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Wednesday.

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Macedonian soldiers stand around an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in the village of Aracinovo June 27, 2001. Macedonian police conducted house to house search of the village of Aracinovo following an agreement with European Union and OSCE under which Albanian rebels were evacuated from the area. REUTERS/Peter Andrews

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Smoke rises from the ethnic Albanian guerrilla stronghold village of Nikushtak, north-east of the capital Skopje, June 27, 2001 during the shelling by Macedonian government forces. Fresh fighting followed fierce protests by nationalists enraged at a Western-led evacuation of ethnic Albanian rebels. REUTERS/Oleg Popov

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A Macedonian soldier throws away empty shells from a T-55 tank on a position facing the ethnic Albanian guerrilla stronghold village of Nikushtak, north-east of the capital Skopje June 27, 2001. Fresh fighting followed fierce protests by nationalists enraged at a Western-led evacuation of ethnic Albanian rebels. REUTERS/Oleg Popov

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A masked Macedonian soldier points to his helmet with the word "vampire" written on it as his unit patrols in the village of Aracinovo, June 27, 2001. Macedonian police conducted a house to house search of the village of Aracinovo following an agreement with European Union and OSCE under which Albanian rebels were evacuated from the area. REUTERS/Peter Andrews

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A masked Macedonian soldier points to his helmet with the word "vampire" written on it as his unit patrols in the village of Aracinovo June 27, 2001. Macedonian police conducted a house to house search of the village of Aracinovo following an agreement with European Union and OSCE under which Albanian rebels were evacuated from the area. REUTERS/Peter Andrews

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Macedonian soldiers carry an Albanian and an American flag after removing them from one of the houses in the village of Aracinovo, June 27, 2001. Macedonian police a conducted house to house search of the village of Aracinovo following an agreement with the European Union and OSCE under which Albanian rebels were evacuated from the area. REUTERS/Peter Andrews

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Macedonian soldiers take cover in the village of Aracinovo, June 27, 2001. Macedonian police conducted a house to house search of the village of Aracinovo following an agreement with the European Union and OSCE under which Albanian rebels were evacuated from the area. REUTERS/Peter Andrews

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A Macedonian army soldier fires a heavy machine-gun from the top of a T-55 tank at the ethnic Albanian guerrilla stronghold village of Nikushtak, north-east of the capital Skopje, June 27, 2001. Macedonia strayed perilously close to wider conflict as fresh fighting followed fierce protests by nationalists enraged at a Western-led evacuation of ethnic Albanian rebels. REUTERS/Oleg

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Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexiy II walk during their visit to an old church in the Belarus village of Lenino, June 27, 2001. The two men, speaking as Pope John Paul II completed a visit to Ukraine, called for unity among Slav nations against Western expansion. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

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PM GEORGIEVSKI: A TEST FOR MACEDONIA AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.

MIA

"Disregarding of whether the so-called NLA will open new fronts and try to occupy new territories, I would like to assure the Macedonian citizens that the Macedonian Army and Police possess such arms, equipment and immense power that they may solve many problems without putting lives of soldiers and policemen at risk. I stand for maximal protection of the live force in the operations, and increased use of the equipment, even if it brings negative criticism of the international community.

I am personally pessimistic and expect new incidents in Macedonia, but we all must have faith in our victory. We have a strong Army and a strong Police, strong will to defend our homeland, and there is no doubt that the Macedonian government would stand behind each operation that is to be carried out.

However, we must not underestimate the enemy. We have a serious, very disciplined enemy, and there are a lot of fanatics in the ranks of the terrorists. We should stop at nothing in the battle against the terrorism. I believe that finally the victory will be ours" Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said in his Tuesday night interview for the Macedonian television.

Georgievski said that the current situation in the field points out that the next two weeks would be a critical period for Macedonia, and added that the results of the ongoing diplomatic activities would be of great importance. He said that no one should foster illusions that someone else would come and fight our battles, and added that the current technical and combat readiness of the Macedonian security forces would be of crucial importance to the further development of the events.

Commenting the blockade of the political dialogue with the Albanian political parties, the Macedonian Prime Minister said that the Albanians blocked the dialogue with their demands for consensual democracy, binational state, and changes of 21 Articles of the Macedonian Constitution. "If we accept this concept of the state, the Republic of Macedonia will maybe survive the current crisis, but I am not sure what will happen after a couple of years" Georgievski pointed out. He added that the dialogue should continue, and emphasised the excellent cooperation of VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM, particularly on the President Trajkovski's Agenda for improvement of the interethnic coexistence.

Georgievski reminded the public of the fact that the dialogue with the Albanian political bloc stopped because of the opposed positions on the constitutional changes, despite the fact that before the start of the dialogue Macedonia made several exceptions.

The Macedonia Prime Minister said that the visit of Robert Badinter would give a new quality to the dialogue, adding that Badinter would be an active participant in the political dialogue. Georgievski said that according to Badinter a binational State or a consensual democracy would not solve the current ethnic disputes in Macedonia.

Georgievski reminded that only four months ago the international community saw the Republic of Macedonia as an example of a multiethnic democracy, a country that highly respects the rights of the ethnic minorities. "I wonder what have Macedonia done four months ago, except for the signing of the Border Demarcation Agreement with Yugoslavia, that might have provoked a military aggression? No one can give the answer to this question. No one can say what has Macedonia done to deserve this aggression," Prime Minister Georgievski added. According to him the answer to this question may be found in the international community's susceptibility to different lobbying and media campaigns. Gerogievski said that Macedonia made a huge mistake by breaking one principle - there are no talks while the terrorists are shooting. Even PDP and DPA supported this firm position in the beginning. This is why "the very conditioning of the disarmament of terrorists with a development in the dialogue is a part of the strategy of lack of principles" Georgievski said, adding that the plan of Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski very clearly states that the disarmament of the Albanian terrorists should happen only when the terrorist would declare that they accept to be disarmed.

Georgievski said that the international community puts more pressure on the Macedonian Government than on the terrorists, and added that besides the enhancement of the security of the Kosovo part of the border between Macedonia and Yugoslavia, the international community had done nothing to discourage the terrorists and extremists. "The leaders of terrorists move freely in Kosovo, which is a protectorate of the United Nations, Albania, and in other European capitals. It all points to the fact that the international community has double standards" Georgievski said.

Prime Minister Georgievski added that the international community does not want to be reminded that the crisis in Macedonia is in fact a spillover of the crisis in Kosovo. He reminded the viewers of the cynical statement of the civilian Administrator of Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup that the crisis in Macedonia might destabilise Kosovo.

"This is their greatest problem: they do not want to accept the fact that their operation in Kosovo was one big adventure. Many political authorities got completely involved in this action; many careers were build and as many careers were destroyed in Kosovo; many people got rich and as many lost a lot of money in this operation. If they admit this now, a lot of people would have to, at least, end their political careers. It is obviously easier for them to put the blame on somebody else by viewing the situation in Macedonia to be its internal problem, and not admitting that it is really a classical example of the spillover effect.

Georgievski said that it is absurd for an aggression over a sovereign country to be done from the territory of a UN protectorate. He pointed out that it would be very hard to solve the crisis in Macedonia without cutting the roots of the problem, located in Kosovo, first.

Georgievski explained that the operation of the Macedonian security forces in Aracinovo was stooped because of "the immense pressure of the international community, not witnessed before" and the many threats to the state and the future of the republic of Macedonia. He qualified the restoring of control in Aracinovo as a great victory, but added that it is only one of the many battles that await us.

"The Macedonian Government, and all political parties that participate in it, may allow itself anything but to be naïve. On the other side we do not have fair opponents, but perfidious and blood thirsty players who do not understand other language but that of the guns. This is why I can say that there is no ceasefire but only a brief pause of the military activities in Macedonia. We can only hope that this pause will last longer and end with implementation of the President Trajkovski's plan. However, I have doubts that the terrorists would observe the Plan" Georgievski said, and added that the international community is to be blamed for the increased anti-western atmosphere in Macedonia, not the Macedonian citizens.

The Prime Minister added that Macedonian has no other alternative but to build the society according to the model of the western democracy, and pointed that the diplomatic battle that awaits Macedonia is as important as the battle against the terrorists.

According to Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski the Albanian terrorists and their political supporters hope to turn Macedonia into a new protectorate in the Balkans by involving the international community. "This is why Macedonia will not accept NATO intervention that will come in between the Macedonian security forces and the terrorists from the so-called NLA. This might deepen the ethnic gap in Macedonia, but the coexistence would have to be fostered carefully. In order to accomplish this, both Macedonia and the international community must successfully pass the tests and overcome the temptations to which Macedonia have been exposed not by its will" Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said in the Wednesday interview for the Macedonian television.

