Counter-spin: Statements Sounding as if Written in the Heyday of Communism

Why does Mickoski (leader of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE – e.d.) allow himself to manipulate the public about the incident with Misajlovski’s shop? Because the tradition of his party, but also of the political parties in the country in general, shows that anything can be said in the election campaign

Author: Teofil Blaževski

The leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, regarding the incident of a catering facility owned by the vice president of the party, gave statements in which spin is detected:

Spin: The true self of the government is shown by what happened this morning in Gjorce Petrov where an explosive device was thrown at the family store owned by the Misajlovski family for decades. It is not a “random” fire like the one that happened to Vlado Misajlovski a few years ago, but there is a clear intention. Not to bypass or try to be diplomatically correct, the responsibility for this lies with the SDSM government. That’s where the orderers and inspirers of all this need to be sought.

[Source: “360 Stepeni” –  Мицкоски: СДСМ е одговорен... – date: 21 June 2020]

Counter-spin: Hristijan Mickoski, president of VMRO-DPMNE, twice on 21 June 2020 gave statements by twisting the truth about who is responsible for the incident in Gjorce Petrov Municipality, i.e. in the shop of the party’s vice president, Vlado Misajlovski.

As if it were the heyday of communism and as if he were the head of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Macedonia, Mickoski gave these statements, after which the police should immediately arrest the perpetrators – enemies of the constitutional order and brighter future. In the post, published on his official Facebook page, Mickoski, to strengthen the pre-election rhetoric, wrote:

This is also an expression of complete helplessness, fear of defeat and total craziness. In such a specific situation for them, they are attacking the freedom and integrity of the opposition leaders. I will remind you that Igor Durlovski (VMRO-DPMNE election candidate – e.d.) was also verbally attacked by an adviser to the Prime Minister. This ruling party leadership is aware that it is losing and that there is no salvation for them, this is the cry of desperate people who are doing everything to escape justice.

This was followed by a more or less high-speed reaction of the “accused perpetrators” – SDSM. In the reaction of the spokesperson of SDSM Kostadin Kostadinov, regret and condemnation for such an event are very clearly expressed, but there is also a counter-accusation that the news placed by VMRO-DPMNE is fake:

I will repeat once again that this is fake news and I call on Mickoski to disclose the source of such information. Additionally, because we are sure of what we are saying, we call on the Ministry of Interior to investigate the case and confirm that the news placed by Hristijan Mickoski is fake.

Later in the afternoon, after this reaction of SDSM, Mickoski from Kumanovo tried to soften the rhetoric. In his second statement of the day here is no direct accusation of SDSM for the event, and at the call from SDSM to disclose the source of the information, he mentions “indications”:

This morning, Vlado and I had a discussion. We talked about what happened. He informed me in detail and the moment he and his family found out, I was also informed of what had happened. The indications are that we know the perpetrators based on the information travelling to Kumanovo, there are indications for the perpetrators, and I encourage the Ministry of Interior, the authorities, the SIA Skopje and others to shed light on this wrong deed as soon as possible.

But, if you look at the rhetoric immediately after this sentence, it is quite clear that Mickoski once again, without mentioning SDSM, blames them, but, above all, warns that it is possible that there will be retaliatory actions, in the style of “what would happen if the others (can be read as “us- VMRO-DPMNE”) do the same”:

This is not good because in physics there is one law, Newton’s law that says every action has its own reaction. If each of these actions is followed by an equal reaction, equal at least in intensity, but in the opposite direction… that will be bad. It will be bad for Macedonia; it will be bad for the challenges that are forthcoming. We need to start negotiations with the EU; Macedonia should one day be a member of the EU.

And what did the police say at the first moment? Only technical details and nothing else, as it should be. The incident was publicly noted and it was announced that there was a suspicion that it was an explosive device.

Then, how can Mickoski twice in one day, once directly, once indirectly offer distorted truth to the public (because the perpetrators have not been identified), i.e. spin, that SDSM is behind the incident? Maybe, because the tradition of his party, but also of the political parties in the country in general, shows that anything can be said in the election campaign. However, it is a spin. Because it is the same as if someone else would say “based on indications, VMRO-DPMNE has planted the explosive device themselves, just to collect pre-election points”.

Hence, there is no doubt that Mickoski’s statements at the moment they were uttered are spins. There are still legal and legitimate bodies and institutions in the country, which are only authoritative, based on solid evidence, to determine who the perpetrators of such incidents are and what their aim is. It does not even matter if the heads of these institutions are Mickoski’s staff, such as Nake Čulev.

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