BHHRG 2001 report: MACEDONIA IN CRISIS

[Prolet]

Jankovska, I agree what did our soldiers at Vejce and Karpalak die for? They where set up and sold out by people like Trajkovski.

[Jankovska]

Jankovska, I agree what did our soldiers at Vejce and Karpalak die for? They where set up and sold out by people like Trajkovski.

Yes they were. It still makes me so mad.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Not sure if this has been posted before, but here is an interesting article from 2001:

August 23, 2001

http://www.mediamonitors.net/gowans23.html

A Canadian journalist has evidence that NATO is arming and equipping the ethnic Albanian guerillas who have waged a five-month long insurgency against the Macedonian government in Skopje.

Scott Taylor, editor of Espirit de Corps magazine, says that on a visit to guerilla bunkers overlooking the besieged Macedonian city of Tetovo he was welcomed with shouts of, "God bless America and Canada too for all they have provided to us." Canada is a member of the US-led NATO coalition.

Taylor says guerrilla commanders showed off their arsenal, which included side arms, sniper rifles and grenade launchers, all marked "Made in the USA." Says Taylor, one commander remarked that, "thanks to Uncle Sam, the Macedonians are no match for us."

Taylor isn't the first to charge that Washington is aiding the guerillas. The Macedonian government alleged that US helicopters were delivering supplies to guerillas in the mountains above Tetovo. US officials don't deny that airdrops were made, but say helicopters were transporting vital humanitarian aid. But Taylor says the local guerilla commander told him that the helicopters were delivering heavy mortars and ammunition. The guerillas have bombarded Tetovo with artillery.

Taylor says ethnic Albanian villagers cheer at the sight of US helicopters, while guerillas at brigade headquarters wear Nike-style T-shirts bearing the phrase, "NATO Air - Just do it!" Meanwhile, one Macedonian police officer lamented to Taylor that "if NATO hadn't been arming and equipping the (KLA) in Kosovo there would be no need for them to disarm these guerillas now."

This isn't the first time complaints about the US and NATO arming ethnic Albanian guerillas have been made. In March, a European K-For battalion commander told the London Observer that, "the CIA has been allowed to run riot in Kosovo with a private army designed to overthrow Slobodan Milosevic...Most of last year, there was a growing frustration with US support for the radical Albanians." And in January the BBC reported that Western forces were training guerillas, then opening a new front in southern Serbia and Macedonia.

In June, when Macedonian forces were closing in on guerillas in the town of Aracinovo, NATO intervened, transporting ethnic Albanian rebels out of the besieged town in air-conditioned busses. According to the German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt, 17 US advisors, belonging to an American mercenary firm involved in other Balkan conflicts, were among the guerillas. And the newspaper pointed out that 70 percent of the equipment carried away by the guerillas was US made.

Days earlier, a American diplomat was slightly wounded by Macedonian gunfire as he emerged from the woods (around Aracinovo) with two other Americans," according to the International Herald Tribune. The diplomats were emerging from rebel-held territory.

Two months ago, the London Sunday Times reported that at least 800 ethnic Albanian guerillas fighting in Macedonia are members of the Kosovo Protection Corps, a paramilitary police unit created by the UN from the KLA. The Times says, "Hundreds of KPC reservists were called up by their Albanian commander Agim Ceku, in March. They subsequently disappeared to former KLA training camps in Albania and are now re-emerging in Macedonia."

Ceku, one of the top leaders of the KLA, along with Hacim Thaci, was artillery chief of the Croatian army when it launched a war in the Krajina region of Croatia, which led to 250,000 Serbs being driven from their homes. Under the KPC, 250,000 Serbs, and another 100,000 Roma, Gorani, Turks and Jews have been driven from Kosovo. Now, the KLA offshoot in Macedonia, the NLA, seems intent on ethnically cleansing the largely Albanian Tetovo region. Over 120,000 Macedonians have fled or have been driven from their Tetovo area homes by guerillas. Ilir Hoxha, a 25-year old ethnic Albanian said, "Let them leave. They should never return. Tetovo is Albanian and it will remain Albanian."

For years, many Albanians have dreamed of resurrecting the greater Albania established under the Italian fascists, and then under the Nazis. It incorporated parts of Macedonia and Greece, southern Serbia, and Kosovo into Albania proper. Some reports say an ethnic Albanian Liberation Army of Chameria will open a new front in Greece soon.

Skopje has been hampered in its response to the guerillas. NATO and the EU have warned Macedonia not to crack down on the guerillas, and Ukraine, which was providing equipment to the under-equipped Macedonian army, was warned to stop shipments of materiel.

Meanwhile, press reports in the West describe NATO and EU diplomatic efforts as aimed at preventing a civil war, though the intention appears to be to prevent a strong Macedonian response.

