic opportunity, and so on - and have no expectation that this will change.

The Bosnian Serbs are explicit about their plans to secede from Bosnia and have an obvious alternative option - unification with Serbia, a state to which they were joined until 1992. The Albanians in Macedonia are weaker and do not have another state which they can join because Albania is currently a state comprised of two parts - Albania proper and Kosovo - the latter of which is weak and contested. The 2001 conflict was a pretty clear statement that Macedonia's Albanians do not want to be part of Macedonia but, for the moment, they must stay put and make the best of it.

My argument is that the geopolitics of the Balkans are in a state of flux and the West's hegemonic position in the region is untenable, because the US is not interested in the Balkans and the EU's unresolvable internal crises means it cannot integrate the region (or even sustain itself: the EU is in a state of slow-motion disintegration).

The inevitable consequence is an emerging power vacuum in the Balkans which malcontent minorities will exploit to resolve their unfinished business from the 1990s and 2000s, starting with the Bosnian Serbs, followed by the Kosovo Albanians whose only viable long-term option is unification of their territory with Albania, and followed after that by the Macedonian Albanians.

So the question for Western policy makers is whether to risk an uncontrolled conflict in the Balkans against a probable backdrop of political crisis in the rest of Europe. Or to recognise where the region is heading - towards the emergence of nation states - and take pre-emptive action while Europe is still stable and united, and the West has some leverage to make sure this transition happens peacefully rather than violently.

This suggestion was never going to go down well with Macedonians and Bosnian Muslims because they believe their respective minorities have no right to leave and take their territory with them. Nor was it ever going to be popular with the Liberal internationalists in Brussels who believe that nation states are the source of all evil and cannot see that the EU - the embodiment of all their hopes and dreams - is failing.

However, this is largely irrelevant to those people on the ground who deeply desire their sovereignty and self-determination and who will ultimately take risks to achieve it. Where Brits, Catalans and Kurds (and, perhaps also Lombards, Venetians and Corsicans) are now leading, minorities in the Balkans will eventually follow.

Timothy Less’s comments about border changes have met with fierce criticism from Macedonians and Muslim Bosnians alike.


MARK BRANOV, a Canadian-Macedonian activist, formerly Media Director of the advocacy group United Macedonian Diaspora and now with civic group SNS-Makedonium, which sprung up in the Republic of Macedonia as a reaction to dissatisfaction with the two major Macedonian political parties, VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM:

"The public commentary from Tim Less attempts to portray border adjustments in the Balkans as if they were little more than rearranging the furniture. He is whitewashing the deadly serious issue of western-backed UCK [Kosovo Liberation Army] terrorism and irredentism; it is not only irresponsible and out of touch, but it is also utterly amoral and unprincipled. Despite a long history of compromise and acquiescence to foreign demands and the demands of foreign agents within the state, the Macedonian government has been hijacked by foreign powers. It is currently in the process of being reduced to a second Kosovo-style protectorate, and voices like Less are determined to distract attention away from the perpetrators of this aggression.”


ZHIVAN RENDEV- an Australian Macedonian human rights activist

Mr Rendev says he doesn’t buy the whole Russia scare campaign.

"I see it as a smokescreen to force Macedonia to give up its name and identity over a fear that is not existent," he said.

"It's an excellent pretext to satisfy Greek, Bulgar and Albanian demands at Macedonia's expense with some of the crumbs from the table maybe given to Belgrade," he said.

"Since 1991 post independence Macedonia has fallen within the pro Western camp. The pity is that loyalty has been a one way street. Macedonia's internal stability was threatened by assisting the US and NATO in Kosovo in 1999 and as a buffer state against the Milosevic regime in Serbia. As a "reward" the KLA invaded Macedonia in 2001 to take territory. We all know the KLA was created by the US."

Mr Rendev also cited the 2003 El Masri rendition torture scandal to demonstrate the very close cooperation of the US and Macedonia. [see link here for more on El Masri scandal]

"However," he added "the whole instigator has been Greece in the attack on Macedonia's existence. Greece desperately needs to whitewash its ethnic genocide of the native Macedonian population since the partition of Macedonia in 1912-13."

“It's interesting to note that Greece can be simultaneously pro US or flirt with the so called Russian Orthodox alliance and no one panics in Washington or Brussels but if Macedonians stand up for themselves then all hell breaks loose. The hypocrisy is foul smelling to tell you the truth."

"Talking about hypocrisy, there is massive corruption in Bulgaria, Greece and Kosovo and no Colour Revolution. There are Albanian Nazi collaborator statues that have been built in Macedonia and a rise in neo-Albanian fascism but silence from the West.”

