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In September 2001, Greek telecommunications giant OTE paid almost 28.5 million euro for Macedonia’s second mobile operator license. Various legal challenges and disputes meant that the new company — Cosmofon — was launched only 12 days ago.

The man picked to head Cosmofon is Nikolaоs Avgerinos, a PhD in electronics with a decade’s experience in GSM service set-up, with Vodafone (from 1993-2001) and OTE (2001 to the present). At Vodafone, he oversaw the launch of Greece’s first GSM service (Panafon). His integral role in developing Greek telecommunications involved directing operations, while serving on Panafon’s executive board until 2001. Dr. Avgerinos led afterwards the launch of Click GSM in Egypt and assisted from Greece the establishment of Vodafone subsidiaries in Kenya and Hungary. Under his direction, Panafon won Albania’s second operator license and began competition with Albania’s other mobile operator — owned by Cosmote, the mobile subsidiary of Dr. Avgerinos’ present employer.

In April 2001, Dr. Avgerinos joined OTE and was made CEO in Bulgaria, where he launched Bulgaria’s second mobile operation, GLOBUL. By December 2002, this operation had gone from nothing to 500,000 subscribers. Since December, he has been directing Cosmofon’s operations in Macedonia.

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Q: Dr. Avgerinos, how was it that you were chosen to come to Macedonia?

A: In December 2002, I was asked to lead the Macedonia operation. My mandate was to solve all problems as quickly as possible. We are very proud to say that we did it all in less than 6 months. Now, we have initial coverage of 60 percent of Macedonia, or 70 percent of the population. This is very decent opening coverage. At least in my experience, it is the most decently covered of any operation at the time of launch. Remember, we’ve had to do everything from the ground up. We are very optimistic that Macedonia will be a very successful operation.

We set ourselves high targets, as we had a well-established competitor. We utilized heavily OTE’s support and the technical expertise of Cosmote, OTE’s mobile operator in Greece. We’ve started with 77 base stations. This infrastructure is one-third of the total investment we plan for 2003. Our total financial investment this year will be 60 million euro — and 90 million euro by the end of 2004.

Q: Monopoly-weary Macedonians have eagerly awaited Cosmofon’s arrival. Yet local media quoted you last week as saying, “we’re not interested in a price war.” Were they perhaps too optimistic?

A: A war entails great danger for both combatants. Plus, sometimes unfortunate things happen to bystanders — in this case, the customers. For our long-term goals, it is better to foster competition.

In one of my previous assignments, I recall one point where we were heading towards owning 75 percent of the market. I had the stunning experience of hearing my CEO say, “gentlemen, give them room.”

There must be competition. It improves the overall market. It challenges and enhances your performance, and that of your competitor as well.

Q: Why did Cosmofon’s launch take so long? The general public has perceived MobiMak as deliberately stonewalling so as to drag out its monopoly.

A: What blocked the deal? First of all, there was great initial dispute about the validity of the transaction. Then, we had poor governmental support. The investor (OTE) was very careful in committing investment into the country, until the point came when we felt that no further legal declarations could stop us. The right time came last December. When the shareholders decided it was safe, they sent me here. My mandate was to get things done in the least amount of time.

Major disputes centered on regulatory and commercial issues with interconnection, but these were resolved in January. And here I have to praise MATAV (the Hungarian telecom company)for their good cooperation in the negotiations.

Q: You opened to customers on 14 June- less than two weeks ago. Are you satisfied with this initial period? Do you have any figures yet?

A: I cannot discuss numbers here; you understand that it is slightly delicate at this time.

However, we will soon be putting statistics down on paper. What I can tell you is that business has been running 500 percent above my target.

Q: 500 percent! To what do you attribute this fortunate error?

A: We obviously underestimated the market. The main reason for our success, I believe, is our better prices.

Our estimate is that our prices are 30-35 percent lower, in terms of total cost — that is, after you factor in monthly fee, services, and personal user patterns. Also, we’ve introduced per-second billing. The competition offers per-twenty second billing (for postpaid accounts) and per-ten second billing (for prepaid accounts). Also, note our tariff structure. We wanted to suit the individual consumer’s user patterns. Our post-pay tariff is stepped — the more you use, the less you pay.

Cosmofon also believes in unified rates. The competition, on the other hand, charges different rates for calls made to landlines and mobiles. We promote the philosophy that communication is a need. People should feel free to use the service whenever they like.

Another reason is the accumulated disappointment of the people at the monopolistic behavior of our competition. Finally, there is the factor of novelty — everyone wants to try something new.

