Below is the interview of Andrew Korybko to the Macedonian NetPress agency, published in English by Oriental Review.

Andrew Korybko reveals the most likely scenario to be implemented by the US to  destabilize the Balkan state of Macedonia and bring their puppet, Zoran Zaev, to power in Skopje.

According to Korybko, these plans are doomed for failure…

***

Q: After the failed Colored revolution attempt in Macedonia, via wiretappings and destabilization attempts (terrorist attack and violent opposition protests), all of which was prevented thanks to the patriotism of the Macedonians and the appropriate reaction of the authorities, the latest opinion polls continue to show that the ruling party of VMRO-DPMNE has a double lead over the Western-sponsored opposition led by SDSM.

It seems that all this effort and the millions of dollars that were poured into the pro-Western mercenaries in Macedonia didn`t work in achieving their results, and now, understandably, they don`t want to go to the upcoming early elections in April, on which upon they have agreed earlier. In our last interview we talked about the upcoming second round of the Colored revolution attempt and it’s incredible how you predicted the situation back then, when you said that most probably they will organize protests trying to push the country over the edge of destabilization and it seems that the opposition has already started threating with the so called “street democracy”.

The premeditated violence that they had planned for didn’t break out last time, so what do you think will happen in the upcoming protests?

First off, it’s essential to point out just how weak the “opposition” currently is. They had over half a year to expand their social infrastructure and promote their regime change agenda, yet all the polls indicate that VMRO is twice as popular as they are. Clearly, they failed to gain new adherents to their cause, and it looks like some previously misguided voters discovered the error of their ways and have defected to the ruling party.

What we can gather from this is that patriotic Macedonian activists and their related media have been very successful in educating the public about the Hybrid War threat facing their country, including the contracting of certain internal “opposition” elements to this cause. As a result, Macedonians are more patriotic than ever before, firmly standing behind their government because they understand the enormity of what’s at risk if they don’t. Regardless of one’s political disposition, nobody wants to see a foreign-supported “opposition” leader come to power in their country, and this is why there’s barely any support for SDSM when compared to VMRO. It doesn’t matter what country it is, what parties are involved, nor what the leaders’ names are – no patriotic citizen wants a foreign puppet controlling their country on behalf of some unseen forces, it’s as simple as that.

Macedonia opposition leader Zoran Zaev

Confronted with barely any public support and guaranteed to lose the upcoming elections, Zaev and his cohorts sought to compensate for this pathetic state of affairs by courting as much international backing as possible. Being a “democrat” in name only and an asset of foreign governments, Zaev personally doesn’t care whether the people support him or not. All that matters to him is accomplishing his mission and seizing power by one way or another. Instead of the support of the Macedonian people, he’d rather have the support of the US government, convinced that it’s the decisive factor that he needs in order to retain relevancy and have a chance at gaining power. The childish drama that unfolded with the SDSM saying they’ll boycott the early elections that they themselves had previously agreed to is part of this scheme, but it’s such an obvious ploy that nobody is falling for their gimmicks.

The idea is for Zaev and his followers to not participate in the elections so that when VMRO wins, as everybody expects and all the polls indicate, then they can say that it was an “unfair” and “unfree” election because the main ‘opposition’ party didn’t’ take part. Never mind that the only reason for this would have been Zaev’s immature antics, but the point here is that this false rhetoric would be enough to attract the US’ attention (as planned) and have it voice “concerns” over the vote. Basically, Zaev is cooperating with American strategists in coordinating his actions so that they create the ‘plausible’ conditions that are necessary for the US to deepen its formal diplomatic interference in Macedonia’s affairs and formally speak out against the government.

Earlier, it was thought that his refusal to take part in the elections would engineer a scenario that Prime Minister Gruevski remains in office until a new election date is set, which then would have given the US ‘probable cause’ to label him a ‘power-hungry dictator’ and start publicly working against him, which is what they’ve been wanting to do for over a year now anyhow. VMRO didn’t fall for this trap, and that’s why they decided to go forward with the political transition and hold early elections as planned.