'Humanitarian' Bombers.

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Yesterday, Hetam Ramadani, the manager of the refugee camp in the village Radusha, and Selim Osmani, were arrested by the Macedonian police. Apparently, 5 bombs were found during a routine check of their vehicle (property of the government of Macedonia, with attached UNCHR stickers on it). The bombs were in a plastic bag, underneath the seats of the vehicle.

This is not the first time that ethnic Albanians who work in humanitarian organizations were caught delivering weapons to the terrorists in the villages. They use these vehicles to transfer weapons from one place to another.

On Sunday, the mayor of Lipkovo, Husamedin Halili, was caught delivering twelve mobile phones to the terrorists in the occupied Kumanovo region. Apparently, he told officials that these mobile phones were for his "family." (Damn! He's got a big family!) He has been providing humanitarian help to the civilians of Lipkovo region which has been occupied by the Albanian terrorists since the Fourth of May. That day a convoy of five trucks from the humanitarian organization "El Hillal" did not leave for Lipkovo.

There have been numerous speculations and information that these convoys are not really for the civilians, but for the terrorists in the region. The (ethnic Albanian, state employee) secretary of health Muarem Negipi, on one occasion publicly announced that if it is necessary he will put on a terrorist uniform, and take the food himself to the villages.

The first convoy of food and medical supplies, organized by the humanitarian organization "Mother Teresa" on the 15th June had to wait 6 days to get permission from the terrorists, to get in to the villages of Lipkovo. The terrorists demanded the convoy to also bring in an international press crew. The Macedonian government did not allow that, fearing for the safety of the journalists. The cargo went unchecked.

Germany ready to send troops to Macedonia-paper.

MSNBC

BERLIN, June 27 Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was quoted as saying on Wednesday that Germany was prepared to send troops to Macedonia as part of a possible NATO peacekeeping force.

''Germany cannot stay off-side,'' Schroeder said in an article due to appear in Thursday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Schroeder said NATO's offer to help disarm Albanian rebels in Macedonia in an operation called Essential Harvest would ''have to be re-examined'' if the two sides did not agree to a peaceful solution soon.

''What is needed is a political definition of what NATO wants to achieve in Macedonia,'' Schroeder said.

A NATO official said on Wednesday it would send a force to collect the arms of Albanian guerillas in Macedonia only when a peace agreement had been concluded.

Western powers fear an ethnic Albanian rebellion in the former Yugoslav Republic could spill over into another Balkan war.

Schroeder said he was confident of achieving parliamentary approval for a German presence in Macedonia.

''A lack of responsibility in foreign policy is not acceptable,'' he said.

Bush Does Not Rule Out U.S. Troops for Macedonia.

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday did not rule out the possibility of sending U.S. troops to Macedonia to help quell unrest there.

"I take no option off the table in terms of the troops. We're a participant in NATO," Bush told reporters when asked if he saw any chance of committing U.S. soldiers to Macedonia to prevent a civil war.

He pointed out that he had pledged during a trip to Europe earlier this month that the United States would stick with NATO peacekeeping forces in the Balkans as long as they are there.

Bush also elaborated on an executive order he signed earlier in the day taking steps to stop ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia from being financed by U.S. citizens.

"I've got some evidence that the ethnic Albanian extremists are raising money not only in America but in Europe, and America will do our part to make sure that monies do not go to fund extremist activity that becomes a destabilizing influence for a democratically elected government in Macedonia," Bush said.

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WHITE HOUSE: LIST OF EXTREMISTS TO WHICH PRESIDENT BUSH'S PROHIBITIONS REFERRED.

MIA

The White House has issued an press release which reads "The United States has joined with its European allies and other countries of the United Nations in strongly condemning the terrorist violence perpetrated by armed extremists determined to destabilise the democratic, multi-ethnic government of Macedonia."

As MIA reports, the press release reports "the violent tactics threaten U.S. and international efforts to promote regional peace and stability and pose a potential danger to U.S. military forces and other Americans supporting peacekeeping efforts."

"Answering on Macedonian President Trajkovski's support to combat these extremists, the U.S. President Wednesday night has therefore ordered two actions be taken to deprive these extremists of financial and material support and to restrict their travel," reads the announcement.

For that purpose the President issued an Executive Order prohibiting as of June 27, 2001 U.S. persons from transferring, paying, exporting, withdrawing or otherwise dealing in the property or interests in property of persons involved in violent and obstructionist actions that are directly involved in the conflict in Macedonia and are responsible for the violence in the region.

At the same time, the President issued a proclamation restricting the entry to the United States of those individuals who actively obstruct implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords or UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and who otherwise seek to undermine peace and stability in the region.

"The purpose of these two actions is to send a clear message to the extremists and their supporters in the region, who actively obstruct and undermine peace and stability, that such tactics are unacceptable, and that U.S.A. will use the means at their disposal to isolate these groups and individuals and cut their access to financial support."

"For the first time in history, there are democratic governments throughout southeast Europe. Legitimate grievances must be addressed through the democratic process. As President Trajkovski said on Tuesday, Macedonians must reinvigorate the political dialogue with all legitimate parties; the men of violence must lay down their weapons, so that all Macedonian citizens can live in peace," reads the White House press release.

The White House announced the list of individuals to which President Bush's prohibitions referred: Xevad Asani from Tetovo, the Republic of Macedonia, member of National Liberation Army (NLA), Ali Ahmeti from Kicevo, the Republic of Macedonia, member of National Liberation Army (NLA), Nuri Bexheti from Tetovo, the Republic of Macedonia, member of National Liberation Army (NLA), Tahir Dalipi from Ilince, Presevo, member of the Presevo, Medvegja and Bujanovac Political Council, Gafur Elsani from Suva Reka, FRY, member of the National Movement of Kosovo, Sabit Gasi from Suva Reka, FRY, member of the National Movement for Liberation of Kosovo, Skender Habibi from Ljubiste, FRY, member of the party for democratic progress of Kosovo, Daut Haradinaj from Goldane, FRY, chief of Kosovo Protection Corps General Staff, Xhavid Hasani from Tanusevci, the Republic of Macedonia, member of the National Liberation Army (NLA), Ramiz Ladrovici, deputy commander of the guard and fast reaction group of Kosovo Protection Corps, Sami Lustaku from Srbica, commander in the Kosovo Protection Corps, Jonuz Musliu from Konculj, FRY, member of Presevo, Medvegja and Bujanovac Political Council, Rustem Mustafa from Poduevo, FRY, commander of Kosovo Protection Corps, Gzim Ostremi from Debar, the Republic of Macedonia, member of National Liberation Army (NLA), Rexhep Selimi from Iglarevo, FRY, commander of the guard and fast reaction group of Kosovo Protection Corps, Hisni Sakiri from Otlja, the Republic of Macedonia, member of National Liberation Army (NLA), Sakir Sakiri from FRY, member of Presevo, Medvegja and Bujanovac Liberation Army, Emrus Suma from FRY, member of National Liberation Army (NLA), Azem Silaod, from FRY, member of the party for democratic progress of Kosovo, Fazli Veliu from Kicevo, the Republic of Macedonia, member of National Liberation Army (NLA), Emrus Xhemajli from Urosevac, FRY, member of the National Movement of Kosovo and Muhamed Xhemajli from Muhovac, FRY, member of Presevo, Medvegja and Bujanovac Liberation Army.

The White House also announced list of groups: Presevo, Medvegja and Bujanovac Liberation Army, the National Movement for Liberation of Kosovo, National Liberation Army, National Movement of Kosovo and Presevo, Medvegja and Bujanovac Political Council.

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY.

THE WHITE HOUSE - Office of the Press Secretary

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release June 27, 2001

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

The United States has joined with its European allies and other countries of the United Nations in strongly condemning the terrorist violence perpetrated by armed extremists determined to destabilize the democratic, multi-ethnic government of Macedonia. Their violent tactics threaten U.S. and international efforts to promote regional peace and stability and pose a potential danger to U.S. military forces and other Americans supporting peacekeeping efforts. Macedonian President Trajkovski has asked for our support to combat these extremists, who are undermining the political dialogue currently underway among Macedonia's legitimately elected leaders. This dialogue offers a real opportunity for a negotiated and peaceful settlement. As the President stated in Europe, we must face down extremists in Macedonia and elsewhere who seek to use violence to redraw borders or subvert the democratic process.

The President has therefore ordered two actions be taken to deprive these extremists of financial and material support and to restrict their travel.