Q: Yet novelty is a mixed blessing. Are you afraid public interest may taper off eventually?

A: Our plan now is to revise our original business plan and align it with signals we’re receiving from the market. We will continue to offer the same rates — certainly, we won’t raise them. We are looking ahead to a period of very significant growth.

Q: Dan Doncev, former CEO of Macedonian Telecommunications, alleged last year that high consumer prices in Macedonia were partially a result of price-gouging by the owners (Hungary’s MATAV, and ultimately, Deutsche Telekom). The argument went that, because of a Europe-wide industry recession, the owners were trying to milk Macedonia for all it was worth, to make up for losses in other markets. Could this conceivably happen with OTE and Cosmofon?

A: We have never operated under such a policy. Our philosophy is that the subsidiary in each country should pay into the general budget the revenues anticipated in the original busin
ess plan. Macedonians shouldn’t worry about price-gouging. In any case, OTE is doing very well, partly because of Cosmote’s great success. This is a company that joined the market 5 years after the first 2 Greek mobile operators, and 3 and a half years later, is leading the market with revenues in 2002 of 1.2 billion euro. Cosmote enjoys a 43 percent EBITA rate, among the three highest in Europe.

Q: Is there a date when you believe Cosmofon will achieve market parity?

A: Tactically, this goal never enters anyone’s business plan. We have a different strategy. Rather than try and take all of MobiMak’s customers, we’d like to expand the market. My main target is customers who don’t have any mobile service. We are marketing towards them.

Q: Cosmofon is now Macedonia’s second mobile operator. Is there potential for a third mobile operator?

A: There is sometimes talk of a third mobile operator in media analyses. It is my clear opinion based on the numbers that there is not room. In a country of only 2 million people, a third operator would simply not succeed.

Q: What part do you envision Cosmofon playing in OTE’s overall strategy?

A: What we are witnessing here in Macedonia is a part of OTE’s general Balkan investment strategy. We’ve had great success with Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, and we will strengthen our presence in Serbia. We are present in Romania’s Rom Telecom, which owns a GSM license. Romania is very significant because of market size. Although operations there have been in troubled waters for some time, OTE has demonstrated determination to remain, recently gaining a shareholder majority.

Regardless of that, we are very confident of overall regional success. And Cosmofon in Macedonia is a very important part of our greater Balkan strategy. Our operations here have started very positively, and we anticipate a lot of future success.

An ongoing dispute between Turkey and Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant, has imperiled the future of the Blue Stream gas pipeline. An engineering marvel which rests on the bottom of the Black Sea, the pipeline was turned off in mid-March, only a month after commencing operations. Earlier this month, the Russian newspaper Gazeta reported that bankruptcy of the pipeline could incur $42 billion losses for Gazprom.

Turkey is now complaining that the previous government’s contract is unsatisfactory and would like to revise the purchase amounts downward. The negotiated price ($115 per 1,000 cubic meters) is also now deemed too high. The current existing agreement obliges Turkey to buy 2bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas. But if it comes to a decision between accepting lower volumes and renegotiating prices, Ankara would probably prefer the former.

Investors have long feared a glut of Caspian gas on the market over the next few years. Turkey was expected to take more than it really needed. Growth predictions that turned out to be overoptimistic helped justify plans for development of the enormous (1 trillion cubic meter) Shah Deniz gas fields in Azerbaijan, when British Petroleum discovered them in 1999. However, this discovery just worsened the general inertia. With a fall in demand came a concomitant rise in costs. Industry experts quoted by Reuters last December maintained that Europe’s gas supply is already contracted, for at least the next 10 years. Turkey is now seeking viable ways to dump surplus gas on to Greece and other points westward.

Gazprom Deputy CEO Yuri Komarov recently stated that Turkey must take the agreed amounts of gas by 1 July, or else stipulated take-or-pay contractual conditions will come into effect. The Turks have demanded lower prices, but Komarov cited his company’s credit obligations as negating such a prospect. He also accused Turkey of overestimating its gas needs from the project’s beginning. This well-worn charge has been heard from foreign investors as well as from other producers like Iran and Azerbaijan.

The dispute has other, region-wide repercussions. Gazprom needs users for the Blue Stream pipeline. Both Azerbaijan and Georgia have been courted. Georgian opposition politicians and U.S. energy envoy Steven Mann protested on June 6 against secretive negotiations held between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and President Eduard Shevardnadze, to revive a moribund Gazprom-Georgian gas consortium. Mann charged that the deal, “…would significantly weaken Georgia’s position along East-West energy transportation routes.” However, Gazprom is prepared to offer lower consumer prices than current supplier Itera. This, as well as the promise of uninterrupted supply, is politically tempting for the leaders of a country afflicted by chronic power outages and gas shortages.