The only thing that Zaev can do now is resort to anti-democratic tactics to take power, since there’s no way that SDSM will win the early elections even if they decide to take part at the last minute. Because there’s declining support for the regime change movement that he leads and most people are aware of the foreign plot that he’s supporting, he can’t count on tricking as many people as he did last time and in having them be his ‘human shields’ in a forthcoming Color Revolution demonstration. There will still be some who take part, make no doubt about it, but nowhere near the number that did so last May (which even then wasn’t all that large anyhow). The ‘opposition’ can thus proceed along one of the following two scenario routes: boycott the elections and stage demonstrations right before, during, and/or afterwards; or partake in the elections, lose as expected, and protest afterwards against imaginary “irregularities”. No matter which path they take, their on-the-ground actions will be the same.

They’ll bring sympathetic foreign media such as CNN so that they can film everything from a misleading angle that conveys the false perception that their movement is a lot larger than it actually is. At the same time, they’ll likely engage in provocative and aggressive behavior, hoping that they can goad some of the patriotic elements of society into a brawl that can then be broadcast by CNN and others as “pro-government street aggression”. They may also conceivable target security personnel in order to create a similar provocation. Their goal, then, isn’t to “democratically demonstrate”, but to provoke violence that can then be purposefully misreported as “dictatorship violence against pro-democratic protesters”. It’s of the utmost importance that patriotic citizens exercise restraint and refrain from being provoked into any kind of fight, and a constructive suggestion in avoiding any tempting response to their antics is to video record every public thing that they do and establish concrete evidence of their aggressive actions. Exposing them for the violent provocateurs that they are can help to shift international sympathy among broad segments of the domestic and international populations that are made aware of this information.

Moving on, as I explained above, Zaev and his patrons know that they can’t reach the pinnacles of power through the democratic process, hence why they must resort to illegal methods and the support of key Western actors. In line with these scenarios, the US would then denounce the legitimate Macedonian authorities and work towards implementing a sanctions regime against them, pressuring the compliant and “refugee”-blackmailed EU to follow suit. It’s highly probable that the Greek leadership, completed indebted to the EU and desperate to do anything for a handful of Euros, will take on a leading role in some capacity or another in dealing with what the Western mainstream media would then label as the “Macedonian Crisis”, finding one way or another to invent ‘reasons’ for why it’s all ‘Russia’s fault’.

Additionally, it can’t be discounted that a repeat of the Kumanovo terrorist incident won’t happen again either during this time. Remember, the Albanian-affiliated terrorists there had planned to launch their attacks concurrent with the “opposition’s” Color Revolution destabilization, suggesting a very high degree of strategic coordination between the two regime change forces. Thankfully, the security services were able to stop this plot before any civilians were killed, but tragically a few heroes lost their lives that day in order to keep the rest of the Republic safe. Unlike what the US and some of its allies had planned, ethnic Albanians did not take the ‘bait’ and use the incident as a signal to rise up against the government and carry out copy-cat terrorist attacks, this despite the fact that American and other affiliated media had intentionally and inaccurately framed the event as “ethnic clashes” and as “state-sponsored violence” against the Albanian minority.

This time around, however, Albania is facing a heightened domestic crisis, one which began as a severe economic one but is now taking on a political form. The riotous opposition protests in Tirana in early December sent a strong message to the Albanian establishment that public discontent is reaching a dangerous breaking point and must be dealt with in some way or another. Historically, the Albanian elite have redirected the masses’ anti-government hostility towards furthering the dream of militant Albanian irredentism and repeating the fascist-era annexations of neighboring territories. It’s no coincidence that Albania’s 1997 unrest was followed by a strong and concerted campaign backing the Albanian terrorists in the Serbian Province of Kosovo, culminating in the dramatic 1999 NATO War on Yugoslavia. Similarly, nowadays just like at the end of last century, Albania is on the cusp of a serious domestic crisis, and its elite might feel pressured to once more summon the demon of “Greater Albania” in a bid to save their own careers and redirect the public’s seething rage against a foreign so-called “enemy”, all with the full backing of the US.

