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Прашања за нашата дневна доза патриотски микс - бомба 18

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Целта на СДСМ со бомбите не е да кажат само што правеле ВМРО, туку и дека тие тоа не би го правеле (или нема да го прават) кога би биле на нивно место. Тоа беше една од клучните поенти на говорот на Радмила Шеќеринска во Универзална сала на 10.3.2015 г.:

Не ја бараме поддршката за еден Сашо или Никола да се смени со друг. Ја бараме поддршката за да ја преземеме одговорноста и работите да се сменат.

Во таа смисла експлоатирањето на прашањето за автентично толкување на Законот за амнестија е чуден политички потег. СДСМ го обвинува Груевски за „лажен патроитизам“? Зошто? Зарем лажен партиотизам е кривично дело? Дополнително и многу важно, ВМРОвците речиси сигурно нема да му замерат на Груевски за ова, затоа што се добро истренирани да знаат дека ако не беше донесено ова толкување, СДСМ ќе се вратеше на власт. Ова е објаснето со анализа на несмасните и непринципиелни PR активности на двете партии во 2011 г. За кого тогаш е наменето разоткривањето на „лажен патроитизам“? Дали СДСМ ветува нов законско решение за овие случаи, како што ветува слобода на медиуми и промена на правилата за законите за комуникации? Дали договор за тоа е постигнат со очекуваниот коалициски партнер ДУИ?

Понатаму, веќе се знае дека автентичното толкување е чист политички потег и веројатно е да се очекува дека истиот потег би го направила било која Македонска влада, па дури и таква која би ги вклучувала СДСМ. Имено постои и телеграма објавена на Wikileaks каде може да се прочита дека СДСМ калкулирале на оваа тема пред изборите во 2006 година:

Prime Minister Buckovski told the EU Special Representative on February 10 that the government’s decision to ask for the cases “by the end of this year” was deliberately ambiguous. Ethnic Macedonians would understand that the cases finally were coming back for possible prosecution, answering past criticism that only ethnic Macedonians — such as former Interior Minister Boskovski, currently facing a war crimes trial in The Hague — had been called to account for their participation in the 2001 conflict. DUI would receive some satisfaction from the private knowledge that the first of the cases would probably not be returned until late 2006, and that the primary defendant in that case likely would be former NLA commander Daut Rexhepi (also known as Commander Leka), who is currently associated with rival ethnic Albanian party DPA.

За потсетување, случаите во Хаг ги прати Владата на широката коалиција десет дена пред изборите во 2002 година и со тоа дефакто да го одложи постапувањето по нив за најмалку 4 години. Исто така постои и телеграма објавена на Wikileaks каде може да се прочита дека Груевски не му било сеедно што ова прашање му останало на маса:

Gruevski replied that he understood the point, but he is in a delicate position politically. He would have no problem if the Chief Prosecutor or the courts ruled that the amnesty law indeed applies and the cases are dropped, but he believes he cannot take a stand on the issue other than to let the cases proceed. He is concerned that the main ethnic-Albanian parties, DPA and DUI, may soon introduce a measure asking parliament to take a stand on the issue. While he understood that his coalition deal with DUI could be on the line, he told us that he cannot go along with criticizing the prosecutions and then face the ethnic-Macedonian community, especially because the ICTY recently convicted ethnic-Macedonian former MoI official Johan Tarculovski of war crimes.

На крај, бомбата му оди целосно во прилог на Али Ахмети. Ако тој е доволно силен успешно да преговара за нешто вакво (а очигледно бил), тогаш Албанците уште повеќе ќе го сакаат. Сето ова е наспроти најавите за бомбите дека нема да се поштеди криминалот кај никого, па вклучувајќи ги и Албанските партии. Оттука нема некое логично објаснување зошто СДСМ ја пука оваа бомба…? Што е целта? Зајакнување на позициите на ДУИ? Меѓуетничко растревожување?

Во кратки црти, СДСМ нема поинакво принципиелно ниту правно стојалиште во врска со ова прашање, објавувањето нема да предизвика гнев кај ВМРОвците затоа што тие веќе знаат дека тоа е помало зло и конечно, ова нема да придонесе никако за помирување на двете заедници.