First, the President issued an Executive Order prohibiting as of June 27, 2001 U.S. persons from transferring, paying, exporting, withdrawing or otherwise dealing in the property or interests in property of persons involved in violent and obstructionist actions, whom are identified in an annex to the order. Others may be added to this list in the future.

Second, the President issued a proclamation restricting the entry to the United States of those individuals who actively obstruct implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords or UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and who otherwise seek to undermine peace and stability in the region. In addition, the proclamation restricts the entry into the United States of those who are responsible for wartime atrocities committed in the region since 1991.

The purpose of these two actions is to send a clear message to the extremists and their supporters in the region, who actively obstruct and undermine peace and stability, that such tactics are unacceptable, and that we will use the means at our disposal to isolate these groups and individuals and cut their access to financial support.

For the first time in history, there are democratic governments throughout southeast Europe. Legitimate grievances must be addressed through the democratic process. As President Trajkovski said on Tuesday, Macedonians must reinvigorate the political dialogue with all legitimate parties; the men of violence must lay down their weapons, so that all Macedonian citizens can live in peace.

Putin, Blair discuss Iraq, Macedonia.

Reuters

MOSCOW, June 27 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair discussed Russia's position on Iraqi sanctions and the fighting in Macedonia on the telephone, the presidential press service said on Wednesday.

The press service said in a statement that Putin outlined in detail the Russian position on Iraqi sanctions to Blair in light of U.N. discussions on this theme before a July 3 vote.

Russia will seek a U.N. Security Council vote to extend the current Iraqi oil-for-food programme with none of the changes proposed by a U.S.-British resolution.

Russia's ambassador to the U.N., Sergei Lavrov, has said Moscow wants to separate negotiations on revising Iraqi sanctions from the extension of the oil-for-food programme.

Baghdad stopped oil exports on June 4 in protest after the Security Council voted to extend the existing sanctions regime by only one month, rather than the usual six, to consider the "smart sanctions" proposed by the United States and Britain.

The British-drafted resolution would ease sanctions on civilian trade while continuing to ban military imports and restricting a list of "dual-use" goods.

Russia has said it would use its Security Council veto right to block the U.S.-British plan.

The two leaders also discussed the situation in Macedonia, which has been teetering on the verge of civil war.

"Putin emphasised the necessity of increasing international efforts with the goal of effectively blocking excursions of separatist and extremist forces," the statement said.

It added that he also talked of the need to guarantee unconditionally the Balkan state's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Macedonia has appeared on the brink of civil war in recent days after a Western bid to end an army assault on ethnic Albanian rebels sparked fierce protests by the Slav majority in the country's capital and heavy fighting elsewhere.

The two men also agreed to hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Genoa on July 20-22.

Rugova warns of Balkan conflict if no deal struck.

Reuters

VIENNA, June 27 (Reuters) - Macedonia and its neighbours could be plunged into conflict if a political solution is not found to ease ethnic tensions in the Balkan country, Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova said on Wednesday.

"There is a need for a political solution in Macedonia," Rugova told reporters during a trip to Austria, adding that if a deal could not be struck, conflict could spill over Macedonia's borders.

"If this conflict is not contained it may well spread or at least have a destabilising effect in neighbouring countries."

Ethnic Albanian rebels fighting the Macedonian government for the past four months say they want better rights for the nation's one-third ethnic Albanian minority.

The situation in the capital Skopje has calmed after nationalist protests earlier this week, which Macedonian President Boris Trajkosvki warned could have sparked civil war in the country.

Rugova, leader of the Kosovan Democratic League, said he welcomed progress made in Kosovo over the past two years but said independence for the southern Yugoslav province was his ultimate goal.

Simeon II May Propose New Edition of Monarchy.

The Wall Street Journal Europe

The triumph of King Simeon II's "movement" in Bulgaria's parliamentary elections has brought widespread media attention to the idea of a renewed Bulgarian monarchy. But Simeon is not the only monarch-in-waiting from the postcommunist world. His fellow royals may also deserve a look. A dose of royalty may be just the tonic that these nations in transition need. Constitutional monarchy today, when its powers are minimal, has much to recommend it. What could be simpler than a head of state who is impartial, dedicated to the country's interest and chosen by biological inheritance, subject to parliamentary confrontation? Not to mention the touch of nostalgia it can offer to peoples who had their national identities repressed by communist totalitarianism for half a century or longer.

Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's story offers a case in point. Succeeding as czar at the age of six on the death of his father in 1943, Simeon was driven from Bulgaria by the Soviet-backed communist regime three years later. Now, following his electoral victory, there is speculation as to the possibility of a "royal" president come November's the monarchist option. "It would be a strange game of football where the referee was a member of one of the competing teams," he recently remarked. The idea of a royal presidency has been floated before. In the 1920s, when Simeon's father, Czar Boris III, faced republican agitation, Alexander Stamboliiski, leader of the opposition Agrarian Party, observed, "If we do make the republic, we must keep Boris, for he would be the best of presidents."

Politics must be in the royal blood, for there is little doubt that the son would excel in the job as well!! Nor has Simeon been the only object of such speculations in Eastern Europe, in the postcommunist Balkans, the debate is whether monarchy, recognized as a focus of national aspiration, can serve a practical function by providing an outlet and focal point for nationalist sentiment, as well as a much-needed sense of stability. A group of middle-aged royal exiles have attracted attention. Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia, a London-based businessman and the son of the last King Peter II of Yugoslavia, did not take up his royal claim following his father's death in 1970. More importantly, he has confessed that his knowledge of the Serbian language is week, not a good sign for a potential national figurehead.

After the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, he was feted by monarchist on visits to Yugoslavia, but saw his general popularity eclipsed by President Vojislav Kostunica. Unlike many former monarchs, Albania's royal aspirant has not merely waited for history to call. "King of the Albanians" Leka Zobu, son of Zog, the first Albanian king, claimed the allegiance of the many ethnic Albanians beyond the country's political boundaries. This giant of a man, known in Spain as "el Rambo de los Balcanas," was expelled from Spain in 1970 and for a time held i custody in South Africa on suspicion of arms dealing. He returned to Albania to wild scenes of welcome in 1997 but, perhaps perceived more as an adventurer than a statesman, lost a referendum on the question of the restoration of the monarchy.

After a desperate armed coup also failed, he fled the country. In Romania, King Michael's devotion to his country's interests has been uncontested since the day when, as king aged 23 back in 1945, he engineered the overthrow of the German-backed dictator Ion Antonescu. His reward, however, was expulsion by communists instigated by Soviet Russia, which feared an independent Romania. With the fail of communism, he was finally readmitted to the country to an ecstatic popular welcome. In the late 1990s, he served as a semi-official roving ambassador for his country. Today, enjoying a government salary and a residence in Romania, his place in popular affection is secure.

But Michael is now elderly and his five daughters are barred from the succession on grounds of their gender. His decision to respect the republican constitution thus closed this chapter in European monarchy. Personal integrity and patriotic dedication are not always enough. When coupled with political savvy, they can go a long way. Witness Simeon, like Romania's Michael, he is fluent, in his native language. While earning his living as a businessman and banker in Spain and U.S., he never relinquished his interest in his nation's affairs. In the 1990s, a stream of citizens and even legislators made their way to the exiled monarch to pay respects and seek advice.

In 1991, a constitutional clause introduced to prevent his campaigning in presidential elections already testified to official uneasiness about the appeal of this "father confessor" of his people. On visits to the country he pressed the flesh in street walkabouts, hard-hatting in mining galleries and, with his wife Queen Margarita, visited local churches. The recent election victory for the National Movement for Simeon II is, in the King's opinion, just that - a vote for him personally. Not as king, maybe, but as an honest man committed to work for his country. Should he wish to hold office in the Republic, he would presumably have to renounce his royal status. But nothing is certain in the history of monarchy.

Whatever Simeon's strategy for the future may be, of one thing we may be certain - it will be based on tradition. For Simeon passionately believes that "a country without a past is a country without a future." During the election campaign, he promised a program of reforms that would change the lives of all Bulgarians within 800 days - that is, by August 2003. The apparently arbitrary number acquires intriguing significance when one realizes that that year will mark the 1,200th anniversary of the accession in 803 of Khan Krum, conqueror of Sofia, Bulgaria's historic capital.

Perhaps this modest yet enigmatic man, a self-confessed devotee of politics, may yet deliver one more variation on the eternal theme of monarchy.

New EU envoy says Skopje must talk with rebels.

Reuters

PARIS, June 27 (Reuters) - Francois Leotard, the European Union's freshly-appointed envoy in Skopje, said on Wednesday that the Macedonian government must speak with guerrilla leaders from the Albanian-speaking minority.