A Wahhbi element might even be involved too, whether the Albanian authorities plan it this way or the US ‘surprisingly’ inserts this variable on its own (which is more likely), especially when one considers that some ethnic Albanians are fighting side-by-side with ISIL right now and the terrorists’ strong recruiting network in that country and the NATO-occupied Serbian Province of Kosovo. One can’t also forget that ISIL terrorists already infiltrated France via the Balkan route by posing as “refugees”, and there’s no quantifiable way to tell how many more of these individuals passed through the region and might have burrowed their sleeper cells into the country. If “refugee”-disguised terrorists link up with their Albanian affiliates in Macedonia and decide to cooperate in unleashing havoc, then they might find a way to lure as many genuine refugees into their demonstration as possible in order to hide behind a group of ‘human shields’. Any reaction by the security forces to violent provocations from the actual refugees and their imposter controllers would instantaneously be broadcast worldwide by CNN and other Soros-affiliated media networks as a “right-wing dictatorship killing Muslim refugees”, even though that certainly wouldn’t be the case in any manner at all. However, this sneaky information warfare ploy would engender near-universal condemnation against the Macedonian government by its American and European counterparts and be used as an excuse for escalating international involvement in the country’s Western-orchestrated Hybrid War crisis.

If there’s an outbreak of Albanian- or ISIL-affiliated terrorism around the same time as the early elections and predicted “opposition” protests, then the country might risk being thrown into turmoil. The US understands this very well and could facilitate this grand scenario for a variety of reasons, but chiefly to obstruct the Balkan Silk Road and Balkan Stream projects. In the event that the “opposition” and/or terrorists carry out some sort of provocation or violent act, it’s highly advisable that the patriotic citizens follow the guidance of their government and avoid being led into any sort of retributive trap. Attacking “opposition” members or ethnic Albanians in response to whatever might happen would only feed into the cycle of violence that the US would want to prompt, whereas allowing the authorities to handle it, as they so adroitly did last year, is the best way to mitigate the US’ chaos-driven plans. However, with or without any sort of disruption around the elections, there’s nothing bad about having large-scale patriotic demonstrations like the ones that took place last May. This would be a very effective way to show the rest of the world, and specifically the audiences that the American and Western media try to mislead, that there is widespread public support for going forth with the elections as scheduled and that the people are eager to end the “opposition’s” political games and return their country’s situation to normalcy.

Q: It’s now clear that victory for the opposition is mission impossible, but let`s stop for a bit to analyze how it would have been if the opposition leader Zoran Zaev was the new Prime Minister. What perverse and dark scenarios for Macedonia were being directed by the Western factor, with the opposition as their statists and marionettes?

The first thing that Zaev and his handlers want is for Macedonia to relinquish its identity and settle for a “compromise” name in order to immediately be accepted into NATO and the EU. Interestingly enough, even if this were to happen, neither organization might be keen in formally expanding right away, dictating instead that Macedonia must first join the anti-Russian sanctions regime and perhaps apply behind-the-scenes pressure for it to cut ties with China’s Balkan Silk Road project. Zaev would do all of these things immediately – change the country’s name, sanction Russia, and pull out of China’s regional high-speed rail plans –and the Macedonian people wouldn’t receive a single positive benefit from any of this. That isn’t to say that there won’t be any ‘rewards’ for such submissive behavior, but that they’ll only go into the laps of Zaev and his buddies (even a dog needs a treat once in a while). Whatever criticisms some might level at the present government would absolutely pale in comparison to the corruption and nepotism of a Western-imposed Zaev regime, and all economic, social, and geopolitical advances from the past decade will be completely reversed.