Потоа ги имаме медиумите. Призма пишува:

Случаите „Водство на ОНА“, „Непроштено“, „Мавровски работници“ и „Липковска брана“ беа процесуирани во Меѓународниот суд на правдата во Хаг, но во 2008 година тие беа вратени во надлежност на македонските судови.

Што значи „процесурирани“? Телеграмата од Американската амбасада е многу попрецизна:

ICTY agreed to review the cases in 2002, but the tribunal declined to prosecute — or even investigate — and returned the files to Macedonia.

Новинарскиот напис пишува за разговорите објавени од страна СДСМ дека се „наводно помеѓу министрите“, но не пишува никаде дека станува збор за „наводни воени злосторства“. За жал, настаните во законска смисла се наводни сѐ додека Суд не каже поинаку. Меѓународниот суд во Хаг не покренал ни истрага за овие случаи. Кој ја сноси одговорноста во Македонската политика за ова одлагање? Што ако во годините додека тие случаи седеле во фиока во Хаг, во Македонија на терен се уништувале докази?

Да се вратиме на законите. Автентичното толкување веројатно е правно нерелевантно. Ако тоа е спротивно на меѓународното право (UN Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes и други конвенции ратификувани во Република Македонија), а меѓународните договори кога ќе се ратификуваат имаат приоритет над домашните закони, тогаш некој следен јавен обвинител може да рече дека ова автентично толкување е ништовно и одново да ги отвори предметите. За ваков расплет веројатно постојат многу инструменти, вклучувајќи и нови законски текстови што некој иден парламентарен состав би го изгласал. Дали имаме ветување дека тоа ќе се случи?

Но, и да се потсетиме дека пред толкувањето од Собрание, Македонскиот правосуден систем почна да ги работи еден од овие случаи. Што ако виделе дека нема каде да се стигне со овие случаи? Јавните коментари, препораките и барањата на организации како Amnesty International, се дека треба да има судска завршница, но тоа не значи дека нужно ќе има *позитивна судска завршница за жртвите*:

Macedonia’s international obligations are to thoroughly and impartially investigate all cases returned from the ICTY and, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, to ensure that all those allegedly responsible for violations of international humanitarian law are brought to justice.

Така што, кога веќе го имаме мислењето (Wikileaks телеграма погоре) на експертите на OSCE дека од тоа што го виделе Република Македонија нема ни доволно докази, ни доволно добри јавни обвинители и судии (и покрај многу одржани обуки) да ги работи случаите:

Additionally, OSCE has official observer status and has had the opportunity to review the files. Their experts here characterize the evidence they have seen as relatively scanty and the prosecutors and judges as apparently unprepared, despite being trained.

како и тоа дека Македонските претставници во власта, поточно јавниот обвинител, признале дека немаат доволно докази:

Protoger added that the Chief Prosecutor told him that it appears that there is solid evidence against only four of the 19 defendants in the Mavrovo case, and Xhemaili is not one of them. (Which begs the question why the other 15 are being tried at all.)

тогаш нели е подобро за целото општество да се заборави ова и да се залечат раните на овој начин, отколку да се оди на суд и жртвите да изгубат, а нивните наводни мачители да прогласат судска победа?

Помислете на ова за момент. Што ако имаме целосна судска постапка по која има правосилна пресуда дека лицата обвинети не се виновни? Каков ефект ќе има тоа тогаш во општеството? Најлесно да зборуваме како законот за овие случаи не се применил и дека со тоа Македонија е надвор од меѓународните правни норми, но дали во конкретниов случај има и нешто друго што треба да се земе предвид? Возможно ли е воопшто во етнички поделена држава каде што малцинството во континуитет нема доверба во судскиот систем, а мнозинството дури и смета дека не треба да се протестира за судските одлуки (како пример за тоа е случајот „Монструм“), да се има судење налик на ова што се пика под тепих?

