Category: Slovenia

While I obsess over Zoki’s dealings with the government, an entirely different plot is unfolding in national politics. You already know about SOVA spy scandal, but a couple of things have happened recently which put the events of the past few weeks in a totally different perspecitve:

1. Matjaž Gantar resigned as a member of Janša’s Strategic Econonimc COuncil (SECO).

Gantar’s had a change of heart

Matjaž Gantar is one of the winners of Slovene transtition from socialism to capitalism. An enterpreneur and self-made man, he created one of the first so called “management companies” to which people entrusted their privatisation vouchers. Not being the first to do so, he picked a target population of farmers and peasants who were notoriously uniformed about what to do with the vouchers. But to actually reach his target population (and gain credibility) he aligned himself with SLS (Slovene People’s Party) which at the time near-monopolised farmers’ vote.

Gantar was thus always perceived as a right-leaning busniessman, unlike his opposite numbers in other financial institutions who were mostly pro-LDS.

2. Matjaž Gantar aligns himself with LDS

Resigning from Janša’s counciliatory body is a bobmshell. Going straight into the oppostition camp is a stab in the back. Picking a defunct, paralysed and almost clinically dead political party to align with is either tantamount to suicide or an extremely clever investment, not unlike buying undervalued stock.

Fact of the matter is that Gantar is first and foremost a businessman and a political animal only by necesity. But as investment funds craze is slowly comming to an end, he and his KD Group are looking for new means of securing a constant influx of cash. And there is only one way to do it. Buy a bank.

Gantar has had his sights on many a Slovene banks for a couple of years now. The 2004 elections and Janša’s rise to power promised to be a good omen. His affiliation to the political right was a plus, Janša’s former spokesperson Alenka Paulin was head of KD Group’s PR departement (she was named acting director of Slovene Press Agency on Friday, BTW), Gantar himself was invited to sit on SECO, he even lent a hand (and money) in government takeover of Mercator and Delo and they all looked chummy together. Fast foward two years, and he still doesn’t own a bank, as the prime target, A Banka, was snached just under Janša’s nose in late 2005 (methinks), and as plans for selling the largest bank Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) to Belgian-owned KBC or anyone else were brought to a grinding halt by finance minister Andrej Bajuk.

So Gantar apparently asked around who would let him buy a bank. It seems only fitting that liberals would. Especially if it means access to a shitload of cash for a party which is struggling with a € 860.000 of bad debts.

3. Laško brewery sacked the Supervisory Board of Delo newspaper.

This was a complete surprise. Laško cooperated heavily with Janša’s government in taking over Delo newspaper. It started before Janša’s reign and while Tone Turnšek was still Laško’s CEO, but he soon retired to the company’s Supervisory Board and was succeeded by Boško Šrot, who is now largely believed to be behind Delo’s takeover.

Laško even allowed people affiliated with Janša’s party SDS to sit on the Supervisory Board, so the whole thing looked as if Laško bought Delo as a present for the new government. The new SB of course promptly installed Janša’s henchman Danilo Slivnik as paper’s CEO and he almost immediatelly went on a rampage, almost completely destroying what used to be quite a presentable paper.

But couple of days ago, as Laško completed its takeover (buying more than 94% percent of the stock), it immediatelly fired the entire SB, replacing it with its own people. That’s second knife in Janša’s back in just as many days.

4. Laško Tone Turnšek aligns himself with LDS

Turnšek is coming out of semi-retirement

OK, not a complete shocker, as Turnšek even ran on an LDS ballot in local elections, but nevertheless. He came out of retirement to align with a crippled party, which was instrumental in his creating the “soft-drinks” empire, but which he alienated (the party, I mean) in 2003 when he took over Ljubljana Union Brewery, contrary to the whishes of the LDS-ran government of Tone Rop (now a member of opposition Social Democrats).

Turnšek is also a member of “The Old Boys Network“, a informal and now largely defunct group of powerful CEOs who ruled Slovene economy until Janša came to power. This “network” was believed to be closely connected to former president Milan Kučan, Janša’s political arch-rival.

