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•   Slovenia could soon offer to resettle cleared captives
•   Amitiés franco-slovènes à Saint-Joseph - Sud - Ouest
•   Je Pahor mrtev ali le mrtvouden? - Finance
•   Slovenia: banks not lending a hand - Financial Times
•   Slovenia struggling to get economy back on its feet - Yahoo News
•   Korruptionsskandal bedroht Kroatiens EU-Beitritt
•   EU-Beitrittsländer
•   Auf dem Balkan ist Bestechung Teil des Alltags
•   Danilo Türk, President of Slovenia - His criticism against Janez Janša
•   Referendum in Slovenia: New Law for Radio-TV rejected
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•   Clearing up Slovenia's muck
•   Slovenia May Need Budget Review on Greek Aid Payment (Update1) - St. Francisco Chronicle

Thousands of Slovenians protest

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South Stream Pipeline

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Slovenia - Croatia border dispute

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•   Does The European Union Want Croatia At All? - Javno
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•   Slovenian Škrinjaric Now Dictates Referendum - Javno
•   Slovenes Have No Idea Who Is Leading Them -  Javno
•   Slovenia falls out of NATO's favour - Nacional

Criminal Underworld

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Elections in Slovenia

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The Patria Deal

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Articles on Slovenia's largest bank, the Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB)

•   KBC starts tender process for sale of its 34 pct stake in Slovenia's NLB - CNBC
•   A Coup de Grace? (An Ultimatum for Slovenia?)
•   Slovenia Blocks Asset Sale as Communist Past Shadows EU Present - Bloomberg News
•   Slovenia's communist past shadows its capitalist present - Herald Tribune
•   A non-correct statement under the prestigeous name of the World Bank
•   Offensive comments about Slovenia

The Harrah's and HIT

•   Harrah's, Slovenian group Hit suspend talks on park: Hit
•   It comes from the Harrah's (Las Vegas)
•   Several Parties Hold Talks with US Gaming Company Exec

•   The list of regular Masonic lodges
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•   Latest thrilling news from Slovenia!
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People's Daily
February 15, 2011

Slovenia holds no Guantanamo prisoners: justice minister

Slovenian Justice Minister Ales Zalar denied on Monday the allegation that his country has accepted prisoners from the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba. "Slovenia holds no prisoner accused of terror and no prisoner that is member of al-Qaida," the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) quoted Zalar as saying. The only prisoner in Slovenia who could be considered a terrorist was Josip Zagajski, the man who plotted to assassinate Prime Minister Borut Pahor in July 2009, Zalar added.

The minister made the remarks after opposition National Party leader Zmago Jelincic quoted "a very reliable" but unidentified source as saying that two Guantanamo prisoners have been kept at the Dob prison near Mirna for quite a while. Mirna is about 66 kilometers west of the national capital Ljubljana.

Prior to Jelincic's statement, Wikileaks released a U.S. diplomatic cable suggesting that Pahor had offered to accept a Guantanamo prisoner in exchange for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama. Pahor, who categorically denied trading over Slovenia's acceptance of Guantanamo detainees, had talks with Obama when he visited Washington last week.

The Obama administration has been trying to close the internationally condemned Guantanamo Bay prison and to transfer some of its inmates suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks to countries that are willing to take them. The Guantanamo Bay prison was opened at the U.S. naval base in Cuba after the 9/11 attacks.

Source: Xinhua
***
  
Miami Herald

Slovenia could soon offer to resettle cleared captives

Friday, 02.25.11

Vice President Joe Biden meets with Slovenia's Prime Minister Borut Pahor on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington.

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) -- Slovenia’s government has proposed a legal change that would allow the country to accept detainees from the U.S. military’s prison camps at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The change to Slovenia’s Foreigners Act, approved Thursday, would allow five-year residence permits for foreigners whose stay is considered in the national interest. But the amendments need the approval of parliament, where the government faces strong opposition.

Prime Minister Borut Pahor was criticized after a WikiLeaks cable suggested he had sought a meeting with President Barack Obama in return for accepting a Guantánamo detainee.

Pahor says accepting such detainees is a “humanitarian issue” that would boost Slovenia’s position on the world stage but that he will only do that if the public supports him.

The move comes at a time when Congress has imposed harsh new reporting requirements and restrictions on Obama administration efforts to resettle, repatriate and try in other courts besides military commissions some of the 172 captives currently incarcerated at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

  
Sud
Ouest
Amitiés franco-slovènes à Saint-Joseph
Le collège poursuit ses échanges européens.

Les collégiens de Saint-Joseph ont accueilli cette semaine leurs correspondants slovènes. photo t. c.-j.
        
Depuis des décennies, les élèves des « Vieux murs » entretiennent des relations privilégiées avec leurs homologues de différents pays européens. Un programme ouvert sur le monde donc pour chaque promotion, qui se poursuit cette année avec la classe de 4e - section européenne anglais - pour mettre l'accent sur une pratique plus active de la langue, mais aussi pour partir à la rencontre d'autres cultures.

Dans ce but, Saint-Joseph a choisi d'établir des contacts concrets avec un collège situé dans le Karst, en Slovénie, près de la frontière italienne.

Des contacts noués, tout d'abord, par courriels et webcam. Les 28 jeunes Slovènes sont venus cette semaine rencontrer leurs correspondants sarladais.

Pendant quatre jours, ils ont découvert quelques trésors du patrimoine local : le château de Castelnaud, la filature de Belvès, le musée national de Préhistoire des Eyzies et la grotte de Font-de-Gaume. Les adieux n'étaient qu'un au revoir puisque les collégiens sarladais et leurs visiteurs se retrouveront dès le 1er mars, cette fois-ci à Komen en Slovénie.
  
Lublana, 23. februarja 2011
Je Pahor mrtev ali le mrtvouden?

Simona Toplak
Ne moreš ljudem svetovati, naj jedo potico, ce nimajo za kruh. Mislim, lahko, ampak potem si mrtev

Vceraj je podjetnica Alenka Žnidaršic Kranjc povedala, da se pokojninske reforme ne da narediti, dokler ni zaupanja v premiera. Na žalost se nobene politicne reforme, pa je ta država spet napovedala nove, ne da narediti, dokler ni zaupanja v politiko, premiera, državo. Mislim, tudi brez zaupanja se da reformirati, recimo v Severni Koreji. Drugje gre brez zaupanja teže in so vsi razpenjeni. In zaupanje v politiko, to vlado, v državo, je v Sloveniji na psu. Zato tudi ce bi bile reforme pametne, dovolj moderne, ucinkovite, celovite, in ne polovicarske, bi bile obsojene na propad.