What the U.S. fears, according to a Eurasianet.org analysis, is that Gazprom would control Georgia’s pipeline “hardware,” and thus could threaten or control part of the proposed Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) gas pipeline (from Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan through Georgia to Erzurum, Turkey). However, such a route would not be operational until at least 2006, considering its great expense ($3.2 billion) and the low demand for gas in Turkey. Ankara agrees with the BTE idea, at least in principle, being cheaper than Blue Stream.

However, any Blue Stream losses would not be such a big problem for Gazprom. Reuters reported on June 23rd that the company’s gas export revenues will reach a record $15 billion in 2003. This represents a $2.1 billion increase over last year. According to Komarov, export volumes will reach 134 bcm, a 4 percent increase over 2002. Compared to this, the Turkish trouble is merely an annoyance. “We are ready to consider some alterations (to the agreement), but we are not talking about significant changes,” Komarov told Reuters. “In connection with the Blue Stream pipeline, the question of paying with goods is not possible.”

At the same time, Turkey is squabbling with Bulgaria over electricity imports regulated under a 1998 deal. Until this April, the former had been importing 4 billion kilowatt hours annually — more than half of Bulgaria’s total annual electricity exports. In 1998, Turkey agreed to purchase electricity from Bulgaria at a fixed rate. For its part, Bulgaria pledged to contract Turkish companies for two major infrastructure projects, the Maritsa Highway and the Gorna Arda hydroelectric plant. However, the projects have foundered because of the financial troubles of the commissioned company (Turkey’s Ceylan Holdings), according to an RFE/RL analysis of 16 June. No replacement company was nominated, and this led the Turkish government to abrogate the deal temporarily on April 21, when the state-owned electricity distributor TEDAS ceased purchasing Bulgarian electricity.

On Monday, the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy announced that the country accounts for 46 percent of the total electricity exports on the Balkans, and that its share of the Balkan energy market will reach 65 percent once new export contracts commence on 1 July. According to the Bulgarian News Network, “…this will fully compensate Turkey’s last April cancellation of electricity imports.” And so, as is the case with Gazprom, Bulgaria’s energy exporters will survive the mercurial policy of the Turks.

RFE/RL also reported that there will finally be a compromise: Turkey will resume electricity imports (albeit on a smaller and cheaper scale) and the Bulgarians will revive the stalled infrastructure projects. Bulgaria has been seeking a foreign investor for the past several months. One candidate for the $220 million Gorna Arda project, the Italian electricity supplier Enel declined, citing high expenses and high risk. Enel has already committed to another Bulgarian energy project, the Maritza Iztok III coal fired power plant. According to the BBC, the Italian company has acquired a 60 percent share in this $580 million refurbishment project, along with the U.S. company Entergy.

The Bulgarian failure to find an investor means that things, while agreed in principle, are not yet cut and dried. On 16 June, a Bulgarian energy official stated that Sofia would make “no compromises” in the negotiations. And, one week later, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul merely expressed hope that an agreement would be reached — sometime within the next 3 months.

However, Turkey has little to lose while the Bulgarians fulfil their side of the deal. Electricity usage in Turkey will stay below the usual levels for at
least the next few months. As expected, the war in Iraq has gouged Turkey’s vital tourism industry — and thus some of its biggest seasonal electricity users. Meanwhile, the Bulgarians will concentrate on expanding their regional electricity exports in Greece, Macedonia and Montenegro.

According to the IMF there is no reason to worry that Turkey may again face a serious recession, as it did in 2001. Ironically, many analysts trace the beginnings of the current policy of energy import austerity to that financial crisis, which dramatically lowered energy usage totals across the board. However, on 22 June the Anadolu news agency quoted Odd Per Brekk, senior resident representative of the IMF in Turkey, as saying “…a new eruption of an economic crisis like the one in 2001 is impossible.”

Although this will likely prove to be true, there will be little appreciable change in Turkey’s energy demands — indicating that disputes like those with Russia and Bulgaria may well recur for some time.

A total eclipse of the full moon on Friday morning, street warfare between Macedonians and Albanians in Tetovo on Friday night – could these portentous events have had anything to do with the next day’s visit from US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz?