The guerillas say they're fighting to win language rights, but critics point out that an armed attack is highly disproportional to the NLA's stated aims. Moreover, the fact that the guerillas have been recruited from Kosovo, pass freely over a Kosovo-Macedonia border presumably patrolled by NATO K-For forces, and have driven non-Albanians from their homes in an apparent effort to ethnically cleanse the Tetovo region, points to the pursuit of other goals, fully backed by NATO.

Taylor, who served in the Canadian Armed Forces, says NATO's support of the guerillas is so blatant "it is little wonder that the Macedonian majority have staged violent anti-NATO riots."

[makedonche]

SoM
Thanks, good to read it again!

[Prolet]

Thanks for sharing this with us SOM

Makes me sick in the guts reading this, absolutely disgusting

Over 120,000 Macedonians have fled or have been driven from their Tetovo area homes by guerillas. Ilir Hoxha, a 25-year old ethnic Albanian said, "Let them leave. They should never return. Tetovo is Albanian and it will remain Albanian."

[indigen]

Not sure if this has been posted before, but here is an interesting article from 2001:

http://www.mediamonitors.net/gowans23.html

A Canadian journalist has evidence that NATO is arming and equipping the ethnic Albanian guerillas who have waged a five-month long insurgency against the Macedonian government in Skopje.

Scott Taylor, editor of Espirit de Corps magazine, says that on a visit to guerilla bunkers overlooking the besieged Macedonian city of Tetovo he was welcomed with shouts of, "God bless America and Canada too for all they have provided to us." Canada is a member of the US-led NATO coalition.

Taylor says guerrilla commanders showed off their arsenal, which included side arms, sniper rifles and grenade launchers, all marked "Made in the USA." Says Taylor, one commander remarked that, "thanks to Uncle Sam, the Macedonians are no match for us."

Taylor isn't the first to charge that Washington is aiding the guerillas. The Macedonian government alleged that US helicopters were delivering supplies to guerillas in the mountains above Tetovo. US officials don't deny that airdrops were made, but say helicopters were transporting vital humanitarian aid. But Taylor says the local guerilla commander told him that the helicopters were delivering heavy mortars and ammunition. The guerillas have bombarded Tetovo with artillery.

Taylor says ethnic Albanian villagers cheer at the sight of US helicopters, while guerillas at brigade headquarters wear Nike-style T-shirts bearing the phrase, "NATO Air - Just do it!" Meanwhile, one Macedonian police officer lamented to Taylor that "if NATO hadn't been arming and equipping the (KLA) in Kosovo there would be no need for them to disarm these guerillas now."

This isn't the first time complaints about the US and NATO arming ethnic Albanian guerillas have been made. In March, a European K-For battalion commander told the London Observer that, "the CIA has been allowed to run riot in Kosovo with a private army designed to overthrow Slobodan Milosevic...Most of last year, there was a growing frustration with US support for the radical Albanians." And in January the BBC reported that Western forces were training guerillas, then opening a new front in southern Serbia and Macedonia.

In June, when Macedonian forces were closing in on guerillas in the town of Aracinovo, NATO intervened, transporting ethnic Albanian rebels out of the besieged town in air-conditioned busses. According to the German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt, 17 US advisors, belonging to an American mercenary firm involved in other Balkan conflicts, were among the guerillas. And the newspaper pointed out that 70 percent of the equipment carried away by the guerillas was US made.

Days earlier, a American diplomat was slightly wounded by Macedonian gunfire as he emerged from the woods (around Aracinovo) with two other Americans," according to the International Herald Tribune. The diplomats were emerging from rebel-held territory.

Two months ago, the London Sunday Times reported that at least 800 ethnic Albanian guerillas fighting in Macedonia are members of the Kosovo Protection Corps, a paramilitary police unit created by the UN from the KLA. The Times says, "Hundreds of KPC reservists were called up by their Albanian commander Agim Ceku, in March. They subsequently disappeared to former KLA training camps in Albania and are now re-emerging in Macedonia."

Ceku, one of the top leaders of the KLA, along with Hacim Thaci, was artillery chief of the Croatian army when it launched a war in the Krajina region of Croatia, which led to 250,000 Serbs being driven from their homes. Under the KPC, 250,000 Serbs, and another 100,000 Roma, Gorani, Turks and Jews have been driven from Kosovo. Now, the KLA offshoot in Macedonia, the NLA, seems intent on ethnically cleansing the largely Albanian Tetovo region. Over 120,000 Macedonians have fled or have been driven from their Tetovo area homes by guerillas. Ilir Hoxha, a 25-year old ethnic Albanian said, "Let them leave. They should never return. Tetovo is Albanian and it will remain Albanian."

