BALKAN DEMOGRAPHICS

BALKAN DEMOGRAPHICS -

Greece is finished—Bulgaria's time running out and will Macedonia survive?

By Sasha Uzunov

It wasn't the CIA, the Vatican, the Zionists, the Germans, the Freemasons, Henry Kissinger, the old KGB, the Communists, the Arabs nor the “traditional enemy” Turkey nor the annoying “Slavo-Macedonians from Skopje” up in the north that did it. But the Greeks themselves.

That is bring about the end of Greece as a viable nation-state. Moderate Greeks will tell you that those on the extreme far right in Greece have at one time or another blamed someone from the above mentioned list for Greece's woes.

Greece would have to be the first nation-states in history to implode because of its own unfounded phobias coupled with its crazy and corrupt economics, low demographics and Nanny Statism. And to think not one bullet was fired by an “external enemy.” It is no surprising that those in desperate straits, like a drowning man, have grabbed onto the extremist right wing party Golden Dawn

Canadian commentator and self-described “Armageddon Stand-up comedian” spells it out in stark terms:

“In Greece, the arithmetic is starker. To prop up unsustainable welfare states, most of the Western world isn’t “printing money” but instead printing credit cards and pre-approving our unborn grandchildren. That would be a dodgy proposition at the best of times. But in the Mediterranean those grandchildren are never going to be born. As I pointed out in my best-selling hate crime America Alone four years ago, Greece has one of the lowest fertility rates on the planet—1.3 children per couple, which places it in the “lowest-low” demographic category from which no society has recovered...

“Greek public sector employees are entitled not only to 14 monthly pay cheques per annum during their “working” lives, but also 14 monthly retirement cheques per annum till death. Who’s going to be around to pay for that? “

BULGARIA – things aren't looking good either.

Bulgaria has one of the worst demographic rates in the world and according to Ekaterina Popova, of the Epoch Times Bulgaria website, it means:

“Many European countries may disappear at the end of the century and Bulgaria is among them. An article in an American monthly magazine The New Criterion reports on this alarming trend of Bulgarian and European depopulation.

"By 2050 the Bulgarian population will have decreased by 36 percent. The forecast is even grimmer for Estonia. Estonians are expected to decrease in number 50 percent by 2050, while Italians will decrease by 20 percent... If the demographic situation doesn't change, by the end of the century native Europeans will be mostly elderly with the balance of the European population Muslim immigrants. If current trends hold, the rapidly growing Muslim population will irreversibly change the culture of Europe."

Since the collapse of communism in 1989 a later membership of the European Union, a significant number Bulgarian have embraced fringe right wing nationalist groups that have grown in influence, such as ATAKA, with its anti-Turk and anti-Macedonian and anti-West ideology.

WILL MACEDONIA SURVIVE?

What does Bulgaria's declining population and waning economic fortunes mean in the long run, especially for Macedonia? It could mean that a desperate Bulgaria under the control of a far right government in the next decade or two might militarily intervene in Macedonia as a way of increasing its population and territory.

As I have spelt out before in an early blog article, dated 25 October 2011

DID BULGARIA PROVOKE WAR IN MACEDONIA?

by Sasha Uzunov

The Republic of Macedonia celebrated its 20th anniversary of independence on 8 September 2011. This year also marked a decade of the short-lived ethnic Albanian insurgency in that tiny Balkan state. Did neighbouring Bulgaria, for its own strategic ends, light the fuse to long standing tensions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians?

Is Bulgaria's long term strategic goal in creating instability in Macedonia! That is making the new state non-viable and absorbed by a Greater Bulgaria, a century old aspiration of ultra Bulgarian nationalists?

Read more....link to story

ALI AHMETI

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 Roberston 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. 

see link for document

Memedi told the US Ambassador:

...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. 

TELSTRA - phone down !

TELSTRA – COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

by Sasha Uzunov

You have an elderly parent, a pensioner, who still has a landline telephone and has stubbornly stuck with major Australian telecommunication company (telco), TELSTRA for 30 years. They speak English with a very thick Southern European accent or a really thick Scottish accent that not even Mel Gibson in Braveheart can decipher.

They have worked hard, paid their taxes, obeyed the laws and their children have assimilated intro mainstream Australian society.

The phone does not work and so as the dutiful son or daughter, who speaks English with an Australian accent, better than Aussie larrikin comedian Kevin “Bloody” Wilson, you call on behalf of your parent to notify TELSTRA of the fault. You get a man or a woman on the line, someone with a Filipino accent in the outsourced overseas call centre, who has trouble understanding you.

