World Affairs | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

One Queen To Rule Them All

At first glance, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II does not seem especially pertinent to the politics of Muddy Hollows. In fact, other than a couple of boilerplate expressions of condolences by the nation’s highest elected officials and a botched (and then deleted) tweet by the Glorious Leader, the death of the worlds longest-serving monarch in, like, ever, was primarily a media fascination.

Queen Elizabeth II during her tour of Slovenian capital Ljubljana (photo by pengovsky) — *Queen Elizabeth during her tour of Ljubljana (source: The Firm(tm))*

That is not to say, however, the late queen and Slovenia never crossed paths. Fourteen years ago, Her Majesty popped over for a three-day state visit. The occasion was correctly seen as a major diplomatic success for a country that had joined the EU and NATO only four years earlier.

Tanja Fajon Tested On Ukraine

Two weeks into her term in office, Tanja Fajon is faced with an important test of her foreign policy chops. And not in a way she was (probably) hoping for. An open letter advocating a new, purportedly more sensible approach on Ukraine made its way into the media. The letter was signed by eighteen people of varying importance. Most of them are (or were) academics, some of them are regular TV pundits, still others are political has-beens, looking to reclaim some of the old fame.

Foreign minister Tanja Fajon speaking on the phone. — *Foreign minister Tanja Fajon doing her level best to imitate Ursula von der Leyen (source)*

In all honesty, the text would have probably gone the way of various other letters and petitions that float around in Muddy Hollows at any given time, were it not for the fact that former presidents Milan Kučan and Danilo Türk attached their signatures. Which seemed to kind of complicate things. At least for Tanja Fajon and PM Robert Golob.

Cosplay In Kyiv

There is no denying that the Trip of the Three PMs to Kyiv got a shitload of international attention and was billed as some sort of a diplomatic and geopolitical feat. For a fleeting moment, Janez Janša, Petr Fiala and Mateusz Morawiecki (together with his boss Jarosław Kaczyński) caught the attention of the world.

The front page of Luxemburger Wort for 16 March 2022. Pictured are Janša, Fila, Marowietzki and Kaczynski on their way to Kyiv. — *The front page of Luxemburger Wort for 16 March 2022*

Virtually every outlet out there, from the New York Times to Deutsche Welle to South China Morning Post ran the same basic story: thee PMs plus the real ruler of Poland met the Ukrainian with balls of steel, and said words. Incidentally, this is probably the first and the last time Marshal Twito made the front page of the Luxemburger Wort.

The Siege Of RTVSLO

It may, of course, be pure coincidence, but fact of the matter is that only days into Russian aggression against Ukraine, the government of Slovenian PM Janez Janša began a siege and ultimately an assault on RTV Slovenija (RTVSLO), the country’s public broadcaster.

The building of TV arm of RTV Slovenija (RTVSLO), the nation's public broadcaster. — *RTVSLO headquarters (source)*

Normally, putting the war in Ukraine and the shit Janša is getting away with side by side would be gratuitous at best. But it is not only that there is a temporal overlap between the two. The Glorious Leader is directly using RTVSLO coverage of war in Ukraine to instigate the latest and most brutal round of undermining and destruction of the public outlet.

Ukraine War Forces Slovenian Politics To Think Foreign Policy Thoughts

In all honesty, it is a bit self-serving to try and look at Russian war against Ukraine through the lens of Muddy Hollows and its political cesspool. But seeing as this is an utterly self-serving blog, pengovsky will go right ahead. PM Janša, on the other hand, will stay put, as the Russian aggression preempted his photo-op in Kyiv planned for today.

Flags if Ukraine in the government district in Ljubljana. — *Ukrainian flags in the government district in Ljubljana (source)*

This, incidentally, should make the Glorious Leader available for a court-date in a defamation case against him. But he’ll probably claim an emergency NatSec Council meeting or something like that. And for once, he may not be lying through his teeth to get out of a court date.