For years, many Albanians have dreamed of resurrecting the greater Albania established under the Italian fascists, and then under the Nazis. It incorporated parts of Macedonia and Greece, southern Serbia, and Kosovo into Albania proper. Some reports say an ethnic Albanian Liberation Army of Chameria will open a new front in Greece soon.

Skopje has been hampered in its response to the guerillas. NATO and the EU have warned Macedonia not to crack down on the guerillas, and Ukraine, which was providing equipment to the under-equipped Macedonian army, was warned to stop shipments of materiel.

Meanwhile, press reports in the West describe NATO and EU diplomatic efforts as aimed at preventing a civil war, though the intention appears to be to prevent a strong Macedonian response.

The guerillas say they're fighting to win language rights, but critics point out that an armed attack is highly disproportional to the NLA's stated aims. Moreover, the fact that the guerillas have been recruited from Kosovo, pass freely over a Kosovo-Macedonia border presumably patrolled by NATO K-For forces, and have driven non-Albanians from their homes in an apparent effort to ethnically cleanse the Tetovo region, points to the pursuit of other goals, fully backed by NATO.

Taylor, who served in the Canadian Armed Forces, says NATO's support of the guerillas is so blatant "it is little wonder that the Macedonian majority have staged violent anti-NATO riots."

Worth reminding ourselves of some murky deals and dirty deeds done dirt cheap by our "good friends"!

[George S.]

CIA Double deals in Macedonia The United Nations Funds the Terrorists

Feature Story



CIA Double deals in Macedonia

The United Nations Funds the Terrorists



Monday December 6, 2010

http://macedonianspark.com/en/news/article/469-2010-12-05-23-54-19

By Michael Chossudovskѕy

Professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada



Recruiting Foreign Mercenaries



Since the Soviet-Afghan war, recruiting Mujahedin (”holy warriors”) to fight covert wars on Washington’s behest has become an integral part of US foreign policy. A report of the US Congress has revealed how the US administration –under advice from the National Security Council headed by Anthony Lake– had “helped turn Bosnia into a militant Islamic base” leading to the recruitment through the so-called “Militant Islamic Network,” of thousands of Mujahedin from the Muslim world. (1)


The “Bosnian pattern” has since been replicated in Kosovo, Southern Serbia and Macedonia. Among the foreign mercenaries now fighting with the KLA-NLA are Mujahedin from the Middle East and the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union as well as “soldiers of fortune” from several NATO countries including Britain, Holland and Germany. Some of these Western mercenaries had previously fought with the KLA and the Bosnian Muslim Army. (2)

Also among NLA recruits are Albanian-American “volunteers” enlisted in New York with the tacit approval of the US government. (3) In March 2001, the New York-based Albanian-language newspaper Bota Sot printed an advertisement of the National Liberation Army (NLA) “calling Albanians [in the US] to register as volunteers and to donate money.” (4) Several hundred Albanian-Americans had formed an “Atlantic Brigade” which fought alongside the KLA in 1998 and 1999. In recent months, members of the “Atlantic Brigade” have reportedly joined the NLA. (5)



The United Nations Funds the Terrorists



Amply documented, the United Nations so-called “civilian” Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) is the KLA in disguise, and the NLA is a proxy of the KLA. According to the Sunday Times: “Hundreds of KPC reservists were called up by their Albanian commander, Agim Ceku, in March [2001]. They subsequently disappeared to former KLA training camps in Albania and are now re-emerging in Macedonia.” (6)



NLA rebel Commander Ostremi was until recently Chief of Staff of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC). To maintain appearances, Washington has “blacklisted” the KPC commanders who joined the NLA. Washington’s so-called “blacklist” –which bars the former KPC commanders from entering the US– includes the names of “Commander Ostremi, his replacement as chief-of-staff at the KPC Commander Daut Haradinaj, the commander and deputy commander of the KPC’s elite force, the Rapid Reaction Corps, plus the leaders of two of its six regional divisions, Commander Sami Lushtaku and Commander Mustafa Rrustem…” (7)



From the horse’s mouth: Washington’s “blacklist” visibly refutes the claims of both the “international community” and the Western media mantra that “the NLA has no links to KLA”. In fact, the “blacklist” confirms that they are one and the same thing, with the same commanding officers in both the KPC and the NLA. Moreover, it also confirms that the terrorist assaults are led by military personnel paid by the United Nations.



