Macedonian-Russian Relations

[tchaiku]

I would say if they were trying to stick it to the EU. But I can't see much useful help coming from Russia anytime soon.

Greeks and Russians love each other. They would never sacrifice their brotherhood.

[Gocka]

LMAO you are an idiot.

Greeks and Russians love each other. They would never sacrifice their brotherhood.

[vicsinad]

LMAO you are an idiot.

The brotherhood of the travelling pants?

[tchaiku]

^Do you guys know something that I don't?

[Vangelovski]

I think we're seeing the re-emergence of Russia as a genuine world player, something not seen since the break-up of the USSR, this has been most obvious in Syria and more covertly in Ukraine in recent years.

I don't think Russia has ever been a genuine world power and I can't see it getting there in the foreseeable future. The only reason they have been placed in that category is because they have nuclear weapons, but their conventional military has never had the ability to project power away from home (other than during WWII, but even then it relied on US supplies). Sure they had a few bases and ports and a blue water navy for a few years, but they never had the money to genuinely make them useful - not to the extent that the British or Japanese did or the Americans do now.

I think Syria and Ukraine are just another example of Russian limitations. They've only started two wars that they can't finish - much like the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, or Vietnam before that.

For the first time in a long time, the Russian's have managed to step on a few (american and other western) toes and the US is finding it harder to go full carte blanche in any corner of the world that it so chooses.

Its true they've blocked solo American involvement in a few places, but these places are money pits. I don't think it was a smart move on Russia's behalf. Though the benefit is that it provides their military with real war force projection - the first in decades.

Where the US had projected itself internationally after the fall of communism, such as dragging the East Europeans and Baltic states into the western (read U.S.) orbit in a specific strategy designed to destroy the relationships those countries once had with the former Soviet Union (read Russia) and making them beholden to the 'western system' (read U.S.), therefor leaving a future Russian Federation in a far weaker position, one that would reduce the Russian's to a future of isolationism or do things on America's terms.

I'm not sure that it was a matter of dragging the Baltics and other East European states from mother Russia's bossom and throwing them into America's slave pit. The Baltic states, Georgia, and most East European states have generally viewed Russia as a foreign occupier and oppressor, much like patriotic Macedonians view Serbia or Greece.

Whether being 'beholden' to an American system is better or worse is up for debate, but they certainly weren't dragged kicking and screaming from the Russians.

Today the Russian's have seen an opportunity to dismantle the western project of containing Moscow. The Russian's have seen the 'chink in the armour' of the US capitalist model...the seeds of discontent as a result of globalisation and the ever increasing questioning of the supranational monoliths, like the EU and NATO.

Let me know when the US capitalist model collapses. Karl Marx predicted that it would nearly 170 years ago and the world holds it breath in anticipation...meanwhile, communism (as per Marx's vision in which the state would 'wither away' and a new "communist man" and social/economic order would come into existence) is yet to show up.

What I think the Russian's are doing is stoking the fires of discontent that are fanning across Europe.
Just as the US was hell bent on limiting the rise of Russia once and for all, using the mechanisms of the EU and NATO, the Russian's now see an opportunity to undermine, impede or perhaps even destroy those very same western institutions, thereby weakening the US itself and reestablishing some semblance of equilibrium.

Quite possibly true, but as long as Russia doesn't actually use its nuclear weapons, its not a threat to either the larger European countries or the US. I think Russians are more interested in escaping Russia and moving to the West than they are in destroying or dominating the Europeans and the Americans. I think the Europeans and the Americans are well aware of the fact that Russia isn't 'rising' and never will under an authoritarian political and economic system that can neither create a comparative standard of living or unleash the creative potential of its citizens.

Sadly, little Macedonia becomes a mere black pawn on the chess board...again.

I don't think Macedonia is a pawn. There is nothing that can be gained by either side through Macedonia. Its more of a nuisance that thinks its more important on the world scene that it really is, which no one cares about.

[Gocka]

hahaha, something like that I suppose. Zato od Sparta i Makedonija gi vikaja pedercina.

The brotherhood of the travelling pants?

Yes

^Do you guys know something that I don't?

[Redsun]

https://euobserver.com/foreign/137194

By Andrew Rettman
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:11

EU leaders at a summit on Thursday (9 March) said “external challenges” have contributed to the “fragile situation” in the Western Balkans in a thinly-veiled reference to Russia.

The summit communique also voiced concern on “internal” factors, referring to a recent flare-up in nationalist and ethnic tensions in the region.