Smell a rat already? Not yet? Bear with me…

5. Little known Katarina Kresal is put forward as the new leader of LDS

From corporate lawyer to party leader

This (at least publicly) never-before-heard-of lawyer was named as a front-runner for president of LDS. Things became a little clearer as it emerged that she’s not just a partner in Miro Senica law firm, but also his real-life partner. Miro Senica is one of Slovenia’s stellar lawyers, earning a lot money and ink on well-publicised corporate and “transition” cases. He was always believed to be closely connected to powerful movers and shakers. I guess there’s no doubt about it now.

So… Those are the facts and their backgroud. And now for same brainwork…

PUTITNG TWO AND TWO TOGETGER

On one hand we now have a Liberal Democratic Party, purged of its social(ist) element (with some of its prominent members either joining the Social Democrats or forming an independent group Zares), which has suddenly arisen from the dead with a small but potentially deadly combinations of political veterans and ecnonomic heavyweights. Not only has this occured at what seems the height of Janša’s power, but it also seems to indicate that LDS has hit rock bottom and is bouncing back rapidly.

On the other hand you have the PM who failed to institute radical economic reforms, is now steeped in a spy scandal, and is desperate to pass at least one meaningful and long-term piece of legislation – the regional legislation – but will most likely fail at it, thus keeping the result of his reign at a total zero (not counting Slovenia presiding over EU in the first half of 2008, but we’ll call that a success as long as a catastrophe is averted).

The man needs a drink, for sure

Thirdly, we must not forget one of the few politicians who are actively pestering Janša right now (and I don’t mean The Prez). Ljubljana mayor and former (pre-Janša) CEO of Mercator Zoran Janković is also considered an economic heavywight and his political influence is considerable at the moment, especially if you take into account that a) he is close pals with former president Milan Kučan and b) Ljubljana’s voters are at the moment largely anti-Janša oriented .

Four: LDS is apparently calling in old favours and granting new ones. Turnšek and Senica have seen their heyday under the reign of LDS and the liberals in the party (the only ones to remain) have apparently reminded them of how to show their gratitude. At the same time Gantar was probably given firm assurances that he’ll be able to take over one of the larger banks, possibly A Banka.

And – last but not least – five: There is one person who at the moment remains at the political sidelines and is constantly denying any re-entry into political orbit. Former interior minister and a hero of independence war, former EU-affairs minister, a general political heayweight, once a close friend of PM Janez Janša and current CEO of Istrabenz Igor “The Bear” Bavčar.

“The Bear” just might be making a political comeback

So, try this on for size:

As Janša is losing his grip in economic and media areas, he’s desperate to cling on to power and is digging up dirt on everyone and everything, throwing mud in every direction, perhaps even trying to make an example of the ailing Prez. His tenure is more than halfway through (parliamentary elections are due in a year and a half) and his running out of time to create a politicaly legacy and clinch a (political) victory which will get him reelected – short of that, he aims to make everyone else look worse than him, starting with The Prez.

At the same time, LDS is drumming up some unlikely support, both from people who are dissapointed in Janša as well as from people who rode the gravy-train while LDS was in power. Installing a beautiful-but-inexperienced lawyer as a party leader only paves a way for Bavčar to take over party leadership sometime down the road. Suddenly, the party that was a political lepper nobody would touch with a ten-foot pole is threatening Janša’s rule by seizing his two most powerful weapons: radical economic reforms and control of one of the (still) most influential newspapers.

Should Borut Pahor of Social Democrats decide to run for President in autumn this year instead of waiting for parliamentary elections in 2008, and should he win (few people doubt that he would), a possible brawl for leadership of the political left would be averted, as Social Democrats, Liberal Democrats and both of their renegade fractions (group Zares and people around Zoran Janković, formerly known as “The Faction”) would unite under a common banner, with one goal only – to remove Janez Janša and his SDS from power. There would probably be no nominal leader of this coalition, as the true mastermind would probably remain in the shadows.

There are only two people on the political left who can mastermind such a scenario: Former LDS secretary general Gregor Golobič or former President Milan Kučan.

The way things stand now, my bet is on Kučan.

Seems like Kučan’s pulling strings again

So, the question is, does Janša know (it seems he does) and what’s he doing about it?