When Commander Ostremi took leave from his UN job to lead the NLA, the UN “assumed he had gone on holiday”. (8) According to the Irish Times, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan failed to remove the NLA commanders from the United Nations payroll. The “international community” was still (early July) footing the bill under the disguise of UN “peacekeeping”:

“…the United Nations says it will take no action against these five men [NLA commanders], all still serving officers [in the UN sponsored KPC] because Washington has yet to pass on details of what the men are supposed to have done.” (9)



This pattern of “financing terrorism” from the UN purse is nothing new. The former head of the UN Interim Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Bernard Kouchner had established close personal ties with KLA Commander in Chief Agim Ceku, who in a bitter irony was on the list of “alleged war criminals” of the Hague Tribunal. But because he was wanted in relation to “crimes committed in Croatia” rather than Kosovo, this was not an issue in his appointment by the UN to the position of Commander in Chief of the KPC. (10).



An independent report submitted to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2000 confirmed that the KPC had been involved in “criminal activities - killings, ill-treatment/torture, illegal policing, abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of political neutrality and hate speech.” (11) In a cruel irony, “the United Nations is paying the salaries of many of the gangsters.” (12)



But what the report fails to mention, however, is that barely two months after the official inauguration of the KPC under UN auspices (September 1999), KPC-KLA commanders –using UN resources and equipment — were already preparing the assaults into Macedonia, as a logical follow-up to their terrorist activities in Kosovo. According to the Skopje daily Dnevnik, the KPC had established a “sixth operation zone” which:

“included Presevo, Bujanovac, Medvedja [in Southern Serbia] and Macedonian villages in the area of Skopska Crna Gora, Lojane, Vaksince, Straza and Lipkovo… Sources, who insist on anonymity, claim that headquarters of Kosovo protection brigades [directly linked to the UN sponsored KPC] have [March 2000] already been formed in Tetovo, Gostivar and Skopje. They are being prepared in Debar and Struga [on the border with Albania] as well, and their members have defined codes.” (13)



According to the BBC, “Western special forces were still training the guerrillas” meaning that they were assisting the KLA in opening up “a new front” in Southern Serbia and Macedonia. (14)



References:



1. Washington Times, 14 December 1997 and US Congress, Press Release, "Militant Islamic Base", Congressional Press Releases, 16 January 1997.
2. Scotland on Sunday, Glasgow, 15 June 2001, http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/text...?id=SS01025960, see also UPI, 9 July 2001.

3. New York Times, 19 March 2001. In March 2001, the New York-based Albanian-language newspaper Bota Sot printed an advertisement by the National Liberation Army (NLA) "calling Albanians [in the US] to register as volunteers and to donate money." See The Guardian, London, 20 March 2001.

4. The Guardian, 20 March 2001, available at http://gu.com/Kosovo/Story/0,2763,459596,00.html. See also ITAR Tass, Moscow, 20 March 2001.

5. According to the editor of Bota Sot, Dervish Jahjaga interviewed by The Guardian, London, 20 March 2001.

6. For further details see Sunday Times, London, 10 June 2001 at http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/p...neeu01001.html. See also Jared Israel, Sorry Virginia, but they are NATO troops, not Rebels, Emperors Clothes, June 2001 at http://emperors-clothes.com/mac/times2.htm.

7. Irish Times, Dublin, 5 July 2001.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. See Michel Chossudovsky, The United Nations Appoints an Alleged War Criminal in Kosovo, March 2000, at http://www.emperors-clothes.com/arti...s/unandthe.htm.

11. Quoted in John Sweeney and Jen Holsoe, "Kosovo Disaster Response Service Stands Accused of Murder and Torture," The Observer, London, 12 March 2000.

12. Ibid

13. Macedonian Information Centre Newsletter, Skopje, 21 March 2000, published by BBC Summary of World Broadcast, 24 March 2000.

14. BBC, 29 January 2001, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/wor...00/1142478.stm.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Old news, but relevant to this topic and good for reference.

Putin to use force in Macedonia? Russia: NATO has turned Kosovo into 'a breeding ground of terrorism'

March 22, 2001

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=8555

Warning that the military clashes occurring in the small Balkan nation of Macedonia could "spill over … into the rest of the Balkan Peninsula," Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a letter of support to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, promising diplomatic and military cooperation.
Putin's letter was delivered by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who is currently visiting heads of state in the Balkans, the area of the world known as the "powder keg of Europe."

Putin declared that "decisive political action -- and, if necessary, the use of force" can avert a wider Balkan war. He also said that Russia would be willing to join "Europe and the United States in diplomatic -- and possibly military -- efforts" to end the crisis in the region. Putin's remarks were carried by the Voice of Russia World Service, the official broadcasting service of the Russian government. On Monday, Ivanov blamed NATO for the present instability in the region, stating that NATO had turned Kosovo -- the nominally Yugoslav province which it has occupied since the end of the 1999 air war -- "into a breeding ground of terrorism."

