sex and politics

According to the latest reports, Kosovo will declare independence from Serbia on February 17th, and as we know from a leaked document, the United States, which strongly favour an independent Kosovo have been pressuring (or strongly indicating their desire, whichever you preffer) Slovenia to be among the first countries to recognize an independent Kosovo. This has sparked a heated debate in Slovenia, which has as of late concentrated mostly on who is to blame on the leak rather than should Slovenia actually recognize Kosovo, slthough the latter is a much more important question.

While some prominent politicians (incluing Former President Milan Kučan) and some highly-respectable bloggers think otherwise, I’m covinced there are scores of reasons for immediate recognition of Kosovo. As odd as it may seem, Slovenia and Kosovo share a common link in recent history (apart for the fact that they’ve both been a part of Yugoslavia). Personally, I think that for a plethora of reasons it is Slovenia’s - shall we be dramatic - duty to recognise an independent Kosovo as soon as the province declares independence.

As all nations, Kosovars too have a right to self-determination and their drive for an independent Kosovo is far from recent. Still as a part of Yugoslavia, Kosovo demaded an “upgrade” from a status od an autonomous region withih Serbia to a full-fledged republic. This did not happen, although the cry “Kosovo Republjik!” was getting louder and louder. And while the Yugoslav constitution of 1974 did not recognize Kosovo as a state within Yugoslavia (the six republics were treated as sovereing states, a fact that helped Slovenia greatly in getting legal ground for independence in 1991), it gave the region all the attributes of a republic.

It had its own administration, judiciary, assembly, police, League of Communists, eductational system, media - and perhaps most importnatly: it has equal representation in all federal organs as the republics - including the eight-member Presidency, comprised of representatives of the six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia) and two autonomous regions (Vojvodina and Kosovo). The 1974 Yugoslav constitution gave republics and regions as much independence as they could get without actually breaking up Yugoslavia - and it definitely gave Kosovars about as much independence as they could get for the next 34 years.

As Yugoslavia began experiencing a deadly mix of severe economic troubles, a grid-locked political system, a power-hungry Yugoslav National Army which was about to perform a coup d’etat and a drive by Serbia’s leadership (predominantly Slobodan Milošević) to solve problems by redrawing borders in favour of Serbia, the country that was once a powerful player began to disintegrate into sun dust.

A part of disintegration were also constitutional changes of 1988 which almost completely reversed the constitution of 1974 and - althtough illegal - stripped Kosovo of its autonomy, transfering all decisions about the future of the region from Priština back to Belgrade. And this is where paths of Slovenia and Kosovo intersect for a brief moment in history.

In Kosovo, the stripping of autonomy and subsequent replacing of region’s Kosovar leadership prompted miners in the mining town of Stari Trg to declare a hunger-strike until the autonomy is restored. The strike ended without meeting miner’s demands (naturally), but not before a meeting was held in Slovenia by both the emerging opposition and the ruling communist party supporting the miners, which sent shockwaves throught Belgrade, because Slovenia and Kosovo were suddenly on the same wavelenght - a seemingly impossible event until then.

But the fate of Kosovo was sealed much before that. In 1987 as the region grew restless and Serbs, being a minority in the region, but an overwhelming majority in Greater Serbia (Serbia plus both regions) often clashed with Kosovars - mostly with words, but sometimes with fists. And on one such occasion, Slobodan Milošević, then still Serbia’s second-in-command was witness to such a fight as Serbs in Kosovo gathered en masse and the predominantly-Kosovar police, fearing a riot, started using batons. Milošević ran out to see what was going on and he used a phrase which transformed him from a colourless aparatchik to a nationalist leader.

“Niko ne sme da vas bije!” (noone is allowed to beat you), he said to the demonstrating Serbs, who were already throwing rocks as the police and the mob (correctly, as it turned out) understood that as a green light for a rampage. A rampage that went on until 1999 - the year that Milošević lost his fourth war in Yugoslavia, this time beaten by NATO forces. The phrase became the gist of Milošević’s political creed - that Serbs are somehow superior to all other Yugoslav nations and have the right to live in Great Serbia - a country which spans to wherever in Yugoslavia Serbs live.

