Re: Syndicate: Aracinovo: "results of ceasefire"

[Andrej Tisma <aart@eunet.yu>]

Dear Melentie,
Yes, it all stinks, as you say. Just you "Slavs" beware of Racak II and
Rambouillet II. I think this analyze explains much about your situation.


MACEDONIA: WASHINGTON'S MILITARY-INTELLIGENCE PLOY 

by Michel Chossudovsky [17 June 2001]

The media is presently full of talk of a possible NATO
intervention to "save" Macedonia. But a NATO led
military intervention in Macedonia, involving NATO or
KFOR troops, or American and British special forces
"against the NLA rebels" would be a phony operation
from the outset. Amply documented, the NLA terrorists,
who are directly linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA), are armed and trained by Washington. So why
would the US intervene under NATO auspices to fight
against its own proxy army? Instead, the presence of
NATO or Anglo-US troops would further Washington's
strategic goals. 3 

The US is once more waging a proxy war using the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to fight the Macedonian
Armed Forces. While US KFOR troops stationed in Kosovo
are not directly involved, American military personnel
from Military Professional Resources, Inc (MPRI) (a
mercenary outfit on contract to the Pentagon) is
advising the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and its
Macedonian proxy the NLA.1 

ALBANIAN REBEL LEADERS PAID BY THE UNITED NATIONS 

Military personnel of the "civilian" Kosovo Protection
Corps (KPC) (i.e. the KLA under its UN label) have now
joined the NLA. KPC Reservists have been called up and
KPC Chief of Staff Gezim Ostreni --who was on the
United Nations payroll-- has been appointed "second in
command" in the NLA. 

Also well established is the longstanding relationship
between KLA Commander Agim Ceku and MPRI General
Richard Griffiths. In all likelihood, KLA Commander
Agim Ceku --well versed in the art of ground war
artillery-- is also playing a key role in military
planning. In fact, the personal relationship between
Griffiths and Ceku goes back to the planning of
"Operation Storm" in 1995 by the Croatian Armed
Forces, which led to ethnic massacres and the
expulsion of more than 200,000 Serbs from the Krajina
region of Croatia.2 

In October 1998, Griffith --who had been in charge of
MPRI's "Equip and Train" program in Croatia-- was
decorated upon his departure from Croatia. A few
months later, Brigadier General Agim Ceku took leave
from the Croatian military to take on the position of
Commander in Chief of the Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA). These appointments took place barely two months
prior to the bombing of Yugoslavia in March 1999: 

MPRI sub-contracted some of the training programme to
two British private security companies, ensuring that
between 1998 and June 1999 the KLA was being armed,
trained and assisted in Italy, Turkey, Kosovo and
Germany by the Americans, the German external
intelligence service and former and serving members of
Britain's 22 SAS Regiment." 3 

MACEDONIAN MILITARY BRASS COLLABORATES WITH THE REBELS


Coincidentally, General Richard Griffiths is also
director of MPRI's program in Macedonia responsible
for channeling US military aid to the Macedonian Armed
Forces (ARM). Griffith has also developed a
longstanding personal relationship with General Jovan
Andrejevski who is Chief of Staff of the Macedonian
Armed Forces (ARM). These ties go back to the time
when Andrejevski was in military school in the US. 

Ironically, both Ceku and Andrejevski were trained by
General Griffiths. What this means is that MPRI's
Richard Griffiths is "a go between" the two armies,
collecting military intelligence from the Macedonian
Armed Forces (ARM) which he then relays to Commander
Agim Ceku and his MPRI colleagues advising the KLA in
Kosovo. He also reports back to MPRI headquarters in
Virginia which is in close liaison with the Pentagon. 

Barely mentioned by Western media, the role of MPRI
was the centre of a major scandal involving ARM
Commander in Chief General Jovan Andrejevski, who was
accused of: 

"relaying sensitive information to Albanian
terrorists... through his 'sponsorship' of the
American General in charge in Skopje Rich Griffiths,
who used those same trustworthy accounts of the
maneuvers of the Macedonian security forces to then
'relay' this information to his 'good friends', the
Albanian terrorists of the KLA-NLA... The retired
General Griffiths... directly 'supported' Albanian
terrorist formations of the so-called "National
Liberation Army" with very detailed and secret
intelligence obtained from the General Staff of the
ARM personally from its chief Jovan Adrejevski. This
great scandal ... may have contributed to the delays
... of the expected successes in the defeat of the
terrorists. Television 'A-1' claims that other than
the proof of 'secretive intelligence meetings between
Adrejevski and Griffiths (who was marked as
Andrejevski's boss upon Adrejevski's completion of
military schooling in the United States), we still
haven't obtained documents concerning their 'exchange
of military secrets'... The head of the ARM General
Staff Jovan Adrejevski responded today [May 22nd] in a
written statement that a 'war without scruples' was
being waged against him, not to mention the fact that
the second highest ranking officer of the ARM General
Pande Petrovski has already announced his
resignation... as a result of the important military
and command intelligence 'leaks'. 4 

THE ROLE OF THE OSCE 

MPRI's military-intelligence ploy was carefully
coordinated with another CIA sponsored operation
carried out under the inter-governmental umbrella of
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE). The recently appointed head of the OSCE
mission to Macedonia Robert Frowick, described as a
"former US diplomat," was entrusted with the task of
"brokering" an agreement between the NLA terrorists
and the Albanian parties which are part of the
government coalition. Under the OSCE "cover",
Frowick's activities --consisting of establishing a
dialogue with the rebels-- largely replicated the role
performed by another CIA agent William Walker when he
was OSCE Head of Mission in Kosovo in the months
preceding the 1999 bombings of Yugoslavia. 

