FYROM’s political leadership is in the process of transferring its dispute with Athens firstly to the USA and secondly to Canada, with the objective of changing the breadth and the depth of the negotiations, which are currently being held under the auspices of Mathew Nimitz, and of “isolating” Greece as a country which severely violates human rights.
The pseudo-irredentist propaganda of Skopje, by which it essentially disputes Greece’s sovereignty over the northern part of the country, will be promoted with a barrage of advertisements on the American media, and with the publication of law suits by so called “Aegean Macedonians” against the Greek state.
To achieve these aims, a quasi-legal amorphous mechanism involving US Government employees, diplomats, businessmen and analysts has been established, with input from State Department and Pentagon operatives.
THE “ACTIVISTS”
The coordination of these activities, as well as the confrontation of the “Greek Lobby”, has been assigned to ORION Strategies, a company founded by Randy Scheunemann, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to presidential candidate, John McCain.
IN THE FIRST PHASE, ORION STRATEGIES HAS RECEIVED A FEE OF 300,000 USD THROUGH AN ORGANIZATION BY THE NAME OF “UNITED MACEDONIAN DIASPORA”, A SLAV-MACEDONIAN DIASPORA ORGANIZATION BASED IN WASHINGTON, USA, WHICH FOCUSES ON PROMOTING FYROM’S PROPAGANDA INTERNATIONALLY, THE PRESIDENT OF WHICH IS A CERTAIN METODIJA A. KOLOSKI.
Approximately 10 “activists” who have been instructed to “loudly” intervene during lectures and seminars where Greek diplomats will be presenting and to provoke questions concerning the so-called “Macedonian minority” are also members of the United Macedonian Diaspora organization. Whilst many of them appear “colorful” or eccentric, their aim is to create problems, and to present Greece as a undemocratic country, where all individual freedoms are suppressed.
This FYROM propaganda support group includes, notably, the following individuals who hold official and unofficial positions within the group:
Slavko Madzarov, a prominent businessman from New Jersey, and financier of ambitious American politicians. He is involved in the building industry and is notable supporter of New Jersey congressman Bill Pascrell, who heads up the non-existent “Friends of Macedonia” group in Congress, which is comprised all-in-all of three congressmen! He has been elevated to the rank of FYROM’s honorary consul to the stat of New Jersey and carries himself as the defacto representative of Nikola Gruevski in the United States. His political power base is mostly at the local level, however.
Mike Zafirovski, president of the Nortel Company. He belongs to the entourage of President George Bush as a member of the Telecom Advisory Committee. He is a powerful supporter of the Skopje propaganda machine in the USA and has financially supported the pre-election campaigns of the Republican Party.
THE SUSPICIONS
Suspicions have been raised concerning the role of Daniel Fried, US Undersecretary of State, which he himself refutes categorically, and his connection with the FYROM propaganda machine, and in providing tacit support to FYROM’s anti-Greek pseudo-irredentist propaganda.
Well-founded concerns were expressed following his behavior and maneuvering further to the recent letter sent by Nikola Gruevski to Greece’s Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. During a conversation with a Greek diplomat Fried seemed, quite undiplomatically, to be overcome with anger. Moreover, he is said to have stated that he will communicate with Athens to head off the angry response by the Greek Prime Minister, so that the negotiation process is not affected by the stupidity [of Gruevski].
During the course of a discussion he had with the Pan Macedonian Association of America, he again expressed disappointment [concerning the latest actions of Gruevski]. However, he steadfastly refused and did not even permit the release of a statement from the State Department publicizing his exact response to this provocation, which in the end appeared to be non-existent…. His maneuvering vindicated all those who continue to believe that Fried fosters the pseudo-irredentist propaganda of Skopje with his statements concerning a “Macedonian ethnicity” and “Macedonian language”.
THE INFORMATION HELD BY ATHENS
The Greek government has evidence that Paul Feiffer, a State Department Operative, is an informant and consultant to the Skopje leadership and to FYROM’s ambassador in Washington. Athens has already diplomatically complained to Washington, presenting credible evidence, about the activities of Mr. Feiffer, without any apparent result.
THE PENTAGON CLIQUE AND THE “ANALYSTS”
Laurence Butler, Assistant Undersecretary of State, and former ambassador to FYROM is another friend and consultant of Mr. Gruevski. His traces can be found on many of the provocations and actions of the FYROM leadership against Greece.
Athens suspects that the idea of this year’s recent “get-together” in the Florina region is the brainchild of American operatives, especially since Greek diplomats were informed of it the first time from Mr. Butler’s the inner circle.
It is notable that there is strong support of Skopje from the Pentagon establishment, citing FYROM’s military contribution in Iraq, which amounts to no more than 100 soldiers!
FYROM’s US – based propaganda machine’s relationship with Randy Scheunemann’s ORION strategies commenced after an introduction by a senior employee of the US Defense Department.
The Greek Government believes that one of the agents of Skopje’s irredentist campaign is the analyst Edward Joseph – who collaborates with the Brookings Institution. In fact, Greek diplomats in the USA and in Europe have clashed with him many times.
He is primarily known through the publication of one of his reports for the curious “International Crisis Group”, which undermined the negotiations of the government of Kostas Simitis with Branko Crvenkovski concerning the name issue.
Recently, he published a report in “Spiegel” entitled “How the Greek dispute concerning “Macedonia’s” name will be resolved”. His basic idea and contribution centered around the justification of Skopje’s pseudo-irredentism. Moreover, he made a very negative impression through his assertion that the Greek objections relating to FYROM’s name issue were due to the existence of a “Macedonian minority” in Greece.“Greece”, predicted the analyst, as if he were himself prescribing the “penalty”,“will bear a heavy political price……..”
FYROM’S AMERICAN GUIDANCE
Randy Scheunemann (Advisor to presidential candidate John McCain)
Randy Scheunemann is the Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to John McCain and coordinator of the opposition to the “Greek lobby” and of the promotion of Skopje’s propaganda, through ORION Strategies which he himself founded. His relationship with the Republican Party’s presidential candidate is an especially close one and they frequently travel together. As a down payment, his company received 300,000 USD from the organization “United Macedonian Diaspora” whose president is a certain Metodija A. Koloski. The aim of ORION Strategies is to establish a propaganda machine incorporating US government officials, operatives, diplomats and analysts.
Mike Zafirovski (George W. Bush Advisor)
Mike Zafirovski is the President of the Nortel Company. He belongs to George Bush’s staff, as a member of the Telecom Advisory Committee.Lawrence Butler (Assistant Undersecretary of State)Lawrence Butler is Assistant Undersecretary of State, and former ambassador to FYROM. His traces are to be found on many of the provocations of the FYROM leadership against Greece.
Edward P. Joseph (Analyst)
Edward P. Joseph is an Analyst and collaborates with the Brookings Institution. He is primarily known through the publication of one of his reports for the curious “International Crisis Group”, which undermined the negotiations of the government of Kostas Simitis with Branko Crvenkovski concerning the name issue. His primary contribution centered around the justification of Skopje’s pseudo-irredentism.
Article by Mihalis Ignatiou, Ethnos Newspaper, 19th July 2008
http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=11378&subid=2&tag=8777&pubid=1320665
Original title of the article is .......The godfathers of the provocations.
Translated into English by Captain Agras, 22nd July 2008
