The increasingly authoritarian government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in the neighboring former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) fell back on an “antiquated line of defense” last week in a bid to neutralize a political rival, namely, to indirectly involve Greek secret services.

A video aired by the pro-government media in the small landlocked Balkan country apparently shows main opposition Social Democratic party leader Zoran Zaev speaking with Gruevski. The latter vociferously charged that his rival, Zaev, tried to blackmail him with “evidence provided by foreign secret services.”

The yet-to-be disclosed evidence supposedly shows instances of corruption within the conservative fYRoM government, or so the narrative goes. Gruevski also claimed that Zaev offered to give up the evidence in return of the formation of a caretaker government in which his SDSM party would be included.

The political crisis came to a quintessential “Balkan turn” on Saturday when government authorities in Skopje claimed they had even prevented a coup by Zaev!

Now, the opposition leader is without a passport, as it was taken by authorities, and had an associate arrested, along with a former fYRoM “spook” and his wife.
Zaev has promised to release a “bombshell” of evidence, but nothing has been published as yet.