Thus Milošević started the breakup of Yugoslavia in Kosovo and it is only right and fitting that the process come full circle and ends where it started twenty-one years ago. Slovenia declared independence only four years after that fateful phrase and the memory of every political power in the world (including the EU and the US) trying to block our way to independece one way or another is still very much alive.

Not so much out of solidarity or heeding to a US dictate, but out of the fact that Kosovo has similiar legal grounds for independence and that Serbia lost it by waging war against its people (just as it did in Slovenia), I think that Slovenia must recognize Kosovo as soon as it declares independence. I think it is only fair that Slovena uses the same arguments when deciding on this as it did when arguing its own case for independence seventeen years ago.

I recognize the fact that times change and that today Slovenia has a growing economic interest in Serbia and that the US is probably favouring independent Kosovo out of economic reasons (and that Russia is probably opposing it for precisely the same reasons) and that an independent Kosovo could be viewed by other independence movements across the world as a model for their cause, but it would be extremely unhealthy if the process of Yugoslav breakup is not completely finished. And that includes the fact that two of the most wanted war criminals, Radovan Karadžić and general Ratko Mladić, both responsible for Serbian atroccities in Bosnian war are still at large.

The EU (including Slovenian government) is in danger of short-circuting the process by giving Serbia a partnership agreement before the two are brought before the Hague tribunal. Should this happen, the Serbs will skate clean yet again, which will both undermine the seriousness of the Hague tribunal and the belief in human rights which the EU supposedly holds so dear. This would also send a disatrous message to other candidate states, especially Croatia and Turkey, possibly stopping the expansion completely and preventing the EU from becoming a global player also in geopolitical terms.

In short: Slovenia should recognize Kosovo as soon as the region declares independece and refrain from signign any treaty until Karadžić and Mladić are in the Hague - or at least until proof given that they will find themselves there in an extremely short period of time. This is vital both for completion of the conclusion of the Yugoslav breakup and the continuation of EU expansion.

*special mention (Serbian only): http://arhiva.mojblog.co.yu/p-niko-ne-sme-da-vas-bije/16777.html

It’s a mistake once sang Men At Work and it is quite possible that Janez Janša was whistling up that particular tune when he admited some weeks ago that it was a mistake to sell Mercator, the largest retail chain in Slovenia to Laško brewery and Istrabenz.

Bloodhounds

It has now become clear that in a meeting in late August 2005 Janez Janša agreed to sell Mercator to Istrabenz, headed by Janša’s wartime buddy and former best friend Igor Bavčar, to Laško Brewery, headed by Boško Šrot and to KD Group, headed by Matjaž Gantar, then a member of Janša’s Strategic Economic Council (SECO), concocting up flat-tax ideas.

The deal was that KD Group, Istrabenz and Laško would buy shares of Mercator owned by both state funds (KAD and SOD) - 25% if total number if shares at their current price. This of course meant that the government didn’t make any extra money out of if. Remember, we are talking about the biggest retail chain the country. The bidding price should be way above market price. But that was the government end of the deal. There were rewards for the three companies as well. Laško got a hold of the largest distributor of its products, Matjaž Gantar was (and still is) to buy a strong bank and Igor Bavčar sort of got the go ahead for MBO of Istrabenz. By buying Mercator, however, the three companies also got a substantial ownership of Delo newspaper, Janša’s ultimate goal of this chess game. Soon, KD Group sold its shares of Mercator to Laško. Istrabenz did it some time later and Laško announced a formal takeover of the paper. But - it named Janša’s people to the paper’s supervisory board and not members of Laško management as it would seem appropriate. Laško thus gave Delo to Janša. Or so it seemed