It pledged the EU’s “unequivocal support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans” and said the EU remained “engaged at all levels” to support “EU-oriented reforms and projects”.

The reference to “external” interference was added to the final draft after EU diplomats discussed Russia during the week. Earlier drafts of the communique also contained stronger language on EU engagement.

The EU had earlier pledged to “support stability and … deepen political and economic ties” with Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, but this was cut from the final declaration.

Summing up the debate at Thursday's dinner in Brussels, European Council chief Donald Tusk said: “Tensions and divisions [in the Western Balkans] have got out of hand partly due to unhealthy external influences which have been destabilising several countries for some time”.

“I will propose to leaders that we take action, including in our strategic communications,” he added.

British prime minister Theresa May named Russia as the culprit.

“In light of the alleged Montenegro coup plot, I will call for us to do more to counter destabilising Russian disinformation campaigns and raise the visibility of the Western commitment to this region,” she said on Thursday in Brussels.

She added that the UK would host a summit on the Western Balkans in 2018 for the sake of “collective security” in Europe.

EU states are also wary of Turkey’s and Gulf Arab states’ efforts to increase influence in the region, but Russia’s behaviour is seen as more dangerous.
Russian behaviour

EU diplomats said Russia tried to orchestrate a violent coup in Montenegro last year to stop the country from joining Nato, as planned, in May.

It has supplied arms to Serbia, prompting a backlash by Kosovo which, also on Thursday, threatened to walk away from EU-mediated talks.

It has also claimed that the EU is trying to create a Greater Albania in a statement designed to fan ethnic tension in Macedonia.

The British prime minister’s warning on “destabilising Russian disinformation campaigns” pointed to Moscow’s wider propaganda effort.

It's media, such as RT and Sputnik, have in the past reported fake news that the West was planning to assassinate Mirolav Dodik, a Serb leader in Bosnia, and that it had organised pogroms against ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

The EU foreign service already has a “strategic communications” cell, but its mandate does not cover the Western Balkans.

Some member states, such as Poland and Slovakia, had wanted to send a stronger message of EU support for enlargement.
EU engagement

European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said three years ago that no new states would enter the EU in his term in office.

EU capitals also lost appetite for enlargement amid Brexit and the migration crisis, as well as fatigue with slow Balkan reform.

Juncker on Thursday defended his old statement.

“I don't think this was a mistake when I announced back in July 2014 that there would be no enlargements … because as a matter of fact no candidate country is ready to join,” he said.

“We did not stop the enlargement negotiations,” he added.

Tusk invoked “the promise of Thessaloniki” to reassure Balkan leaders of their EU future, referring to an EU summit pledge on accession made in the Greek city in 2003.

He also echoed the stronger language on EU engagement that had been redacted from the summit’s final communique.

“The European Union remains … fully committed to the stability and prosperity of the region,” he said.

[Stevce]

Macedonia should join with Serbia to end the Albanian problem once and for all.

[Redsun]

What do you mean “join” with Serbia?

Would Serbia ever do anything in the Balkans unless there is a conflict for them to take advantage of? How can you be certain they don’t “hope” and “wish” for conflict in the Balkans for the opportunity to pursue their own interest.

How long must a conflict last until Serbia decides to enter Kosovo? Do you think they would take any action before the Terrorist militants focus on their southern border, you don’t think they would wait for the right opportunity.

Why wouldn’t they take action on their own interest, what exactly do you expect from Serbia?

[Redsun]

Have you been reading the news?

Have you noticed how Western media outlets are using Russia to undermine our situation.

While Macedonia is in this deadlock horrible situation, Russia and the west are throwing mud at one another.

I am under the impression Russia is trying to gain the peoples confidence in the Balkans while the western media is vilifying Russia in order to portray Russia as the instigator in an attempt to gain support not in the Balkans but in the west itself. Military spending is not popular, the media helps paint these situations.

[Stevce]

Hi Redsun by join, I mean a joint military strike force against the Albanians. Taking out the political leaders and terrorist fighters.

[Redsun]

A joint military strike force will not achieve the outcome/result you desire.

Wouldn't such an action favor Albania, haven't they been carefully provoking Macedonians in hope of some form of reprisal as an attempt to portray the Macedonians as the aggressor. Why play their game?

Don't you think the Albanians have been well advised not to initiate an attack. They are provocative, how can you be certain that they do not desire an attack in order for them to take action and to justify any intervention and support.

Think about the situation we are in.

Any joint military strike force is just shameful. It will not work.

