About to hit three billion

The "Chinese highways" Kicevo - Ohrid and Skopje - Stip cost Macedonia between 500-600 million EUR (before Zaev stopped construction and greatly inflated the price of the former stretch). We can easily expect the Gostivar - Kicevo highway to cost a cool billion EUR. The terrain is far worse. The Chinese are generally cheaper than the Americans - they have a huge inflow of money from their export industries that they want to park somewhere and also, they have a more long-term view on things, which means it's easier for them to make you a better deal. And then there is the huge political premium the US apparently wants to collect from Macedonia, which will balloon Bechtel's price tag from the Gostivar - Kicevo highway. it will reach a billion for sure.

Zaev also intends to give Bechtel exclusive right to build the Struga - Kafasan (Albanian border) link and the Prilep - Bitola highway. All in an exclusive, no-bid contract. The first of these lines is short, and the other is on a favorable, flat terrain. Will he be able to add another billion there? Perhaps not, but it will get close. Simply put, this proud Nordonian new NATO member state will give its American overlords a cool two billion. With these money, we could have the Chinese build us the same highways, plus add the Radovis - Strumica line and the Kumanovo - Bulgarian border link. That would have completed the highway network in the country.

But that is not all. The actual price of the Bechtel deal will more likely reach three billion. See, we are now the good guys in the Balkans. We do what we are told, sometimes even before we are told. Under Gruevski, the idea was to preserve some semblance of sovereignty, of national identity, and to conduct an economic, industrial and energy policy that fits the national interests of the Macedonian people. This meant often rejecting the demands and diktats from the US and the EU. And even under these conditions, Gruevski was able to get EU funds for the Demir Kapija - Smokvica highway, to the tune of 90 million EUR in grants and 100 million EUR in loans. EU didn't fund this entire highway, but it got to about a half. Naturally, the EU wanted to use this to extend its influence over Gruevski and over Macedonia, given that its other "investments" in the country were mainly toward left wing protesters and media outlets. Gruevski responded to this by renaming the highway after Alexander the Great. in his thinking, the EU wanted to be present in Balkan infrastructure, if it really wants to integrate the region in teh future. And considering the untold billions it poured into Greece, Bulgaria etc, it is laughable to even argue with them over several hundred million.

So why won't the EU give Zaev infrastructure money? Aren't we the highly respected, obedient, washed, combed etc good boys? Why do they give Vucic 50 percent of the funds needed for the Belgrade - Nish - Nordonia railway, worth over a billion EUR, when Vucic refuses to make concessions on Kosovo, and at the same time, they give nothing to the spineless wet rag that is Zaev? After those incredibly funny and humiliating (they were funny because they were so humiliating) scenes that come every three to six months, when Nordonistanis go to Brussels to pick up their latest veto, Euro-diplomats usually come out and promise that, with the lack of EU accession talks, they will make it up to us with a few euros for our infrastructure. And where is it? What has Zaev negotiated for us during his four years of mega-servility? (we know that he has negotiated plenty for himself)

One explanation is that the EU has no need to buy further influence over a man that it wholly owns. Zaev is prepared to stop projects like the (Chinese) Kicevo - Ohrid highway and the (Russian) South Stream gas pipeline without securing anything in exchange. Why should they throw him infrastructure funds when he is perfectly satisfied with being invited to a European capital every now and then, just to be told "non", "Nein" and "no".

Naturally, if the would EU give us money for infrastructure, it would expect a bidding procedure. It will also likely expect that the ultimate winner is a company from some EU member state. So this is where the Bechtel extortion comes in. There is no chance that the EU funds an infrastructure project in this place if Zaev intends to give the contract to an American company without a bidding procedure. It almost looks like Zaev is in a hurry to give away all our potential infrastructure projects to Bechtel, with an appropriate sum of protection money paid to the Deep State diplomats, and a cut for the soon-to-be-founded Vice Zaev Highway Construction LTD., before the EU possibly jumps in and funds some of the projects with its grant money. If Bechtel seizes these three lines, what is left for potential construction in Macedonia? A highway to Berovo? (population 7.000) The high-speed rail network the bogus Integra party was proposing? A joint cosmodrome with Bulgaria? When/if the EU comes with some real money on the table, we will have no projects to offer them.

So the Bechtel deal is going to set us back two billion, and another billion in lost EU grant money (which is very likely in our near future). A retard would have been able to negotiate a better deal with the EU, as compensation for all those vetoes they slapped on us. If Gruevski was able to do it at the peak of the international campaign to depose him, a pro-Western invertebrate like Zaev should be able to do it in five minutes. The funds are laughable from a Brussels perspective, and they would help mitigate the embarrassment of their Balkan diplomacy. But, Zaev has bills to pay to the Americans, who brought him to power, and our little statelet will have to pay them off for the next seven generations.

Cvetin Chilimanov