The bloviating fraud
Bloviating and demagogic. Those are fair words to describe Matthew Palmer, the US Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.
Bloviate means to talk at length, especially in an inflated or empty way, and demagogic means to talk to popular desires and prejudices rather than to use rational arguments and that is just what Palmer does. Consider this message put out by the US Embassy in Macedonia on Friday, March 26 on its Facebook page. Palmer had a telephone call with VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski and, according to the Facebook post, Palmer spoke with him to “stress the importance the United States attaches to our newest NATO Ally having stable governing institutions that demonstrate Euro-Atlantic values, and in particular the need for a constructive and engaged position. DAS Palmer encouraged Mr. Mickoski and VMRO-DPMNE to work collaboratively with others to resolve the pressing challenges facing the country including resolving the differences with Bulgaria and ensuring the success of the population census, which is an important statistical tool for improving governance.”
Palmer’s statement was put out on its Facebook page in order to send a message to the public. After all, it didn’t have to put that message out, but did so in an effort to put pressure on Mickoski and VMRO-DPMNE as it sees support among patriotic Macedonians for the census slipping daily, not to mention the fact that mostMacedonians are dead set against giving away more of their history and identity to Bulgaria. The scenario the Embassy wishes to avoid, as does Zaev, is to see Macedonians boycott the census, en masse, thus discrediting the entire exercise.
Over on the Twitters, and as Palmer’s statement came out, Phil Reeker, the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, had a video statement put forward by the US Embassy in Macedonia “celebrating” Macedonia’s first year in NATO. The spin for this video was focused on NATO membership, the whole “shoulder-to-shoulder” blather, the importance of EU membership, praise for the so-called Prespa agreement and agreement with Bulgaria, praise for Zaev and the criminals in his government, and more. It is a nauseating five minutes from yet another bloviating and demagogic fraud.
Palmer, Reeker, the US Embassy, the State Department and others are engaged in a systematic and continual attack on Macedonia and the Macedonians. These people think they can issue demands and edicts and be obeyed. In fact, they are used to it, expect it, and demand it. They are not so much civil servants as they are a type of Roman aristocracy.
One of the problems with people like Palmer and Reeker – and there are many problems with these two – is that they honestly believe they are unaccountable and are willing to use their positions to wield the power they do have. Traits they share include hubris, an inflated sense of self-importance, life in a bubble away from the great unwashed (both Americans and, in this case, Macedonians), and an absolute determination to do whatever it takes to get their way. To be fair to them, their careers are on the line and getting their way with respect to the countries they interfere in is part of advancing their careers, the Macedonians, and others, be damned.
Demanding that the census go through when Macedonia has so few citizens vaccinated due to the incompetence of a government he just praised and when the coronavirus numbers are on the rise is not only illogical, but reprehensible and deaths that result from this foolish act are on his hands – not that Palmer gives a damn.
Palmer’s actions and words will likely have the opposite affect – what he does and says will make Macedonians resent the US Administration of Joe Biden and will serve to further separate ordinary Macedonians from the idea that the US “has their backs” or stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with them. This in turn could have the effect of driving Macedonians to other state sponsors. On the other hand, perhaps it is Palmer’s goal to divide Macedonians, between left and right, and to divide Macedonians from the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia – after all, the message they hear from him talking down to Macedonians is one they like since the ethnic Albanian leadership in Macedonia is anything but in favor of a sovereign Macedonia.
While Macedonians might be reluctant to tell Palmer and Reeker and people like them off, as an American – who is forced to pay their salaries and support their lifestyles – I am quite happy to tell them to bugger off. I am not sure if they are aware of the damage they are doing to US-Macedonian relations, and, if they are, they may not care, for at some point they will move on to the next position in their illustrious careers and their will be no consequences to them or their careers for the misdeeds they are engage in in Macedonia – or anywhere else for that matter. And their consciences? Neither of them has one.
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The 2019 film, “A Hidden Life,” set in World War II, is about Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian peasant farmer, who is called up to serve in the Nazi Army but refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler, and ultimately pays for that principled stand with his life. In the middle of the film there is a scene where a Nazi prison guard is beating on Jagerstatter in his cell, yelling at him “I can do anything I want to you! And no one can do anything about it!”
In 2007, Jagerstatter was beatified in the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI. His prison guards, torturers, and executioner? They are all dead and long forgotten….