Slovenske reforme imajo splošne napake. Prvic, pisci absolutno menijo, da so razmere boljše, kot so v resnici. To je bolezen, ki se drugace zdravi, tukaj pa se z njo služi. Slovenski reformisti so preveliki optimisti. Kar je nevarno zaslepljujoce. Njihovo izhodišce ni, da je vse zanic. Njihovo izhodišce niti ni, to je slabo, popravimo. Njihovo izhodišce je, dajmo nekaj zmašiti, pa bo spet vse dobro. To nikakor ni slabost le te vlade, to je kronicna bolezen Slovenije. Pokojninska luknja - dajmo jo zmašiti s pokojninskimi boni. Zdravstvena luknja pred leti - dajmo jo zmašiti z locenim dopolnilnim zdravstvenim zavarovanjem. In zdaj spet potrebujemo reformo.

Drugic, reforme so zelo podobne postopkom na sodišcu. Nekdo dobi, nekdo izgubi. Nekaj vzameš, da daš drugemu. Naceloma bi morali biti po reformi eni zmagovalci in drugi poraženci. In reforma je dobra ali pa družbeno sprejemljiva (joj, kakšen socialisticen pojem), ko je vec zmagovalcev kot poražencev. Pri nas pa se po reformah vsi pocutijo slabo, razen tistih, ki so s svetovanjem zaslužili pri reformi. Tudi na slovenskih sodišcih zmagovalec ni vedno srecen, temvec sta veckrat tako zmagovalec kot poraženec na koncu jezna, edini zadovoljen sam s sabo in svojim delom pa je sodnik. Z reformami so zadovoljni samo ministri. Recimo reforma javnega sektorja - absolutno bi morali biti po njej srecni ucinkoviti uslužbenci in nesrecni manj ucinkoviti, pri nas pa so vsi razpenjeni. Še najbolj razpenjeni pa so davkoplacevalci, ki financirajo uslužbence in reforme.

Tretjic, reforme so izrazito parcialne, ne gledajo sistema, ne gledajo celote. Recimo, davcne reforme niso bile nic usmerjene v stroške države, temvec v prihodke države. Nic niso bile usmerjene v to, kako ljudi in podjetja narediti bogatejše, temvec kako jih cim bolj olupiti. In to ne olupiti bogatih ljudi, bogatih v svetovnem merilu, temvec reveže. Ker je Slovenija v nacionalnem interesu in z reformami pac delala reveže namesto konkurencnih bogatih Evropejcev.

In naprej, država je olupila samo tiste, ki niso mogli in ne morejo skrivati prihodkov, drugi so šli pac v davcno oazo, državo in njene davke pa poslali v maloro. To je pomenilo, da so državi za lupljenje ostali vsi po regelcih zaposleni in vsi javni uslužbenci, uradniki, skratka, takšni, ki jih zaposluje država. Pa prav zaradi teh javnih uslužbencev in drage države smo sploh potrebovali vec davkov. Ni pa hkrati recimo olupila gradbenih baronov, ki so se pasli na njenih javnih razpisih. Pa kdo razume ta kaos? In naprej, poglejmo zdravstveno reformo.

Absolutno veliko se bo naredilo pri krcenju pravic bolnikom, to je davkoplacevalcem, ampak ali se bo kaj naredilo pri prihodkih zdravstva in pri stroških zdravstva, pri klientelnih nakupih medicinske opreme, pri lobijih zdravnikov, pri lobijih, že spet, gradbenikov. In zdaj bodo zaradi zdravstvene reforme seveda spet nesrecni tako bolniki kot zdravniki in medicinske sestre - pa tudi vsem tem je namenjena reforma.

In tako vse naokrog. Ne moreš delati reforme javnega narocanja, pa ne uniciti monopolov, klientelnih omrežij, interesnih povezav. Ne moreš govoriti, kako naj ljudje obrtnikom ne govorijo "prosim, a lahko brez racuna" in naj delajo zakonito, ko pa tvoji lastni ljudje zlorabljajo pravila in sistem. Ne moreš deliti državnih subvencij za slabe proizvode in podjetja pred stecajem, ki jih bo potem spet treba reševati.

Ne moreš ljudem reci, naj delajo po zakonu, pa ce crknejo, zraven pa se mastijo državni priskledniki. Ne moreš ljudem svetovati, naj jedo potico, ce nimajo za kruh. Mislim, lahko, ampak potem si mrtev. In spet smo na zacetku. Pri zaupanju. Ne moreš ljudi prepricati, da delaš dobro, ko na svojih denarnicah cutijo, da si slab. In se opravicujem, Borut Pahor in tale vlada - ce še niste mrtvi, ste pa mrtvoudni.

Carantha: Povzemamo clanek iz dnevnika Finance (Ljubljana). Avtorica clanka je vsaj do neke mere kriticna, cesar pri drugih glasilih ni. Vsa samo naganjajo ubogo rajo, jo sleparijo in šcuvajo (najvec proti Janezu Janši). Tako je uboga raja volila insi  izvolila svoje rablje. Predsednik Türk, na primer, je za dva dni obiska v Bosni porabil skoraj 90.000 evrov. Gre za denar davkoplacevalcev, namenjen za socialne namene. Banke so bile v desetih letih izropane po nezavarovanih kreditih kar za 5,56 milijard evrov. Toda kam se je stekel ves ta kapital? Na racune tajkunov? Ne, na racune tistega, ki je tajkune vodil, to je stara tajna služba Beograda. Na racun ropanja Slovenije, pa Hrvaške... živi Srbija, kjer »niko ne radi« in vendar živijo. V Srbijo še vedno »investira« slovensko gospodarstvo. Tega pa tudi kriticne Finance ne povejo, zakaj Slovenija, povejmo že enkrat naravnost, je pod strahovlado beograjske mafije in mreže njenih zaupnikov. Poglejte samo sodstvo v Sloveniji! »Pa saj ste jih volili!«, so rekli tistim, ki so godrnjali. »Saj nismo vedeli«, so priznali. No, sedaj pa le vejo! In bodo morali izvedeti še marsikaj!
  
Financial Times
Slovenia: banks not lending a hand
January 12, 2011 4:51 pm by Chris Bryant


South-east Europe could do with a dose of upbeat economic news but there is little to be found even in its most prosperous corner.

In Slovenia, the government’s forecasting institute on Wednesday said in its latest macroeconomic snapshot that bank lending had “practically come to a halt” . That’s bad news in a region which has long relied heavily on bank credit for financing the economy.

According to Reuters, Bostjan Vasle, director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development said, net loan figures showed Slovenian non-financial institutions actually returned on average 8.4 million euros ($10.89 million) monthly to creditors in the first ten months of 2010 versus a flow of 5.6 million euros per month in the other direction in 2009.
In 2008 monthly net loan flow to such companies amounted to 369 million euros, said Vasle.

This is bad news for south east Europe: the region risks getting left behind as much of the rest of emerging Europe is pulling out of recession, even if hesitantly in the case of some states.

Central European economies are rebounding strongly on the back of strong German export orders, while Russia profits from high commodity prices and Turkey powers ahead.

In Slovenia, where banks are struggling with limited funding and large portfolios of bad loans, limited credit growth threatens to slow the economic recovery.