New Talibans

The prime minister of the Republic of Macedonia, Ljubco Georgievski, whose second largest city is currently under attack by ethnic Albanian separatists, declared in a recent press interview that the current round of bloodshed in the Balkans is part of an "organized and long-planned aggression." The ethnic Albanian guerrilla forces operating in Macedonia refer to themselves as the National Liberation Army. Their numbers are estimated to range from 500 to 2,000 fighters. Many observers consider the fighters in Macedonia to be linked to separatists in Kosovo and the south of Serbia, who are bound in a common struggle for the eventual goal of a "Greater Albania." The National Liberation Army's source of support is Kosovo, according to Georgievski. "Logistics, commanders, organization comes from Kosovo," he said. Georgievski also claimed that former Kosovo Liberation Army personnel are now engaged in the fighting in Macedonia. Georgievski's remarks were reported by Radio Bulgaria International, the official broadcasting service of the Bulgarian government. While acknowledging NATO's political support for the government of Macedonia, Georgievski echoed Ivanov's criticism of the alliance. "We want them [NATO] to clearly admit" that the current struggle in Macedonia is an "overflowing of the Kosovo crisis." "The international community hesitates to admit that fact," Georgievski stated, "because it would mean … its policy has failed." Georgievski also raised the specter that past support of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo has had the unintended effect of establishing an Islamic fundamentalist, Taliban-like presence close to the heart of Europe. NATO and the international community, according to Georgievski, have been "fighting only to create a new type of Taliban. Western democracies created new Talibans, and that … [will] become one of Europe's future problems." Negotiations are out of the question, according to Georgievski, stating that his nation has "only one will -- terrorism to be destroyed once and for all." The regional powers of Greece and Bulgaria have already provided military hardware to Macedonia. As to the use of foreign troops in the conflict, Georgievski stated that he did not believe that Macedonia presently needed foreign soldiers. He did acknowledge that if his nation did require such aid, troops should be supplied from the international community as a whole, not from an individual country. The probability of NATO or the international community coming to Macedonia's aid with troops is, at present, slight. Both the EU and NATO are loath to intervene in the Macedonian struggle, and there is even disagreement as to the analysis of the strength of the ethnic Albanian forces in Macedonia.

According to the Radio Bulgaria report, U.N. special envoy for the Balkans Carl Bildt expressed disagreement with NATO Secretary General George Robertson over the numbers and organizational structure of the separatists. While Robertson sees the separatists in Macedonia as a small, relatively isolated group, Bildt warns of a "fairly well-organized" force that controls "an entire region" of Macedonia. Bildt also observed that Macedonia's army is "badly armed," and heavily dependent upon the Albanian minority for manpower. Approximately 40 percent of the Macedonian army is comprised of ethnic Albanians.

Is that true, or is the writer just uninformed?



Friday, 24 August, 2001, Putin warns on Macedonia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1507703.stm

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has spoken out strongly against what he called "confusion and misconception" over events in Macedonia. Speaking after a meeting in Kiev with the Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, Mr Putin warned against the break-up of Macedonia along ethnic lines. He also reiterated Russia's view that Nato's actions in Kosovo lie at the heart of Macedonia's current difficulties. The two presidents stressed their common view of who is responsible for the latest Balkan conflict.

Terrorists

Mr Putin said that the Macedonian leadership was "confronted with terrorists, whose true objective is to redraw the borders in Europe". The Kremlin rejects the ethnic Albanians' assertions that civil rights issues lie behind the conflict. Russian policy was welcomed by Macedonia's President Trajkovski, who publicly thanked Russia for its approach. Officially, Russia backs Nato's operation Essential Harvest to collect weapons from the rebels.

Kremlin Warning

But the Kremlin warns that disarming the rebels may take many years, a far cry from Nato's up-beat assessments of its chances of success. Mr Putin's own view is more pessimistic. He says he does not believe the rebels will surrender their weaponry voluntarily. And he repeated Russia's view that Nato should not become involved in military action against the rebels without the approval of the UN Security Council. Russia links the bombing campaign Nato conducted against Yugoslavia two years ago with Macedonia's fraught security situation. The Macedonian leadership believes that Nato's presence in Kosovo has done little to curb ethnic Albanian separatists. That view is backed by Moscow, where officials say Nato's intervention spurred on militants committed to building a greater Albania.

10 October 31, 2001, UKRAINE FORGES MILITARY ALLIANCE WITH MACEDONIA

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=28044

UKRAINE AND RUSSIA FORGE A COMMON POSITION ON MACEDONIA

Putin's arrival in Kyiv with Vladimir Rushailo, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, and Aleksandr Voloshin, head of the presidential administration, reflected not only Russia's renewed interest in maintaining Ukraine within its sphere of influence, but a common position with Ukraine on events in Macedonia and Kosovo. After the joint meeting in Kyiv, Russia, Ukraine and Macedonia outlined their opposition to NATO's alleged support for Albanian Muslim separatism in Kosovo and Macedonia.