Now you realise why your parent got you to call in the first place. Your mum or dad have got high blood pressure and having to go through an hour with someone in Manila or Luzon City just isn't good for their health.

Your Southern European parent has shopped all their life at Preston Market, in the multicultural suburb in Melbourne's north. They proudly shout: “Ay go to Prestons Markets for bargins,” which translated means “I go to Preston Market for bargains.”

They also say something like: “Put im bek,” meaning “put it back.” Or “Ay vont pis ov tik klot material,” meaning “I want a piece of thick cloth material.”

So how in the hell is the overseas TELSTRA call centre guy or gal going to comprehend?!

Getting back to Kevin “Bloody” Wilson, you remember his naughty but hugely funny comedy hit song: “stick that phone up your f#### a####,” about an Aussie bloke with a speech impediment calling the operator for assistance and being given the run around because the operator cannot understand a word the caller is saying.

As the dutiful son or daughter you ring up TELSTRA on your personal mobile (cell) phone to notify that your parent's telephone is not working. The operator asks for the account details, which you give, but then says that they can't do anything because you are not calling from the telephone with the fault.

After 15 minutes you eventually convince them that the reason why you are not calling from the faulty telephone is because it is faulty! You then get hit with but we can't access your parent's account because you don't have permission.

After 20 minutes of arguing you convince them that you don't need access to your parent's account nor for that matter any secrets from ASIO, CIA or the NSA! So TELSTRA, convinced that this is not an Al Qaeda terror plot, sends out a technician and finds the fault is with the line outside. They send you a SMS text message with a logged job number. The fault is fixed but your phone, through no fault of your parent, has been down for a week or so.

So once again you call TELSTRA to ask on behalf of your parent asking if they can get a part refund or a lowering of the phone bill because it was out of action.

The operator hits you with but TELSTRA can't do anything because you don't have permission to access your parent's phone account. But you explain you don't want to access the account; that you don't want the cash. You are simply passing on information for TELSTRA to act upon.

But the answer is the same. You don't have permission to access your parent's account. You explain that you where the one who notified TELSTRA of the fault. But the answer is the same. You don't have permission to access your parent's account.

So following TELSTRA's logic, why is it that the phone bill you or your parent receives every month is compiled without a TELSTRA operator calling you or your parent every month to ask your permission to access the respective account. You tell that to the operator and the answer is the same: You don't have permission to access your parent's account.

ASIO MONITORED MACEDONIAN BISHOP KIRIL

ASIO MONITORED MACEDONIAN BISHOP KIRIL (CYRIL)
by Sasha Uzunov

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the country's counter-intelligence service, was monitoring Macedonian Orthodox Bishop Kiril (Cyril) in late 1970s over his close association with the then Yugoslav Communist government's attempt to bring Australian-Macedonian Orthodox Churches under the control of Belgrade and his connection to controversial Yugoslav diplomat Dr Georgi Trajkovski, believed to the Yugoslav Secret Police (UDBa) mastermind behind the Croatian Six set up.

Bishop Kiril, who passed away recently, was appointed head of the Australian-North American Diocese  in 1971.

The ASIO assessment paper from 1978--which is included on the ASIO file of Dr Georgi Trajkovski reveals that a fierce struggle, and in some instances resulting in physical violence, broke out between the pro-Yugoslav and pro-Macedonian factions, including an organisation called D.O.O.M. (Movement for the Liberation and Organisation of Macedonia) within the local Macedonian community in Australia.

The ASIO paper: "The struggle for influence and power gained momentum late in 1975 when a move was made by pro-Yugoslav factions to take over control of the Macedonian Orthodox Church councils and management bodies. The situation worsened in May 1976 when the Macedonian Bishop KIRIL visited Australia..."

The late Bishop Kiril (Cyril) (1934-2013) of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was under surveillance by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in the 1970s for his close relationship with the then Yugoslav Communist government and the then Yugoslav Consul General in Melbourne, Dr Georgi Trajkovski. Below is the de-classified ASIO assessment of the struggle between the then Yugoslav Communist government and those Macedonians who were independent of Belgrade for control of the Australian-Macedonian Orthodox Churches, including a group called D.O.O.M. ! Photo taken in 1973 of Kiril consecrating a Macedonian Orthodox Monastery in Kinglake, outside of Melbourne. Source: National Archives of Australia. www.naa.gov.au 

The ASIO assessment paper from 1978 detailing Bishop Kiril's role in Communist Yugoslavia's attempts to take over and subvert Australian Macedonian Orthodox Churches and his association with Yugoslav Consul General Dr Georgi Trajkovski. This paper was included in the ASIO file on Dr Georgi Trajkovski. Available for viewing at the National Archives of Australia. 