The country’s moribund construction groups are a particular headache, so too are other highly leveraged companies. Little wonder that the banks struggle to find suitable borrowers.

As Bozo Jasovic, chief executive of NLB, Slovenia’s biggest bank, warned in an interview with the FT in November: “Even as the economy recovers it will be difficult for banks to provide new credits to companies that are over-leveraged,”

Slovenia’s economy contracted by 8.1 per cent in 2009 – the most in the eurozone – and is likely to have grown by a meager 1 per cent last year. Although Vasle expects growth of 2.5 per cent this year, this is only around half average levels seen earlier in the decade.

As a member of the eurozone it may be more exposed to reverberations from the periphery’s sovereign debt problems than countries with their own currencies, notably Poland.

Vasle sees the dangers. “High risks of the financial markets are at present the biggest danger to an economic recovery in the eurozone and Slovenia,” he said.

A small open economy that can no longer devalue its currency, Slovenia also has to keep a close eye on competiveness and government spending.

Credit agencies are keeping a close eye on the Ljubljana’s fiscal efforts, with Standard & Poors in December revising its outlook on Slovenia from stable to negative, citing a weak commitment to budgetary consolidation.
  
Slovenia struggling to get economy back on its feet
by Bojan Kavcic Bojan Kavcic – Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:56 pm ET

File photo of Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor. Slovenia, once one of the fastest-growing new members …

LJUBLJANA (AFP) – Slovenia, once one of the fastest-growing new members of the EU, is still struggling to get its economy back into shape following the deep recession caused by the global crisis two years ago.

Growth may be set to pick up to 2.5 percent this year from 0.9 percent last year but that will solely be by virtue of its exports, primarily to Germany.

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Prime Minister Borut Pahor's efforts to put the economy on a more balanced and sustainable footing via much-needed, if deeply unpopular, reforms have effectively been roadblocked by the opposition parties and the unions.

Mid-way through its four-year term, the centre-left government is facing its deepest crisis since coming to power in 2008, with its popularity at an all-time low and as many as six ministers throwing in the towel within a space of just two years.

Last week, Pahor refused to let go of one of his closest allies, finance minister Franc Krizanic, despite a demand by Slovenia's Court of Audit to sack him over alleged irregularities in the country's public accounting.

The whole affair "can seriously damage Slovenia's international reputation" said Janez Sustersic, an economics professor at the Faculty of Management in Koper and former head of the national statistics office.

The Court of Audit is one of the country's main institutions, even if it has no concrete powers.

Last year, Pahor sacked his environment minister, Karel Erjavec, at its behest.

The court then turned its sights on Krizanic earlier this month, accusing him of mishandling the privatisation of a shipping company and failing to provide a clear picture of the public finances and the level of public debt.

Given the recent crises elsewhere in the eurozone over false or misleading financial data, such accusations weigh heavily.

Slovenia's statistics office felt compelled this week to reassure the public that the data provided by Ljubljana to Brussels were indeed reliable and accurate.

But Pahor stood by Krizanic last Thursday, saying: "Franc Krizanic stays as finance minister."

Krizanic, for his part, insisted he had done nothing wrong, and the ministry reacted "in time and adequately" to implement all the corrective measures proposed by the Court of Audit.

Slovenia's public debt is rising -- the latest data put it at 37.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2010, up from 35.4 percent of GDP a year earlier.

But it is still below the 60-percent ceiling set by the EU, so analysts see no danger of Slovenia turning into a new Greece or Ireland for the single currency area, which the former Yugoslav republic joined in 2007.

"We avoided an Irish or Greek (bailout) scenario thanks to the fact that, at the start of the crisis, we had more room for manoeuvre due to a relatively low public debt," economist Sustersic told AFP.

At the same time, Ljubljana's public deficit, perhaps the more important gauge of a country's financial health, is in excess of the 3.0-percent limit required by Brussels.

The government is pencilling in a deficit equivalent to 4.7 percent of GDP this year, down from an estimated 5.4 percent in 2010.

But experts and economists insist that a raft of unpopular economic and social reforms are needed if the deficit is to be brought down further.

Last year, Pahor froze public sector wages, proposed a shake-up of the labour market and an overhaul of the pension system.

But the plans have been held up by unions, who are demanding a referendum on the pension reform before it can become law.

With political parties already beginning to look to the next elections just two years away, analysts suggest Pahor's reform commitment might soon falter.

Last month, international rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded its outlook for Slovenia amid such concerns.

"We've now entered the second half of the government's four-year term and the will for reforms might soon weaken," Sustersic said.

Maks Tajnikar, professor at Ljubljana's Faculty of Economy, said "we need an urgent implementation of the pension reform, there is no other way. A referendum would significantly postpone Slovenia's return to a balanced budget."
  
Die Welt
Balkan
Autor: Filip Gaspar| 20.01.2011
Korruptionsskandal bedroht Kroatiens EU-Beitritt
Kroatiens Ex-Premier Ivo Sanader steht wegen Korruption vor Gericht. Was die Ermittler ihm vorwerfen, ist Stoff für einen Polit-Thriller.

Das Gesicht der Korruption in Kroatien: Ex-Premier Ivo Sanader

Als Berufswunsch gab Ivo Sanader (57) Schriftsteller und nicht Politiker an. Dass der promovierte Romanist es nicht immer so genau nahm mit Namen, sieht man schon, wenn man nach seiner Dissertation sucht. Diese wurde unter dem Namen Ivica und nicht Ivo eingereicht.
Regierungssprecher Sanaders kommentierten diese Tatsache oft damit, dass es nicht ungewöhnlich sei, in Kroatien einen Namen und im Ausland einen ähnlich klingenden zu haben. Vielleicht lässt sich so auch erklären, weshalb auf dessen Schwiegervater ein von Sanader eröffnetes Konto in Österreich, mit über einer Million Euro, läuft.
In Kroatien wird Sanader Korruption in einem bis dato unbekannten Ausmaße vorgeworfen. Die kroatische Antikorruptionsbehörde USKOK ermittelt laut dem kürzlich im Residenz Verlag erschienen Buch "Tatort Hypo Alpe Adria“ bereits seit 2001 gegen Sanader. Anfangs nur wegen kleinerer Vergehen. Richtig ins Rollen kamen die Ermittlungen nach dem völlig unerwarteten Rücktritt Sanaders von allen Ämtern im Juli 2009.

Sanaders Ruf ist ruiniert

Seine Nachfolgerin Jadranka Kosor ließ ihn aus der Partei werfen und treibt mit Hinblick auf die EU-Mitgliedschaft eine strikte Generalabrechnung mit der korrupten Vergangenheit voran. Ihren ehemaligen Parteivorsitzenden erwähnte sie seitdem nie wieder namentlich, sondern spricht immer nur von "ihm“, und versucht deutlich zu machen, dass unter ihrer Führung die Staatsorgane richtig und sauber arbeiten.

