FBI’s Albaniagate

By 1948 the west considered Albania’s Enver Hoxha to be the weakest ruler of any Soviet-aligned state. The western powers have always portrayed Hoxha as being an autocratic bully and thug, however it is not the purpose of this article to argue the issue.*

The point is that the OSS (later CIA) under the direction of ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan and his subordinate Angleton, considered Albania to be the weak link of Soviet satellite states from 1948 going forward. Britain’s MI6 concurred with the CIA, MI6 having previously instigated “Plan Charity” – later called “Operation Valuable” – while the CIA pursued its own agenda to destabilize Albania, and overthrow Hoxha, called Project Fiend or “BG/FIEND” in CIA-speak. Link https://numbers-stations.com/cia/OBOPUS%20BFIEND/OBOPUS%20BG%20FIEND%20%20%20VOL.%202%20%28PROJECT%20OUTLINED%20REVIEWS%20TERMINATION%29_0035.pdf

Covert operations intended to overthrow Hoxha failed, even though such efforts were pursued by the west until Tito’s death and beyond, by covert western regime change groups, hoping to bring Albania down in a larger effort to collapse the USSR. The western ideal was to infiltrate extremist ultra-nationalist Balli Kombetar operatives into Albania who were favorable to the West, to eventually rehabilitate the communist regime into a government acceptable to Washington. [A brief and arguably biased history of covert western interventions in Albania may appear here: https://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/ops/albania.htm ]

For more history, consider investigative journalist Danny Casolaro’s “Octopus” where Casolaro’s work was founded on his discovery that the Pax Americana effort by a small group of MI6-CIA colleagues to destabilize Albania from 1948 extended to the day of his “suicide” in 1991.** Although the main content of his written work on The Octopus – the pragmatic economic and political means by which the western establishment maintains power – was either lost or disposed of at the time of Casolaro’s mysterious death, some notes remained.

Casolaro’s notes suggested that a small group of covert CIA-MI6 executives who enabled Operation Valuable/ Project Fiend operations in Albania well into the 1950’s, founded the entire basis for US governmental collusion that became today’s quasi-private MIC (Military Industrial Complex) empire. But by Casolaro’s mysterious death, the head of the MIC “Octopus” would not be revealed; Casolaro’s death ensured too, that he would never learn about the US operation that eventually resulted in the illegal NATO bombing and US-led seizure of Kosovo land from Serbia.

But, if Casolaro were alive today (aged 76) he would no doubt be enthralled by Albaniagate the sensational story of a former FBI agent who took payments from an Albanian ‘friend’ (alleged Agron Neza via Deripaska) with connections inside – and outside – the Albanian government. Overall, FBI Albaniagate is a bizarre tale of shadowy Albanian agents in part run by Oleg Mukhamedshin aka “Deripaska” – a Russian businessman – to apparently serve Deripaska’s interests in Albania. As always however, consider that the mainstream media characterization of Deripaska somehow running the FBI’s McGonigal (via former Albanian intelligence officer Neza) is a half-truth at best, when Albanian agents linked to McGonigal are in fact Deep State shills, as we shall see.

[Note that Deripaska is not an associate of the Russian government, and Deripaska does not represent any interest of the government of Russia. Truly Mukhamedshin aka “Deripaska” has a history of being an opportunist asset stripper, period, full stop, and is not politically motivated except in his very own interest. ]

Now, the US complaint versus McGonigal leaves much in question. Deripaska’s advantage in paying-off an FBI contact, namely McGonigal, via an Albanian influence-peddler is not stated and the motive unknown. Reading the complaint versus McGonigal gives little detail about the motive behind McGonigal’s alleged crimes, except that Albanian agents in the pay of an asset-strip specialist (Deripaska) found it to their advantage, to evidently bribe or pay-off an FBI operative. But is that true? Throughout the Grand Jury legal brief, the reader feels that the US Security State is attempting to protect its duplicitous secrets while targeting one of its own, leaving details out based on “national security concerns”.