Frowick was instrumental --on Washington's
instructions-- in arranging secret meetings between
NLA rebel leader Ali Ahmeti and the Albanian parties,
essentially with a view to including the KLA directly
into the Macedonian political scene while creating a
rift in the government coalition. 

Washington acknowledged Frowick's contacts with the
rebel leaders, while casually denying US involvement: 

"A special envoy from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe ( OSCE) , Robert Frowick, a
U.S. diplomat who is the special OSCE envoy for
Macedonia, was reported to have brokered the
agreement. But the State Department official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, neither confirmed nor
denied Frowick's involvement in brokering the
agreement. Frowick was under pressure to leave the
country, reports in Macedonia said... [T]he heads of
Western diplomatic missions in Skopje met Wednesday in
the U.S. embassy to 'discuss Frowick's future' and
find ways to 'disassociate' him from official
Washington... The Albanian agreement was signed by the
leaders of the Democratic Party of Albanians, Arben
Xhaferi, the chief of the Party for Democratic
Progress, Imer Imeri, and the political leader of the
guerrilla National Liberation Army (UCK), Ali Ahmeti.
The Albanian parties are members of the governing
coalition." 5 

In the wake of the scandal, Frowick was recalled to
OSCE headquarters in Bucharest. Despite the
allegations of having committed treason, General
Adrejevski has remained ARM Commander in Chief
following negotiations between the government and
military with the US and UK ambassadors. 

With the Albanian parties in the coalition
establishing formal ties with the rebels, the
government coalition is in crisis. The entire
political system is in a state of collapse. Moreover,
public opinion in Macedonia now knows that both the
government and the ARM are collaborating with the
enemy, namely the United States. Yet in a bitter
irony, the government has not opposed Washington's
diktats. Skopje has been instructed by Washington not
to pursue the MPRI matter. General Richard Griffiths
has not been ordered to leave the country. While
Washington is supporting the NLA terrorists, it has
retained a firm grip on the Macedonian military high
command. As the crisis unfolds, divisions within the
ARM are developing. Military commanders in charge of
defending Macedonian territory feel betrayed by the
ARM Chief of Staff and the government. 

THE IMF PUTS A LID ON DEFENCE SPENDING 

The activities of the IMF in Macedonia have been
carefully coordinated with those of NATO and the OSCE.
While money, guns and mercenaries are channeled
towards the NLA rebels, the Macedonian government is
in a financial straightjacket. Under the "Stability
Pact", its entire budget is controlled by the IMF and
the World Bank on behalf of international creditors.
In other words, the imposition of severe austerity
measures by the IMF prevents it from defending its
territory. 

The IMF's ceiling on military expenditure is
tantamount to a "de facto" arms embargo on Macedonia
obliging the government to use the proceeds of the
IMF-World Bank sponsored privatisation program to
equip the ARM and fight the rebels. The Minister of
Finance has confirmed that "the sale of the
[government's] stake in Macedonian Telekom will be
used for defence".6 Such events have added a new twist
to the old maxim "War is good for business": the
terrorist assaults have no doubt depressed the book
value of State assets currently on the auction block. 

In turn, military expenditures are also being financed
from the government's reserve fund while budgets on
all civilian programs and social infrastructure
including water, electricity and emergency relief to
civilians affected by the terrorist assaults have been
frozen. 

No significant influx of military aid to the ARM has
been forthcoming from the European Union. Meanwhile,
token US military assistance --channeled through the
MPRI-- is granted largely to convey the illusion that
"America is helping" when in fact "America is at War
with Macedonia." 7 Meanwhile, the NLA rebels have been
re-equipped with brand new weapons "Made in America".8


Notes

1. For further details see Michel Chossudovsky,
"Washington Finances Ethnic Warfare in the Balkans"
April 2001 at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/choss/fin.htm 

2. Ibid. 

3. The Scotesman, 2 March 2001. Recent developments
would suggest that Germany is no longer involved in
supporting the KLA. See Michel Chossudovsky "America
at War in Macedonia" at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/choss/pipe.htm. 

4. According to TV "A-1", quoted in Politika,
Belgrade, 22 May 2001. Our own detailed analysis of
the role of the MPRI first released in early April,
was published in Skopje by Dvenik on the 18th of May
2001 a few days prior to the report concerning
Andrejevski on TV A1). 

5. Deutsche Press Agentur, 24 May 2001. 

6. See Jane Defense Weekly, 2 May 2001. 

7. See Michel Chossudovsky. "America at War in
Macedonia", op cit. 

8. According to information from Skopje, 15 June 2001 

9. "Save the families: The women of Orahovac speak".
Interview with women from the Kosovo town of Orahovac
at http://www.emperors-clothes.com/misc/savethe.htm

Recent articles by the author on the Balkans: 

"Washington Finances Ethnic Warfare in the Balkans" (3
April 2001) available at:
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/choss/fin.htm


"America at War in Macedonia" (14 June 2001) at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/choss/pipe.htm. 

"Economic Terrorism", May 2001 at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/choss/eco1.htm 

C Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, June 2001.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to post
this text on non-commercial community internet sites,
provided the essay remains intact and the copyright
note is displayed. To publish this text in printed
and/or other forms (including excerpts and on
commercial internet sites), contact the author at
chossudovsky@videotron.ca or chossudovsky@sprint.ca ,
fax: 1-514-4256224.

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