Ьber-hawk Wolfowitz touched down briefly in Skopje on the third leg of his Balkan tour. At his first stop (Sarajevo) Wolfowitz oversaw the signing of a treaty guaranteeing that Bosnia will never extradite an American soldier to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. At the second stop, Kosovo’s Camp Bondsteel, Wolfowitz inspected the troops at this all but forgotten imperial outpost.

Wolfowitz’s trip to Macedonia was decidedly low-key, and lasted only a few hours. Officially, he came for the photo op and speech praising the Iraq-bound Macedonian conscripts. However, the fact that he also met in private with former NLA boss Ali Ahmeti, President Boris Trajkovski, and later with Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski and Defense Minister Vlade Buchkovski seems to indicate that Rumsfeld’s right-hand man came to talk business.Operation Evade Journalists

However, it is slightly unclear as to what that business was. Wolfowitz’s entourage, which included US Ambassador Laurence Butler and the proverbial men in dark suits and sunglasses talking on mobile phones, were escorted briskly in and out of government buildings all morning, leaving little chance for interrogation. Although Wolfowitz answered two or three mundane questions in a mundane way when meeting with Trajkovski, no real explanation for his visit was given. And the US Embassy on Saturday claimed to have no one available who could speak on the matter.

Saturday’s final photo op for Wolfowitz was the Macedonian Army’s Ilinden barracks, a sprawling encampment situated on a high wooded bluff overlooking Skopje. Here Wolfowitz gave a short speech to the 39 Iraq-bound Macedonian soldiers. Among them are members of the Wolves (special forces), as well as army medics.

Flanked by officials, Wolfowitz stood opposite the neatly-arrayed Macedonian troops and thanked them for playing their part in the “liberation” of the Iraqi people from “…one of the worst dictators of modern history.” He also alluded to the US-imposed Ohrid Agreement when praising the Macedonians for “settling issues by talking instead of by fighting.” He then proceeded down the row, cordially shaking hands with each of the conscripts. Much snapping and flashing ensued from the thicket of cameras adjacent.

photo by Cvetin Cilimanov for Antiwar.com

A Bizarre, Yet Oddly Fitting Juxtaposition

This photo op session was an exercise in incongruity – a perfect example of the surreal story of Macedonia since the war. Along with Wolfowitz were US Ambassador Butler, Defense Minister Buchkovski, and Deputy Defense Minister Rizvan Suleymani.

In other words, you had the representative of the world’s most powerful military, cheerfully thanking Macedonian soldiers for helping the US fight terrorism in Iraq – even as his counterpart (Suleymani), brought to power by the very same terrorists who destabilized Macedonia two years ago looked on. In this light, Wolfowitz’s statement about “talking instead of fighting” really said it all. In Macedonia, land of endless simulations, it’s no wonder that the soldiers then gave such profuse thanks to a man who helped put their lives and homes at risk once before, and who is now sending them into an unknown and perhaps dangerous situation once again. In Macedonia, reality has indeed left the building.

A Ray of Hope Shines Down on Macedonia…

It all goes back to 2001, and the Albanian war against Macedonia. Buchkovski, then Minister of Defense, was fired for allegedly not prosecuting the war hard enough. Now that the government has changed, he is back in charge. The US, though it continues to deny doing so, supplied covert aid to the Albanian militants. The manageable destabilization that resulted was pleasing to the anti-Europe faction in Washington. We should remember that the war began barely a month before Macedonia was to receive a big boost for its EU membership drive, in the form of a bilateral agreement with the Union on economic and other cooperation. In early 2001, Macedonia’s economic outlook was optimistic, and it was regarded as an exemplary model for human rights and ethnic harmony in the Balkans. Everything was ruined overnight by the NLA’s selfish and ultimately self-retarding war of aggression.

After two tepid years of international babysitting, Macedonia is just beginning to return to the position it had attained before the war. Foreign investors are slowly being lured back. Western leaders are cautiously optimistic about the country’s future. In a very positive development, the once-hostile Greek Parliament is going to ratify the Stabilization and Association Agreement that will bring Macedonia closer to EU membership. Long alienated by the name problem, the Greeks are now among Macedonia’s firmest backers.