P.S.: Some people would call this post “speculation”. I’d call it “political analysis”. I could be wrong, of course, but the truth is that the future of this scenario depends mostly on Janša. If he finds a way to neutralise it, then it may all be back to square one…

As promised, a special post on May 25th, the fake birthday of The Old Man

YOUTH DAY

May 25th held a special place in Yugoslav mythology. It was a mass celebration of Tito’s birthday, which culminated with a Relay of youth being handed over to Tito (or the current president of the Presidency after Tito’s death). It started more than a month earlier, usually on top of Mt. Triglav, Slovenia’s and Yugoslavia’s highest peak. The relay would then travel all around Yugoslavia, clocking in thousands of kilometres, before making it to Belgrade on May 25th.

The final leg was also known as “slet” (a come-together, if you will), which aimed to show how the Yugoslav youth adored Tito. This included but was not limited to mass-excercise (now you know where Kim Jong Ill got his idea :))

“Slet” in Belgrade, probably in mid 70s

At first the event was named Tito’s relay, but the Old Man asked for it to be renamed the Youth relay. It is still a matter of some debate whether he really meant it, or was advised to do it (for he was quite a vane person) as not breed too much of a personality cult. If the latter is the case, it was of course too little, too late 🙂

ENJOYING LIFE

Tito enjoyed the company of famous people and he was also a womanizer. It appears that his last wife (out of suspected five) Jovanka Broz was highly jealous of her husband even as he grew old (she was 34 years his junior), and given the picture below, she was quite possibly correct 😉

Check out the guy’s right hand…. He’s nursing a nurse 😉

According to an anecdote, the Old Man was in the hospital, just after they amputated his leg due to medical complications, when a nurse (I think that it was the same one as in the picture) told him that he would have to change his pajamas. Apparently Tito replied by saying: “Young lady, I hope I won’t have any obligations to you after this!”… And he was eighty-eight years old!

WHY MAY 25TH?

On that day in 1944 the raid on Drvar took place… Again, the event is steeped in mythology, but the official line is that the Germans got the date wrong and thought that Tito was celebrating his birthday, surrounded by a token Partisan force which would be easy to defeat.

The truth is that there was only a small force present at the village of Drvar, but Tito was not celebrating and he escaped, together with most of his forces. Those which remained, fought bravely to ensure a safe escape of Tito’s HQ.

The raid on Drvar is considered one of the greater miracles of Partisan forces, much like the evacuation of the British forces at Dunquerkue in 1940.

THE END OF THE RELAY

As Tito died and Yugoslavia was increasingly becoming a parody of itself, the concept of Relay of Youth was getting really old really fast. And again, it was (perhaps unintentionally) up to Slovenes to call spade a spade. in 1987 an art group Novi kolektivizem, made a poster for the event, based on an old Nazi poster. The message was of course clear, although the artists later claimed ignorance (which probably saved them a lot of grief)

The Yugoslav remake and the Nazi original

Naturally, all hell broke loose and the government came down really hard, probably because it approved the poster in the first place, thus proving the designers’ point. It was up to a guy from Serbia who recognized the original image an alterted his local Party cell.

The relay was canceled that year and never again ressurected in its original form.

Webs-si.net – a supposed front for SOVA

I feel like I’m a sidekick in a Tom Clancy novel… The PM has “announced shocking news” claiming that…

…wait for it…

SOVA intelligence agency established and financed a company with its black-ops fund!!!!.

And I went like… Huh?…

A company, yes… Usually, in spy-speak, such a company is called “a front” and is used “to provide a plausible background story, occupation, and means of income” according to this Wiki entry.

It is only natural for a spy agency to have a front company (often more than one), is it not? But no, the unsuspecting public is again being fed half-baked information, aimed at tarnishing the reputation of everyone in Janša’s sights, most notably (still) the Prez, with the latest discovery being painted as just slightly better than Judas’ betrayal.

If this company really is a SOVA front (which is by no means an established fact, by the way), then I must admit that someone has a sense of humour, as the company’s core business is webhosting and domain registering 🙂 Why get a court order to spy on someone’s server, when you can have your own server and attract dubious web-pages with dumping prices? 😈

BTW: For those of you who can read both Slovene and English: Please compare the Slovene version of PM’s site with the English one. You’ll notice that the latter completely fails to mention the SOVA brouhaha.

Forgery or the real thing?

By now you are probably already tired from the brouhaha about the supposed use of SOVA’s black-ops fund to pay for a plane ticket for an Indian quack who supposedly came to cure The Prez.