Nach Franjo Tudman, der den Kroaten als Vater des kroatischen Staates gilt, wollte Sanader derjenige sein, der das Land in die EU führt. Dass er nun nicht für sein geplantes Lebenswerk in Erinnerung bleiben wird, dafür ist er selbst verantwortlich. Den bis vor kurzem noch mächtigsten Mann Kroatiens werden Amtsmissbrauch, Korruption und Bildung einer kriminellen Vereinigung vorgeworfen.

Sanader wurde am 12. Dezember 2010 von Zivilfahndern auf der Tauernautobahn festgenommen, nachdem sein Standort über Handyortung ermittelt wurde. Dabei waren mehr als 60 Agenten aus Kroatien, Slowenien, Österreich und Deutschlands involviert. Die kroatische Polizei setzte sich sofort nach Sanaders Ausreise mit seinen ausländischen Kollegen in Verbindung. Diese Vorgehensweise war auch nötig, denn Sanader versuchte seine Verfolger auf eine falsche Fährte zu locken.

Ex-Premier wollte in die USA flüchten

Über seinen Anwalt ließ er ausrichten, dass er sich auf einer lange geplanten Geschäftsreise befinde, und selbstverständlich noch am selben Tag nach Kroatien zurückkehren werde, um die Vorwürfe aus der Welt zu räumen. Seinen Anwalt ließ er dann an einem vereinbarten Treffpunkt in Österreich stehen, während er schon Richtung München war. Laut kroatischen Polizeiangaben versuchte er dort ein Flugticket nach Washington zu kaufen. Die Einreise wurde jedoch seitens der USA durch Entzug des Visums verhindert.

Eine Auslieferung aus den USA nach Kroatien hätte sich vermutlich um Jahre hinausgezögert, wenn es dazu überhaupt gekommen wäre, denn zwischen den USA und Kroatien herrscht ein Auslieferungsabkommen aus dem Jahre 1901, noch aus dem Königreich Serbien.

Kroatien ist rechtmäßiger Nachfolger dieses Staates und beerbt somit dieses Abkommen, in dem Delikte wie "moderne“ Korruption, Geldwäsche oder Amtsmissbrauch nicht vorkommen, sondern nur grundsätzliche Delikte aus dem 19. Jahrhundert.

Deutscher Honorarkonsul und Sanader-Freund festgenommen

Doch wann und ob es zu einer Verhandlung in Kroatien kommen wird ist fraglich, denn in der Zwischenzeit stellte die Salzburger Staatsanwalt Strafanzeige wegen Geldwäsche. Darin geht es um das erwähnte Konto des Schwiegervaters und um Konten seines verstorbenen Vaters. Die Justiz in Österreich will Sanaders Rolle in der Hypo Alpe Adria versuchen zu lösen. Einen Tag vor Sanaders Flucht wurde im Zusammenhang mit Sanaders Prozess Robert Jezic festgenommen.

Jezic, Eigentümer des Petrochemiekonzerns Dioki-Holding, und Lobbyist der österreichischen Hypo Alpe Adria, spielt eine große Schlüsselrolle in Sanaders Korruptionsfällen. Obwohl es weder familiäre noch geschäftliche Verbindungen Jezic zu Deutschland gab, und sein Name bereits gefallen war, im Skandal um die Hypo Alpe Adria Bank, wurde er 2009 noch zum Honorarkonsul Deutschlands gewählt. Obwohl das Auswärtige Amt die Vorwürfe "sehr genau“ überprüfen und "im Licht der Ergebnisse eine Entscheidung treffen“ werde, findet man Jezic immer noch auf der Internetseite des Auswärtigen Amtes als Honorarkonsulen. Mittlerweile hat er seinen Rücktritt von der Konzernspitze der Dioki-Holding eingereicht.

Sanader sagte vor dem Kärntner Untersuchungsausschuss per Videokonferenz aus. Nach der Bank gefragt, sagte er: "Mein Gewissen ist rein. Jadranka Kosor war mein engste Mitarbeiterin und Freundin“. Auf Jezic angesprochen, will er ihm nicht nahe gestanden haben. Ein ehemaliger Manager der Hypo Alpe Adria, nannte Jezic jedoch "den besten Freund und Verbündeten des Premierministers“, über den man direkt Geschäfte mit dem Premier machen könne.

Sanader soll seinem "besten Freund“ Strom unterm Marktwert zukommen haben lassen, und als Dankeschön für sein Bemühen einen Luxus BMW 760 LI bekommen haben. Diese Zuwendung kann Sanader schlecht vergessen haben, bestand er doch auf Umtausch der ersten Lieferung, denn diese war schwarz gewesen, und der Premier wünschte ein graues Modell, genau so wie Jezic eines besitze. Seinen Personenschützer traten Schweißperlen auf die Stirn, denn die Entourage der Präsidentenkolonne müsse unifarben sein, um kein leichtes Ziel abzugeben.

Ein Polit-Thriller à la John Grisham

Sanaders Konten und die näherer Verwandter wurden gesperrt. Der Fall nimmt schon Züge eines Polit-Thrillers à la John Grisham an. Bei der Durchsuchung seines Hauses wurde ein geheimer Raum gefunden, zu dem man nur Zugang bekam, wenn man eine ganz bestimmte Kachel drückte. Dort drinnen konnte USKOK Kunstwerke sicherstellen, die zum Teil aus dem Stadtmuseum von Split verschwunden waren. Alles war so gut verdeckt, dass es bei der ersten Hausdurchsuchung den Ermittlern nicht aufgefallen war. Den Hinweis auf die Geheimkammer gab erst ein ehemaliger Leibwächter Sanaders, denn Sanaders Frau und Tochter verheimlichten die Existenz.

Es war bekannt, dass Sanader sich mit Kunst beschenken ließ als Dankbarkeitsbekundung, weil jemand an einen Posten gelangt ist. Seine Ehefrau Mirjana, Archologieprofessorin in Zagreb, gab dem österreichischen "Kurier“ ein Interview. Ihre ersten öffentlichen Aussagen nach der Verhaftung ihres Mannes überhaupt. Sie beklagte sich über den Umgang der kroatischen Justiz und Presse mit ihrer Familie und beteuerte die Unschuld ihres Mannes.

Auf die Herkunft des Familienvermögens von über drei Millionen Euro angesprochen, man bedenke, dass die Sanaders aus eher einfachen Verhältnissen stammen, sagte sie, dass "alles, was wir besitzen, [haben wir] in mehr als 30 Jahren auch rechtmäßig verdient.“

Europäische Bewährungsprobe

Im Zuge der Ermittlungen der Antikorruptionsbehöre USKOK wurden auch Konten von Sanaders Bruder Vinko, der Pfarrer ist, überprüft. Hierbei tauchten knapp 400.000 Euro von unbekannter Herkunft auf, schreibt die kroatische Tageszeitung "Jutarnji list“ und spekuliert, dass der Bruder Teil des Netzwerkes ist, womit Geld vom kroatischen Staat abgezweigt wurden. Vinko Sanader wies die Vorwürfe von sich und forderte den Schutz seiner menschlichen Würde.