Support for NATO declined in Ukraine, even in its traditionally anti-Russian Western regions, after the alliance's military operations against Serbia in April 1999. Neither Ukraine or Macedonia are intrinsically pro-Serb or anti-NATO, But, as newly independent states that emerged from the ruins of multinational states, they are sensitive about threats to their territorial integrity and thus support the territorial status quo in postcommunist Europe. At a joint Ukrainian-Macedonian press conference in Kyiv, President Kuchma said: "The entire world should proceed from the central point--the territorial integrity and independence of Macedonia--and investigate where there is terrorism, and where the protection of national interests." On a visit to Bulgaria in September, the Ukrainian and Bulgarian presidents said that Macedonia should not be divided along ethnic lines and called for the Albanian rebels' complete disarmament.

The Ukrainian and Russian take on developments in Kosovo and Macedonia corresponds to that of Slavic countries in the Balkans, which view the Albanian fighters as "terrorists." NATO, on the other hand, views them as "rebels," and NATO's military campaign in Kosovo cause fear in Ukraine that it would set a precedent for regions like the Crimea, if the Crimean Tatars were to launch a violent separatist campaign. While the Tatars are anti-Russian and thus natural allies of Ukraine's national democrats, some Ukrainians fear the Tatars are only waiting for the time when the become a majority in Crimea to break away from Ukraine.

UKRAINE BECOMES MAIN MILITARY SUPPLIER OF WEAPONS TO MACEDONIA

Macedonian Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski visited Ukraine this past summer as part of an expansion of military cooperation between the two countries that began when the start of the Albanian insurgency in Macedonia. Ukraine is Macedonia's largest supplier of military equipment and therefore vital to the success of its campaign against Albanian separatists. Buckovski and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk discussed several ways to expand military and technical cooperation.

First, the number of Macedonian pilots trained in Ukraine's large number of military academies will increase. Macedonia has heavily relied on its air power in its war against separatists. Ukraine is also prepared to offer training to police and special forces, which Macedonia lacks. Ukraine has well-trained special forces for domestic counterinsurgency in the Ministry of Interior (which took over the National Guard in 2000) and the Border Troops.

Second, Macedonian military equipment, such as airplanes and tanks, will be serviced in Ukraine. Ukraine has already supplied four Mi-8 helicopters to Macedonia's military from its peacekeeping mission in neighboring Kosovo. In June Ukraine also supplied SU-25 attack aircraft to Macedonia.

Involvement in peacekeeping in separatist conflicts like Kosovo and Macedonia is useful to Ukraine itself. Ukraine can offload more of the huge military arsenal it inherited as a frontline former Soviet republic. After the arrest of a Ukrainian gunrunner in Italy this past summer the Guardian newspaper reported that Ukraine had exported upwards of US$32 billion worth of arms in the 1990s, most of it illegally. Ukraine ranks among the world's top ten arms exporters and expects to increase these sales by 8 percent this year.

Peacekeeping in the Balkans and participation in NATO Partnership for Peace exercises helps Ukraine train its own troops in case separatist unrest erupts inside Ukraine. Many of these exercises aim to deal with a local conflict requiring international assistance.

Under heavy U.S. and NATO pressure, Ukraine agreed to "suspend" its deliveries of military weapons to Macedonia during the NATO peacekeeping operation there. Nevertheless, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Serhy Borodenko said that Kyiv would continue its "military cooperation" with Macedonia despite this temporary "suspension." The Ukrainian side has admitted that this continued "cooperation" could only be undertaken with Russian support.

In late September, Ukraine delivered thirty-one T-72 tanks to Macedonia, claiming they were being delivered under a contract signed in 1999. Ukraine did not rule out a new contract, with two sides expressing their readiness "to continue mutually advantageous Ukrainian-Macedonian cooperation in the political, economic and other areas."

CONCLUSION

Ukrainian, Macedonian and Russian national interests coincide in opposing Albanian "terrorists" and all three countries remain distrustful of NATO's actions in Kosovo and Macedonia. Ukraine has successfully used the crisis in Macedonia to become its largest supplier of military equipment. This will indirectly influence Ukraine's relations with Russia given that, in the contrast to the Yeltsin era, Ukraine and Russia are today also less opposed to cooperation in the military-industrial sphere. Valery Malev, head of the Ukrainian state arms export Ukrspetseksport, recently stated that the development of Ukrainian defense enterprises was impossible without Russian partners. Ukraine and Russia will, however, continue to differ over whether NATO and its enlargement is a threat (Russia) or beneficial (Ukraine).