"They have to speak with these guerrillas to try, with the leaders of this Albanian-speaking part of their country, to see that a consensus emerges and peace can be installed," he told Europe 1 radio.

Leotard, who was French defence minister from 1993 to 1995, said the Macedonian government enjoyed the support of the international community, which wanted to see the former Yugoslav republic's borders respected.

Tensions between the Slavic majority and Albanian minority in Macedonia resulted in nationalist riots in Skopje on Monday when Slavic Macedonians protested against NATO for helping to evacuate armed Albanian guerrillas from strategic villages.

President Boris Trajkovski appealed to the nation on television on Tuesday for calm.

Macedonian army resumes shelling.

BBC

Macedonian forces have resumed shelling of positions held by ethnic Albanian rebels, in defiance of calls from the European Union for military restraint.

The shelling of the village of Nikustak, which began on Tuesday, follows the evacuation of rebels from nearby Aracinovo in a Nato-led operation.

An army spokesman said the latest bombardment was in response to an attack by the rebels.

Correspondents say the army's latest action is seen by some as an attempt to placate public opinion over the ceasefire in Aracinovo.

Calm was maintained in the capital, Skopje, on Wednesday following an address by President Boris Trajkovski aimed at soothing public fears in the wake of rioting that brought the country to the verge of civil war.

Mr Trajkovski said the decision to evacuate the rebels from Aracinovo, which sparked Monday night's violence, was a victory, not a defeat, for the government.

Clashes have persisted outside Skopje however, and Reuters news agency reports that, as the army was shelling Nikustak, troops reinforced a position outside the neighbouring village of Umin Dol and appeared to be preparing a ground assault on rebel positions.

EU pressure

Western diplomats, in the meantime, repeated calls for renewed talks.

Francois Leotard, the EU's newly appointed permanent representative in Macedonia, said the government should negotiate directly with the rebels - something it has so far refused to do.

"The Macedonian Government must talk with the leaders of the guerrillas so that a consensus can be found and peace can be ushered in," he told French radio.

He urged the government to reform the constitution in order to grant the minority ethnic Albanian population the greater recognition it is demanding.

Mr Leotard - who will travel to Macedonia on Thursday - will establish a permanent EU presence in the country in an attempt to keep up pressure on the two sides to strike a deal.

Travel bans

Monday's rioting, which saw nationalists burning pictures of Western leaders in the streets around the parliament building, prompted the US and Britain to warn their citizens not to travel to Macedonia.

According to President Trajkovski, the riots "could easily have turned into civil war".

"We are not fighting against one another. This is what the enemy wishes. If we accept that way, defeat will be inevitable," he said.

Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said the armed forces could clear the guerrillas from Macedonia without outside help.

Ethnic Albanian rebels began their armed uprising in February and, despite repeated efforts by the Macedonian army, they have retained control over a string of villages near Macedonia's northern border.

The Greater Albania Ideology and the Macedonian Conflict.

SERBIANA

by Carl K. Savich
Introduction

The Greater Albania ideology and strategy has guided Albanian political aims in the Balkans for over a century. The strategy is anti-Slavic, anti-Orthodox, targeting the Serbian, Macedonian, and Greek populations. What unites Greater Albania nationalists is a focus on ethnic conflict and territorial aggrandizement or annexation of Serbian, Macedonian, and Greek territory. To achieve the Greater Albania objectives requires ethnic conflict. What is the origin of the Greater Albania movement?

The Macedonian conflict began when NATO-armed and NATO-trained KLA veterans illegally crossed the international border between the FYROM and the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, under NATO occupation, in January-February, 2001. NATO failed to interdict these KLA/NLA incursions and infiltrations from NATO-run Kosovo. NATO collusion with the KLA/NLA in their illegal incursions ignited the Macedonian conflict. But how is that conflict to be comprehended and understood?

The Macedonian conflict presents an epistemological issue, an issue of how we comprehend information and how we process knowledge. Governments and media dictate and determine how we comprehend and understand and perceive an issue. Governments and media presented essentially two opposing and contradictory explanations for the Macedonian conflict:

1) Albanianinsurgents were rebelling against discrimination and for greater rights, equal rights; or, 2) Albanian terrorists were seeking to create by force and intimidation a Greater Kosovo or Greater Albania. In all, four contradictory explanations of the KLA/NLA terrorist war or indigenous insurgency emerged: 1) the KLA/NLA terrorists/insurgents were fighting to obtain greater rights for the Albanian minority in FYROM; 2) the KLA/NLA sought to enlarge the borders of NATO-run Kosovo, creating a Greater Kosovo; 3) the KLA/NLA sought to expand its drug smuggling, prostitution, and human slave trade operations in FYROM; and, 4) the KLA/NLA seeks to gain independence and freedom for all Albanian inhabited regions, creating a Greater Albania or Ethnic Albania. How is one to determine which one of the explanations is correct? Why are governments and the media presenting four contradictory explanations? Is this the typical pattern of government/media reporting? By comparison, the ETA (Euskadi ta Azkatasona, Freedom for the Basque Country), the Basque insurgents fighting for greater rights and equal rights in NATO-member Spain who are the majority in the Basque region, are referred to by the Western media as terrorists who seek independence from Spain. The ETA goals, objectives, and strategies are identical to those of the NLA/KLA/NLAPMB, secession/separatism/independence through terrorist methods, i.e., killing government officials, police, and soldiers of the respective governments concerned, Spain and Macedonia. But the Western governments/media apply a different approach to the ETA than they do to the NLA. The British news network ITN maintained that the ETA terrorists were seeking independence from Spain. But ITN applies a different nomenclature and terminology to the NLA. What criteria does the media use when it describes one group as insurgents and another as terrorists?How can we find out if the conflict is one concerning greater rights or one concerning Greater Albania?

The Federalization/Partition/Autonomy Plan

What is it that the KLA/NLA terrorists/insurgents/rebels demand? The key demand of the KLA/NLA is a change in the constitution of Macedonia to create a federal state, the so-called federalization or federalisation/partition/autonomy plan. In essence, the objective is to partition Macedonia into two separate states, a Slav state, and an Albanian state. This is what all the shooting and shouting is about. This is precisely what the globalist media seeks to conceal. The propaganda/infowar/information technology seeks to camouflage this fact.The KLA/NLA have invaded Macedonia from NATO-run Kosovo and through force and intimidation are demanding the establishment of their own Albanian state. This is why there are four contradictory explanations of the Macedonian conflict, unlike the Basque-Spanish conflict, or Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The media reports on the NLA (National Liberation Army) differently than it does on the ETA (Freedom for the Basque Country) and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). The hidden persuader and hidden manipulator do not want the actual objectives and goals of the Albanian insurgency revealed.
What is federalization? Under federalization, the Albanian minority would gain autonomy or self-rule in Western Macedonia or Illirida or Ilirida, much like they achieved in Kosovo. Illirida or Western Macedonia would become a Kosovo-style Albanian majority federal unit of Macedonia, based on ethnicity, creating an essentially ethnically homogenous and ethnically pure region based on the Kosovo/Kosova model or blueprint, creating a South African-type of apartheid nation divided between Macedonian Orthodox Slavs and ethnic Albanian Muslims. Such a plan is the first step in secession and separatism, again, based on the Kosovo paradigm. The Albanian populated regions would obtain de facto independence and secession based on the Kosovo model.

The federalization plan would result in the disintegration and dismemberment of Macedonia. So much the better for the Greater Albania ideology, which opposes a unified Slav state ruled by untermenschen rayah, ruled by subhuman Slav kaurin and rayah. This was the Albanian/Turkish view of the kaurin Slavs during the Muslim Ottoman Empire. In an April 15 Reuters news report, Macedonian President Rules Out Federal State, Kole Casule quoted Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski as stating that the KLA/NLA demand for federalization was unacceptable. Trajkovski stated: The last 10 years have shown that calls for federalisation merely disguise aspirations for an ethnically clean state. Marko Bello, the defense minister of Albania, argued that the NLA/KLA insurgency was motivated by Albanian desires to enjoy some elementary democratic rights. Reuters explained the NLA/KLA goal as seeking greater language and cultural rights. Casule stated that: The rebels say they are fighting for better rights for Macedonias Albanians. Casule also quoted the rhetorical, but factually false, assertion that ethnic Albanians are a third of the population, even though the 1991 official Macedonian census and the 1994 EU international community census and the CIA World Factbook census figure is never higher than 22.7%. The Albanian population is less than a quarter of the population of Macedonia. But how does less than a quarter of the total population become a third of the population to more than a third of the population to 40% of the population? Isnt the media of the West capable of ascertaining accurate population figures? The hidden manipulator and hidden persuader has left fingerprints? We can adduce a modus operandi or MO. Why isnt the Western media relying on objective data, in short, on facts, such as a census? Why are they maintaining a population figure that has no basis in objective reality or the facts but is based on Greater Albania propaganda and the Greater Albania ideology? What is the historical evolution of the Greater Albania ideology and what are its goals and objectives?