Neben dem Grenzstreit mit Slowenien zählt die Justizreform und Korruptionsbekämpfung zu den größten Forderungen seitens der EU an Kroatien. Damit sich die Ereignisse um Sanader nicht allzu negativ auf das Ansehen des Landes auswirken, muss die Regierung jetzt handeln. Die Ministerpräsidentin Kosor wird beweisen müssen, wie ernst es ihr ist, mit der Vergangenheit aufzuräumen.
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EU-Beitrittsländer

Die Europäische Union zählt derzeit vier Beitrittskandidaten. Dazu gehören die Türkei, Kroatien und Mazedonien. Auch fünf weitere Balkanländer stehen vor der Tür.

Island
Island hat beste Voraussetzungen für einen schnellen EU-Beitritt: Der Inselstaat im Nordatlantik gehört dem Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum an, dem Schengen-Raum ohne Grenzkontrollen sowie der Nato. Die Regierung in Reykjavik hofft deshalb auf einen Beitritt 2012. Größte Hindernisse sind die Fischerei und der Walfang. Die rund 320.000 Isländer müssen der Mitgliedschaft zustimmen.

Kroatien
Kroatien ist der aussichtsreichste Beitrittskandidat. Der bis 1991 zu Jugoslawien gehörende Balkanstaat verhandelt seit Oktober 2005 mit der EU. Die Regierung in Zagreb hofft, den Beitrittsvertrag bereits im ersten Halbjahr 2011 unterzeichnen zu können. Kroatien wäre das 28. Mitgliedsland. Seit April 2009 ist das Land in der Nato.

Türkei
Auch die Türkei verhandelt seit Oktober 2005 über eine Aufnahme in die EU. Die Gespräche gehen aber nur schleppend voran. Hauptgrund ist der ungelöste Streit mit der griechischen Republik Zypern. Die Regierung in Ankara weigert sich, ihre Häfen und Flughäfen für das EU-Mitglied Zypern zu öffnen. Wegen der Türkei-Skepsis in Ländern wie Deutschland und Frankreich macht sich in dem Nato-Mitgliedsland Beitrittsmüdigkeit breit.

Mazedonien
Auch Mazedonien hat seit Ende 2005 Kandidaten-Status. Allerdings liegen die EU-Verhandlungen ebenso auf Eis wie die Nato-Mitgliedschaft. Grund ist der ungelöste Namens-Streit, welcher seit der Unabhängigkeit von Jugoslawien 1991 schwelt. Das EU-Mitglied Griechenland fürchtet wegen seiner historischen Region Makedonien Gebietsansprüche des nördlichen Nachbarn.

Balkan
Auch fünf weitere Balkanländer klopfen an die Tür der EU: Albanien, Bosnien-Herzegowina, Montenegro, Serbien und das Kosovo. All diese Länder haben mittel- bis langfristig eine „europäische Perspektive". Um Beitrittskandidat zu werden, müssen sie härter gegen die organisierte Kriminalität vorgehen. Vor allem von Serbien verlangt die EU die Festnahme gesuchter Kriegsverbrecher, allen voran des früheren bosnisch-serbischen Armeechefs Ratko Mladic. Quelle: AFP
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Berliner Morgenpost
Korruptionsparadies
Auf dem Balkan ist Bestechung Teil des Alltags
Montag, 13. Dezember 2010 22:08  - Von Thomas Brey

In den Balkanländern herrschen die Gesetze des Gebens und Nehmens unter der Hand – unabhängig von der Bevölkerungsschicht.
Überall auf dem Balkan kursiert dieser Witz: Ein Geschichtsstudent zahlt seinem Professor 200 Euro und wird in der mündlichen Prüfung gefragt: Wo fiel die erste Atombombe? Nach der Antwort „In Hiroshima“ hat er bestanden und kann gehen. Der zweite Prüfling verweigert die Bestechung, kann aber alle Fragen richtig beantworten: Wo war der erste Atombombenabwurf, wann, wie viele Menschen kamen ums Leben? Doch dann scheitert er an der letzten Aufgabe: „Und wie heißen die mehr als 200.000 Opfer?“

In allen Balkanländern blüht die Korruption mehr denn je. Die Gesetze des Gebens und Nehmens unter der Hand werden praktisch in allen Bevölkerungsschichten akzeptiert. In den Negativ-Rankings der Experten von „Transparency International“ wetteifern diese Länder stets um die schlechtesten Plätze in Europa. In Serbien haben im letzten Jahr danach ein Fünftel aller Bürger Bestechungsgelder locker gemacht. In Bulgarien, immerhin EU-Mitglied, zahlte nach Angaben des renommierten Zentrums zur Erforschung der Demokratie (ZID) sogar jeder Vierte Schmiergeld.

Schmiergeld für menschenwürdige Behandlungen im Krankenhaus

Schon bei der Geburt ihres Kindes müssen Eltern im Krankenhaus Schmiergeld zahlen, um eine halbwegs menschenwürdige Behandlungen zu bekommen. Selbst welches Grab der Vater nach dem Tod auf dem Friedhof bekommt, lässt sich mit Geld regeln – diskret in einem Umschlag über den Tisch geschoben. Auch in Schule und Universität läuft ohne „Belohnung“ von Lehrern und Professoren nichts. Vor vier Jahren flog ausgerechnet an der Jura-Fakultät im serbischen Kragujevac eine Riesenaffäre auf. Zehn Professoren wurden wegen verkaufter Diplome verhaftet, darunter pikanterweise der Dekan, ein Ex-Richter am Verfassungsgericht und ein Experte für Organisierte Kriminalität. Bis heute sind alle Angeklagten frei und keiner rechtskräftig verurteilt.

In Kroatien wurde durch die Kriminal-„Affäre-Studienbuch“ Ende 2008 folgende „Preisliste“ an den Unis bekannt. Für 200 Euro kann man missliebige gegen gewogene Prüfer austauschen. Einfache Tests werden für 500 Kuna (70 Euro) bestanden, der Erfolg bei schwersten Prüfungen ist mit 10.000 Kuna (1390 Euro) zu sichern. Kauft man zwei schwierige Prüfungen „im Paket“, gibt es Rabatt. Das kostet dann nur 15.000 Kuna (2100 Euro). Seit Jahren gibt es Spekulationen und Hinweise, dass griechische Mediziner, die heute prominente Positionen bekleiden, ihre Prüfungen an der serbischen Universität in Nis „gedreht“ haben.