[George S.]

Even though it's old news it's interesting who were our so called friends & our enemies.Where was nato with their forces to help macedonia in their hour of need in 2001.Here we are bending over to help in athghanistan & we are not even allowed to join nato what a joke,we should pull out before we lose any of our soldiers.
If the russians did come to help macedonia i'm sure that they would have solved the albanian problem for us.Perhaps we should spend our time cultivating more friends instead of wanting to join nato,

[julie]

George, NATO were arming the KLA in our hour of need to destabilise Macedonia, we have lost soldiers in afghanistan compliments of the Macedonian government, and we have a leader of the KLA Albanian on Macedonian parliament, compliments of the FA/IA and our capitulation with the ventilator

[Soldier of Macedon]

It is interesting how even traitors like Buchkovski and Trajkovski were trying to appear 'staunch' in the face of aggression - and even more interesting is how quick they capitulated under US pressure. What was it that scared them into submission? Is there any evidence that the US were going to attack Macedonia if it didn't comply, aside from the precedent set in Serbia?

[Soldier of Macedon]

Here is another article, prior to the war beginning, looks like it has been written by an Albanian:

http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/archive/data/199804/80415-029-trae-sko.htm

WED, 15 APR 1998 21:57:57 GMT


ANOTHER PARTY SUMMIT AT GLIGOROV'S
AIM Skopje, 13 April, 1998

President of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov, gathered leaders of the most relevant political parties on the Macedonian political scene at the third in a row summit where interethnic relations were discussed. This was the first public meeting in the past seven or eight years which had for the topic something that hovered in the air all the time and was one of the most serious threats to the stability of the Republic of Macedonia. Before that, back in 1991, the state leadership had a series of meetings with leaders and deputies of the then Albanian parties - Party of Democratic Prosperity and the National Democratic Party - about the demands of Macedonian Albanians that rights which they had enjoyed in the last years of the rule of communism and which have been abolished in the past few years be given back to them (secondary and university education in mother tongue, increase of the number of programs in Albanian on Macedonian Radio-Television, improvement of the representation of the Albanians in the authorities...). As far as the well-informed know, after these meetings - the conclusions of which took a long time to be translated - relations between the Macedonians and the Albanians were the leitmotif of a few parliamentary sessions in the old and the new composition, but never a particular topic. These issues were always considered as part of the problems which had something to do with interethnic relations - from adoption of the constitution of the newly established state in the very beginning, to the discussion about the report of the parliamentary inquiry commission which investigated for months acting of the police during the intervention on 9 July, 1997.

Macedonian-Albanian relations were, as a rule, discussed at various forms of "secret meetings" mostly by the Macedonians and the Albanians gathered in the ruling coalition (meetings of leaders of the Party of Democratic Prosperity, its leadership, Albanian ministers with the president of the state, the prime minister, and similar). In the meantime, various incidents occured ranging from "arrests of children-sellers of smuggled cigarettes" in Skopje Bit Pazar, siege of the village of Radoliste in Struga district aimed at search for illegal weapons held by the Albanians, the known scandal about alleged Albanian para-military units which was first politically created and then politically resolved first by court convictions and then pardon of ten odd people, the beginning of work of the university in Albanian in Mala Recica near Tetovo, when the police brutally intervened, and some Albanians after that spent a few months in prison, all the way to last year's riots in Gostivar in connection with hoisting of the flag of Albanian nationality on the municipal building and trial of mayors of Tetovo and Gostivar. By the way, the latter decided on his own free will to start serving his 7-year sentence in prison a few days ago. In the past period there were victims, and the Macedonian-Albanian relations occasionally became explosive.

That is the reason why the very announcement of the gathering of party leaders at president Gligorov's could not provoke a negative reception in the public. The problem simply exists, everybody knows how severe it is, and everybody fears it.

After the summit which was held behind closed doors and at which it was agreed that the participants would not give statements about its course, but after which a curt statement was issued from the president's office, it became clear that the meeting could bring nothing new but repetition of the well known party stands and clear differences. In the statement from Kiro Gligorov's office about the two-day meeting on the highest level, it was said that it had "passed in an open conversation, in the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect, with corroborated approaches and readiness to face the differences which objectively exist in political stands". Further on, it is stated that the talks of the leaders were successful, and that "political will was established for an active contribution to harmonization of interethnic relations, not stirring up intolerance and hatred, all that with an appeal for restraint from abuse of the issues from this sphere in political propaganda, especially at the time of the elections".

