“Smiles, everyone, smiles!” “Welcome to Fantasy Island!”
“Smiles, everyone, smiles! and “Welcome to Fantasy Island!” were the catch phrases in the opening dialogue of the American TV show, “Fantasy Island” (1977–1984) in which a dapper “Mr. Roarke,” played by the genteel and refined Ricardo Montalbán, would welcome his guests to a three-day “fantasy” of their choosing. This is also essentially what acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker and EU Commissioner Johannes “Use Balkan Tactics” Hahn, said when they were in Macedonia in late July. Or, put another way, “Onwards and upwards!” as Nikola Dimitrov is fond of babbling.
Take the picture that the US Embassy in Macedonia tweeted out of a smiling Reeker with his statement “It is time to get onboard and move things forward for the good of the country!” Setting aside the fact that he — or the embassy — used “onboard” incorrectly (they should have written “on board”), the phrase itself is empty, meaningless, and insipid. A four year old child could have written it. And if the embassy — or Reeker — actually believes it will inspire anyone, well, then we have a serious waste of US taxpayer dollars. But the role of the picture and phrase with Reeker’s smiling visage is to convey a fantasy — and it is a miserable failure.
Reeker and Hahn came to Macedonia to lecture the opposition but not government. They came and ignored the very real and growing scandal that threatens to bring down the government and they did not even address the issue. Instead, they spoke about the need to pass legislation authorizing a renewal of the special prosecutor’s office and specifically put very public pressure on the opposition to agree with the government to whatever legislation the government puts forward, essentially setting up the opposition for blame if nothing is passed. They ignored the fact that Katica Janeva — their favored and chosen one to lead the special prosecutor’s office back in 2015 — actually resigned in disgrace because of alleged abuse of office and racketeering. They pretended nothing was out of the ordinary which is of course a fantasy. The ever-so-slight good news is that we have seen some tentative steps by others — the French Ambassador to Macedonia being one of them — calling for investigations to begin.
In the meantime other enablers of Zaev and his government — the think tanks, academics, media, and others (think of people like James Ker Lindsay — a so-called “Balkan expert” who has never been to Macedonia, and Florian Bieber, a far-left progressive) completely ignore the growing scandal; and yet in the years of 2015–2017 they happily tweeted and talked daily about the problems that VMRO-DPMNE faced. And today? Silence. Which is a fantasy.
Others, like former Swedish prime minster and poster-boy of the jet-set crowd Carl Bildt (poster boy because he is constantly tweeting pictures of planes he is about to board to fly off to some destination to lecture others) merely attempts to further the fantasy of peace, sweetness and light eternal between Macedonia and Bulgaria tweeting out “The bonds between Bulgaria and North Macedonia contribute to the stability of the Balkans and Europe. Congratulations!” But a scandal in Macedonia involving the special prosecutor? “Never heard of it,” he might chortle.
The mainstream media has all but ignored the growing crisis though the Voice of America, to its credit, mentioned it. Balkan Insight, which often serves as a mouthpiece for the Zaev government, mentioned it when it broke a few weeks ago, but has since backed off as this round up of news from the region attests to — the writer notes that a new law must be passed but completely ignores Janeva’s resignation and the events that forced that resignation. One would think that the unfolding scandal is pretty sensational and news worthy — but not Balkan Insight, apparently.
And on top of all of this, Zaev, “whose personal companies are also already growing cannabis,” according to Cannabis Ground, is now having to contend with the fact that the Serbian mafia is rapidly getting involved in the cannabis industry in Macedonia, which means, presumably, Zaev’s companies as well. It is noted that “The Serbian intelligence service says that at least five Mafia people in this country have entered the cannabis cultivation business in Macedonia, and one of them has invested tens of millions of Euros,” according to the website. The question is, will this be yet another scandal he and his government have to deal with which will likely be ignored by the West?
The truth is that the Western elites in the US, EU, and NATO are likely reaching the end of their love affair with Zaev and his government, and, while they may not publicly show it or state it, they are embarrassed, frustrated, exhausted and ready to end the relationship as soon as they can. There will be fewer and fewer fancy visits, honors (certainly no Nobel Peace Prize), or opportunities to speak at think tanks and foundations for the government (save Nikola Dimitrov who is one of the favorites of the Western elites). For their part, the Western elites are simply trying to “push” the government of Zoran Zaev to the proverbial finish line of NATO membership and a possible date for the opening of EU accession talks so that they can then shake the proverbial dust from their shoes and walk away. The question is, can they prop up and push the government to this finish line before the government collapses?
