Greece: debt, creditors, austerity measures, Syriza, Varoufakis, Troika

Given how badly Greece suffered during the recent credit crunch and - who what forces were behind it - I guess Greece may be suffering from some form of the Stockholm Syndrome? I wonder whose playbook the idea to expel Russian diplomats over unproven 'security threats' comes from? Hmmmm...

I get that the one world government means that individual countries have little control over their over managing their own affairs but this farce is just sad to watch.

Greece Recalls Ambassador From Russia - Source

Expulsion of Russian Diplomats: Greece Aims to Make it Up to Trump - Belgian MP

However, Frank Creyelman, honorary Belgian MP and former chairman to the Committee on Foreign Policy, European Affairs and International Cooperation, says that the expulsion of Russian diplomats on the day of the beginning of NATO summit isn't a coincidence as the US is "doing an attempt to collect more ‘involvement' — read: money and American arm — of the NATO partners."

I might be reading the tea-leaves wrong but my over all impression of this sudden riff between Greece and Russia (instigated by NATO) has a direct connection to what has been transpiring in Macedonia? NATO and the EU have been pressuring Macedonia in favor of joining the Western economic and security blocs in exchange for the name change. The vast majority of Macedonians are opposed to accepting the Agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece.

Macedonia and Greece have been engaged in a dispute regarding the Balkan country's name since it declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, with Athens claiming the existing name implies territorial claims against Greek Macedonia, and vowing to block Macedonia's access into the EU and NATO until it changes its name.

Macedonians are set to go to the polls next month to determine whether or not to change their country's name to the "Republic of North Macedonia" in accordance with a long-standing Greek demand; the name change is expected to remove the main roadblock to Skopje's prospective membership to the European Union and NATO.

Macedonia on Edge Amid Fears of Manipulation in Looming EU, NATO Membership Vote

And this is where Russia fits into the situation ...

Back-dated 3. Mar 2017 - EU and Russia step into Macedonia crisis
EU and Russia step into Macedonia crisis

Macedonia has become the latest theatre in a tug-of-war between the West and Russia over the future of the Western Balkans.

With street protests in Skopje and a constitutional crisis over the results of a recent election, Nato, the US, the EU, and the Russian foreign ministry issued contradictory statements on Thursday (2 March).

The Western bloc urged Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov to allow a new coalition of ethnic Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties take power because they had a majority of 67 out of 120 seats in parliament.

“[We must] avoid that this political and institutional crisis becomes an inter-ethnic conflict or, even worse, a geopolitical one,” EU foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini said after meeting Ivanov in Skopje on Thursday.

She urged him to “reverse his decision”, adding that “instead of democratic rules, chaos prevails today”.

Nato head Jens Stoltenberg and the US ambassador to Macedonia, Jess L. Baily, echoed her views.

“I look to the authorities in Skopje to fulfil the next step in the democratic process,” Stoltenberg said.

Baily, who also met Ivanov, said his decision was “inconsistent with basic democratic principles and the rule of law which are core values of NATO.”

The Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday that EU and NATO had caused the crisis and that they endorsed the creation of a “Greater Albania” in the region.

“The political crisis in Macedonia [was] provoked by the gross external interference in the country’s internal affairs,” Russia said.

“Attempts, which are actively supported by EU and NATO leaders, are being made to make Macedonians accept the ‘Albanian platform’ designed in Tirana in the prime minister’s office based on the map of the so-called Greater Albania, which illustrates its territorial claims to vast regions in neighboring Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, and Greece,” it said.

The reference to Albania's leader Edia Rama comes after he held a meeting with Macedonian Albanian parties in December and called for the Albanian language to get official status in Skopje.

The new `Macedonian-Albanian coalition that Ivanov rejected included the official language move as part of its programme.

Russia’s propaganda outlet, Sputnik, on Thursday also ran an inflammatory story entitled: “Nato willing to see ‘blood in streets of Macedonia' for Greater Albania project”.

The street protests in Skopje began on Tuesday.