Die Experten von „Transparency International“ (TI) setzten im vergangenen Jahr Bulgarien, Mazedonien und Rumänien auf Platz 71 ihrer weltweiten Rangliste korrupter Staaten, weil sie auf einen Wert von 3,9 kamen. Zum Vergleich: Die Schweiz steht auf Platz 5 (mit einem Wert von 9,0), Deutschland auf Platz 14 (8,0) und Österreich auf Platz 16 (7,9). Deutlich schlechter schneiden Serbien auf Platz 83 (3,5) und Albanien auf Platz 95 (3,2) ab. In Europa ist Bosnien- Herzegowina auf Platz 99 (3,0) der mit Abstand korrupteste Staat.
126 Euro Bestechungsgeld in Bosnien für den Arzt

„Die politischen Eliten bilden den Hauptmotor für die Korruption in Bosnien“, sagt der dortige TI-Direktor Srdjan Blagovcanin. „Die sogenannte kleine Korruption in den Bereichen Gesundheit, Bildung, Verwaltung und Polizei ist die Folge der großen Betrügereien“. Die Bürger sähen, dass die „dicken Fische“ in der Politik unbestraft bleiben und empfänden es daher als recht und billig, ihre eigenen Anliegen mit Hilfe von „Bakschisch“ voranzubringen. Durchschnittlich zahlt ein Bürger in Bosnien beim Arztbesuch umgerechnet 126 Euro Bestechungsgeld, berichteten die lokalen Medien. Mit umgerechnet 223 Euro werden Universitätsprofessoren zu Wohlwollen verpflichtet. Das ist immerhin mehr als die Hälfte eines Durchschnittsgehalts.

Beim diesjährigen Abitur soll ein Schuldirektor im rumänischen Cluj (Klausenburg in Siebenbürgen) 14.100 Euro kassiert haben. Dafür soll er echte schlechte Examensarbeiten im Fach Rumänisch gegen falsche gute ausgetauscht haben. Besonders geschickt hatte er sich aber nicht angestellt. Weil die Prüfungskommission mehrere Aufsätze mit identischem Inhalt entdeckte, flog der Schmu auf. Gang und gäbe ist in rumänischen Schulen, dass die vom Staat schlecht bezahlten Lehrer zu Hause ihren Schülern teure Privatstunden geben. Wer nicht kommt, muss in der Schule mit schlechten Noten rechnen – unabhängig von seiner tatsächlichen Leistung.

„Das sind keine Ärzte sondern Monster!“, titelte im Juli die Belgrader Zeitung „Press“. Am nationalen Krebsinstitut Serbiens waren führende Ärzte samt Direktor unter dem Vorwurf verhaftet worden, sie hätten Krebskranken unnötige Zytostatika verabreicht, um saftige Provisionen zu kassieren. Die Mediziner sollen selbst Kindern zum Teil eine dreifach überhöhte Dosis verabreicht haben. Nach Darstellung der Ermittler hatten sie dafür von Pharmafirmen mehr als eine halbe Million Euro erhalten, mit denen sie teure Autos finanzierten.

Doch das sind alles kleine Fische im Vergleich zum ganz großen Rad, das von Politikern und Behörden gedreht wird. Die EU stoppte vor zwei Jahren die Gelder für den bulgarischen Straßenbau, weil die Millionen in schwarzen Löchern verschwunden waren. In Kroatien steht ein früherer Verteidigungsminister vor Gericht, weil er bei der Beschaffung von Lastwagen einen Millionenbetrag beiseitegeschafft haben soll. Der frühere Regierungschef Ivo Sanader wird in den Medien mit umstrittenen Krediten der Skandal-Bank Hypo-Alpe-Adria in Verbindung gebracht.

In Serbien werden jährlich bis zu 1,7 Milliarden Euro "gewaschen"

Rumäniens ehemaliger Regierungschef (2000-2004) Adrian Nastase muss vor Gericht erklären, woher 400.000 US-Dollar auf dem Konto seiner Frau kommen. Seine Behauptung, aus dem Verkaufserlös vom Schmuck einer Erbtante, war wenig einleuchtend. Die legendäre Erbtante Tamara lebte ärmlich in einer winzigen Plattenbauwohnung in Bukarest. Der Bürgermeister der südrumänischen Industriestadt Craiova, Antonie Solomon, sitzt seit März in U-Haft, weil er sich mit 50.000 Euro bestechen haben lassen soll.

Doch es geht auch noch ein paar Nummern größer. Der Belgrader TV- Sender B92 hat im letzten Jahr aufgedeckt, dass die Stadtverwaltung zwielichtigen Geschäftsleuten Grundstücke im Wert von „mehreren hundert Millionen Euro“ zugeschanzt hatte. Die Behörden haben errechnet, dass in Serbien jährlich bis zu 1,7 Milliarden Euro „gewaschen“ werden. Rund 400 Millionen Euro wandern in diesem Land pro Jahr bei staatlichen Aufträgen in private Taschen, sind sich europäische Experten sicher.

An der Spitze des serbischen Amtes für staatliche Beschaffungen steht der seit Jahrzehnten bekannte windige Geheimdienstfunktionär Borislav Galic. Der Mann, der gerichtlich bestätigt politische Mörder mit neuen Pässen ausgestattet hatte, steuert jährliche Bestellungen in Höhe von vier Milliarden Euro ohne jede Kontrolle und Transparenz, berichtete die Zeitung „Blic“ wiederholt. „Die Parteien sind Firmen für Schutzgelderpressung“, schrieben die heimischen Medien über besonders dreiste Korruptionsfälle. Wenigstens 15 Prozent aller investierten Gelder müssten in die Kasse der Parteien fließen.

Korruptionsfälle von Spitzenpolitikern verlaufen im Sande

Viele serbische Gastarbeiter haben vor kurzem ihr Leid geklagt. „Ich bin doch nicht wahnsinnig, mein mit Blut und Schweiß erarbeitetes Vermögen hierher zu bringen, damit es von Korruption und Politikern aufgefressen wird und ich arm wie eine Kirchenmaus bleibe“, schrieb ein Serbe den Behörden ins Stammbuch.

Andere berichteten, wie sie von der Kommune, von der Steuerbehörde, verschiedenen Inspektoren und vom Zoll abgezockt wurden. „Ich bin wegen der Korruption aus Serbien abgehauen, hier ist alles und jeder korrumpiert“, berichtete Miloje dem TV-Sender B92. Eine anonyme Gastarbeiterin könnte über ihre schlechten Erfahrungen „einen Krimi- Bestseller“ schreiben und eine Leidensgenossin würde „selbst meinem ärgsten Feind“ nicht raten, in Serbien zu investieren.

Und dann noch das Justizsystem. Die großen aufgedeckten Korruptionsfälle von Spitzenpolitikern verlaufen in Rumänien wie in allen anderen Balkanstaaten in der Regel im Sande.

Die Prozesse werden von Winkeladvokaten mit immer neuen Tricks verschleppt, die Richter spielen gerne mit. Wenn sich dann doch ein Urteil abzeichnet, wird unter einem oft lächerlichen Vorwand wie Urlaub der Richter ausgetauscht und das Verfahren beginnt wieder von vorne.

Der Prozess gegen die 33 Angeklagten der sogenannten Korruptionsmafia, die 2006 in Belgrad hochgegangen war, steht heute noch am Anfang. Immerhin hatten Spitzenrichter, Advokaten und Banker im ganz großen Stil die Privatisierung namhafter Staatsbetriebe skandalös und kriminell abgewickelt.

