The lies of Ali Ahmeti and the NLA
20 years later…
Here are two questions without definitive answers: the first is, how many young ethnic Albanians – whether citizens of Macedonia, citizens of what was the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the time (Kosovo and Southern Serbia), or citizens other countries – were killed in their blind service to Ali Ahmeti and his lies in the 2001 war? Certainly over 100. How about hundreds? Over 1,000? We will never know because their community does not talk about such things. But suffice it to say that hundreds died in service to Ahmeti and his lies.
On the other hand, we do know how many Macedonians – and other ethnicities in Macedonia – were killed, murdered, wounded, injured, assaulted, sexually abused, tortured, and missing or captured during that war. Here are the numbers:
-15 police officers killed, 150 injured and wounded
-43 members of the Army killed, 119 injured and wounded
-10 civilians murdered, 75 injured and wounded, 20 attacked and maltreated and sexually assaulted, and another 20 missing and/or captured
If you include their immediate family members, extended family members, and friends, you have literally tens of thousands of individuals directly and negatively affected by Ali Ahmeti’s war and lies. And when you add in the general population of Macedonia who suffered through the war, with all of the daily and nightly attendant anxiety, stress, and fear, you have a nation that was on edge for the greater part of a year.
Twenty years later, it is worth considering those events and Ahmeti’s lies, for Ali Ahmeti himself was a student of Marx and Lenin in his university days, and perhaps beyond, and anyone who knows history knows that Marxism and Leninism is nothing but lies.
Whether or not Ali Ahmeti believed those lies then, or now, is open to question. But what is not open to question is what he actually believed and wanted, then, and perhaps now, because he said so: consider this quote from Ali Ahmeti, which he has never denied, from Newsweek, March 22, 2001. In “A Troubled Dream,” author David Binder quotes Ahmeti as stating “Our aim is solely to remove Slav forces from territory which is historically Albanian.” I have been using that quote for 20 years now and it seems that finally, Leftists and progressives agree. This past January leftist journalist Sinisa Jakov Marusic, who covers Macedonia for the equally leftist Balkan Insight, wrote the following about Ali Ahmeti and his band of “murderous thugs and criminals” as George Robertson, then the NATO Secretary-General, famously described them. Marusic writes, “At the start of the conflict, the NLA swore to oust Macedonian security forces and take control over what it described as ‘Albanian’ territories of the country, although it softened its demands as the year went on.” It is gratifying to see the Left come around to the truth, even if belatedly.
And so the murderous Ahmeti softened his rhetoric, eventually took off his fatigues (which he gave to Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith), and took on the mantle of “politician.” Ever since he has been using the ballot box (even as he and his party frequently stuff those boxes at election time) instead of the bullets. But again, I believe his aim remains the same: the removal of Macedonians, from Macedonia.
He has also traded in his fellow fighters (Talat Xhaferi) and supporters (but not the dead, young, foolish men who, not knowing literally anything, followed him into war) for fellow politicians in his political party, the most powerful, probably, being Artan Grubi, the first deputy prime minister, a new post that prime minister Zoran Zaev created, and then gave to Grubi, as part of their power-sharing arrangement. Grubi, it is worth noting, is a former football hooligan which the Dutch embassy found, polished up, put a suit and funky socks on, and now sends him around being the “face,” mostly, of DUI. Grubi, who has more than a whiff of arrogance about him as seen through his carefully curated public image and use of social media, uses a great deal of those social media posts promoting purely Albanian issues, nothing more, nothing less. If you want to know more about his “career” you can read it here, in Macedonian or Albanian. It begins, “Grubi began his professional career in 1999, building a rich career in the NGO sector and working with international organizations…”
Let me, at this point, make a very clear distinction here between the ethnic Albanian leadership in Macedonia and Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian population: the vast majority of Macedonia’s ethnic Albanians want what everyone else in Macedonia wants – a decent job, opportunities to send their kids to a decent school, a vacation once or twice a year, good infrastructure in their communities and across the nation, a decent healthcare system, and to live a normal life – this is what all citizens of Macedonia want regardless of their ethnicity or political persuasion.
But the leadership of Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian parities insists on playing the victim card, even 20 years later. It’s difficult for them to avoid being condescending, but condescending they are: Ahmeti, and those like him, talk down to Macedonia’s ethnic Albanians telling them, in so many words, that they are ignorant and that they are perpetual victims and so they must give Ahmeti and people like him (and Grubi) power so that they can right perceived wrongs. It’s a bit like the American “critical race theorist” Ibram X. Kendi (born Ibram Henry Rogers) who states that “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.” One major and glaring problem with his statement is that it is always the “present” and therefore the discrimination must always be on-going: there will never be an end to it. And to prove the point, the very next sentence he utters is “The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” So, Ahmeti, Grubi, and those like them will always be in favor of discrimination which is not equality before the law, or even equality of opportunity or outcomes – it is a raw demand that their group be privileged over all other groups.
The internationals, mainly the post-Western progressives, agree with all of this rubbish and encourage it because they are all having to do the same bloody thing in their own countries. Discrimination comes to Macedonia. Forever. The so-called Ohrid Framework Agreement is a recipe for endless discrimination not just against Macedonians, but against all other ethnic minorities in Macedonia and in favor of the ethnic Albanians of Macedonia. That cannot be sustained.
And one more important point on this: you don’t start a shooting war in which people’s heads get blown open and their limbs get blown off by bullets for “greater rights,” especially in a democracy, imperfect as Macedonia was at the time. When you start a shooting war, very bad things happen at that moment – and they continue to happen well into the future.
So, where do we go into the future in this, the 20th year of Ahmeti’s war on Macedonia and continual lies?
I cannot predict the future, but I can make some educated guesses based on the present and the past. So three things become abundantly clear: First, Zoran Zaev and his government (with the encouragement of Ahmeti and Grubi) has given away Macedonia’s name, identity, history, culture, and much more to Greece and Bulgaria. Second, Zoran Zaev and his government (with the encouragement of Ahmeti and Grubi) will continue giving more away to Greece and Bulgaria, to the detriment of Macedonia and the ethnic Macedonians. Third, Ali Ahmeti, Artan Grubi, and, to a lesser extent right now (because they are not in power), the other ethnic Albanian parties in Macedonia, will continue demanding more discrimination in their favor and against both ethnic Macedonians and other ethnic groups in Macedonia.
None of this is good, right, or just, for Macedonia, as a country, or for Macedonians, or for any of the ethnic groups in Macedonia because ultimately, it will likely lead to more conflicts, both political, and very likely physical. If the leadership of Macedonia’s ethnic Albanians think they can carve out their own “little Albania” within Macedonia, or worse, aim toward uniting with Kosovo and/or Albania (which is what the putative prime minister of Kosovo wants), then they have both utopian and dangerous ideas. Such a scenario would ultimately be deadly for them, for Macedonia, and for the region.
Better, then, to put an end to this now. Stop the discrimination in favor of one group, stop the bullying, stop the acquiescence to needless and selfish demands, stop the corruption, scandals, and lies, and instead stand up and aggressively talk about what is right, just, and true, stand up to the bullies, and put an end to all of this rubbish.
All bullies are, at their core, frightened and possessing low self-esteem, terrified that someone will stand up to them and show them up for who they are. And occasionally, someone stands up to the bully and the bully backs down, his false claims and lies, exposed.
Which leads me to my second question, without a definitive answer: who will take a stand, and stand up to the bullies?
