Spies Like Us

Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase – Spies Like Us (one of my favourite movie scenes)

Exactly two years ago (almost to the day!) pengovsky wrote about a series of break-ins which were alter conveniently described as being drug-related.

Last Monday night person or persons unknown broke into the building of Social Democrats. Having entered through a small ground-floor window they disabled the alarm system and then thrashed the place up. None of the equipment was stolen, but the perpetrators did break open an iron safe where the party apparently kept documents related to membership in the Socialist International.

One wonders what else were they keeping in there.

There are several options. There is always the possibility that someone forgot to lock up. People at SD are more or less a friendly bunch which would probably be quite happy to water your flowers while you’re on vacation. But I wouldn’t exactly trust them with keys to my crib. If you know what I mean. But since the alarm system was disabled – apparently without the security company noticing – and nothing of tangible value was taken, the possibility that this was a crime of opportunity diminished rapidly.

So, perhaps we should turn our attention to the usual suspect(s). First of all there should be no doubt as to whether Janša is capable of orchestrating something like this. Not only abusing security services for his own political agenda (he’s done it before), but also being able to. He had four years to reaffirm his influence in Slovenian intelligence community where he had considerable influence to start with. Secondly, since he successfully tore apart the Slovenian Intelligence Agency (SOVA) he can do more or less as he pleases. If he so wishes. It is obvious that whoever broke into the building knew what he was looking for. And trust me, it wasn’t SD’s Socialist International membership card. This bears all the hallmarks of a politically-motivated break-in and since every time such things happened in Slovenia Janez Janša and his SDS found themselves in or around the centre of the affair, odds are that this time will be no different.

Given the fact that a) the new government as about as good at keeping secrets as Ronald Reagan was at remembering them and b) PM Pahor was out of the country at the time of the break-in, it could be that it had something to do with him rather than the party. One must take into account that special advisor for ore exploration and wasting time Dimitrij Rupel fell out with the PM and is running back to Janez Janša, as well as the fact that Slovenia and Croatia are in a make-or-break phase of the border/EU membership dispute. Add to that the fact that Janša and Sanader had a history of discussing the issue and that Janša and Rupel dealt a severe blow to Slovenian position in 2005 by heeding Croatian demands of taking the case to the International Court in the Hague and certain contours start to emerge. And finally, one must not forget that Pahor never really explained why on Earth he took Rupel on-board. The bullshit about Rupel being well connected is a bed-time story at best and an insult to our intelligence at worst.

My bet is that Rupel sold out to Pahor and handed him documents incriminating Janša – either relating to Croatia or to the Patria affair. But since the new PM is not amused by Rupel’s I-made-Slovenia-independent-so-I’m-above-the-law antics the latter had a change of heart and ran back to Janša, telling him (amid tears?) what he had done. Consequently Janša went in to get the documents.

But I’m sure they’ll find out it was the junkies.