The only relevant comparison that can be made is how Yeltsin and his cronies totally undermined Russia with their buffoonery, corruption, and absolute incompetence. The West applauded him and his henchmen every time they did something against Russia’s interests, cheering with orgasmic glee that they finally had a clique in power that would do their bidding. Oligarchism was the law of the land and inequality skyrocketed as most social benefits were severely curtailed or outright abolished. The same thing would happen to Macedonia if Zaev and his people came to power, and just like with Yeltsin and his crew, the West would pat them on the back and reassure them that they’re behaving like “good democrats” and “freedom-lovers” with every new round of damage that they inflict on their country. There’s a modified scenario of this that might have happened as well, which would be Zaev obsessively trying to consolidate absolute power and becoming a second iteration of Milo Djukanovic. We all know how notoriously corrupt the Montenegrin ruler is, but the tiny seaside country had comparatively less wealth to steal than Macedonia does with its factories, farms, and robust service industry. Zaev would probably beat Djukanovic as the most corrupt politician in the Balkans in less than a year or so, but the pro-Western media would self-interestedly label him as a “reforming democrat” that’s “opening the economy” to Macedonia’s “fellow NATO and EU allies”.

The last national nightmare that Zaev could unleash in his capacity as the Western-imposed leader of Macedonia is to totally reformat the country’s domestic political system, perhaps as ‘payback’ to any Albanian terrorists that support his violent battle for power. The Ohrid Agreement is alive and well in Macedonia and has already been implemented, but regular “opposition” and Soros-supported rhetoric is to allege that a lot of work still has yet to be completed. This is nothing more than a euphemism for not only courting Albanian support and condescendingly doing it in as demeaning of a way as possible, but in hinting that the Republic needs to become a federation in order to “fully resolve” the issue. This line of thinking is attractive to the expansionists in Tirana that are eager to deflect rising public resentment against their rule, and it’s also a coded means for Zaev and the Soros-affiliated networks to reach out to the general Albanian community in the region.

Thankfully, the Albanian community in Macedonia is well aware that a strong, stable, and unified Republic of Macedonia is the only way to achieve win-win benefits for every citizen, both Macedonian and Albanian, and that a fracturing of the state along ethnic lines would weaken the central government and undo the leadership cohesiveness that is attributable to the country’s success in the past decade. Still, the idea of a “shadow Kosovo” inside Macedonia is intriguing to some Albanians, especially gullible and easily misled youth, who mistakenly believe that they can somehow succeed where “Kosovo” failed. That’s an absolute fallacy because any artificial Western-created geopolitical entity in the Balkans, including a “federative Macedonia”, will by its very nature remain a fractured and weakened force incapable of asserting any semblance of sovereignty aside from its own flag, anthem, and Western international ‘recognition’.

Zaev knows this quite well, and it’s his goal to bring Macedonia to its knees and make it as divided as possible so as to facilitate his envisioned decades-long Djukanovic-like rule. The two most traitorous actions that he could do would be to change the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia and freakishly metamorphasize the country into an ethno-religious ‘federation’. By pitting Macedonians against one another over their country’s name and agitating ethno-religious tensions between Orthodox Macedonians and Muslim Albanians, Zaev would be fulfilling the two most dramatic things that he could do to divide the country and turn fellow citizens against one another.

As they fight amongst themselves, Zaev could then request ‘emergency’ US and NATO assistance (likely in the form of intimidating ‘peacekeepers’, which in reality would be occupiers) in militarily centralizing his power and defeating all forces opposed to his rule. In a Zaev-controlled Macedonia, the only hope for a positive future would be for the patriotic citizenry to resist him in every single way possible. There is no future for the Republic of Macedonia otherwise, because by the time he’s done destroying the country, the entity that remains will probably have a Greece- and Albanian-“compromised” name as ridiculous as the “Federation Of Vardar Albania” but approved with wild applause by its NATO and EU ‘partners’.

To be continued…