…Just as a Dark Shadow Falls Across the Land

However, not everything is rosy. The arrival of Paul Wolfowitz was immediately preceded by an unusual night of heavy fighting in Tetovo, which left several injured and saw Albanians shoot at police and fire RPG’s at army facilities. On the same day (Friday) a few thousand Albanian students blocked the main street in Kumanovo during a protest demanding their own segregated school. Government officials trying to visit Kumanovo were unable to get through – a situation akin to last weekend, when the Interior Mi
nister, Hari Kostov, and US Ambassador Butler were humiliated by Albanian villagers near Vejce, and not allowed to hold a commemoration ceremony for Macedonian soldiers ambushed and massacred in the war. Absolutely powerless to take any kind of control over the situation, Macedonia’s police boss and the representative of the most powerful nation on earth were forced to negotiate with some bad-tempered shepherds about whether they could use a simple road or not – as if they were seeking visas to enter a foreign country!

Although in the end approval was granted, reasons for concern remain. At least one well-placed international official in Skopje believes that these villagers were prompted to act and supported by one of the Albanian political parties. What could be gained by such provocation, one wonders? Hasn’t the Albanian “liberation” movement already run its course?

Losing Control in the Rest of the World, Washington Eyes the Balkans

American foreign policy has changed dramatically since 9/11. While in early 2001 Macedonia was fun as a plaything for idle entertainment, provoking ruinous Balkan wars is no longer a top US priority. In early September 2001, the Americans were only starting to enjoy managing the conflict, and holding Europe at bay. However, very shortly thereafter Osama bin Laden took center stage, and the Balkans were all but forgotten.

Arrogantly, the Americans had assumed that Albanian militancy would be controllable – thus ignoring the historic failure of all of the previous “Great Powers” in this regard. Now, halfway through 2003, Washington does not have the time or energy for another war in Macedonia; the one on terror (orchestrated by Wolfowitz and Co.) seems to be unraveling fast. Having bitten off far more than it can chew, the US is quickly becoming unable to contain fighting and/or terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Morocco – and who knows where next.

Wolfowitz in Macedonia to Pressure on the ICC Treaty?

Nevertheless, the Bushies still persist in the incredible belief that, having come thus far already, a little more bullying won’t hurt. And so the conscription of Macedonia’s soldiers for Iraq, at the same time that its obedience is demanded on the issue of non-compliance with the International Criminal Court. The US has given all countries a strict deadline of 1 July to sign up – or else face the prospect of losing American military aid.

The US is firmly opposed to this European-backed, Hague-based venture with jurisdiction over war crimes. Washington bristles at the thought that any of its own soldiers could be tried by a foreign court. Detached from any specific context, there’s a lot to be said for this argument. However, it’s more than a bit rich for the US to demand the former Yugoslav countries to comply with the Hague, while at the same time ordering them to under no circumstances send its own citizens there.

During the 2001 war, it is known that Macedonian generals were afraid to give commands for engagement, knowing that the US and its “watchdog” lackeys were chafing at the bit to make indictments. The threat of the Hague was used indirectly by the US in forcing political pressure, especially in regards to former Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski, accused of war crimes by Human Rights Watch.

Of course, Macedonia is not suicidal and so will comply with whatever the US demands. In fact, there are a few who gladly support Washington – notably, the country’s US-educated President Trajkovski, a Methodist who in the mind’s eye can be imagined sporting a varsity letterman’s jacket with “State” emblazoned across the back. Indeed, Quarterback Ken has spoken out in favor of the US-imposed treaty and on Saturday made the debatable “personal observation” that “…millions of people will remember Iraq’s liberation as an act of democracy.”

In signing the treaty, Macedonia will join a veritable who’s who list of banana republics, including Tonga, Tajikistan, Rwanda, the Dominican Republic, Congo and now, backwards neighbor Albania. No doubt, being seen in such illustrious company will surely boost Macedonia’s already auspicious stature.

Macedonia: Toeing the Line

Although most of its leaders and almost all of its citizens opposed the war on Iraq, Macedonia has no option but to be a yes-man for George W. Bush and the gang. Powerful hawks like Wolfowitz are well aware of the general dislike Macedonians (and most Europeans) have for the administration. Pressure and intimidation may prove useful yet, especially if the country dares assert its independence in any way. It is still not in the interests of the Pentagon-dominated administration for Macedonia to join the EU. Measured instability is still a desirable thing for the hawks, who can readily unleash a new round of Albanian terrorism again, should they so desire.

That said, Wolfowitz’s visit can be understood as both a thanks and a menace. The support Macedonia has given for the Iraq adventure is no doubt sincerely appreciated by the administration – as is the donation of conscripts to the US Army in Iraq, and the concomitant distribution of Macedonian civilians to the Middle East, where they will serve the Department of Brown & Root.

The Darkness Before the Storm?

