by Sasha Uzunov
Skopje, Macedonia

Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, either has no clue about Macedonian history or he is a willing participant in deliberate amnesia over certain events. Moreover, the various agreements and platforms involving Bulgaria, Greece and local ethnic Albanians have placed him and the nation-state he governs in a position to be blackmailed if it does not toe the line.

All of this has come about because for Macedonia to join the EU and NATO – read for US strategic needs – it needs to unblock Greek and Bulgarian opposition to joining those two aforementioned international organisations. A controversial referendum asking Macedonians to change their name and identity in order to gain EU and NATO membership will be held on 30 September this year. It’s no understatement to say that the EU and the US and its client the Macedonian government have all launched a strong media campaign to push through the referendum and a Yes vote. see link here

BULGARIAN BLACKMAIL:

The height of this absurdity has come about in the past fortnight, beginning with the commemoration of the Ilinden Uprising – a Macedonian rebellion launched on 2 August 1903 against five centuries of Turkish Ottoman imperial rule. Prime Minister Zaev, having signed a goodneighbourly agreement wth Bulgaria on 1 August 2017, is required to horse trade Macedonian history in order not to “offend” Bulgarian sensitivities. That is the Ilinden Uprising has to be a “joint” event demonstrating a “link” between Macedonian and Bulgarian identity – the overall purpose is to show Macedonians are a branch of Bulgarians who went out on their own, rather than being a separate ethnic group in their own right.

So you had the political theatre of PM Zaev travelling to Bulgaria to “commemorate” Ilinden with his Bulgar counterpart Boyko Borissov. Bulgaria claims that Goce Delcev, Macedonia’s greatest hero, who was killed in the lead up period to Ilinden, was a Bulgar.

When PM Zaev accidently went off script by saying – truthfully – that the Ilinden Uprising was purely a Macedonian affair, official Sofia, including Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev came out with all guns a blazing demanding an apology and threatening repercussions. link here

That’s the price Bulgaria – which has four US military bases on its territory – has asked for its support for EU and NATO membership and the heavy price Macedonia must now pay, which includes restricting free speech and possibly prosecution for anyone who dares stray- as is with the Prespa Agreement signed by Greece and Macedonia, which also demands Macedonia give large chunks of its history and suffering legal repercussions.

It is nothing more than blatant Bulgarian and Greek blackmail, hailed by the West as a “breakthrough” in establishing “friendly relations.”

Prelude to Ilinden 1903 – New Zealand newspaper archives – Macedonian revolutionary Goce Delcev (Deltcheff) belonged to the faction which wanted Macedonian independence not annexation by Bulgaria. EVENING POST (New Zealand), VOLUME LXV, ISSUE 124, 27 MAY 1903. link here

A1906 American press report had this to say about Dame Gruev (pictured left), one of the leaders of the 1903 Ilinden Uprising:

“They are apostles of a proletarian insurrection that shall establish on Macedonian soil the first socialist republic of the world. Hence they ceaselessly propogate the sentiment of independence from foreign air.

“They decry the help of “kings and bishops” and pin their faith on the organized workingmen of Europe. To the central body of the revolutionists, headed by its chief, Grueff [Dame Gruev], the failure of Europe to institute a thorough-going international control with an European governor general is a vital blow, for their dream is to make autonomous Macedonia a nucleus around which will coalesce in time a Balkan United States.

“This body which is now in control maintains an attitude of reserve towards official Bulgaria, being unwilling to receive favors at the price of obligation. it is permanently opposed to any annexation of Macedonian territory by the principality of Bulgaria. This has always been the settled policy of the organization…”

California State (US) newspaper archives – Morning Press newspaper, 14 June 1906. link here 
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ALBANIAN AMNESIA

A truly bizarre case of deliberate “historical amnesia” by Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in “defending” World War II Albanian Nazi collaborator statues – of Xhem Hasa and Aquif Krosi Recani – built in recent times in Macedonia by ethnic Albanian politicians – some of whom are now coalition partners in the Zaev government.

In comparison, Germany, which is both an EU and NATO member, bans Nazi statues from being built. There is no historical dispute that Hasa and Recani were Nazi collaborators. Their statues have only appeared in Macedonia after the 2001 ethnic Albanian war in Macedonia. more on the statues here at this link and this link 

Team Uzunov, at an event held to “celebrate” the 17th anniversary of Ohrid Framework Agreement  held in Skopje Macedonia last week, asked PM Zaev about the Nazi statues – see below. The Prime Minister tried to weasel out of responding by claiming that relevant bureaucratic institutions had to investigate the statues and confirm their links to Nazi collaboration. It’s like saying that an Adolf Hitler statue has to be investigated in order to find out that Adolf Hitler was in fact a Nazi. It’s absurd and insulting to most Macedonians.

FRONT ROW SEAT TO THE HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY – Ohrid Framework Agreement “celebrations” show and the referendum push !

Former US diplomat Evelyn N. Farkas (pictured above – in the centre of the photo) was in town to “celebrate” the 17th anniversary of the Ohrid Framework Agreement which purportedly brought to an end the 2001 ethnic Albanian war in Macedonia, started by an offshoot of the Kosovo Liberation Army in a land grab but later reworked as a fight for human rights.

The OFA is simply an alibi which lets the US off the hook for letting loose these thugs and terrorists in Macedonia. The Guardian newspaper at the time revealed that the “US’s bastard army” was running rampant in Macedonia. see link here.

The consequences of the OFA hasn’t been long term stability but has brought de facto partition of the country and the rise of Albanian neo fascism – manifested by the brazen erecting of World War II Nazi collaborators.

Ms Farkas’s comments at the “celebration”: “Make no mistake a failed referendum would be a win for extreme nationalists and for Russia…”

Yet she was happily sharing the same stage with Ali Ahmeti, the man who started the 2001 war and who has supported the building of World War II Albanian Nazi collaborator statues – you can’t get any more extreme nationalist than that.

AND A CHERRY ON TOP ! Can you please pass the popcorn too?

And to top it off – the cherry on the cream of the cake of hypocrisy -there was a “reserved” front row seat invitation to ethnic Albanian poltician Nevzat Bejta, the very man who carried out the nuts and bolts operations in building those two Nazi statues of Xhem Hasa and Aqif Krosi Recani ! – see link here

GREEK GIVEAWAY – PRESPA AGREEMENT – Ms Farkas, naturally, was signing the praises of the agreement which in reality will lead to erasing Macedonian identity – more on the Prespa Agreement see link here