Дополнително, судењето треба да се случува во околности во кои, видно од другите протечени разговори презентирани во бомбите на СДСМ, „судството е корумпирано и неспособно“. Зошто би имале судовите способност да судат комплицирани воени случаи, кога не можат да расчистат релативно полесни случаи за корупција? Или пак, кога веќе судовите се „на Мијалков и фамилијата“ дали би барале од ВМРО да ги отворат постапките во Суд и таму да донесат „политички поволни“ пресуди?

Што ако со оваа одлука, покрај политичката прагма за одржување на коалицијата, ВМРО и Груевски заштедиле време, пари, нерви и сѐ друго што што ќе трпеле семејствата на жртвите? Дали со овој потег тие всушност понудиле помирување и ја покажале желбата за простување кај Македонците, наместо да раскопуваат рани? Дали од веројатни правни губитници кај кои би се развил нов гнев создале од Македонците политички победници со помирувачка волја? Ова се незгодни прашања на кои што објавена содржина како бомба број 18 не дава одговор и кои што веројатно и во иднина ќе ги премолчуваме.

Можеби сепак оваа бомба е само за да се охрабрат ДУИ. Директно од САД. Да се надеваме дека не е за меѓуетнички тензии.

Media mayhem as bomshells continue to rock Macedonia's society [Updated]

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The situation in Macedonia, that can be described as living under constant stress, had another twist of events on Friday, 13 March 2015.

Over the past few days Stojanche Angelov the president of the right wing party Dostoinstvo was trying to enter the state television and deliver the leaked recordings to the reporters who work there. According to the editor at the state television they are not airing any of those recordings because they are following public prosecutor's instructions which by many are considered ill placed.

The visit of Mr. Angelov had a twist when the radio hosts of Kanal 103 (the independent music radio that airs from the state tv building) saw him in the hallway and invited him to come to their talk show. The private security that guards the building stopped Mr. Angelov and didn't allowed him to go to Kanal 103 studio.

Later that evening the security officers barged in Kanal 103 studio interrupting the program and demanding that the person working provides a valid ID card before he can continue with the show.

Earlier that day we witnessed how the leading opposition weekly Fokus and the on-line outlet NovaTV changed the reporting on the latest leaks released on Thursday. One of the tapes there was an alleged conversation between chief of secret police Sasho Mijalkov and Sitel TV editor Dragan Pavlovikj where they discuss that then opposition leader and ex-president Branko Crvenkovski offered voters exchange on local elections between Karposh and Centar municipalities in Skopje.

NovaTV first published the whole recording, then removed and published again. According to its editor that was done to remove "private conversation (gossip)". Almost simultaneously Focus changed its on-line reporting from "an official statement of SDSM's press person" to "unofficial sources from the party" that the recording was aired in full by mistake and that the staff at the party forgot to remove private conversations, including the part concerning Mr. Crvenkovski.

This, obviously, raises concerns that previous recordings are "cleaned up" to remove parts that could produce bad publicity for the opposition. At the same it becomes less clear how the opposition party and the media who are reporting on the recordings decide what are "private conversations" - for example we already heard at length and without censorship that Gordana Jankulovska and Zoran Stavrevski have new glasses; and what is "gossip" - we also heard at length and without censorship that other political figures are "crazy, bastards, criminals" etc.

Update 31.3.2015

Bombshell 14 was released on March 26 and it included an alleged conversation between Transport and communications minister Mile Jakanievski and his wife. The conversation remains published online (and elsewhere) despite it being a private conversation, where a concerned woman asks for the wellbeing of the man who is working late.

There has been some commentary that the reason why this conversation is released is the fact that it contains racist statements by the minister regarding the representatives from a Chinese road building company. However, the previous 17 released conversations from this batch contain enough foul language so that anyone can get a clear idea of racist or any other abusive statements.

Related:

"You can't do this kind of things without the telecom operators" - and you can't make this stuff up

Bombshell #7: Alleged conversation of government minister Janakievski calling TMobile director Irena Misheva to cut service of opposition member's phone

Amid the wiretapping scandal Macedonian parliament votes on law to allow use of rubber bullets by the police

Zaev realeases bomb #4 - new surveillence tapes show evidence of more media meddling and survellance of 100 journalists

New leaks presented by Mr. Zaev - Media controlled by secret services

Telecom operators trying to plead innocence over wiretapping accusations; claim their actions to be consistent with a law that didn't exist in 2011

Macedonian opposition reveals evidence of mass spying

Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter

"You can't do this kind of things without the telecom operators" - and you can't make this stuff up

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At an election-like meeting in Universal Hall in Skopje, the opposition party today (10.3.2015) revealed new recordings (bombshell #8) from the surveillance tapes.

