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They Said It: Wordplay and War in Macedonia

The publication of yet another hard-hitting commentary from American writer and Macedonia resident Jason Miko, entitled “A Deal With the Devil,” has given us the idea to dust off some more telling data from way back when. In his piece, Miko challenges the sincerity of Albanian leader Ali Ahmeti’s stated devotion to Macedonian unity, drawing on the latter’s own words from March 2001. Speaking with David Binder for Newsweek, Ahmeti affirmed:

“…our aim is solely to remove Slav forces from territory which is historically Albanian.”

Soon after winning the war by default, the NLA was given a makeover, as everyone knows, and programmed to be more Western-friendly, spookily reincarnated as the “Democratic Union for Integration.”

Among other things, Miko suggests that we may find it difficult to rectify the apparent dichotomy here. Furthermore, he presents more evidence in the they said it fashion to indicate that the powers-that-be never believed in the charade, either.

In late 2001, Miko states, he had coffee with Eleanor Nagy, “…the former and recently-departed Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Skopje.” Despite their fundamental differences of perception, Miko relates,

“…what she said at one point near the end of our conversation shocked me because it was totally open and honest, a refreshing change coming from a State Department official whose employees are normally not able to say what they believe.

Regarding the so-called peace deal of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, Eleanor said and I quote: ‘We basically made a deal with the Devil.’ She was, of course, referring to the international community as ‘we’ constitutes the international involvement in the Framework Agreement and she was, of course, referring to Ali Ahmeti and his ilk when she referred to the Devil.”

This disclosure of course speaks volumes. It is of the source of several other similar statements we’ve dredged up from similar sources in Macedonia and Kosovo, of course in the “please don’t quote me on that” fashion.

But how did the Western political elite get into a position of validating the actions of what was, in reality, a scruffy and imported (from Kosovo) band of criminals and thugs who had no interest in the unity and integration of Macedonia, anyway?

We turn to a classic text from November 2001 entitled, “Macedonia Capitulates.” While some of its conclusions turned out to be wrong, others turned to be right. The most important part of the article, in hindsight, is certain factual information of the they said it variety that will help us to understand how the mass media sanitized and legitimized the NLA and their dubious doings in Macedonia.

In March of 2001, the war was just getting started, and the Macedonian side still had a chance of coming out on top. Media coverage and public relations in general played a strong role in ensuring that they would not. Jason Miko does a good job of reminding us of Ahmeti’s and other of the famous statements made around that time. Here is a factual recounting of Macedonian media coverage during the month of March, 2001 by “…the most faithful barometer of US policy in the media,” as we called the New York Times:

“…During March 2001, the New York Times covered or mentioned Macedonia in 29 articles and 4 editorials. As always, choice of adjectives was crucial to developing a coherent policy. And so, we find that the NLA was described as ‘gunmen’ (4 times); as ‘irregulars’ (1 time); as ‘militants’ (11 times); as ‘extremists’ (7 times); and as ‘fighters’ (14 times). On 24 occasions, the NLA was linked to an ‘insurgency;’ on 4 others, to a ‘rebellion.’ Most telling were the number of times they were described as ‘ethnic’ (64 times), and, most crucial of all, as ‘rebels’ (153 times).

The Times only mentioned the NLA as ‘terrorists’ on 8 occasions. The first (on 3/19) was in reporting the French government’s labeling of the NLA as terrorists. The second (3/20), in apparent reaction to the French designation, quoted an NLA commander who said ‘don’t call us terrorists.’ On the same day, Javier Solana called the NLA ‘terrorists.’ Fourth was on 21 March, when the Times referred to the NLA ‘as a group it (the Macedonian government) calls terrorists.’ References 5-8 derive from quotes made by Macedonian officials; respectively, President Trajkovski, Spokesman Milososki, Trajkovski again, and National Security Advisor Nikola Dimitrov.”

Recounting all the rest of the significant utterances in the media since then would be as worthwhile as it would be arduous. But especially now, with some very sinister and disingenuous approximations being made from the usual evil sources (to the effect that Macedonians protesting not decentralization but the way decentralization is being done are of necessity anti-peace and anti-minority), it seems a very appropriate time to remember who said it – and when – because Macedonians, after all, have to live with the consequences.