Counterspin: The Boycott of the Parliamentary Commission “on the Bombs” as a Sign of Protest for Denied Publicity is a Spin

If all the time during the bomb-threats VMRO-DPMNE communicated with the public regarding the incompetent Government and the MIA, at the same time demanding more detailed information, and when they get that chance they boycott the session just because the information was classified as “state secret”, then such inconsistency, displayed as protest against denied publicity, can only be assessed as a spin.

 

Author: Teofil Blazevski

 

The claim of the VMRO-DPMNE Member of Parliament, Dafina Stojanoska, made in the capacity of a guest in a debate programme regarding the boycott of the Commission for Defence and Security that is recognized as a spin:

Spin: We did not want to give legitimacy to the Commission for Defence and Security because it was decided in advance that the session will be closed although it was summoned upon the request of mostly VMRO-DPMNE’s Members of Parliament. Apart from the current events with the tips on bombs planted in the schools, we were also interested in what was happening with the party-affiliation of employees in the MIA, and what is happening with the passports issued to infamous worldwide known criminals. Our opinion is that the session should not be closed because the public has the right to know and one should always discuss issues, said Stojanoska

[Source: VMRO-DPMNE/web; Date – 27.12.2022]

Counterspin: VMRO-DPMNE’s Member of Parliament, Dafina Stojanoska, GROM’s Member of Parliament Ljupco Prendzov, but also previously the Member of Parliament from VMRO-DPMNE, Brane Petrusevski, publicly elaborated the reason behind the boycott of the Parlimentary Commission for Defence and Security summoned to discuss a topic that they themselves insisted upon which, least to be said, is inconsistent, but also spinning the truth, in other words, it is a spin.

Specifically, the session was demanded by the mentioned group of Members of Parliament, and the MIA was represented by Oliver Spasovski, who presented the activities undertaken by the MIA to identify the senders of the e-mails with bomb-threats which have become daily practice in the last two months, during working days exclusively.

The first elaboration came immediately after the boycott, on Monday 25.12.2022. The Member of Parliament, Brane Petrusevski, stipulated that by classifying the documentation as “State Secret”, Spasovski was saying that the MIA was the head of organized crime:

Today proves that the head of organized high crime lies in the high structures of the MIA. We believed that the session could have been divided into two parts – the first part for open discussions about things that should not be classified. We requested to talk about why the MIA lacks the capacity to identify the false bomb-threats. That was the topic that we requested to discuss, while the second part to be devoted to all the information that the Minister deems classified. Our proposal however, was not accepted.

They are running away from publicity and accountibilty. The information relayed by the Minister is classified. We were expecting to see that the State was undertaking action, but their request for a closed session leads us to think that nothing has been done. Classification is happening to something that need not be classified.

From the elaboration – first let’s talk publicly about the incompetence of the MIA to identify the false bomb-threats, and then about the classified information – one can see the absurdity of the argument because the whole topic is one and unique – the capacity and the actions undertaken.

His elaboration, the eleboration of Stojanoska, as well as that of Prendzov, claims that the publicity denied is the primary reason for the boycott. Bearing in mind however, that the request for information from the Commission was an initiative of the Members of Parliament of VMRO-DPMNE, joined by MPs from SDSM, and that the State administration has the legitimate right to determine the level of secrecy of a given piece of information on top of which one might add the sensitive nature of the material important for the ongoing investigation such as undertaken actions that could be of interest for the senders of the bomb-threats, then logic has it that the justification for the boycott is inconsistent, hence a spin.

The reason for such inconsistency and spin might be the act of canceling a matrix or pattern in revealing public information by VMRO-DPMNE since the occurrence of the threats – lack of capacity in the MIA, incompetence of Spasovski, incapability of the Government led by Dimitar Kovacevski, etc. Although at first glance it might seem like a logical rhetoric of an oppositional political party – daily criticism of the political opponent – in an era of disinformation and semi-information helps in achieving the utimate goal of the anonymous bomb-threats which is spreading fear and panic amongst citizens and blocking the operation of society. A small chronology of events from the middle of this month can show the arguments for the set thesis.