[Redsun]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-us-...ia-out/5578572

The US-NATO Plan for Macedonia: Keep Serbia Down and Russia Out
By Marcus Papadopoulos

The role of the United States in the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is often overlooked by people who are critical of Washington’s intervention in the internal affairs of independent, sovereign countries.

For it was in the former Yugoslavia that the precedent was set for future American intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo provided the launch pad for the West’s concept of humanitarian intervention, which, in reality, is a pretext for safeguarding and enhancing US global hegemony.

However, intervention by Washington in the Balkans in the 1990s served a more immediate objective for the Americans. While Otto von Bismarck, the legendary first Chancellor of Germany, scoffed at the notion of intervening in the Balkans, having said that the region is “not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier,” the US took a decidedly different view on the matter.

For Washington, helping to break up Yugoslavia would not only create client states for the US but would also, at best, keep Russia out of the Balkans, or, at worst, limit Russian influence in the region (historically, Russia has close connections there based on pan-Slavism and the Orthodox faith). An American presence in the Balkans would also allow US policy-makers to project American power beyond the region, as Camp Bondsteel, in Kosovo, has been helping to do for nearly twenty years now. Incidentally, it is one of the largest overseas US military bases in the world, hosting up to seven thousand soldiers and an array of military equipment.

Today, Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo are American client states. But the process of Washington colonizing the Balkans is not yet complete. Standing in the way of the US achieving full mastery over the region are Serbia and Russia.

Throughout its history, Serbia has resisted foreign occupiers, from the Ottoman Empire to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the German Empire to the Third Reich. However, since the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic, in 2000, in an election which the Americans played a decisive role in, Serbia has begun to be colonized by the US. Today, there are NATO supervisory offices in key Serbian institutions, from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the judiciary to the civil service. The former is all the more ironic and humiliating for Serbs given that NATO representatives sit in the very building that NATO partly destroyed during its bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999.

Further to that, to weaken Serbia and ensure that it does not resist the diktats of Washington, the US encouraged and recognized Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, as well as having instigated and overseen the fraudulent independence referendum result in Montenegro in 2006. As a consequence of both illegal actions, Belgrade lost control of Kosovo and Montenegro, reducing Serbia in size and in clout.

But despite Washington’s penetration of Serbia, assisted by the European Union, and accelerated under the current prime minister, Alexander Vucic, more and more ordinary Serbs are coming to realize the tremendously damaging effects of American influence in their country – politically, economically, militarily and socially – and thus anti-Western sentiment in Serbia is now widespread.

Buoyed by its emphatic return to the international arena, and by its foreign policy successes in the Crimea and in Syria, Russia has begun to show increasing interest in the Balkans. Moscow understands the geostrategic importance of the Balkans for Russian national security and, like Tsarist Russia is starting to capitalize on pro-Russian sentiment in Serbia, Montenegro, the Republika Srpska (the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Macedonia. And it is Macedonia that today the US regards as constituting an effective means of keeping the Americans in the Balkans, the Serbs down in the Balkans and the Russians out of the Balkans.

Washington, which is actively seeking both NATO and EU membership for Macedonia, is acutely aware that political, economic and cultural relations between Russia and Macedonia have been steadily progressing in recent years, demonstrated by the construction of the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Skopje, in 2015. That groundbreaking event was presided over by Archbishop Stefan, the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, who also blessed the site.

While Macedonia has been independent for 26 years now, it is a very fragile country, and this is due in large part to its restless Albanian community, which makes up a quarter of Macedonian’s population. Enter the US.

Since the US bombed Serbia in support of the Kosovo Liberation Army, an ethnic Albanian terrorist organization with powerful links to organized crime, Washington has cultivated an extremely strong relationship with Albanians in the Balkans – in Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. US pre-eminence in the region rests, to a large extent, on the fervent support it receives from Albanians there (indeed, Albanians are one of the staunchest supporters of America in the world). It is a mutually beneficial relationship, too, as the Albanian goal of wrestling Kosovo away from Serbia has been realized, due to the NATO bombing of Serbia and the subsequent withdrawal by Belgrade of its army and police from the Serbian province, while the immense political power which ethnic Albanians in Macedonia today wield, is due to the Ohrid Agreement which NATO imposed on Skopje in 2001, following an Albanian terrorist campaign in the country.

Under American patronage, the foundations for a Greater Albania have begun to take shape. And the areas which fall under a Greater Albania include Kosovo, parts of Macedonia, such as Tetovo, the Presevo Valley in Serbia, and parts of Montenegro, such as Malesia.