For example, between September 2017 and June 2018 agent McGonigal visited Albania and Europe on business that may or may not have been official, while an employee of the agency. McGonigal failed to disclose full details of that travel on FBI forms FD-772 and FD-722b. Oh my. McGonigal was further lax in “failing to identify a (certain Albanian) companion, failing to identify countries visited, falsely characterizing the purpose of the travel, and falsely reporting that there would be no reportable foreign contacts on the travel..” Well, well. No doubt the reader has the gist of bureaucratic bullshit primarily intended to target and destroy the FBI’s former man about town.

In other words, after thoroughly examining the sixteen-page US Grand Jury complaint vs former FBI man McGonigal, the reader has no more idea about events than when he or she began, except that McGonigal evidently received $225K USD from an Albanian operative employed by an asset stripper linked to Russia, and received those dollars for something… but for what? Evidently one Albanian identified elsewhere, Agron Neza, paid McGonigal $225K US for some unknown reason, with funds from some unknown source, because there is no evidence provided that Deripaska provided those funds to Neza.

Even so, a few facts are known. One being that McGonigal is (or was?) a partner to the “Lawoffice & Investigation” firm of Albania, the precise purpose of which is unknown. Noting however that “Lawoffice & Investigation” of Albania has the pungent smell of a Security State Front office for NED dirty tricks written all over it, in this author’s opinion.

Likewise according to the FBI itself, McGonigal traveled to Albania with Person A (apparently Neza) in September 2017, where he met with Albania’s prime minister and ‘urged the Albanian government to “be careful about awarding oil field drilling licenses in Albania to Russian front companies.”‘ Note that Albania is an undeveloped oil producer with untapped reserves. Albania’s oil reserves are not large yet still significant where the potential to exploit such reserves in Europe for a very low cost must certainly appeal as much to the ghost of James Jesus Angleton as to Russia. https://www.worldometers.info/oil/albania-oil/

And so, once again, this is about Russia, Russia, Russia. After sifting through the various documents, gossip, western media nonsense, unpleasant weeds of Albanian politics and US Department of Justice bullshit, it appears that the ghost of Angleton is indeed alive and well, with his descendant operatives entirely concerned that the Albanian government is entirely too friendly with both Erdogan and with Russia.

But how does the foregoing intersect with the US Justice/Grand Jury targeting of FBI agent McGonigal? There is of course the rub. McGonigal perhaps saw an opportunity to earn a pay-off. And just a hunch that he thought he could keep that pay-off close to the vest and quiet. But why did such an opportunity in Albania as McGonigal’s even exist? For what reason? And why was McGonigal’s cover blown now?  Well there are many questions which still await answers.

But one fact is certain, the United States security services still meddle in the politics of Albania today — and all target governments — just as the US has meddled since Angleton’s day. To cover that US political meddling, the FBI and mainstream media must portray the FBI’s Albaniagate as a case of Russian collusion with a bent FBI man, instead of what it truly is. Yes, what Albaniagate truly is, is emblematic of continual US subversion of foreign governments fomenting regime change, just as the United States has with threats and Federal Reserve Notes since Dean Acheson’s day and the advent of the Cold War.

Yet another adjunct and key to Albaniagate however is about targeting. Targeting as manifested by the US Department of so-called Justice. McGonigal is effectively targeted, on relatively trivial and even obfuscated grounds. So is Deripaska. So is Mark Rossini. Along with a host of other existing and former Albanian politicians (in this case) regardless of their past alignment. It’s as if the FBI is throwing as much mud on the wall as it can to see what sticks, and to whom, and mandating that they all be drowned in muddy waters (rhetorically speaking) as all who defy the US Security State must be, in the Totalitarian State of the collective west’s estimation..

Albaniagate’s ultimate irony? Being that indicted FBI man Charles McGonigal was key to the Deep State’s Russiagate hoax.. !

*The long-term agenda of intelligence services and their pursuit of the Security State’s considered national interest supersedes the cult of personality. But a most useful propaganda tool is to play publicly for political influence via the cult of personality, to exploit a leader’s personal flaws publicly as a means to wield power and influence over that leader, in the background.

** Casolaro’s death was determined ‘unresolved’ later on by none other than the FBI.