Hybrid war – VMRO-DPMNE says, maybe, but…

For the first time, Prime-minister Dimitar Kovacevski confirmed that a hybrid war was in question on 13.12.2022, adding that “it was absolutely impossible to detect where the tip was coming from”.
The same day, one of the security analysts pointed his finger towards Russia
(Ismet Ramadani in the same text), while another security analyst and professor believes that such a conclusion cannot be excluded and deems that “certain political subjects – regardless of weather they are from Macedonia or from the neighbouring countries – use such modern hybrid methods for destabilization purposes for achieving political goals”(Stefan Budzakovski also in the article of RFE).

A day earlier and that same day on 13.12.2022, VMRO-DPMNE continued with the narrative that the Government was incompetent to guarantee peace and security for the citizens. That same day, 13^th December – this party, yet again, talks about “chaos and panic” and that Spasovski was the one to blame for that, and therefore his resignation must follow.

16^th December the same narrative about the authorities being incompetent to deal with the bombs was repeated, but this time stressing late coordination and request for help. Also, on 17^th December, for the first time
a recognition came from VMRO-DPMNE that the bomb-threats “might be a hybrid attack”.
Such rhetoric from this party proceeded on 20th December, a day after the Government announced that an operational team for dealing with hybrid threats was established after the meeting of
the Council for Coordination of Security Services. That same day revealed that a new country became goal of renewed anonymous bomb-threats in the region of the Balkans – Bosnia and Herzegovina again.

Expert explanations in silence

What differentiates these narratives from the oppositional political party is that not even once, in not one announcement or reaction, do they respond to the constant IT expert claims that such threats are indeed difficult to unravel due to the nature of operation of the Internet, the service providers such as the large mail systems
and due to the privacy policies introduced by them and the virtual networks VPN systems.
This was very vividly explained by the IT professor and President of the ICT Chamber, PhD. Orce Simov,
as a guest in the debate programme on 24 TV on 15.12.2022 (around 13^th minute of the video).
There is no information either related to the claims of security experts and professors such as
PhD. Metodi Hadzi Janev who wrote a detailed explanation why, in general, but also in our country, it is difficult for the authorities to deal with anonymous attackers in digital warfare. In addition, the party never communicated to the public that they considered the threats as regional and even wider, as noted by the news and analyses that these events have occurred all over the Balkans including Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia and, already mentioned B&H.

Because of this not mentioned element of the threat phenomenon, the tendency noted in the responses of VMRO-DPMNE may be assessed as an attitude of the oppositional party to communicate with the citizens with semi-information (incompetence of the authorities and the MIA), that leave room for spreading disinformation.

Due to the above-noted arguments, our assessment is that the statement of Stojanoska (but also Prendzov and Petrusevski) regarding the reasons for the boycott of the Parliamentary Commission is a spin. If all the time during the bomb-threats VMRO-DPMNE communicated with the public regarding the incompetent Government and the MIA, at the same time demanding more detailed information, and when they get that chance they boycott the session just because the information was classified as “state secret”, then such inconsistency, displayed as protest against denied publicity, can only be assessed as a spin.

The above-noted argumenation is not an amnesty for all systemic delays that the governments of this country, including the last one, have performed in terms of policy in general – digital security, as well as the implementation of the National Strategy for Cyber-Security adopted back in 2018.

 

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This article was developed within the framework of the project Promoting Access to Reliable News to Counter Disinformation, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation. The article, that was previously published in Truthmeter, was enabled with the support of the American non-profit foundation NED (National Endowment for Democracy). The contents of the article is the responsibility of the author
and do not always reflect the positions of Metamorphosis Foundation, NED or their partners.

 

 

 

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