Some 15,000 supporters of former Macedonian prime minister Nikolai Gruevski and his VMRO-DPMNE party, which stands to lose power after 11 years in office, chanted anti-Albanian and anti-EU slogans such as: “EU hands off Macedonia”.

VMRO-DPMNE won the most seats in the election (51 out of 120), but the party, which is embroiled in a corruption scandal, failed to build a coalition with a majority.

Macedonia is home to some 500,000 ethnic Albanians who make up 25 percent of the population.

The country witnessed a brief civil war in 2001 which ended in the Ohrid Agreement, a Western-backed deal that give ethnic Albanians greater rights.

(Note: In this regard, consider the situation where the Kurd's illegally set up shop in Syria (years ago), took control of some oil wells for profit, then as time progressed, set in motion a Political motion (along with the Kurd's in Turkey) to map out this land mass - as their own, with EU and NATO backing. It might have been one of the reasons behind the Coup against Erdogan? )

Montenegro coup

Mogherini had also visited Podgorice on Wednesday.

Montenegro prosecutors are preparing to indict Eduard Shishmakov, an alleged Russian spy, for plotting a failed coup last year that was designed to stop the country from joining NATO in May.

“The European Union door is open, not only that, but that we want you to cross that door and enter,” Mogherini said.

The EU envoy travelled to Belgrade on Friday and aims to go to Sarajevo and Pristina on Saturday.

Russia is also trying to pull Belgrade back into its sphere of influence, with a recent arms deal ahead of elections that could see its pro-Russian nationalist president, Tomislav Nikolic, remain in office.

The Russian foreign ministry said in its statement on Thursday that the EU’s support for Kosovo’s independence was part of the same Greater Albania “scam”.

Bosnia meeting

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov also met with Miroslav Dodik in Bosnia on Thursday.

Dodik, the pro-Russian president of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity in the Bosnian federation, has threatened to call a referendum on secession.

But Lavrov accused “the West” of trying to overturn the Dayton Agreement, the 1995 peace accord that ended the ethnic conflict in the country.

“Of course, the recent attempts to review these principles cause concern. We know that some of our Western counterparts either turn a blind eye to these attempts or openly support them,” he said, without giving details on what he meant.

(BTW - SToRmR1dR has been keeping tabs on the situation in Macedonia and the Greek and NATO involvement:
Mass protests in Macedonia: US attempting Maidan v2.0 in Skopje? )
 
Bomb explosion rips through Athens TV station
https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/17/bomb-explosion-rips-through-athens-tv-station said:
A bomb explosion ripped through the offices of Greek television station Skai TV in Athens in the early hours of Monday morning.
No injuries were reported, however, the force of the blast caused "extensive damage" to the station, Skai TV reported.

Two other broadcast stations, Zougla.gr and ANT1, said they received anonymous phone calls at 1.45 a.m. local time, warning that a bomb would explode at the Skai TV office in a further 45 minutes.

"The stranger gave a 45-minute margin and said three times that 'it's not a hoax,'" Zougla.gr said.
Police were then rushed to the scene to evacuate the area before the explosion occurred.

Video footage posted to YouTube by Zougla.gr shows the moment of the explosion.

No group took claimed responsibility in the immediate aftermath of the blast, however, police are reportedly looking for several persons who were spotted planting an explosive-filled bag close to the Skai TV building.

Greek anti-terrorism police are investigating the incident.

Olga Gerovasilis, the Greek minister of citizen protection, visited the site of the explosion on Monday morning, making a statement of warning to the perpetrators.

"We are here from the very beginning with the chief of the Greek police for an incident that damages democracy," she said. "But democracy is shielded even more, and, of course, it is not threatened."

Greek MEP Girgos Kurtsos called the explosion a "bomb against democracy."

"The bomb against Skai is a bomb against information and democracy," he wrote on Twitter. "At the beginning of a crucial election period, some people want to shake everything up."
"Our answer is democratic unity. We are all Skai!"

 
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