There is no way to digest what we heard in the past 2-3 hours, but the initial statement (from the beginning of the disclosure process) that there is no way to do this (mass scale surveillance and thus control without the telecom operators) remains true.

In the recordings we heard alleged conversations that Tmobile Macedonia CEO Zarko Lukovski and CTO Miroslav Jovanovik participated in bulling of employees to make them vote for the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party as well as tracking people by cell phone to determine where are they on election day.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Related:


Bombshell #7: Alleged conversation of government minister Janakievski calling TMobile director Irena Misheva to cut service of opposition member's phone

Amid the wiretapping scandal Macedonian parliament votes on law to allow use of rubber bullets by the police

Zaev realeases bomb #4 - new surveillence tapes show evidence of more media meddling and survellance of 100 journalists

New leaks presented by Mr. Zaev - Media controlled by secret services

Telecom operators trying to plead innocence over wiretapping accusations; claim their actions to be consistent with a law that didn't exist in 2011

Macedonian opposition reveals evidence of mass spying

Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter

Bombshell #7: Alleged conversation of government minister Janakievski calling TMobile director Irena Misheva to cut service of opposition member's phone

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After months of speculation, started with the abrupt interruption of service during the student protest on December 10 2014 and continued to the leaked illegal recordings of phone calls, finally we hear proof that politicians can ask for favors from telecom operators.

The last recordings, from the alleged bulk recorded conversations, reveal minister Minister Janakievski calling TMobile director Irena Misheva to cut service to a telephone owned by someone from the political opposition in the country.

Mr. Zaev already stated that the massive surveillance of cell phone conversation cannot be done without cooperation form the operators. There are reasons to suspect that the operators didn't comply with the Constitutional court order to cut the direct conduits that led to the Interior Ministry between 2011 and 2014. Hearing that any interruption of service can be done with a call from the government just adds another nail to the coffin of privacy in Macedonia

Related:

Amid the wiretapping scandal Macedonian parliament votes on law to allow use of rubber bullets by the police

Zaev realeases bomb #4 - new surveillence tapes show evidence of more media meddling and survellance of 100 journalists

New leaks presented by Mr. Zaev - Media controlled by secret services

Telecom operators trying to plead innocence over wiretapping accusations; claim their actions to be consistent with a law that didn't exist in 2011

Macedonian opposition reveals evidence of mass spying

Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter

Amid the wiretapping scandal Macedonian parliament votes on law to allow use of rubber bullets by the police

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The third headline of the day (March 2 2015), after Mr. Zaev's bombshell number 6, and the subsequent press-conference of the implicated Minister of Finance Mr. Zoran Stavrevski, is that the Macedonian police, can now use rubber bullets, electric stun devices and shock bombs (however that translates into English) to stop violence during protests.

This follows already released tapes that allege police brutality.

The latest recordings released by the opposition contain 11 conversations alleged to be between Mr. Stavrevski and the Minister of Interior Mrs. Gordana Jankulovska discussing at length corruption among their colleagues, the dismal state of the economy and the nearly bankrupted budget of Macedonia.

All of it was denied at Mr. Stavrevski press-conference.

Related:

Zaev realeases bomb #4 - new surveillence tapes show evidence of more media meddling and survellance of 100 journalists

New leaks presented by Mr. Zaev - Media controlled by secret services

Telecom operators trying to plead innocence over wiretapping accusations; claim their actions to be consistent with a law that didn't exist in 2011

Macedonian opposition reveals evidence of mass spying

Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter

Zaev realeases bomb #4 - new surveillence tapes show evidence of more media meddling and survellance of 100 journalists [Updated]

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The newest batch of the alleged warantless surveillance tapes were released today. The tapes reveal more abuse of power by the leading figures in the Macedonian government including the prime minister Nikola Gruevski. One of the tapes show money being redirected form the Agency for electronic communication (btw, that is the same agency that should serve as a watchdog for telecom operator to make sure that there is not any unlawful bridge of consumers privacy) to be used for movie-making.