Fast forward a year and a half and Janša gets stabbed in the back by Andrijana Starina Kosem, his hench-woman in the world of economy. Soon after that Laško (being now the sole owner of Delo) replaces Janša’s Board members at Delo and replaces them with its own people, naming Andrijana Starina Kosem president of the supervisory board. In the mean time Zoran Janković got elected as mayor of Ljubljana and is fast becoming a politial force to be reckoned with. Matjaž Gantar didn’t get the bank that was promised to him and quit SECO and joined LDS’s team of economic experts and Igor Bavčar and Janša became foes at least for the time being as Istrabenz sold it’s Mercator shares, enabling Laško to control the company and by extention own Delo completely. Shortly before that, in an attempt at keeping his job, Danilo Slivnik, CEO of Delo (an ardent Janša supporter whose assuming the position was part of the deal) fired the criminally incompetent Editor-in-Chief Peter Jančič and replaced him with Janez Markeš, Editor-in-Chief of a centre-right magazine Mag (acquired by Delo some years ago via political pressure as well). But of course Slivnik did not keep his job and Delo as a whole embarked on a path much more critical to the government than before - one must note that after the August 2005 deal Delo was purged of its more popular journalists and became very pro-government. Politicaly, this thing culminated for the first time with the vote of confidence to Janša’s government, which the PM abused for a massive reckoning with the media.

But it did not end there… In the dwindling days of 2007 Boško Šrot (who turned out to be a member of Pahor’s Social Democrats but left the party soon after the disclosure) gave an interview to his Delo, where he blatantly attacked the Prime Minister of meddling with the media but claimed that it was Zoran Janković who wanted to deal with Janša in the first place and that he (Šrot) was defending himself anyway he could. Zoran Janković replied early in 2008 (Tuesday last) and said that Boško Šrot is a liar and that he (Janković) never offered to deal with Janša.

Personally, I think the whole thing was pretty well summarised by ervinator in this post when he summarised statements by Jaković, Šrot and Starina Kosem as all of them saying that everything in this story is true except their allegend mischiefs.

Which brings us to the following question: what was Janša thinking? In hindsight it becomes paintfully obvious that he wanted Delo so badly that was willing to do almost anything to get it. And since the state couldn’t actually buy the newspaper, he had others (Laško, Istrabenz and KD Group) buy it for him. But he (that is, the government) didn’t own it. And so as Laško saw that it could achieve other goals with Delo (say, for example, support the opposition and make it eternally grateful, or perhaps take care of Andrijana Starina Kosem who was instrumental in Laško becoming as powerful as it is), it flipped Janša the bird and left him gaping. So the answer to the question “what was Janša thinking” is obviously “not much”.

But then there is the business angle to it. While controlling Delo and Mercator is a political question to Janša (and - quite possibly - Borut Pahor), it is also a business question to Šrot, Bavčar, Janković, Gantar and Starina Kosem. Of the five Bavčar is on weakest footing as he is basically a politician, whereas the other four are business people more or less politically active. And so one can be almost positive that the current accusations and counter-accusations are a negotiating tactic aimed at achieving the best possible starting positions for the period when Janša’s rule will end. Business smells political blood and Janša is at the moment gushing at the veins.

At the moment a powerful part of Slovene economy and the Mayor of Ljubljana are holding the front against PM Janša, while Matjaž Gantar and Igor Bavčar are awfully quiet. The former because he is about to start his own bank (not being able to buy one) and the latter because he is kept in check by attempted takeover by state-owned Petrol oil company. This all comes handy to the opposition which doesn’t really want to come off as unpatriotic by attacking the government during EU presidency.

But if this enterprise is succesful (i.e.: Janša is voted out of office) Janković and Šrot will present a hefty bill, not easily swallowed by the new government.

President-elect Danilo Türk took the oath of office yesterday and will assume the powers of the President of the Republic of Slovenia later today. He will replace Janez Drnovšek, who will apparently totally retire from political life (and otherwhise) after being at the very top of the political pyramid for exactly two decades.

Source: Žurnal24

Political comentators this side of the newly-erased Schengen border tend to look at Drnovšek’s presidency as two separate movies. One pre-dating his spiritual renewal and one post-dating it.