The First League of Prizren, 1878

In 1877, the Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights made up of Albanian political leaders in Istanbul, proposed a plan for achieving autonomy for Albanian-inhabited areas of the Balkans within the framework of the Ottoman Empire. The autonomy plan of the Committee was published in the Tercuman i Sark newspaper envisioning the creation of a unified Albanian vilayet consisting of the Kosovo vilayet, present-day Kosovo-Metohija, the Janjina vilayet, present-day northern Greece, the Bitolj or Bitola vilayet, present-day FYROM or Macedonia, and the Scutari vilayet, present-day Albania and southern Montenegro. Some Albanians even planned to include the Salonika vilayet, present-day Greece, in the proposed unified Albanian vilayet. From present-day Greece, the Epirus and Yiannitsa regions would be annexed to a Greater Albania. From present-day Macedonia, Tetovo, the "capital city of Greater Albania in Macedonia", Debar, Gostivar, Skopje, where Albanians are a minority, Prilep, Veles, Kumanovo, Bitola, and Ohrid, would be annexed. From present-day Serbia, Prizren, Pec, Djakovica, Gniljane, Novi Pazar, Presevo, Medvedja, Bujanovac, Pec, Kosovska Mitrovica would be annexed. Territory from southern Montenegro would be annexed. In the present-day Greater Albania strategy, the capital city of Montenegro, Podgorica and the outlying area would be annexed, even though Albanians are a minority in the city. This is the origin and genesis of the Greater Albania strategy and ideology that has guided Albanian political aims for over a century.

The Greater Albania Ideology

Ever since the re-formulation and adoption of the Greater Albania ideology and strategy in 1878 by the Albanian League of Prizren, the Albanian strategy to establish a Greater Albania has never waned, evolving and developing for over a hundred years. The 1878 Prizren League was motivated by a primary goal, the establishment of a unified, ethnic Albanian state which would be made up of four Ottoman Turkish vilayets, provinces or administrative districts. These four vilayets were Kosovo, Scutari, Bitolj or Bitola or Monastir, and Janina, Janjevo or Yiannitsa. The population of these four vilayets consisted of the following: 44% were ethnic Albanians, 19.2 % were Macedonian Slavs, 11.4 % were Serbs, 9.2 % were Greeks, 6.5 % were Walachs, 9.3% were Ottoman Turks, and 0.4 % were Armenians, Roma, and Jews. The ethnic Albanians were not a majority in the proposed united Albanian state they sought to establish. Uskub or Uskup, Shkupi in Albanian, present-day Skopje or Skoplje, was included in the united Albanian vilayet although ethnic Albanians were a small minority in the city. The Stara Srbija (Ancient Serbia) region consisting of Rashka, Kosovo-Metohija, and northern Macedonia, was included in the Albanian vilayet although Albanians were a minority in this historically and traditionally Serbian Orthodox region. The Greater Albania strategy and ideology thus inherently involved the aggrandizement of territory not settled by Albanians, the dispossession of foreign land. It was a zero sum strategy that did not allow for compromise. The policy was aimed principally at the Slavic populations of the southern Balkan Peninsula, the Serbian Orthodox populations and the Macedonian Slav populations. The policy was inherently anti-Orthodox, anti-Slavic, anti-Serbian, and anti-Macedonian. Inevitably and inherently, ethnic and political conflict with the Serbian Orthodox and Macedonian Orthodox populations resulted.

The Albanian leaders devised the Greater Albania strategy in response or reaction to the turmoil following the Bosnian Insurrection of 1875 by the Serbian Orthodox population of Hercegovina, a revolt against economic exploitation, political repression, and human rights violations by the Islamic Ottoman rulers. In 1875, the Serbian population of Hercegovina faced famine conditions. Serbia and Montenegro supported the Bosnian Insurrection by declaring war against Turkey. In 1877, Russia entered the conflict by declaring war against Turkey. In the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, Turkey was defeated. The Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin would establish independence for Serbia and Bulgaria. The Albanians had fought on the losing side, the Muslim Ottoman Empire. They feared that the Slavic Orthodox Christian states would benefit from the border changes while Albanian interests would suffer. Many of the Albanian delegates to the Prizren League were wealthy Albanian beys or begs and agas, who owned large land tracts. Moreover, because Albanians were allied with the Muslim Turks and had converted to Islam, Albanians held privileged positions. The Orthodox Slavs, on the other hand, were "treated like a herd of cattle", were second-class citizens, were subhuman rayah, the kaurin, the infidel, non-Muslim rayah.

Under Turkish rule, the Albanians were able to drive out and expel large Serbian Orthodox populations and to settle their lands. Albanian settlers and colonists had settled Serbia proper, settling Serbian towns such as Toplica, Vranje, Leskovac, and Pomoravlje, the Nis sandzak. Following the defeat of the Turkish forces, the Turkish army and the Albanian troops and irregulars within it, the bashibazouks, had to retreat. Approximately 30,000 ethnic Albanian settlers in these Serbian cities were forced to flee with the Turkish army. The Albanian refugees, muhadjirs, settled in Kosovo-Metohija, retaliating against the Serbian Orthodox population of Kosovo, seizing their property. The Albanian leaders thus sought to preserve their status and privileges attained in the Ottoman Empire. They were reactionary, anti-democratic, anti-pluralist, and opposed a multi-ethnic state. With the defeat of the Ottoman troops, Albanians feared that their status, privileges, and land would be lost, all that they had achieved under Turkish occupation, such as the expulsions of indigenous Orthodox populations, the colonization and settlement of Orthodox lands, the acquisition of vast property holdings, and a privileged political, social, and economic status in the Ottoman Empire could not be preserved. They saw the struggle as inherently an ethnic struggle with the Slavic populations, as a zero sum game. This is the historical backdrop for the emergence of the Greater Albania strategy.

The Greater Albania strategy requires an outside foreign power to sponsor or intervene to support the movement because the Albanian population is a minority in the Greater Albania territory, which would entail a war to achieve. The Albanian leaders of the Prizren League relied on Turkey to achieve their strategy. But Turkey was not able to achieve Greater Albania. The Albanians demanded complete autonomy from Turkey and seized the Kosovo towns of Pec, Kosovska Mitrovica, Prizren, and Djakovica. The Albanians refused to pay taxes and opposed recruitment into the Turkish armed forces. The Turkish leaders were forced to re-occupy these regions. The Turks arrested the political leaders of the League of Prizren and deported them. The League of Prizren was thus destroyed by the Turkish government. But many of the primary premises and objectives of the Greater Albania ideology survived. Ethnic homogeneity or the creation of ethnically pure Albanian areas was always a primary tenet and strategy of the Greater Albania strategy. The goal was to create a unified, ethnic Albanian state, so-called Ethnic Albania. By its very definition, Ethnic Albania was an Albanian populated state. There were no guidelines for the creation of a multi-ethnic or pluralistic state. The basis for the establishment of a unified Greater Albania was ethnicity. This entailed waging an ethnic conflict or war against the non-Albanian populations. The Serbian Orthodox and Macedonian Orthodox populations of the Kosovo and Bitola vilayets were targeted for attack and elimination and displacement.