The new files give a clearer picture of the dismal situation with Macedonian media and their close connections with the ruling people of the government. Government ministers are heard ordering news stories and media editors accepting the requests.

However, the biggest revelation are the journalists' files. Over 100 journalists, including the late Nikola Mladenov, have been targeted for periods longer than any legal time frame allowed under Macedonian law. Mr. Zaev said the files will be given to each of the journalists that were under surveillance.

Update:

Following the 2pm press conference of opposition leader Zoran Zaev, Macedonian prime minister takes the podium at a press conference at 3:45 pm.

He repeats most of the things that he already said in his original statement: that recordings are made by foreign intelligence agencies and that are fake/edited. Also he says that the video recordings leaked to Youtube of his meeting with Mr. Zaev are lawful and done after filed criminal charges.

Almost simultaneously with the press conference major pro-government news outlets report a sentencing of a man that plead guilty in the 'coup d'etat' case in which Mr. Zaev is one of the suspects too. Mr. Gruevski cites this information in his speech, says people have already admitted to the crimes of espionage against the state.

Then the PM goes on to talk about new jobs, investments, roads and so on and that he says he will restore order.

Related:
New leaks presented by Mr. Zaev - Media controlled by secret services

Telecom operators trying to plead innocence over wiretapping accusations; claim their actions to be consistent with a law that didn't exist in 2011

Macedonian opposition reveals evidence of mass spying

Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter

New leaks presented by Mr. Zaev - Media controlled by secret services

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In a press conference on Friday, February 20th 2015, opposition leader Mr. Zaev revealed a third batch of leaks form the alleged 1.6 million files of warantless surveillance of over 20.000 Macedonian citizens.

The audio recordings provide the most shocking and most disturbing conversations between senior government officials and newspaper and TV editors so far. Aside from the language, the recordings reveal conspiracies, staged arrest, and plans for torture of political opponents and retaliation towards citizens who did not vote for the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. Part of the audio is transcribed with analysis in Macedonian and published on OKNO.mk.

The recordings also reveal the close ties between Macedonia's leading news outlets and top ranking officials from the government, this time specifically with the chief of the secret police.

Over the past 5-6 years, Macedonia has fallen in media freedom rankings, only to go up 7 places from 123 on this year's RSF rating. The current media coverage of the leaks gives more proof to the point: only a handful of media outlets, most of which are on-line, provide information and analysis. The rest of about 25-30 TV and Radio stations, including the national broadcaster MRT, and newspapers remain in line with the government story that the recordings distributed to the public by the opposition party are montages made by hostile foreign government intelligence agencies made to destabilize the country.

Related:

Telecom operators trying to plead innocence over wiretapping accusations; claim their actions to be consistent with a law that didn't exist in 2011

Macedonian opposition reveals evidence of mass spying

Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter

Telecom operators trying to plead innocence over wiretapping accusations; claim their actions to be consistent with a law that didn't exist in 2011 [Updated]

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After a few days of silence, the telecom operators in Macedonia issued statements (NovaTV link in Macedonian), claiming that they have not broken the law, and that they are in full compliance of article 175 of the Macedonian law for electronic communications i.e. the article that governs procedures for lawful interception of telephone calls, despite allegations made by Mr. Zaev on Monday.

However, as NovaTV already established (link also in Macedonian), at least one of the recorded, and now made public, conversations took place in 2011. At that time the law that was in use didn't even have 175 articles.

In fact, the Law on electronic communications which was in use up until February 2014 had an article 115 which clearly stated that telecom operators must keep a permanent record of any lawful interception taking place and that they must protect this information as a secret according to law. However, for a short period of 6 months - from June 2010 to December 2010, when the Constitutional court stroke it down, that article was amended in a way that allowed unsupervised wiretapping.