Die Schlagerikone Ceca, Frau des inzwischen ermordeten berüchtigten Freischärlerführers Zeljko Raznatovic („Arkan“), wartet auch sieben Jahre nach Beginn der Ermittlungen noch auf ihren Prozess. Es geht um mehr als elf Millionen Euro, die sie beim Verkauf von Fußballspielern abgezweigt haben soll.

Die Soziologen in den Balkanländern haben meterweise Literatur produziert, in der versucht wird, die grassierende Korruption zu erklären. Der Mangel zur Zeit des Kommunismus wird dafür angeführt oder die heute oft bittere Armut in einigen Landesteilen. Über eines sind sich aber alle Fachleute klar:

Solange in der großen Politik keine Besserung eintritt, gibt es auch keinerlei Chancen, die Korruption im täglichen Leben der Bürger auszumerzen.
Erschienen am 03.08.2010
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Danilo Türk, President of Slovenia

His criticism against Janez Janša, the leader of the opposition Democrats

December 20, 2010

In an interview with Daily Delo (Lublana), President Danilo Türk told the paper, that Slovenia does not have two legal statuses with their respective entitlements. "We have the rule of law, by which everyone can afford a good defense and adequate legal advice and representation. This is a serious problem," said Türk. He agrees with the Ombudsman that the government causes discouragement among the people, because many of them are not able to use legal mechanisms to settle their disputes. "That's why they are losing confidence in judicial systems to provide for a fair and equal treatment.”

In an official opposition statement, in which Janez Janša accused the coalition government of creating the conditions for even greater repression, Türk is trying to divert the attention: "Someone who is involved in bribing affair, in criminal proceedings, in serious criminal offenses related to corruption, is now trying to divert attention to unjustified or totally fictional questions. In more developed democracies, the policy against criminal acts includes exclusion from political debates.  But with us, it is not so. " (Source: Finance.si)

PR Danilo Türk is completely wrong in his criticism of Janez Janša. Indeed, Janša is not accused of bribery. The Higher Prosecutor Branka Zobec Hrastar, who indicted the former prime minister, has presented no evidence that Janša accepted bribes from the Finnish military equipment Patria for his party of Slovenian Social Democrats. There was no identified place, no identified day, no identified way. - Says the well-known businessman Walter Wolf: This indictment is a lost fairy tale. I showed it to the best lawyers, even to the Reuters lawyers.  They all laughed.

  
Government of Slovenia: (from right to left)Ministers: Majda Širca (Minister of Culture), PM Borut Pahor, Katarina Kresal (Minister of the Interior) and Gregor Golobic (Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology) recommend the adoption of the new law concerning Radio-Tv.

Referendum in Slovenia: New Law for Radio-TV rejected

Carantha, December 13, 2010

The leading Post-communist coalition government of Slovenia, which adopted the new law on Radio - Television Slovenia, was defeated. On the day of the referendum observers reported a low turnout at the polls. Voters convincingly rejected the new act. With all the votes counted, the share of votes against the government-sponsored law was 72.64 percent. 27.36 percent voted in favour of the law. Only 14.63 percent of the voters turned up to vote.

Call to vote against the law was addressed to the faithful of the Catholic Church. Indeed, it is the first time that the Church has publicly intervened in politics. Since Slovenia's independence until today, the Church stayed "out of politics". Thus, the post-communist regime in today's Slovenia, like in the former Yugoslavia, constantly accused the Church of political clericalism. In this connection, the present-day attitude of Anton Stres, the new Archbishop of Lublana, was something new. Does this mean that the Church in Slovenia will not be intimidated anymore by the fact that the post-communist regime could start a campaign against it? In this case, it was clear, that the invitation of the Church to the faithful to vote against the new law was a success. We noticed, that the mass media under the control of the post-communist regime did not initiate a campaign. This means, that the Church in Slovenia is still strong and therefore the regime did not want to challenge its apparatus.

The opposition was satisfied with the outcome of the referendum. Because, the public refuses to be mislead by the government. Its media in Slovenia, which was of anti-Slovenian and Yugoslav ideology, did not appeal to masses in Slovenia. Also, the regime, which is now in power in Slovenia, has been inherited from former Yugoslavia. This generation was educated under Tito's regime with instructions from Belgrade. It was created to destroy Slovenian sense and awareness and was gradually shaping people's readiness to accept integration into the Western Balkans.

To achieve this goal, the teaching of Serbo-Croation has been reinstated in many schools. The regime’s mastery of Radio-Television would provide an important instrument for the re-introduction of the Yugoslav ideology, especially for the minds of the young generation. Does the outcome of the last referendum predict, if Slovenia will finally recover from the post-communist and Yugoslav iron fist?
  
The Voice of Russia
Russia, Slovenia expand cooperation
Olga Denisova    
Nov 17, 2010 19:40 Moscow Time

Slovenia’s President Danilo Turk. Photo:RIA Novosti

Slovenia’s President Danilo Turk has officially visited Russia for the first time accompanied by Slovenian businessmen. Turk met with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and the parties signed a partnership declaration for modernization and a memorandum on significant projects to expand economic collaboration.

Among the most important cooperation projects, the leaders named the South Stream pipeline aimed to minimize transit risks when supplying Russian gas to Europe.   Danilo Turk noted that some were skeptical about the project which is now doing great and opens new ways of cooperation between the EU and the parties involved.

Dmitry Medvedev believes that the project is not only economically beneficial.

We have recently made a good start and hope that South Stream will be beneficial for all parties involved. It brings direct economic benefit and unites and facilitates the development of  European countries. We believe that the project should be joined by our infrastructure projects.

Global issues were also on the leaders’ agenda in the run-up to the Astana OSCE summit due on December 1-2. Danilo Turk called Russia the main strategic partner of the EU and praised the Russian-proposed European Security Treaty calling it original and forward looking   Slovenia welcomed the Treaty and  put forward its amendments to it a year ago.

A new architecture of European security has been recently discussed by international organizations. The Slovenian president believes that global institutions, primarily the EU and NATO, should develop relations with Russia. He also praised Medvedev’s decision to take part in the Lisbon NATO summit, which may contribute to the bilateral partnership.

Medvedev assessed the current Russian-EU partnership as favorable saying that the only disputable issue is the introduction of a visa-free regime. Slovenia supported the visa abolishment between Russia and the EU and hopes the problem will be settled soon.

Putin welcomes agreements with Slovenia

Nov 17, 2010 18:06 Moscow Time

Dmitry Medvedev, Danilo Turk. Photo:RIA Novosti

A Moscow summit between President Dmitri Medvedev and his Slovenian counterpart Danilo Turk has produced a declaration of partnership for modernization  and agreements to cooperate in telecommunications, transport and energy.

Among other things, Slovenia agreed to subscribe to hosting a section of the Russian South Stream natural gas pipeline.