The Prizren League formulated an anti-Slavic, anti-Orthodox platform that targeted the Serbian and Macedonian and Greek populations. A French diplomat reported that 112 Orthodox Serbs were killed by Albanians in June, 1878 and Serbian houses were burned. Nine Serbian women from Gnilanje were kidnapped and subsequently tortured. In Pec, the Serbian population alleged that over 100 Serbs were murdered. The Russian Consul reported that three Albanians raped a thirteen-year old girl from Dobrotin. He wrote that the the Serbs dare not complain to the authorities." He quoted an Albanian leader who informed him: "We will attack the Montenegrins on Christmas and kill them. And if we fail---we will return to Pec and the vicinity and burn and saber all the Christians." With the emergence of the Greater Albania doctrine following the Prizren League, a planned, organized, and systematic policy and program resulted that targeted the Serbian Orthodox, the Macedonian Orthodox, and the Greek Orthodox populations. From 1876 to 1912, over 150,000 Serbian Orthodox refugees fled the Kosovo vilayet, driven out by Albanians seeking to create an ethnic Albanian region and to thereby establish Albanian control over the area. The Serbian Orthodox and Macedonian Orthodox populations were perceived under the Greater Albania ideology as "the enemy", as "them", as an alien population that threatened the existence of the Albanian population. A consensual paranoia resulted that led to an ethnic polarization, a dichotomy between Orthodox Serbians and Orthodox Macedonians and Albanians, in its extreme form, a dichotomy between Albanians and all non-Albanians, a dichotomy between "us" and "them", the psychological basis for ethnic enmity and conflict. Throughout the twentieth century, the Greater Albania strategy was guided by this ethnic polarization of the conflict, by a perception of the conflict as one between different ethnic groups, i.e., the conflict is defined only as an ethnic conflict. This is why political, social, economic, and even religious factors do not play a fundamental role in the Greater Albania doctrine. What unites Greater Albania nationalists is a focus on ethnic conflict, on ethnic polarization. In other words, ethnicity defines the Greater Albania strategy. This explains why the Greater Albania strategy has endured and thrived whether under Islamic (Turkey) or Roman Catholic (Austria-Hungary) sponsorship, under fascism (Italy) or Nazism (Germany) or Communism (Yugoslavia) or capitalism (US, NATO, EU), the Greater Albania strategy has remained constant and unchanging for over a hundred years, thriving and evolving.

Kosova, Illirida, Chameria, and Presheva: Greater Albania

The Kosovo and Metohija regions of the Kosovo vilayet, termed Kosova in the Greater Albania lexicon, were a primary focus of the Greater Albania strategy. Many of the Albanian delegates to the Prizren League were from Kosovo and present-day Macedonia, or Illirida. Albania proper, the Scutari vilayet, was secure. The Albanian populations of the Janina vilayet in northern Greece, Chameria in the Greater Albania strategy, were too small. The Kosovo vilayet had a large enough population of Albanians, achieved through settlement and expulsion and displacement of the indigenous Serbian Orthodox populations, to warrant primary focus of the Prizren League. Western Macedonia, Illirida in the Greater Albania nomenclature, had a large Albanian population as well. Tetova or Tetovo was the main city in Illirida, the major Albanian-inhabited urban center of the Greater Albania movement in Macedonia. Because of population size, Kosova and Illirida became the focal points of the Greater Albania movement.

Macedonian Insurgency: Albanian Rebels Capture Skopje, 1912

In 1909, the Albanian population of Kosovo-Metohija revolted against increased taxation, disarmament, and a proposed census, following an Albanian congress in Debar, in present-day Macedonia, where the demands of a Greater Albania were re-iterated seeking an autonomous area made of all Albanian-inhabited regions. The Turks sent an armed force led by Djavid Pasha to suppress the insurgency. The Turkish Army suppressed the insurgents but another insurgency erupted in 1910. In 1911, the Albanians launched yet another insurgency. In August, 1912, the Albanian insurgents, composed of 15,000 guerrillas, led by Hasan Prishtina and Ismail Kemal, captured Skopje. The Albanian leaders, made up of a disparate group that included Bairam Cur, Isa Boljetinac, Riza Bey Krieziu, and Nexhib Draga, then presented their political demands to the Ottoman Turks. They demanded autonomy for the Albanian regions and cession of the Kosovo vilayet, present-day Kosovo-Metohija, and the Bitola vilayet, present-day Macedonia, into a unified, Albanian state, a Greater Albania. The principal negotiators with the Turkish government, Hasan Prishtina and Nexhib Draga, sought to resolve the conflict within the framework of the Ottoman Empire. The Turks, however, opposed an autonomous Albanian vilayet.

The Kachak Terrorist/Guerrilla Movement: Precursor of KLA/NLA/LAPMB

Following World War I, Kosovo-Metohija and present-day Macedonia (FYROM) were incorporated into Serbia, which after 1918 became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The name of the country was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. The ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo-Metohija resisted this incorporation and sought union or annexation of Kosmet with Albania, creating a Greater Albania or Ethnic Albania. Armed resistance to Serbian rule resulted in the Kachak Movement ( from the Turkish kachmak, meaning to runaway or to hide). The Kachmak terrorists/guerrillas and insurgents, under the command of Mustafa Kroja and Hasan Prishtina, are the precursors, antecedents, and models for the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, or UCK (Ushtria Clirimtare E Kosoves, in Albanian), the National Liberation Army, NLA, and the now defunct Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac, LAPMB. The Kachak Movement was coordinated by the Albanian Kosovo Committee led by Bajram Curi and aided by Italy whose key objective was to persuade the international community to agree to Kosovo being annexed to Albania. Albanian and Italian propaganda termed the Kachak guerrilla movement a national-liberation movement. The Serbian regime termed the Greater Albania movement one conducted by outlaws and bandits, what would be termed terrorists in the contemporary political lexicon. Italy was supporting the Greater Albania Movement to gain control of Albania, which it saw as a puppet and colony state. The Greater Albania ideology would give Italy entre as a colonial/imperial power in the Balkans. The Kachack guerrillas attacked and murdered government officials, police, and Serbian Orthodox civilians. The modus operandi (MO) of the Kachak insurgents of the 1920s would be identical to that of the KLA/NLA/LAPMB insurgents of the 1998-2001 period.The fascist regime of Benito Mussolini directly sponsored the Greater Albania Kachak Movement, supporting their terrorist activities and donating 200,000 lira to Kroja and Prishtina, the leaders of the movement.

The Second League of Prizren, 1943

In 1941, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini created a Greater Albania, consisting of Kosova, Kosovo-Metohija, Illirida, Western Macedonia, and territory from Montenegro. What the KLA/NLA/LAPMB seek is the re-establishment of the Greater Albanian state created by Hitler and Mussolini from 1941 to 1945.

Following the surrender of Italy in 1943, Germany re-occupied Kosovo-Metohija and sponsored Albanian nationalist and extremist groups and recruited ethnic Albanians into German units and formations. Dzafer Deva, a member of the Balli Kombetar (BK, or National Union), an Albanian nationalist organization which sought to create an ethnically pure Greater Albania, organized the Second League of Prizren on September 16, 1943, in cooperation with the German occupation authorities. The Second League of Prizren intensified its systematic efforts to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of Orthodox Serbs and Jews and other non-Albanians. Over 10,000 Kosovo Serbian Orthodox families were driven out or ethnically cleansed from Kosovo.

The Second League of Prizren and the Balli Kombetar were decisive in the creation of the 21st Waffen Gebrigs Division der SS Skanderbeg, the Skanderbeg SS Division, which focused on the extermination of the Serbian Orthodox and Jewish populations of Kosovo and present-day Macedonia. A key base of the Skanderbeg Division was Tetova or Tetovo. The Skanderbeg Division operated within the territory of Greater Albania, which included Kosovo-Metohija, the Preshevo-Medvedja-Bujanovac area of Southern Serbia, Western Macedonia or Illirida, around the Tetovo-Gostivar-Skopje area. Before the German occupation of Macedonia, the Italian Army occupied the region with its base in Tetovo, where the Italians formed the Albanian Ljuboten fascist formation.

The German Army and the Waffen SS sought to recruit Albanian troops into the German armed forces. Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS, along with Hitler and Mussolini, became an ardent advocate and sponsor of Greater Albania. Himmler envisioned the formation of two Waffen SS Divisions made up of ethnic Albanians, primarily from the Kosovo and Macedonia regions. Himmler justified his advocacy of the Greater Albania cause by anthropological research which the Italians had conducted which they argued proved that the Ghegs of northern Albania were ethnically pure Aryans, members of the master race. Himmler thus wanted to incorporate the ethnically pure Aryan Albanians into the elite Waffen SS. The war ended before Himmler could form the second Albanian SS Division.

Himmler approved the formation of the Skanderbeg Waffen SS Division on April 17, 1944. Approximately 200-300 Albanian troops in the Bosnian Muslim 13th Waffen Gebrigs Division Handzar or (Handschar in German) were transferred to the newly forming Skanderbeg Division, which would consist of 6, 491 ethnic Albanians, two-thirds of whom were from Kosovo-Metohija. The recruits were mostly Sunni and Bektashi Muslims. German troops and NCOs were added from Austria and Germany proper to this Albanian core, making the total troop strength of the Division 8,500 to 9,000 men, a full-strength division.

The Second League of Prizren, the Balli Kombetar, and the Skanderbeg SS Division were anti-Slav, anti-Macedonian, anti-Serbian, anti-Jewish, anti-Orthodox. The Albanian nationalist groups targeted these groups for extermination and ethnic cleansing. The Skanderbeg Division occupied Western Macedonia which was part of Hitlers Greater Albania. From 1941 to 1945, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler created a Greater Albania which included Western Macedonia.