Mr. Zaev so far claimed that at least two people have been wiretapped four years or more - himself, and Dragan Pavlovikj - Latas - a prominent pro-government TV editor. If this is true then the telecom operators must have records dating back to 2010 according to article 115 of the law as described above, or at least, to have the knowledge that lawful wiretapping took place. Claiming that they couldn't know anything is at least misinterpretation of the facts.

The law was completely rewritten and passed in February 2014 and this obligation was removed in the new text (link to ALL laws on electronic communications - in Macedonian).

This article was updated to correct the dates of the laws.

Macedonian opposition reveals evidence of mass spying

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In a press conference covered by just a few twitter users tweeting live from opposition headquarters in Skopje, opposition leader Zoran Zaev revealed what is to be named 'the first part of the bomb' -- evidence for mass abuse of power by the current government.

There was no other live media coverage which gives you a sense of the type of country Macedonia has became under the rule of Mr. Nikola Gruevski's government. Macedonia has plummeted at 123 place on media freedom rankings.

Mr. Zaev claims that a whistleblower form Macedonia's secret police have provided recordings that prove that about 20.000 people including cabinet members and aides of Mr. Gruevski, businessmen, NGOs, Macedonian Academy of science and arts and judges. Part of the recordings were played at the press conference.

TV Telma, a local news outlet, reported that mobile phone operators have participated in the mass surveillance.

Tweeting live in English from the press conference was @tanjatania.

Related: Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter.

Note: This article was corrected. The correct number stated by Mr. Zaev was 20.000 not 26.000.

Update: An audio recording published by SDSM (youtube link) contains 9 conversations: Mr. Zaev speaking with a reporter from Radio Free Europe, Mr. Zaev speaking with party colleague Mrs. Radmila Sekerinska, Mr. Zaev speaking with his daughter, Interior minister Mrs. Gordana Jankulovska speaking with Finance minister Mr. Zoran Stavrevski, Former PM Mr. Ljubco Georgievski speaking with an unknown person 2 times, DUI president Mr. Ali Ahmeti speaking with an unknown person, DPA president Mr. Menduh Tachi speaking with an unknown person and NDP president Mr. Rufi Osmani speaking with an unknown person.

Surveillance and abuse of power - Macedonian chapter

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The political struggle between the Government and the opposition in Macedonia had a minor climax yesterday, Saturday 31 of January, when the PM announced that the police and other Government agencies prevented a coup d'etat.

Both the PM Nikola Gruevski and the opposition leader Zoran Zaev claim that at the crux of the allegations are data gathered without warrant by intelligence agencies. The PM claims that these data are provided to Mr. Zaev the by a foreign agency, that they mostly target Government officials, and that some of them are not genuine. The opposition leader claims that the data target thousands of ordinary citizens, and are leaked to Mr. Zaev's party by a whistleblower from within the Macedonian agencies that conducted the surveillance. (Both link are to statements which are in Macedonian.)

As we wait to learn the truth, here is what we know:

1. A government led by VMRO-DPMNE in 2001 was accused of warrantless surveillance in 2001. News articles in Macedonian from that period are available on Time.mk.

2. According to Citizen Lab there is a FinFisher Command & Control server in Macedonia since 2013. There has been no denial of this report by any Government institution so far.

3. According to reports based on Snowden's leaks, Macedonia is an European partner country for the NSA surveillance dragnet. Mr. Gruevski has a statement on record that he does not know anything about the agreement between his administration and the US Government.

4. So far there have not been any reports that there is a third foreign government with the ability or capacity to carry out large scale surveillance in Macedonia.

If the above reports are true, then is possible to imagine that the Macedonian Government used Gamma's and NSA's technology to spy on it's citizens, and that someone from the government agencies thought that they went too far - which would make Mr. Zaev story plausible.

It is also possible and less controversial to imagine that the US Government spied on Macedonian government officials (like they spied German Chancellor Merkel). However, in that case it would be very difficult to imagine what did they hear that they thought it is important to be shared with the opposition party.

In any event the ongoing nondisclosure of said data raises much more questions. We don't know, for example, why the opposition party is holding the data for more than 3 months, or why they didn't opt for a Snowden/Wikileaks solution - sharing the data with a trusted media organization, that needn't be Macedonian, to publish the information for most impact.

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