Previous article
Who Was The Croatian Six Mastermind?  link:

One of Australia’s worst miscarriages of justice, the Croatian Six terrorism case in 1979-80, may have been perpetrated by a Yugoslav master spy posing as a diplomat and who, would you believe it, not once but twice managed to outsmart Australia’s domestic spy catchers, ASIO, and even shook hands with an unsuspecting Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser.

Intelligence sources in Washington and in the Republic of Macedonia, one of the successor states of the former communist Federal Yugoslavia, have confirmed that Dr Georgi Trajkovski, the Yugoslav Consul General in Melbourne, Australia during 1978-79 was “hardcore UDBa (Yugoslav intelligence) and a key player in the Croatian Six set up.”

An agent provocateur set up members of Australia's Croatian community in 1979. Six Croats were imprisoned on false charges of wanting to plant bombs in Sydney.
Masters tracked down the agent provocateur, Vitomir Visimovic, who was an ethnic Serb living in Bosnia but had passed himself off as a Croat.

In fact, ASIO, the Australian Federal Police (successor of the Commonwealth Police) and the infamous and corrupt New South Wales Police Special Branch were all aware that Visimovic was an UDBa operative but suppressed the information during the trial of the Croatian Six. Moreover, the alarming thing was the Australian authorities let the man depart the country. This was during Malcolm Fraser’s tenure as Prime Minister (1975-83).

BACKGROUND

Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic communist federation founded in 1945, modelled on the Soviet Union, and fell apart in 1991 into various independent nation states, including the Republics of Croatia, Macedonia and so on.

Yugoslav intelligence (UDBa) later known as SDB, together with Yugoslav military counter-intelligence (KOS) were largely pre-occupied with silencing dissident Croats, Macedonians, Serbs and Albanians living in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, who were agitating for independence from Yugoslavia. UDBa was so ruthless and efficient it at one time rivalled the old Soviet KGB and Mossad in liquidating opponents. In Munich, West Germany, a whole section of a cemetery was set-aside for Croats assassinated by UDBa Communist strongman Marshal Josip Broz Tito ruled Yugoslavia until his death in 1980 and during the height of the Cold War managed a great balancing act between East and West. He was seen as an indirect ally of the West after his infamous split with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1949.

Dr Georgi Trajkovski (points to a map of Yugoslavia) was the Yugoslav Consul General in Melbourne from 1975-79. He is pictured here with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Trajkovski was active in infiltrating the local Macedonian and Croatian activities. Photo - National Archives of Australia. www.naa.gov.au

See link for more on this... Read about Dr Georgi Trajkovski

ALBA ALONE ?

NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson surrounded by media at Skopje Airport, The Republic of Macedonia. Photo by Sasha Uzunov 2002. Why is Big George so afraid of Scottish independence?

ALBA ALONE - why is Lord Robertson afraid of Scotland going solo?

by Sasha Uzunov

For those Balkan Watchers, Lord George Robertson was Team Blair's and later Team NATO's Scotsman the Brave acting as one of the mid-wives, oops I meant to say mid-spouse (I don't want to be accused of misogyny by  pro-unionist Scottish spinner John McTernan), to Kosovo independence. So feisty Albanian Kosovars can have their own nation-state but not canny Scots?

I just can't figure that out… If we follow his Lordship's reasoning - Scotland the creator of much of the modern western world through philosophy, commerce, democracy is not able to stand on its own two feet but Kosovo, an economic basket case, has the guts to go it alone.

It says so much of the fear mongering used by Scotsmen opposed to their own nation becoming independent. It is the Nanny State argument…oops there I go again, I meant Grandparent State….I have to be careful- I don't want to be labelled misogynist by John McTernan ! (link to McTernan story)

The Kosovars had to fight for their independence from then Yugoslavia---but were smart enough to get NATO assistance in 1999. Again, if we follow Lord Roberston's logic, Kosovo should not have broken away from Yugoslavia because it was economically unviable and it would have caused disruption to Kosovar Albanians serving in the Yugoslav Army.

One of his Lordship's argument against Scotland going solo is defence: link:

"Lord Robertson was also dismissive of the idea that Scottish units could simply be removed from the British Army.

It is simply not serious for the SNP to propose surgically amputating Scottish regiments from the British Army without any consideration to what members of these regiments think of it or what it would mean to already formed units. For example, the Scots Guards are a key part of the UK Brigade of Guards and cannot simply be cut out of the brigade on the basis of a political whim, he said."

If I remember correctly the current Prime Minister Agim Ceku, began as a Major in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), and in 1991 switched his allegiance to the Croatian Army and rose to Major-General before leading the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)--without even batting an eyelid.