It would be one
thing if things were just that simple. However, the fact that significant hostilities occurred on the eve of Wolfowitz’s arrival may bode ill for Macedonia. When his long, dark shadow fell across the land this weekend, was it some sort of a signal for the militants to resume?

Despite all the plaudits from interventionists looking to secure their legacies and justify the fortunes they have made off of the country’s misery, the truth is that Macedonia is still in danger. And ruining it won’t require another large-scale war; even low-intensity sustained violence will be enough to scare off investors and tourists. I am told that the England-Macedonia football match, scheduled for September 6^th in Skopje, is on a knife-edge, due to British queasiness. Yet the country badly needs this and any other international events of the kind. It would be a pity for everything to be ruined because an indoctrinated minority could be led to once again spew its misdirected bile on Macedonia. It’s even worse to imagine that such a movement could again be surreptitiously directed by a war-crazed American administration in chronic denial regarding its deadly and disastrous interventions. Let’s just hope that the war party has not lost its contact with reason entirely, and decides to spare Macedonia from the current war without end.

Once upon a time, in a small and vulnerable land, there lived a man named Ali. Finding himself generally unsatisfied with things, he set off to the hills one day with his band of 40 (or so) thieves and brigands. After making some noise, threats and complaints, Ali succeeded in bringing the genie out of the bottle. And then it happened that, in a lovely place down by the lake, young Ali was granted his three wishes. And for what did he wish? “We wish for state jobs, our language in the government, and state-funded education!” declared Ali.

Lo and behold, his wishes were granted, and life in that small and vulnerable land would change forever – by not changing at all.

The Albanian Movement: Anti-State, or Anti-Capitalist?

At first glance, the Albanian separatist movements of Kosovo and Macedonia would seem to be classic examples of anti-state revolts: marginalized minorities unwillingly locked in a righteous, David-versus-Goliath struggle against an oppressive, alien state structure. Or so it would seem.

However, this is simply not true. The fractious, paradoxical Balkans seems to revel in self-contradiction. And so it is that, in reaching for a 19^th-century nation state through the ideological guise of ultra-liberal, 1990’s-era American political rhetoric, the Albanians have wound up striving for nothing other than an idiosyncratic version of Socialist Yugoslavia. Nothing surprising – after all, this is the Balkans we’re talking about.

Rationalizing Confusion

Midway through the year 2003, the Albanians of Macedonia still don’t know exactly what it is that they want. This speaks rather poorly for their decision to start a war anyway. One must fight for something, but when there’s nothing to fight for, rationalizations come cheap and easy. Lacking any degree of creativity or originality in 2001, they merely recycled the same old Kosovo complaints (not surprising, since the very same people were behind both movements). And so the world came to believe that they had no job opportunities, state support or any power whatsoever in Macedonia. Never mind that Albanian language television was airing in Macedonia before television was even available in Albania itself, or that Albanians had long been ruling local government in areas where they constituted a majority, such as Tetovo and Gostivar. Despite all that, we were led to believe that the Albanians had no human rights because of the state’s “Slav domination.”

Fighting Themselves into a Corner

The anti-state saga of human rights violations and oppression played exceedingly well in the Western media. It prolonged the war, aided public relations, and brought sympathy for the Albanian cause that would have otherwise been lacking.

Unfortunately for them, this meant that when the time came to “compromise” with the Framework Agreement negotiations, the Albanians were restricted to making demands of the government exclusively. And so, rather than throw off the opprobrious, stifling mantle of the state, they were obliged to resurrect it. Indeed, the Framework Agreement demands seem to confirm the victory of the outdated Socialist mode of thinking. The Albanians ended up demanding more state, not less, merely an Albanianized version of the old Yugoslavia.

Willfully Behind the Times

This was not surprising, considering that they had been guided only by their subjective, collective memory of exclusion from the old federation. When given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to submit their wishes in 2001, the Albanians chose to pluck the fruits of the 1970’s. It was as if they were trying to make up for something, to fantasize about being useless bureaucrats and publicly-funded pedagogues, though those days are fast disappearing. Albeit slow, change is coming to Macedonia. Once-desirable state jobs and state education are now more a liability than a boon. The public schools and universities are dying, as the best professors and students flock to newly opening private establishments.

Make Haste to Employ Them, Comrade!

Something peculiar has been going on lately with the interventionists in Macedonia. Or, to be more precise, since nothing special has been happening, certain parties are determined to find meaning in this – as if blandness was somehow not the norm, but an aberration here. As I wrote last week, the Empire seems now to be taking depth soundings underneath the Macedonian political surface, in order to plan future mischief-making.

