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The State of Muddy Hollows Play, part 4: Springtime For Green Parties?

Following yesterday’s Taiwanese Twattery by PM Janša, pengovsky now returns to regular programming. This time, we will discuss green parties, among other things. But just to recap. In Part One we covered the Glorious Leader and what is left of his coalition (mostly NSi). In Part Two we introduced the new messiah Robert Golob and outlined the fraught relation opposition KUL parties have with him (and among themselves).

Urša Zgojznik and Uroš Macerl, leaders of Vesna, one of many green parties competing in this year's election in Slovenia. — *Urša Zgojznik and Uroš Macerl of Vesna party (source)*

We finished Part Three stating Konkretno (rebranded SMC) and other political rejects will need a goddamn miracle to make it into the next parliament. Future ex politicians in close orbit around Zdravko Počivalšek will probably only see the inside of the National Assembly if they join a guided tour. But sometimes miracles do happen.

Janez Janša And The China Clusterfuck

Every time pengovsky does a series of posts on the state of things in Slovenia, shit happens to interrupt the regular programming. And this time, boy did the excrement hit the oscillator. The story of course is PM Janša’s recent interview for an Indian state TV. The whole things a sight to see, but money-quotes include the Glorious Leader lambasting China for its handling of the epidemic and standing up for Lithuania after the EU member opened a trade office in Taiwan.

PM Janša in a TV interview, talking about China and Taiwan, among other things.

So far so good. The part about the pandemic is a bit impolitic, but OK. He went on to say that Slovenia will follow Lithuania and open its own office in Taipei. Which… um… Right? But then he said “he’d support the sovereign decision of the Taiwanese people to decide for themselves how they want to live”. Not surprisingly, the Chinese foreign office blew its stack. Thus Glorious Leader landed Muddy Hollows in another diplomatic dumpster fire.

The State of Muddy Hollows Play, part 3: Igor Zorčič’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Welcome to Part Three of taking the lay of the political land in Slovenia. If this is your first contact with the series, check out parts One and Two. Today pengovsky takes both readers into the myriad of smaller parties and coalitions in Muddy Hollows. Not all of them, mind you. Because even in the world of parties-as-a-hobby, some are more equal that the others.

Igor Zorčič founded LIDE, the youngest political party in Muddy Hollows. — *Igor Zorčič at LIDE founding congress (source)*

Granted, Speaker Igor Zorčič is by no means the only one inhabiting this particular niche parties. But he earns top billing by the virtue of the office he holds. Also, by the fact that his party ties directly into the story of Robert Golob.

The State of Muddy Hollows Play, part 2: Who The Fuck Is Robert Golob?

In Part Two of pengovsky playing catch-up (click here for Part 1), it is finally time to introduce Robert Golob. To outside observers, his name popped up suddenly in a series of opinion polls, scoring a cool fifteen-to-twenty percent from the get-go. And many people went “the fuck is going on in Muddy Hollows?”

Robert Golob, now former CEO of Gen-I, who upended political scene in Muddy Hollows. — Robert Golob (source)

In a nutshell, it is a function of a lot of people wanting someone, anyone, to sort out this fucking mess. Call it a reverse messiah complex. That is not to say that Robert Golob does not have his own agency and ambitions. Which he clearly does. But right now, he still lacks pretty much everything else. But the turntables….

The State of Muddy Hollows Play, part 1: Party Like It’s 1939

It has been… checks notes… more than a month since pengovsky posted anything on the state of play in Muddy Hollows. There were things to see and people to do and whatnot, but still apologies are in order. So, yeah..

Slovenian PM Janez Janša during a meeting of the coalition that kind of runs the show in Muddy Hollows — *The Glorious Leader at a coalition pow-wow (source)*

But shit did not stop going down in Slovenia and both readers were pleading, nay, screaming for an update. Which turned into an update series. Because who wants to read a five-thousad-words blogpost? Anyway, it so happens that said updates include pigeons, turncoats and rebrandings. They will also introduce a shitload of new parties, suspicious public opinion polls and overt hints to a Trump playbook. Oh, and a letter from the Glorious Leader.

In An About-Face, PM Janša Continues EPPO Shitshow

No sooner than pengovsky thought the madness had abated somewhat, the Janša government went full retard once again. Mere days after it had briefly reconnected with reality and acknowledged the two Slovenian delegated EPPO prosecutors, the administration came up with a draft law that would effectively revoke the nomination and put the government in charge of the process.

PM Janša had justice minister Marjan Dikaučič rubberstamp EPPO volte-face

The main takeaway here is, of course, that Janša government is aiming to extinguish prosecutorial independence. The rule of law is for liberal pussies, and all that. But what is really galling is the brazen manner in which the regime of the Glorious Leader floated the idea. Namely, this head-on attack against the rule of law came less than 48 hours after justice minister Marjan Dikaučič survived a no-confidence vote.

Borut Pahor And Election Deflection

Some ten days ago, president Pahor announced his intention to schedule parliamentary election in Muddy Hollows for Sunday, 24 April 2022. Ordinarily, this would have been huge fucking news. And it was. For about fifteen minutes.

Ballot box used in Slovenian elections. — *The ballot box. The image is not yet purely symbolic.*

Careful observers, however, noted almost immediately that the language Pahor used was, well, Pahoresque. That, in fact, the announcement was not really an announcement. Rather, it was an announcement of an announcement of an intention. That is was, en bref, a load of bullshit with the sole aim of deflecting heat off the back of PM Janez Janša.