I met his Lordship and his media enforcer Mark Laity in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, in 2002 at a press conference. Big George was the Good Cop to Laity's Bad Cop. Both were in town to throw their weight around…In 2001 an ethnic Albanian insurgency erupted in Macedonia, which ironically had helped Kosovo in 1999 by acting as a staging base for NATO's liberation of Kosovo. It was initially and correctly labelled as a terrorist action by his Lordship but when he realised his "boys" north of the border in Kosovo were involved in mischief making so he changed tack and dubbed them "insurgents." 

NATO SHERRIFF IN TOWN - Lord Roberston (second on the right) and to his left Mark Leity, arrive in Skopje, Macedonia 2002. Photo by Sasha Uzunov.

But his Lordship belongs to a group of people called the About Face Activists or U-turn ideologues: you just don't know where they really stand. Others in this group include Joschka Fischer, Helen Clark, Peter Hain, Mike Rann, and many others.

Lord Robertson began his career opposed to nuclear weapons but hey that did not stop him from later becoming UK Defence Secretary under British Prime Minister Tony Blair and later NATO Secretary-General. 

Joschka Fisher was a militant German leftist who battled against "US imperialism" and in 1973 beat to a pulp a West German Police officer during a violent protest. Later as Germany's Foreign Minister he supported the "US imperialist" war in Afghanistan.

Helen Clark, was a long time peace activist who cut her teeth opposing the Vietnam War but as Prime Minister of New Zealand sent in combat troops into Afghanistan. 

Another ex-British politician Peter Hain in his youth campaigned against apartheid and the Vietnam War but later shouted: "We must not be effete: it's time to fight" in Afghanistan.

Iron Mike Rann, English born, was a New Zealand Greenpeace activist who sent in boats to disrupt French nuclear testing in the South-pacific. later he migrated across the the Tasman Sea to Australia and became Premier of the state of South Australia and became a strong supporter of uranium mining in his political backyard. Iron Mike Rann is now Australia's High Commissioner to the UK in London.

One thing is certain London has nothing to fear from an independent Scotland who won't be sending in rebels to "liberate" Wales or Northern Ireland. And I am sure that the Scots are big enough to formulate a pragmatic defence plan.

Scotland through the centuries took up arms to achieve independence but it only has to raise its hands in a ballot next year to achieve that goal without bloodshed.

(Alba is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland)

Lord George Robertson should let go of his fear of his homeland Scotland becoming independent. You might recall His Lordship, Big George was NATO's New Sherriff in Town in the Balkans in 1999-2001. Maybe he can rediscover the inner tough guy again ! Photo & artwork by Sasha Uzunov.

SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE?

Next year Scotland will hold a referendum on independence. The status of the United Kingdom is being called into question and it has an ideological impact here on Australian politics.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Scottish spinner John McTernan was recently caught in a war of words with popular Sydney radio host Ben Fordham (2GB) after McTernan "jokingly" went touting for work after this year's federal election should PM Gillard lose. 

Well, McTernan has other options: his shtick as the anti-Scottish independence Scotsman is well known. He can go back to the UK and campaign against Scotland's independence or join arch enemy Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's team....

read on....

HAS SCOTLAND'S MOMENT COME?

By Sasha Uzunov

Damn you Mel Gibson and your Braveheart film ! You make Scottish independence so romantic and attractive and in this climate of European Union economic meltdown, feasible. The status of Scotland reverberates here in Australia, and especially how it unites two political opponents—locked in mortal battle at this year’s federal election.

As a non-Scot I get the sudden urge to scream in mock Scottish accent “Freedom for Scotland” – all because of Gibson’s stirring Hollywood version of history. As a former Australian soldier who marches on Anzac Day every year, listening to military bagpipers piping “Scotland the Brave” sends patriotic chills up and down my spine.

The Scots will hold an independence referendum in 18 September 2014. The status of the United Kingdom unites two political opponents—locked in mortal battle at this year’s federal election.

Some conservative pundits have talked up the behind the scenes strategic significance of John McTernan, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Scottish Svengali like spinner. But McTernan and his quarry, Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party, have more things in common politically than meets the eye. And a question missed by our media is shouldn't McTernan be actually spinning for Abbott and not for Gillard? 

John McTernan. Photo credit: 2GB Radio - Ben Fordham show

Influential Australian conservative columnist Andrew Bolt has alleged in his influential blog that McTernan's master plan is for Labor PM Gillard to smear Abbott with claims of misogyny in order to beat him in the next federal election due on 14 September 2013 because Labor is so on the noise with voters on many issues such as the economy, carbon tax, refugees and so on.