In this regard, you’ve just got to hand it to the IWPR – they never fail to come through when it’s time for a good laugh. Take their recent article entitled “Macedonia: Albanians still underemployed.” It is a textbook example of the subtle deception of the interventionist press, disguised in the form of a simple report on unemployment angst.

The article’s main purpose seems to be undermining the present government’s Albanian representatives – Ali Ahmeti and his party, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). It does so by quoting unemployed Albanian men from the extremist-friendly northern villages of Matejce and Lipkovo – as well as from Velesta, the prostitution center of Macedonia. It is fascinating to watch how the venerable reporting institution promotes the nonsense of people whose minds are just as stuck in the Socialist past as those of the frequently criticized “Slavs.” Take Tahir Hani, mayor of Velesta:

“‘…I feel that the DUI is not an equal partner in this government. They should pressure the authorities to open public enterprises and reduce our unemployment,’ he told IWPR.”

‘We Sit All Day Long Waiting for Someone to Give Us Work:’ More Inanity from the IWPR

Of course, Velesta is one of the more prosperous villages in the country, owing to the misery of its anonymous, Eastern European “workers.” Police raids designed to capture wanted prostitution bosses foundered when local officials tipped off the pimps. And for their part, the “unemployed” farmers of Matejce and Lipkovo profit handsomely from mafia activity with Kosovar Albania
ns. Yet the reinforced sense of entitlement is all-pervasive:

“…Avni Zendeli from the northeastern village of Matejce now blames the DUI for his poor living conditions. ‘Before the elections [the DUI] promised jobs and the renovation of our houses. But out of 4,000 inhabitants, only about ten people in Matejce are employed,’ he complained.

“Ljuljzim Arifi from Lipkovo shares his view, saying, ‘It seems as if the Ohrid agreement [of August 2001] is not being implemented. Jobs should have been created, but nothing has happened. We sit all day long waiting for somebody to give us work.’”

This last sentence is, for this writer at least, like a gift from the gods. Primarily, because it is absolutely true. At least the first part, that is. After all, Albanian-populated street corners give new meaning to the word “loitering.” Heavily suffused with the statist, Socialist mindset of the former Yugoslavia, the Albanians quoted belie the nature of their struggle for “liberation.” However, as stated above, the rhetoric about waiting for state employment is simply well-worn, reflexive rhetoric covering up for a fundamental inability to articulate what it is that they actually do want. Plumbing the murky depths of that little issue is more of a socio-psychological exercise than a political one. And, since nobody would believe it if they heard the truth, I will steer clear of the issue.

No Context? No Worries

According to the celebrated English moralist Samuel Johnson, idleness is the primary cause of all evil. Pray tell, what is it that these men do while waiting for the state to employ them? Apparently, there is plenty of time for planting landmines, burning down Macedonian homes, defacing churches, and so on. Of course, the IWPR doesn’t say this openly, but alludes to it:

“…Security, as well as the economy, remains a major concern for Albanians in the post-conflict period. Abedin Ziberi, who is adviser to Lipkovo municipality, and also a member of the Democratic Party of Albanians and a former rebel commander in the area, recently warned that ‘if anything could worsen security in Macedonia, it is failure to implement the peace accord.’

“Ziberi insists that Albanians are in a worse situation than they were before the war. ‘Many have no jobs. People are hungry and poor – and the government is doing nothing to help them,’ he said.”

The much-lauded IWPR preys upon well-meaning foreigners unaware of the real situation in Macedonia. The truth is, Lipkovo is ground zero for secessionism, and always has been. Landmines, such as the one that killed a Macedonian soldier this week, are planted in the area frequently. In fact, Lipkovo even declared itself a “free republic” a few months ago. It also hosts a reservoir which provides water to the city of Kumanovo below (100,000-plus inhabitants). During the 2001 war, the Albanians of Lipkovo cut off the water supply to the city for almost a month. Now Kumanovo is actively seeking new, safer sources of water. In actuality, Lipkovo has long been written off as a part of the republic.

Devious British subtlety at its best is revealed in the first line: “security… remains a major concern for Albanians in the post-conflict period.” Now, citing a former “rebel commander” and member of the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) here should send up red flags immediately. The insinuation that security could be “worsened” if further government handouts do not appear is not some kind of disinterested, objective analysis. Rather, it is a threat, one of the many that the DPA has been making against the DUI over the past few months. The level of indoctrination has reached such levels that even my Albanian taxi driver the other day declared that it’s high time for a renewed rebellion – because he did not have a state-funded job, as he thought the Ohrid Agreement had promised him.