1991 Macedonian Constitution

On September 17, 1991, the Republic of Macedonia voted for independence from Yugoslavia and seceded. A Constitution was adopted on November 17, 199. Macedonia became an independent, sovereign state, the national state of the ethnic Macedonians. In the Constitution, it is stated as follows:Macedonia is established as a national state of the Macedonian people.This status was based on the historical fact that Macedonian Slavs were the majority population who had created a national state, a Macedonia for the Macedonians, a national goal from the emergence of the Krushevo Republic in 1903 to the Republic of Macedonia in Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1991.The Constitution guaranteed equality for all the national minorities in the FYROM: Full equality as citizensis provided for Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, and Roma, and other nationalities. The Constitution guarantees human rights, citizens freedoms and ethnic equality. The Constitution also established the rule of law as a fundamental system of government. Social and economic equality were guaranteed with the provision of social justice, economic well-being and prosperity in the life of the individual and the community. Under Article 9 in Basic Freedoms and Rights, the equality of all Macedonian citizens is guaranteed: All citizens are equal before the Constitution and law. Article 10 prohibits the death penalty, reflecting the trend against capital punishment, regarded by jurists as a barbaric anachronism with no proven deterrent impact/effect. In this regard, the Macedonian Constitution is more protective of human rights than the US Constitution, which allows capital punishment. The US and China execute the most prisoners each year. The Macedonian Constitution guarantees equal access to education and health care. Equality is thus guaranteed for the national minorities.

But why do the NLA/KLA terrorists/insurgents want to change the Constitution by force and intimidation when democratic processes, procedures, and mechanisms are available? Is the murder and mutilation of Macedonian soldiers and police the only way to change the Constitution of the FYROM of Macedonia? Is the invasion and occupation of the territory of Macedonia by an armed rebel group the only mechanism by which to make changes in the Constitution? Is this the legitimate and accepted method and mechanism by which changes in constitutions are made? Is this how changes in the US Constitution occur?

The Macedonian Constitution itself provides a procedure for changing the Constitution under Article 130 in Section VIII, Changes in the Constitution.The President of the Republic, the Government itself, a minimum of 30 Representatives of the Macedonian Assembly, or 150,000 Macedonian citizens can make a proposal to initiate a change in the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia.A two-thirds majority vote by the Assembly of Representatives can initiate a change in the Constitution while a two-thirds vote by the Assembly can change the Constitution. Thus, democratic, peaceful procedures exist and are explicitly outlined in the Macedonian Constitution itself? Why doesnt the Western media reveal this? Why does the Western media repeat ad nauseam in every news report on Macedonia that the KLA/NLA terrorists/insurgents are fighting for greater rights when the Albanian minority can follow legal, democratic procedures to obtain greater rights in the Constitution? Why the infowar and propaganda embed in every news report? Is it to manipulate? Is it to cover up the fact that the Albanian minority can change the Constitution by democratic and peaceful means? Is it to cover-up the fact that the massacre and mutilation of innocent Macedonian police and soldiers is not necessary? Are NATO governments/media covering up the fact that legal procedures exist for obtaining greater rights? Albanian propaganda claims that ethnic Albanians are 40% of the population. But then why doesnt this large population seek to change the constitution through its elected Representatives? At least 30 Representatives is all that is required to make a proposal to change the Constitution. Why cant 150,000 ethnic Albanian citizens of FYROM of Macedonia petition for a change in the Constitution, as they are legally allowed to do? Why do they instead lobby US political leaders and former leaders such as Joseph DioGuardia and Joseph Biden and Robert Dole? Why dont they lobby their own elected political Representatives in Macedonia? Moreover, why didnt the ethnic Albanian population do this in Kosovo? Obviously the Albanians have no interest in democracy and in democratic procedures. That is why there is a need for a so-called insurgency. That is why we have a propaganda campaign and an infowar. That is why we have infowar embeds and planting. The picture becomes all too clear.

Census Data for Macedonia

The propaganda/information technology embed in every so-called Western news report mentions that ethnic Albanians make up a third of the population of the FYROM or in some reports, over a third of the population. This media embed mirrors the Albanian propaganda line of the Albanian lobby in the US and their sponsors/backers. The National Albanian American Council (NAAC) claims that Albanians make up from 33 to 40% of the population in Macedonia. But this claim is based on propaganda,not on any factual data or census results. In 1991, the Macedonian Government conducted an official nation-wide census. The Albanian minority boycotted the census. They did this based on the Kosovo/Kosova model or blueprint. In Kosovo, Albanian separatists had boycotted elections, the census, universities, Yugoslav political institutions. Albanian secessionists, instead, created parallel institutions. These separatist procedures created de facto independence and de facto secession/partition. Similarly, in Macedonia, boycotting the census created de facto independence and de facto partition of the populations. An accurate census would be deleterious to Albanian separatist propaganda. How can they then claim that they are 40% of the population?

The 1991 Macedonian Census found that there was a total Macedonian population of 2,033,964. Macedonians were 67% of the total population, or 1,328,187. Albanians were 21.7% of the population, or 441,987. The Serbian Orthodox population was 2.1%, or 42,775. In 1994, due to Albanian pressure, the EU conducted a second census under the auspices of the international community. The EU Census as demanded by the Albanians yielded essentially the same results. The EU Census determined that the total Macedonian population was 1,936,877. Macedonians were found to make up 66.5% of the total population, or 1,288,330. Albanians were 22.9% of the population, or 442,914. The Serbian Orthodox population was 2.0%, or 39,260. The CIA World Factbook for Macedonia presents population statistics for FYROM based on July, 2000 CIA estimates. The CIA determined a total Macedonian population of 2,041,467. The CIA relied on the 1994 EU international community census for the following figures for ethnic groups: Macedonians make up 66.6%, Albanians make up 22.7%, and the Orthodox Serbian population makes up 2.1% of the total population. The CIA reports a population growth rate for Macedonia of 0.04%. With the given growth rate for population, these population figures and proportions have not changed much in the last 10 years but in fact are static. But then where does the media derive its population figures that Albanians make up a third of the population of the FYROM? The most the Albanians make up is 22.7%? A third is 33 and 1/3%. How does the media account for the 10% increase in population? Where did all these Albanians come from? Does our media know more than our intelligence agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)? Why doesnt the media obtain its population figures from census data and from the CIA information? Why does our free and independent media rely on propaganda embeds in every news report? Is it that difficult to check population statistics? The CIA Factbook also determined that the Macedonian language is spoken by 70% of the population, Albanian by 21%, and Serbian by 3%. The CIA referred to Macedonia as an emerging democracy with a 35% unemployment rate based on 1999 estimates by the CIA. FYROM received $10.5 million in economic aid from Taiwan and the EU gave $100 million to FYROM to be split with Albania. Under Illicit Drugs, the CIA noted that the FYROM is an increasing transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and hashish. The CIA noted that Albanians claim discrimination in education, access to public-sector jobs, and representation in government. The CIA World Factbook for Macedonia found sources of instability as follows:FYROMs large Albanian minority and the de facto independence of neighboring Kosovo continue to be sources of ethnic tension. The NATO occupation of Kosovo then has resulted in instability in Macedonia, according to the CIA. NATO rationalized and sanctioned the illegal bombing of Yugoslavia and the NATO occupation of Kosovo on the premise that stability and peace would result in the Balkans. The CIA, however, concluded that the opposite has resulted, instability and the potential for conflict. The CIA, moreover, continues to refer to Yugoslavia as Serbia and Montenegro and the CIA media/propaganda/information outlet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) refers to Kosovo as Kosova (the Albanian form of the Serbian word). If Kosovo has de facto independence, based on the CIA assertion, that would violate United Nations Resolutions that set guidelines for the NATO military occupation. The CIA makes the following comment: Note: Democratic Party for Albanians (DPA), which is now a member of the government, is calling for a rewrite of the constitution to declare ethnic Albanians a national group and allow for regional autonomy. In other words, the DPA demands the federalization plan, the plan of partition and the dismemberment and dismantling of the Macedonian state. The CIA knows what the NLA insurgency is all about. The CIA doesnt need four contradictory explanations in the media and embeds and planting.