The former director of SOVA Iztok Podbregar (who – curiously enough – is now the national security advisor to the Prez) claims that the signature on the above document, releasing the funds necesary, is not his. Furthermore, he claims that the document is a forgery, a combination of at least three different documents.

While I admit that it is somewhat convenient for Podbregar to become Drnovšek’s national security advisor two years after Janša came to power, there are some other “conveniencies” present that must not be overlooked:

The one thing that bothers me the most is the fact that for the past 20 years, every time a spy scandal broke out in this part of the world, Janša was there to cry “wolf!”. Namely: the JBTZ trial was basically about a secret and possibly unconstitutional military order somehow making it into Janša’s hands in 1988. Janša was promptly arrested by Yugoslav secret service and shot to Slovene political stardom.

The infamous Depala vas scandal in 1994 (and the attempted coup d’etat) centred around a set of forged secret and possibly unconstitutional military orders. Janez Janša – at the time defence minister – controled military intelligence service (VOMO) which was locked into an interagency fight with civilian secret service VIS (SOVA’s predecessor).

And now, Janez Janša, the prime minister is exposing disputed documents, implying that black-ops fund was misused by the Prez and his office. Feels like a rerun of a bad movie.

On the other hand – even if it did happen: SO FUCKING WHAT?!?! Black-ops is used for all sorts of amoral and unethical shit, such as bribing foregin nationals into spying for Slovenia, getting foreing diplomats laid with hookers and then shaking them down for information, planting undercover agents into terrorist cells, drug-and-arm-dealing rings and stuff like that.

So if they did blow 1000 euros on getting an Indian quack here to hug trees together with the Prez in an attempt to make Drle a bit healthier – what of it? It’s kind of hard to imagine the government allocationg (say) 10.000 euros in the budget for “trying out far-fetched and idiotic, but just possibly succesful ways to cure the Commander-in-Chief”.

The paranoic in me is asking: so just what is Janša hiding if he’s so keen on turning everyone’s attention on a meesly thousand euros….

Only in Slovenia…

A sleepy Wednesday afternoon and the fact that I unintentionally avoided going to Portorož percipetated a meeting with Culc for a beer and as I turn to my left, I’m shocked with realisation that our Commander in Chief is quietly smiling and talking to Miha Kozinc, an attorney and his former minister of justice.

They met at a bar in the passage of Maximarket store, halfway between the presidential offices and the parliament. No bodyguards, no secretaries, nothing. Just Mr. Kozinc and The Prez. I didn’t hear what they were talking about as I was too busy fumbling my N80, trying to covertly take a photo, but I can only imagine that they were talking the all over the latest brouhaha surrounding the document leaks from Slovenian Intelligence and Securiy Agency (SOVA), whicj claimed that the President’s office made the Agency use its black-ops fund to buy and airline ticket to an Indian ayurvedic doctor who examined the ailing Drnovšek. President’s chief of staff immediately filed charges and perhaps the Prez is contemplating the same move.

But maybe not… If asked about it, I’m sure he would have said something like “can’t a guy even meet with a friend anymore?” and then put on his secretive smile.

I thought it was rather cool of him, sitting in a bar, breaking bread and what have you. As they left he stopped by the next table, patted a dog and chatted with the owner.

Only in Slovenia, ladies and gentlemen… Only in Slovenia

Liberation of Ljubljana – possibly near the University building (source)

Today is VE Day… The day that Second World War officially ended throughout Europe. On May 9th 1945 Germany surrendered to the Soviet Union, heeding to the demand first stated by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in Casablanca in 1943 that Axis Powers will be fought by the Allies until the former will surrender unconditionally.

SLOVENIA

“Machen sie mir dieses Land wieder Deutsch!” – Hitler in Maribor(source via Michael M.)

While the question of unconditional surrender was a much debated issue in the West, it was never an issue in Slovenia and Yugoslavia as a whole. In this part of the world it wasn’t about winning the war, it was about surviving. And the only way to insure survival was total victory. I’ve already quoted Hitler who in Maribor (“Marburg am Drau”, as it was known then) ordered his people to “make this lang German again”, but that is only part of the story.