For the uninitiated, a quick recap. After falling ill with cancer still while PM, Janez Drnovšek was always eyed with a bit of suspicion as far as his medical condition was involved. Since Slovenes are notoriouls secretive about personal matters (i.e.: personal whealth, healt, domestic abuse, extramarital affairs and the likes), it was sort of deemed inappropriate to ask the president about his healts. Even during his campaign the question was barely touched upon, as if the other side knew that a negative campaign would do more harm than good (a lesson which seems to have been lost on Türk’s opponents during this year’s presidential campaign). Anyways. Drle (as the outgoing Prez was known) was elected and he went below radar almost immediately. He attended only top-of-the-line state functions (in stark opposition with his predecesor, the legendary Milan Kučan, who -it seemed- attended every ceremony in 500 kilometre radius). He cut his workload to the point of Jožef Školč calling him lazy at one point. And Školč, mind you, does not have many expeditious qualities himself

And then -all of a sudden- the President starts mingling with the alternative crowd (shamans, medicine men, people like that). For example: he is the only foreign dignitary to have attended inauguration of Bolivian president Evo Morales at the altitude of almost 4000 metres (that’s 12000 feet) in the Andes and survive, where most people skipped the event because of a severe shortage of oxygen at that altitude. He also took interest in the Darfur crisis long before Goran Višnjić and his ER team discovered it on the map. His moves were rather erratic and he seemed to lose interest in a particular matter quicker than you could say “alternative medicine”. Except in Darfur, when he even hosted some sort of peace negotiations, but failed to get anywhere. But all of these are just episodes in a life of a somewhat eccentric president.

In my opinion the true political legacy of President Drnovšek is at least two-fold.

One: He was instrumental in completing the political transition of this country. With his political “exit-stage-left” we can put an end to a period of two decades of Slovenia making it big. Much like the country he ran (or helped run) in those 20 years, he too came out of the blue and immediately had everyone’s attention. Contraty to expectations, he was elected member of the Yugoslav federal presidency in what was possibly the first somewhat fair elections in Slovenia in 1988 - and he never left the stage again. He was there when Yugoslavia broke apart, when Slovenia declared indepencendence and when Slovenia negotiated peace with the federal army. But in 1992 he was elected prime minister as Lojze Peterle (remember him?) was given a vote of no confidence. Drnovšek and his Liberal Democrats set about doing some real social and economic transition. Ten years and three mandates as PM and one kidney later he was elected the president of the republic, as Milan Kučan’s second term ended. He left a remarkable record, with Slovenia being on the brink of becoming a member of EU and NATO, with an ever stronger economy and a growing reputation in the world (OK, there was the small mater of Dimitrij Rupel, but we’ll save than one for some other time). In short - he showed that it can be done. All it takes is a worthy goal,

Two: As president he showed that his office bears more than just a distanced dignity. When government of Janez Janša lost touch with reality, Drnovšek (at this poing already slightly etheral) took it upon himself to call spade a spade and tear Janša’s government to pieces where deserved. Among other things he called Jaša the Prince od darkness and accused him (rightly, I think) of dictatorial tendencies. And Drnovšek should know, as he had to remove Janša as defence minister in 1994 because of the Depala vas indicent (one of the two attempts at a coup d’etat in this country). But the move of his presidency came exactly a year ago when he came to try to help the Strojan family (the Romas who were ran out from the village of Ambrus by the majority population), when he told off the people of Ambrus and told them that - although they swore by all that’s holy - they are not true Catholics because they cause suffering of fellow men. While his mission was unsuccessful, it showed the pettyness, small-mindedness and xenophoby of Slovenes.

And that is what a true president should do. To tell the people of his country where they fall short and where they are trully great.

But most of all - regardless of what other people think - Janez Drnovšek loathed ruling. I’m not saying he didn’t like the power, but for almost every single day of the past two decades he gave the impression that he would rather be somewhere else. And that is about as much as you can as of any politican.

As for Danilo Türk: he may have a better hand at solving international crises but first he’ll have to solve several domestic ones