Marjan Šarec | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

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.

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….

Jože P. Damijan And The Quest For Content

Seemingly out of the blue, things got very frosty between Jože P. Damijan, the erstwhile centrepiece of the KUL coalition, and the liberal part of the opposition alliance. The one-time would-be PM went on national telly Monday night and en passant lambasted SAB and LMŠ parties as being devoid of content and without growth potential.

Jože P. Damijan explaining his plan for platform on Studio City programme. Pictured is also host Marcel Štefančič, jr. — *Jože P. Damijan appearing in Studio City programme (source)*

JPD then added he is now working on social-liberal platform that apparently will not become a new social-liberal party and yet at the same time maintained that a new party in that part of the spectrum is needed. Needless to say LMŠ and SAB went ballistic.

The Bane Coalition

It seems ancient history in the light of the covid clusterfuck, but it has been less than a week since Muddy Hollows has had a new government sworn in.

And while it seems impossible now, the former PM Marjan Šarec and his successor Janez Janša were actually on the same page for about five minutes, projecting a sliver of a possibility for a cross-party consensus on how to deal with the shituation.

Government Change During An Epidemic

As the coronavirus shit is hitting the fan and the number of cases probably going into triple digits in the next couple of days, Muddy Hollows is gearing for a government change.

*Janša and Šarec sharing the stage (source)*

After SDS leader Janez Janša was sworn in as PM on Tuesday last week, he put forward his list of cabinet nominees. The vote on the entire cabinet will be held tonight and – given the situation – the whole process is expected to move swiftly.

Janez Janša 3 (With A Vengeance)

President Borut Pahor officially nominated SDS leader Janez Janša as PM candidate yesterday, after the latter secured the support of NSi, DeSUS and vast majority of SMC, thus claiming a majority in the 90-seat parliament. Pengovsky fully expected the efforts to form an alternative coalition to fail with the clock running out on them, but not for the want of trying. It was just that the path to forming a stable coalition had been so narrow both mathematically and politically, that it just didn’t seem worth it.

However, it turned out that there was enough incentive on all sides to turn enough blind eyes to just about every paradox plaguing this particular political gangbang that a deal was struck just as the first (and crucial) constitutional deadline was about to expire, following the surprise resignation of PM Marjan Šarec.

If You Don’t Like The Way The Table Is Set, Turn Over The Table

To say that today’s resignation of prime minister Marjan Šarec and his call to early election took everyone by surprise would be a gross understatement. It is, in fact, more akin to yelling “fire!” in a crowded theatre, lobbing a canister of mace in the crowd and letting an alligator loose.

*PM Šarec during his resignation address (source)*

Šarec clearly demonstrated that he gives a grand total of zero fucks about how all of this plays out. Such lack of political self-preservation instinct is a rarity in Muddy Hollows nowadays. That said, however, one must consider the immortal words of Francis Underwood: If you don’t like the way the table is set, turn over the table.