The IWPR merely reifies these unproductive, anti-free market delusions.

No Expectations

As usual, it is only the Macedonians who expect nothing from their government. Although they may also complain about their economic situation, at least they don’t expect the state to save them.

Scavenging, politically-motivated interventionist outlets like the IWPR thrive on connecting unemployment and entitlement. They rarely report that Macedonia is a land of opportunity for motivated, hardworking people. After all, there is less competition. There are many Macedonian success stories – but none of them ever came from people who sat waiting for the state to employ them.

Unfortunately, Albanians locked in the backwards, Socialisti-era mindset – like the enterprising young fellow who thought he should be hired as a policeman just because he owned a whistle – are missing out. The single most destructive and retarding influence that their politicians and the West have saddled them with is that of absolute, irrefutable entitlement. And so they sit, waiting for an already bloated state to digest them.

Go Private, Young Man

They will be waiting a long time. True, their short-term prospects are bright. Albanians are now being hired and Macedonians fired to implement the Ohrid Accord’s affirmative action quotas. Yet their long-term prospects are less promising; the IMF and World Bank would like the government to lay off thousands of workers from chronically overstaffed state institutions. The only hope for any individual’s economic success will soon lie in the private sector.

Indeed, for what other reason are USAID and other Western agencies doing “competitivity projects,” if the suffering minority wants only to retreat into the same system which it tried to destroy? For rather than defeat a system of government (as the French and American revolutions set out to do) the Albanian revolt sought to merely revive it – with the only exception being that they would be on top, instead of the Serbs or Macedonians.

A Victory Befitting Pyrrhus Himself

If the Albanians really do feel left out of life’s great feast, it is not because of any willful obstruction from the Macedonians. After all, the latter did not force them to make the statist (and now failing) demands of 2001. Local bureaucracy, affirmative action, language rights, and constitutional change were all things for which Ahmeti and Co. pushed hard. By starting a war with no purpose, the Albanians only condemned themselves to further backwardness – and their political masters were only too happy with that result.

Always a step behind, the Albanians were tricked into believing that happiness, both in Kosovo and in Macedonia, would come through playing at governance in a system from which they had felt estranged. In the Balkans, land of simulation and symbolic victories, the big prize was in getting to become entrenched, mid-level bureaucrats: to work in the dismal confines of a post office processing the very bills they had never been forced to pay before; to collect back pay from their public employer, after returning from fighting that same employer in the war; to study in ethnically pure, ramshackle public schools.

Yet Macedonia is privatizing, Westernizing and seeking more profitable and modern types of work and study. And so, if the Albanians want to return to what was prestigious 30 years ago, why not let them have it? If they want a passport in their own language, so that the Greek border guards will know they are Albanian, and therefore should be denied entry, why not let them have it? And if the fiery Albanian youth of Kumanovo want to block traffic for days, marching down the main street, why not let them have the decrepit public school that they so badly think they need? “Let them go on with their miserable lives, if that’s what they want,” opined one fed-up Macedonian. “The rest of us have better things to do.”

Parasites Lost

It is often said that war is the health of the state. But is not the state also the health of war? The NLA (and KLA before it) would have had no success without a clear, organized state for an enemy, one to which could be affixed all of the blame and responsibility that they themselves evaded as shadowy guerrilla organizations.

But the truth is, these very guerrilla organizations are and always have been just a ward of the state. The Albanian “liberation” movement is defined by its parasitism. Being inherently weak, it can only get results through the sponsorship of a powerful outside power, such as Ottoman Turkey, Nazi Germany or imperial America. It is also well known that the Albanian diaspora has continually funded the Balkan insurrectionists – often one and the same people.

Indeed, back in the days when he was plotting the 2001 war, Ali Ahmeti himself used to collect social security in Switzerland. It is a common practice for Albanian men of Macedonia and Kosovo to go to Western Europe to work illegally, where they also collect social security, while all the while the family back home is also collecting social security and, until very recently, getting free utilities and phone service. Ironically, the former fighters of the DUI, who benefited from such trickery, are now beginning to appreciate some of the problems it can raise for the cash-strapped government they are now participating in.

For the Albanians, the only thing worse than living in the Macedonian state would be living outside of it. Failing to recognize this has doomed them to a life of delusions and collective torpor. Which would suit just fine the manipulative politicians and interventionist hacks who thrive on perpetuating the misery and backwardness of the Balkan peoples.