Slovenia is – appart from Russia – the only country or territory in Europe that was liberated entirely by its own military. The Partisan Units of Slovenia, which stemmed from the Liberation Front. Not only did the Partisans liberate Slovenia as it existed from 1918, but they captured and laid claim to what is known as “Slovene national territory” – territories where Slovene minorities live. This included entire Primorska region including Trieste and Veneziana (Beneška) region in Italy and southern parts of Austrian Kärtnen (Koroška) and Steyermark (Štajerska) regions.

Top military commanders of Slovene Partisan Army. The legendary Franc Rozman – Stane in the centre

These were the outer limitis of Slovene Partisan reach, and – in hindsight – thinking that fledling Communist Yugoslavia (altough on the winning side of the war) would keep its conquests bordered on outer limits of science fiction. But the fact remains that Slovenia expanded heavily as a result of winning the war (after WWI Slovene-Italian border was at Postojna) and has since included what are now known as Primorska region – almost a quarter of today’s Slovene terrirory.

LJUBLJANA

In an ironic (or iconic) twist of history the city of Ljubljana was liberated early in the morning of May 9th, 1945. Make no mistake, this had little to do with guns falling silent all across Europe. It was a result of relentless pressure of Slovene Partisan Army to take the city, and after fighting a decisive battle at Orle hills just outside Ljubljana and taking out artiliery battery on Castle hill, elements of 7th Corps and 29th Division marched into Ljubljana exactly on Wednesday, May 9th at 5 AM – the precise time this post was posted.

The border check-point between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in Šentvid just outside Ljubljana (source)

Ljubljana was occupied on April 11th 1941, shortly after German forces attacked Yugoslavia on April 6th 1941. An agreement between Germany, Italy and Hungary specified that the latter occupy Prekmurje, Germany everything East of line Ljubljana-Jesenice, wheras Italy got everything else, including the city of Ljubljana.

A bunker and barbed wire in Šiška, Ljubljana (source)

The city itself almos immediately became the centre of a resistance movement which soon became much more than just a pain in the ass. So much so, in fact, that Italians decided to errect a barbed wire fence all around the city – it streched for 35 kilometres and was built in mere two days by means of forced labour (a man who was forced to take part in building it noted, that it is very easy to build something like that in just two days when one works at a gun-point).

RADIO KRIČAČ
[audio:radio_kricac.mp3]
The “jingle” of Radio Kričač (courtesy of El Presidente™)

The above jingle starts with a ticking clock, which symbolises that “our time is at hand”. It is then followed by an announcer’s voice saying “Slovenes! Listen, Slovenes! This is the Liberation Front! This is the Liberation Front”. Then it is followed by first stanza of then Slovene anthem “Forward, the Flag of Glory” and again the announcer’s voice saying “This is the Liberation Front! This is the Liberation Front! We are broadcasting on a short wave transimtter…”

One of the means of supporting the resistance was Radio Kričač (perhaps best translated as Radio Shoutbox), which was an illegal radio station of the Liberation Front. It started broadcasting on November 17th 1941 from a secret location in Ljubljana and has done so until April 5th 1942, when Italian forces, unable to find the ever changing location of Kričač’s portable transmitter, confiscated every single radio receiver in Ljubljana, thus forcing Kričač to termiate operations until April 1944, when the official Radio of Liberation Front was set up.

Until May 9th, the only allowed radio station in Ljubljana was Italian/German Occupation Radio, which was by the end of the war full of members of resistance, who until liberation used their positions to forward any information that might be useful to Partisans, but on May 9th the radio announced “This is Radio Free Ljubljana!”

FREEDOM

Fighting in Slovenia did not stop on May 9th… Hostilities continued until May 14th, as the German troops from the Balkans, their Slovene and Croatian colaborators and a number of civilians (mostly anti-communist) were desperately trying to evacuate Slovenia and enter a British contolled zone of Austria, just north of Slovene-Austrian border. The last battle of the World War II was fought in Slovenia at Poljana in Koroška region.

A partisan is tortured to death by SS-troops near Idrija in June 1944 (source)

Looking back it seems more than a miracle that this nation survived the occupation, the torture, the in-fightings. Slovenes were meant to be extinct and a number of Slovenes collaborated with occupators who had evisaged such future for the small nation. Had World War II not finished the way it did, Slovenia would probably not exist today. But Slovenes have proven one thing in 1945 (and again in 1991). Don’t fuck with us!

Our fathers and grandfathers fought this world war, so we don’t have to fight another one…

…although I somehow don’t think that will be the case….