Obviously, even the attempt to adopt any document that would be signed by all failed. In other words, although the impression was created that it was possible to talk "with a cool head" about relations the quality of which conditions much in Macedonia and in the region, it was impossible to go further than the statement that it was good to talk about interethnic relations and the conclusion that such talks should be continued. It was possible to learn more about the course of the meeting from newspapers which managed to get hold of some information. On the one hand, from the circles close to the president it was denied that that his office had prepared any draft document which the participants were expected to sign. On the other hand, rumour goes that the draft document was met with hostility by everybody, even by the ruling Social Democratic Alliance, and even Gligorov himself disassociated himself from it reproaching his own advisory team for the poor quality of the document. Then it leaked that the VMRO-DPMNE, party with an emphasized Macedonian prefix, offered its own draft declaration which was then published in extenso by Skopje weekly Fokus. Apart from general statements about interethnic relations as an important factor of Macedonian reality which could (un)favourably affect the Macedonian society, expressions of profound respect for ethnic identity of every citizen of the Republic of Macedonia, understanding of differences in this respect, disassociation from all forms of interethnic intolerance, the stand that ethnic entities were civilization values cherishing, preservation and development of which was a permanent commitment of the Macedonian state and society, special responsibilities were also mentioned in the draft made by VMRO-DPMNE: "By saying special responsibilities we mean, first, obeying of the Constitution and the laws of the state; second, restraining oneself from activities aimed against territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of the state". Draft declaration of VMRO-DPMNE which was not even discussed at the meeting in Gligorov's office, advocates "establishing balance with a double objective: protection of their ethnic and cultural identity and provision of conditions for their continuation and development, on the one hand, and protection of integrity of the state, on the other. This prospect for the future can be fitted within the framework outlined by the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Macedonia as well as international conventions and declaration on protection of members of ethnic minorities".

Leader of the minor, but "strictly" Albanophobic Democratic Party of Macedonia, Tomislav Stojanovski-alias Bombay, declared that at the meeting masks had fallen and that he himself was satisfied because the leader of the Democratic Party of the Albanians, Arben Xhaferi was unmasked! It is evident that the meeting got stuck concerning the difference between the Albanian demand for recognition of the Albanians as the constituent nation in Macedonia and everything that this implies and interpretation that the demands for amendment of the Constitution in the sense that Macedonia be organized as a bi-national state, that consensus be introduced, that the Albanian language be proclaimed the second official language, and that education in Albanian be provided on all levels - in fact means change of the civic concept of the state, and ultimately leads to its disappearance. Practically the old incompatibilities were just confirmed, that differences were such that they excluded each other and that they could hardly be coordinated by a compromise, because the Macedonian and the Albanian stands were quite contrary. There were many speculations in Macedonian media with repeated absence of the president of the Party of Democratic Prosperity Abdurrahman Aliti from the summit. His absence is linked to his alleged personal stand that there is no use talking to Gligorov, because he always agrees with what his party says, which is part of the ruling coalition, but does nothing to implement what was mutually acceptable and agreed.

It therefore, turned out that president Gligorov held just one in a row of ceremonial summits, something like a plenum of the former communist central committee which usually used to sit for two days but with no tangible effects. And life goes on as before. In the past few months shy information appeared in public about not at all small number of fights on ethnic grounds, either at traditional school excursions, in schools or in places where young people gather. There are beaten up persons on both sides. Skopje Dnevnik has recently published news about another form of interethnic "tolerance". Due to inadequate equipment of the ministry of transportation and communication (read: due to its incapability to control the air) somebody is for days jamming broadcasting of Skopje radio station called Vat whose programs are in Albanian. The program of this radio station, which by the way has a very powerful transmitter (500 Watt) is "veiled" with the slogan "No freedom to the Shqipetars!" and by Macedonian nationalistic songs. Experts believe that something like that is possible only if those who are disturbing Vat's program have a slightly more powerful trannsmitter - which again means that it can be done by another radio station or that an expensive transmitter was bought just for the purpose. In any case, it is a sign that the war in the media has begun. The cherry on top of the affair is the decision of the Democratic Party of the Albanians, on the occasion of the departure of Gostivar mayor Rufi Osmani to serve his seven-year long sentence in prison, to withdraw from the institutions of the system. Seven of its members of parliament, nine mayors and 240 municipal councilmen are demissioning, and citizens' protests are announced. Cheers, Mister Gligorov!

AIM Skopje

ISO RUS

[Bratot]

Here is another article, prior to the war beginning, looks like it has been written by an Albanian:
http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/arch...9-trae-sko.htm

Dobar nos

http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/11113.html

Името на копилето кое работи во друштвото на Сорос е Исо Руси, квази-новинар за комунизмот чии родители држеа функции во КПМ.

Добра статија која ги поврзува сите платени агенти:

http://www.makedonskosonce.com/broevis/2007/sonce699.pdf/12_13_obse.pdf