The irony is both McTernan and Abbott are staunch Unionists, that is supporters of the existence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or UK for short. The UK consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland broke away in the 1920s after a war of independence and in 1949 became The Republic of Ireland (Eire). Northern Ireland, sometimes referred to loosely as Ulster remained with the UK and has a large Protestant pro-Unionist population, who are descents of English and Anglicized Scottish settlers in the 17th century.

Scotland, known as Alba in Scottish Gaelic, was granted its own parliament recently, but has not been an independent nation-state in 300 years.

Abbott, born in London to Australian parents, is a dedicated monarchist, who supports Australia's status as a Constitutional Monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II, also Queen of the UK, and her successors as Head of State of Australia.

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has a strong current of Republicanism within it, and a substantial faction, Irish Catholic, historically supported Irish independence. Prime Minister Gillard, born in Wales, has gone on the record that once Queen Elizabeth passes away, Australia should become a republic. Wouldn't this be in contradiction to McTernan's pro-Unionist stance? Wouldn't McTernan's Unionism offend PM Gillard's Australianess and Welshness?

London-born McTiernan is seen by some as a fanatical Unionist who in 2007 denounced his own nation Scotland as "narrow, Presbyterian and racist," and whose comments were regarded as offensive. If Abbott is an alleged misogynist, does that make McTernan a misoscoti/misoalbin, a hater of all things Scottish? I am laughing my head off at that last comment.  I don't know if I have just coined a new phrase: misoscoti or misoalbin?

McTernan's recent history indicates a discomfort, to put it middy, of the very notion of an independent Scotland breaking away from the Union. Perhaps as an Australian of non-English speaking background, the son of Macedonian migrants, I am viewing McTernan through Balkan eyes or the prism of the collapse of multi-ethnic Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in 1991 and being grossly unfair to him?

Okay, before we go any further I have to declare my interest. I support Celtic over the pro-Unionist team Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Premier League Soccer competition. In 1977 my father and I squeezed into Melbourne’s Olympic Park stadium to watch Celtic beat Red Star Belgrade of the now defunct Yugoslavia 2-0 in exhibition match.

Glad that is now out of the way and back to the political analysis.

But why would any Scotsman or woman oppose in principle Scottish independence, if it can be achieved peacefully? Some might say an independent Scotland is not viable. But with EU members Greece and Spain bankrupt, perhaps Scotland going it alone may not be so scary. But it remains to be seen if an independent Scotland, should the referendum be won, would enter the EU.

McTernan has built an aura or shtick or routine as the quintessential or clichéd foul-mouthed Scottish spinner who ironically dislikes being Scottish. It is an unintentionally hilarious routine. But foul-mouthed media spinners who try to intimidate journalists are nothing new.

In 2007 McTernan, as a trouble shooter, was sent by then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who acting more like Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic trying to hold Yugoslavia together, pardon my Balkan goggles once again, to save the naughty Scots from themselves and stop an independence referendum from taking place. In 1999 Blair was, paradoxically, a supporter of Kosovo's Albanians fighting for their independence from Serbia. Perhaps the Albanians don't wear kilts. That could be the reason!

A Daily Mail newspaper (UK) story at the time reported: "A "panicked" Tony Blair warned the Scots they would be "crazy" to quit the UK as he prepared to launch a last-minute campaign blitz to save the Union."

McTernan's brief was to discredit the Scottish National Party (SNP) led by Alex Salmond in the 2007 Scottish elections but the campaign failed. Salmond became Scotland's First Minister, the equivalent of Prime Minister. A referendum on Scottish independence is scheduled for 2014. A prominent supporter includes famous actor Sean Connery whilst comedian Billy Connolly opposes it. 

European-based Australian journalist Paola Totaro revealed McTernan's messianic task in stopping his nation Scotland from gaining its independence but first he had some more mundane, earthly work for republican-minded Prime Minister Julia Gillard to complete: ''After the ALP gets re-elected, the next step is to save the United Kingdom and defeat Alex Salmond in the general referendum.''

Perhaps actor/director Mel Gibson will make a sequel to his 13th century Scottish nationalist themed Braveheart film with a contemporary setting: McTernan as the liege or vassal sent to do the English's (Sassenachs) work in subduing the wild Scots. Perhaps Salmond can play the combined hero role of Sir William Wallace / Robert the Bruce who delivers an independent Scotland for the first time in three centuries. It will be either "FREEDOM FOR SCOTLAND" or "STAY INTACT UK."

I just can't imagine Mel being big on someone yelling "STAY INTACT UK" with a fiery Scottish accent; it just doesn't have the same romantic and mythical sound as "FREEDOM FOR SCOTLAND."

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