Mr Rendev said he wanted to break this wall of silence and was one of the organisers of a Macedonian rally to be held in Melbourne, Australia on 4 March this year.

BOSNIAN REACTION:

Southeast Europe Coalition Strongly Rejects Warmongering and Violence-inciting Speech

The Southeast European Coalition (SEE Coalition) is an informal partnership of Diaspora organizations in the U.S. that formed in response to the U.S Department of State’s Global Diaspora Forum in May 2011. SEE Coalition contributes to an enhanced American foreign policy that reflects the common goals of ethnic communities from Southeast Europe, and advocates for a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. SEE Coalition works within the context of shared American values towards a democratic, multicultural and peaceful Southeast Europe, and together with our partners, we advocate for these principles and advise on policies that would bring about positive change in this vulnerable region. This statement is a response to recent articles that have surfaced suggesting that the only way forward for the Southeast European region is a re-drawing of the borders along ethnic lines.

In an article by Timothy Less published by Foreign Affairs magazine, he suggests that the current multi-ethnic composition of most states in the Western Balkans has failed, and that the best solution would be to fragment Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo along ethnic lines and a massive realignment of the region. In a published response to Less’ article, Dr. Jasmin Mujanovic, a scholar of Southeast Europe, noted that the Western Balkans has always been multicultural in form, and that it would be next to impossible to create purely ethnic states. According to Dr. Mujanovic, the only people in the region who want more partition are “extremists and reactionaries” and those connected to the demagogues that helped lead the region into a decade of war during the 1990s. Dr. Mujanovic wisely notes that “the most previous element of the formula” for a free and peaceful Southeast Europe is peace.
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TEAM UZUNOV original questions to Mr Timothy Less

Mr Less, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandrovych made a statement in November 2017 in which he accused Russia of interfering in Macedonia through Serbia.

Link: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/russia-using-serbia-to-destroy-europe-ukraine-ambassador-10-31-2017

I wanted to bring to your attention that no protests have ever been held outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia over this interference.

Pro US and NATO supporters in Macedonia, who also include leading Macedonian politicians and journalists of Serb background, such as Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska, media commentator and activist Borjan Jovanovski have remained inactive over this interference.

See link:

http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/macedonia-serb-spy-saga-is-there-more.html?m=1

For example, Mr Jovanovski and many others like him, who strongly support NATO and the US in Macedonia, have stubbornly refused to protest against Serbian-Russian interference in Macedonia and have offered contradictory statements - one minute saying there is no Serb-Russian interference, next minute saying there is.

Q1. Are you puzzled by this behaviour which goes against the Ukrainian Ambassador's statement? This behaviour of the aforementioned people strikes me of bias and chauvinism towards native ethnic Macedonians.

Furthermore, Colour Revolution Leader and now Macedonian MP, Pavle Bogoevski revealed he was of Serb background and also admitted he doesn't protest against Serbian nationalism, a supporter of Russia.

Q2. Isn't this odd for someone claiming to be pro US, EU and NATO?

See link:

http://reporter.mk/nashi-faci/bogoevski-do-dachik-daj-mi-eden-dokaz-de/

Q3. Why does the US support Serb chauvinists who pretend to be Macedonian "anti nationalists?" Is it because they cynically support the US?

I don't recall such people being given a platform when the US needed Macedonia in 1999 as a buffer state against the Slobodan Milosevic regime in Macedonia.

Q4. Why has there been silence from the West over the building of Albanian Nazi collaborator statues in Macedonia?  and silence over some of the racist statements made by Albanian politicians towards Macedonians?

Link:

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

Q5. Are you aware that in 2007 the US Embassy in Macedonia advised against bi-lingualism (adding Albanian as an official language) in Macedonia because of the dangers it posed to Macedonia's stability? Do you wish to comment on the issue?

Link:

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/07SKOPJE919_a.html

Q6. You have controversially called for Macedonia and Bosnia to be partitioned - in Macedonia's case handing a large chunk in the West to Kosovo or Albania. Why does Macedonia's border need to change if there is a move for a borderless Europe as part of the utopian EU project? Large numbers of Albanians have arrived in Macedonia or more precisely were pushed out of Kosovo into Macedonia. There has been no proper census undertaken in over a decade. Furthermore, the US is using Serb chauvinists posing as "Macedonian anti nationalists", "human rights activists" to attack native ethnic Macedonian identity. That suggests the US State Department has a deliberate agenda to destabilise Macedonia.