With historic ties between Serbia and Macedonia (pan-Slavism, the Orthodox faith and a wariness of Albanian territorial ambitions in the Balkans), and developing ties between Russia and Macedonia, and with anti-Western sentiment rapidly increasing in Serbia, and with a resurgent Russian on the international stage, the US has begun to take action to preserve its dominance in the Balkans. And by what means? By playing its trump card in the region: the Albanians.

Currently, in Macedonia, there is an internal crisis, in which the two opposing sides are the Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and the leader of the opposition Zoran Zaev, who is backed by ethnic Albanian political parties. Mr. Ivanov will not grant permission to Mr. Zaev to form a government, rightly fearing that Albanian secessionists in Macedonia will take advantage of this and sever links with Skopje in pursuit of a Greater Albania.

Outside proponents of a Greater Albania have clearly demonstrated their involvement in the crisis in Macedonia. The self-proclaimed president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, has called on ethnic Albanians in Macedonia to “take the destiny of their rights into their own hands.”

Responding to the crisis in Macedonia, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the US and EU of interfering in the internal affairs of the country and of supporting “the Greater Albania project which includes vast areas in a number of Balkan states.”

By Washington playing the Albanian card in Macedonia, the country could cease to exist or could be reduced significantly in size, thus limiting any future Russian presence there. The Albanian-dominated parts of Macedonia could unify under a single entity and replicate what Kosovo did: become de facto independent and then one day unilaterally declares itself independent. That would also serve as a warning to Serbia: namely, if the Serbs continue with their current anti-Western sentiments, then Greater Albania could extend into Serbia, by the Americans encouraging and arming secessionists in the Presevo Valley, which could reduce the country even further in size.

Despite there being a new US administration, there is very little chance of President Donald Trump changing Washington’s policy in the Balkans and abandoning the Albanians there. Indeed, Mr. Trump demonstrated his full support to Kosovo this February when he sent a message to the self-proclaimed Kosovan President Thaci (a man with historical links to organized crime) congratulating Kosovo on its so-called independence.

In the letter, the US President wrote that: “On behalf of the United States, I am pleased to congratulate the people of Kosovo on your independence day on February 17. The partnership between our countries is based on shared values and common interests. A sovereign, multi-ethnic, democratic Kosovo’s future lies in a stable and prosperous Balkan region that is fully integrated into the international community…We look forward to continuing our broad and deep cooperation.

Mr Trump, who, like Thaci, has links to organized crime, is not going to relinquish America’s hold on the Balkans, for continued American dominance of the region will help to achieve the US President’s goal of ensuring American global power remains preeminent, together with his pledge to increase the already bloated US defense budget and to make the American nuclear arsenal the largest in the world.

Macedonia is the country where Washington’s determination to remain dominant in the Balkans is beginning to play out in. The American-Albanian alliance is a lethal one for the security and stability of that historically volatile region. Yet, for the Americans and the Albanians, it is a win-win situation. With the help of the Albanians, the US will remain the leading outside power in the Balkans. And with the help of the Americans, the Albanian goal of realizing a Greater Albania will take another leap forward.

President Trump is starting to play Washington’s trump card – the Albanians – in Macedonia. Making “America great again”is beginning to take on another dimension.

The original source of this article is RT News
Copyright © Marcus Papadopoulos, RT News, 2017

[Soldier of Macedon]

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region.php?yyyy=2017&mm=05&dd=24&nav_id=101361

SOURCE: BETA WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2017

Moscow has been "closely monitoring the developments in Macedonia," Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. This is according to a Beta report on Wednesday, that quoted Macedonia's MIA agency. Putin made the remarks as he met with Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, who is on a two-day visit to Moscow. Russia "wishes for the political situation to develop in line with the (Macedonian) Constitution and the principles of democracy," the Russian leader has been quoted as saying. "I am convinced that your experience and authority will contribute to that effect," Putin told Ivanov. He also "commended the Macedonian-Russian relations and economic cooperation." At the start of the meeting, Putin extended congratulations to Ivanov on the Patriarch Alexey II Award that he received on Tuesday from Russian Patriarch Kirill.

[Risto the Great]

Putin: Macedonia is a cradle of all Slavic literature

http://www.minareport.com/2017/05/24/putin-macedonia-is-a-cradle-of-all-slavic-literature/

I know that you’re in Russia due to a special circumstance. You’re here to receive the foundation award for uniting all Christian Orthodox people. Today is also a special day for Russia as well – the day of Slavic literature and the Cyrillic alphabet who as we all know came to us from Macedonia. I would like to begin with congratulating you on this award, said Putin in his remarks to Macedonian president Gjorgje Ivanov.