What are the NLA demands in Macedonia? What do they want? What does the Albanian lobby in the US demand? The National American Albanian Council stated that the fundamental problem in Macedonia is the view therethat Macedonia is a state of Slavic Macedonians.What does this mean? Again, it is the federalization plan, the partition plan. In practical terms, it means de facto secession and independence but disguised through information technology. Conceptually, it is a reductio ad absurdum. Most importantly and glaringly, it is a sanctioning of ethnic secession and partition, the very thing that was so vehemently opposed by the international community in Bosnia and in Krajina. The NAAC, the DPA, and the NLA/KLA/NLAPMB are in agreement that Macedonia should be dismembered and partitioned between the Slavs and the Albanians. This is in a nutshell all that one needs to know about the Macedonian conflict. This is what the infowar and media propaganda by AP, Reuters, CNN, BBC, ITN, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, CBC, ITN, is meant to conceal and camouflage. The NAAC claimed that there was systematic, institutionalized discrimination in Macedonia against ethnic Albanians. But the Macedonian Constitution establishes equality for all citizens and a democratic, legal process and procedures for redress of grievances and changes in the Constitution. The NAAC maintained that Albanians make up 33-40% of the population, while ethnic Macedonians make up only slightly over 50 per cent of the population. There is no factual or objective basis for these fabrications and falsifications. Is it that difficult to obtain accurate census data? The NAAC maintained that there were bad roads, poor health facilities in Albanian areas. But why dont they address these issues through the legal and democratic procedures established in the FYROM Constitution? Why dont they interact with their political representatives in Macedonia, not political leaders and lobbies in the US, Germany, Switzerland and Albania? Will invading a sovereign nation and butchering and mutilating its police and soldiers and occupying its towns and villages bring about a redress of political grievances? Is that the accepted procedure? The NAAC demands that Albanian be an official language of Macedonia and that Albanians become equal citizens? Again, under the Constitution, language rights are protected and guaranteed. What the NAAC demands is in fact federalization, partition. When the rhetoric and propaganda is deconstructed and analyzed, the Albanian demands amount to the establishment of the federalization plan, or ethnic partition of the FYROM of Macedonia into a Slav and Albanian component. The modus operandi or MO is identical to that employed during the Kosovo conflict or insurgency.

NATO Intervention in Macedonia?

The reason why the NLA, and earlier the KLA/NLAPMB, opposes a democratic and peaceful change of the FYROM Constitution through legal and constitutional procedures and processes is because the agenda of Albanian insurgency in Macedonia is separatism or partition, not greater rights or equal rights as maintained in the propaganda embeds of Western media. Separatism and partition will result in the destruction and dismemberment of the Macedonian state. The only way the NLA can achieve separatism/partition in the FYROM is by applying the Kosovo paradigm or blueprint, the Rambouillet scenario, the international mediation plan of resolution of the conflict. What is the Kosovo paradigm? Cause a civil war with NATO collusion and assistance and then have NATO reluctantly intervene militarily to re-establish stability/peace. NATO intervention has been the goal of the NLA/KLA/NLAPMB terrorist insurgency since the start of the
terrorist/secessionist/separatist war by Albanian insurgents/terrorists in 1998 in Kosovo. The strategy all along was very simple: Induce NATO to intervene to prevent a humanitarian disaster/catastrophe, to prevent genocide/ethnic cleansing, to bring peace/stability to the Balkans. Military intervention benefited the expansionist agendas of both NATO/US and Albanian separatists/secessionists. This was the goal of the Islamic ultra-nationalist regime of Islamist Alija Izetbegovic in Bosnia during the civil war. The only way the Bosnian regime, and its NATO/US sponsors, could induce military intervention was to mischaracterize the three-way civil war, where each side was protecting its own national interests, through media disinformation and propaganda as a humanitarian crisis. Once the US government gave the green light, the media went into a feeding frenzy, presenting manufactured and bogus images of refugees, concentration/death camps, massacres, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Boutros Boutros Ghali, UN Secretary General, dismissed Bosnia as a rich mans war and noted that there were at least a dozen places in the world where the loss of life and suffering were greater than in Bosnia. But NATO/US and the globalist humanitarians and interventionists did not want to establish an open society in Rwanda or Sudan or the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip. NATO military intervention, the new military humanism, and humanitarianism is selective, based on geo-political, economic, and military self-interest and expansionism. The same modus operandi or MO wasat play in Macedonia. The NLA and the Western and US media seek to induce NATO military intervention against the Macedonian Slavs by portraying the conflict through media propaganda, through the media of the free world, as a humanitarian crisis, a conflict about human rights, minority rights, and ethnic minority grievances. But the fact remains: NATO intervention is the ultimate objective and goal. This is the real agenda of Albanian insurgency in Macedonia. This is all they want and demand. NATO occupation of the FYROM of Macedonia to disarm the NLA terrorists/insurgents and to grant them amnesty will result in the de facto partition and de facto independence of Western Macedonia, Illirida in the Greater Albania ideology. NATO intervention will result in a Kosovo-style NLA takeover of Western Macedonia, establishing de facto independence. De jure independence is a formality that is superfluous like in Kosovo. The NLA wants de facto partition based on the Kosovo model. NATO intervention will accomplish this objective. The NLA cannot win any military engagement in the FYROM. Like in Kosovo, the Yugoslav police and military forces wiped out the KLA. In Bosnia, the NATO/US-supported Bosnian Muslim Army was wiped out. The NLA can wreak havoc and cause many needless deaths and much suffering, but if the FYROM mobilizes and declares war, actions opposed by NATO, the NLA too will be wiped out in time. So the NLA strategy is very simple: Cause as much havoc and carnage in Macedonia, create as much of a humanitarian disaster/catastrophe, cause a refugee crisis, so that the international community, i.e., NATO, will intervene. NATO reluctance to intervene is a sham. NATO mouthpiece and front, Mr. Massacre, William Walker, who induced NATO intervention in Kosovo based on a manufactured massacre, propaganda of the deed, has demanded that NATO intervene in the FYROM on the side of the NLA terrorists/insurgents. Another NATO front organization, the globalist Human Rights Watch (HRW), has begun cataloguing alleged human rights abuses of the Macedonian government. Jacques Chirac and globalist humanitarian and interventionist groups and organizations have demanded NATO intervention. This prepapres the propaganda groundwork for NATO intervention. NATO has already decided to send a 3,000 troop contingent to the FYROM and to disarm the terrorists/insurgents of the NLA but only following a peace agreement based on the Rambouillet diktat model. In fact, NATO has already intervened in the FYROM by arming, training, and supplying the NLA directly and indirectly through MPRI, the CIA, and SAS, which is training both the NLA and Macedonian government troops, by not interdicting NLA incursions and infiltrations into the FYROM from NATO-run Kosovo at the border which NATO controls, patrolled by US, German, and British troops, by allowing KLA/KPC reservists to infiltrate the FYROM from bases in Kosovo and training bases in northern Albania to reinforce the new KLA fighting in Macedonia. Once NATO intervenes and occupies Macedonia, the NLA will have won and will have achieved its objectives and goals, de facto partition and de facto independence/secession. End of insurgency. End of conflict. This was the scenario in Kosovo. We are seeing a repeat performance in Macedonia. The results will be the same.

Conclusion

Albanian terrorists/insurgents and guerrillas since the 1878 League of Prizren have sought to create a Greater Albania, an unchanging aim of Albanian nationalism. The First Balkan War of 1912 would lead to the emergence of an Albanian state for the first time in history. There had never been an Albanian state before 1912. The new Albanian state would consist principally of the Scutari vilayet. Illirida, western Macedonia, and Kosova, Kosovo-Metohija, would not be included in the new Albanian state. Throughout the twentieth century, Albanian nationalism and Albanian political aims in the Balkans would be guided by the Greater Albania ideology and strategy formulated by the 1878 League of Prizren, which were re-formulated by the 1943 League of Prizren.

The objective and goal of the Albanian insurgency or terrorist war in Macedonia is to implement the federalization plan, the partition of Macedonia into Albanian and Slav federal units. The federalization plan demanded by the NLA would result in de facto independence/secession/partition of Macedonia. The federalization plan is modeled on the Kosovo paradigm or blueprint. NATO military intervention and occupation of Macedonia are integral parts of the NLA strategy. NATO intervention is required to establish de facto partition and federalization. The model is Kosovo. With NATO intervention, the NLA which achieve its objective to establish not greater rights, but a Greater Albania, the goal and objective of the Albanian nationalist agenda for over a century.

National Movement Simeon II would like that Bulgaria has a uniform position about Macedonia.

News.bg

National Movement Simeon II will renew its offer to all the parliamentary groups in the 39th Parliament for preparing a uniform position about the crisis in Macedonia, a fax message that National Movement Simeon II had sent in response of a question by News.bg Agency read. The leader of the National Movement Simeon II National and Foreign Policy team Solomon Pasi had signed the document. According to National Movement Simeon II, the government in Skopje must look for a political, not for a military solution of the crisis, with the support of the European Union, the NATO and the United Nations.

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