Prime Minister Putin has hailed the outcome of the Moscow summit as the dawn of a new era between this country and Slovenia.

  
Slovenia aims green tech at US market

By Verena Dobnik - Boston Globe and Mail
Associated Press Writer / September 30, 2010

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia—One of the EU's smallest nations is reaching out to U.S. markets as a sort of Silicon Valley, offering the latest "green" technologies -- from solar-powered modular homes and eco-savvy boats to LED lighting already being used in foreign luxury cars.

Slovenia, which became a European Union member in 2004, is a nation of 2 million people bordering Italy and Austria that is "especially attractive to businesses looking to the future of technology," Prime Minister Borut Pahor told The Associated Press by e-mail on Wednesday, days after leading his country's delegation to the U.N. General Assembly.

In New York last week, Pahor introduced 20 Slovenian companies at a separate business forum titled "Investing in Green." Slovenia is being touted as an ecologically-minded country that has developed innovative technologies matching global needs.

The country emerged from decades of communism in 1991, when it broke off from Yugoslavia to become an independent democracy. It has taken years of economic restructuring to create a new business system in line with market economies such as that of the United States.

Two-thirds of Slovenian exports go to European Union markets, and trade is lively with Russia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

"While its stock exchange is Lilliputian, Slovenia offers some first-rate emerging markets stock opportunities," says Jonathan Pond, a Boston-based investment adviser.

Seventy-eight companies are listed on Slovenia's Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization total of $11 billion.

Pahor says his country aims to become a small European version of California's Silicon Valley, creating lucrative conditions for partnerships with American companies by offering tax breaks and dismantling antiquated laws and regulations that could slow business.

"We're trying to present Slovenia as a small nation that doesn't have political problems with anyone, and which has a good image both regionally and in the international community," says Pahor.

Last Friday's daylong New York forum was organized by the Consulate General of Slovenia in New York and co-hosted by the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. American firms and investors were introduced to leaders in Slovenia's green-tech sector, including areas such as alternative energy, the automotive and transportation industries, engineering, and ecological building construction.

Even as the worldwide recession stresses Slovenia's resources -- with the 2009 GDP contracting by 8 percent -- its private entrepreneurs are forging ahead.

The RIKO housing manufacturer has developed prefabricated structures with the famed French designer Philippe Starck -- stylish homes powered by solar energy and constructed of wood that regulates humidity and provides natural insulation.

Uros Merc, president of solar panel firm Bisol, says his company is willing to spend up to $15 million to begin operating in the U.S. He noted that Slovenian businesses currently have a total of only about $19 million invested in the U.S.

Several other firms already have a U.S. foothold.

This year, Ekobase Global installed its LED lighting -- rated as some of the brightest and most efficient -- on the main street of the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix, Ariz., in addition to about 20 other U.S. locations.

Seaway is a top-notch boat manufacturer. Its new Greenline 33 -- just named European Powerboat of the Year -- is being marketed in the United States and dozens of other countries. Under a photovoltaic roof, the boat's hybrid drive is powered by battery-based electricity that emits no exhaust fumes, backed by a diesel engine.

In this first year of production, more than 100 were sold, including 10 in the United States. The price is $120,000.

Telargo is a producer of Web-based tools customized to manage mobile assets -- from vehicles, work force and equipment to cargo. Operating from its U.S. office in Jersey City, N.J., the company provides global positioning systems for vehicle navigation and other state-of-the-art services to companies like Fresh Direct, a New York food delivery company, and two automotive giants.
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Clearing up Slovenia's muck

Sep 23rd 2010, 11:04 by T.J. | LJUBLJANA  - The Economist

THE massive floods that have afflicted two thirds of Slovenia have begun to recede. Inevitably they will leave a lot of muck behind. That sounds familiar. In 2009, after 16 years of uninterrupted growth, Slovenia’s GDP shrank by 7.8%, a bigger fall than any other euro-zone country. Now, thanks to growth in key Slovene export markets like Germany, the economy is recovering. But the crisis seems to have left behind quite a lot of muck too.

Ever since the collapse of Yugoslavia, Slovenes have cultivated a reputation as dynamic, efficient and uncorrupt. That brand has been tarnished of late. In August, Janez Jansa, a former prime minister, was charged with corruption in connection with a deal to buy armoured vehicles from Finland. He says the charge is an attempt to smear him before next month’s local elections. In March, the minister of agriculture was arrested after being charged with corruption. In July Matej Lahovnik, the economy minister, resigned, accusing his party leader of acting unethically with regard to government tenders. “People should not get the feeling that there are different rules for those in power and for ordinary people”, he says.

Every day Slovene newspapers are full of accusations and innuendo. So it is little wonder, says Drago Kos, the outgoing head of the country's anti-corruption commission, that surveys show that public trust in government is declining. And Slovenia is not free of the organised crime that is such a problem elsewhere in the Balkans. In May, 15 suspected members of a notorious drugs gang were arrested in Ljubljana on suspicion of involvement in a huge international cocaine deal. This week the trial of the gang's alleged leader, Darko Saric, began, in his absence, in Belgrade.

Now Borut Pahor's government is faced with tough fights as it attempts to push through painful economic reforms. Health-care and the pensions system will be particularly contentious. In economic terms, says Samuel Zbogar, the foreign minister, “It’s the most difficult time in Slovenia for any government since independence.” There are demographic problems—Slovenia has one of the fastest ageing populations in Europe. And business is suffering. Several large companies have gone to the wall, including Merkur, a large retailer, just a week ago.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Zbogar is happier talking about his own portfolio, where the picture looks happier. In June a referendum approved an agreement made by the government with its Croatian counterpart to send a long-running territorial dispute to international arbitration. The prime ministers of the two countries also say they have agreed on a way to resolve a bitter banking row. Both rows could have seen Slovenia threaten to hold up Croatia’s EU accession process.

Slovenia now seems to have dumped its previous qualms about being associated with the former Yugoslavia. Up to 70% of Slovene foreign investments go to ex-Yugoslav states, and in July parliament passed a resolution declaring that the Western Balkans were a strategic priority. “We are definitely trying to drag Serbia and the others to the EU because it is in our interest,” says Vojko Volk, Slovenia’s ambassador to Croatia. Slovenia has no more prejudices about the Balkans, he says. “That’s over. It has been 20 years. We needed some time.”   

Readers' comments

vzdevek wrote:
Sep 23rd 2010 1:29 GMT

It is exactly because Slovenia distanced itself initally from the Balkans, to which it never belonged historically, that it was able to "cultivate a reputation as dynamic, efficient and uncorrupt."

But the immigration and refugee pressure from the ex-Yugoslav countries and its consequnces for the national character, along with vested Western interests, proved too powerful.

Today, 30% of Slovene citizens are not of Slovene nationality, the highest percentage in Europe. Even the language has started to change markedly, taking on more and more Serbo-Croatian features, not only considering the vernacular (the Serbo-Croatian speaking are a majority in the capital Ljubljana nowadays and have elected a mayor), but also in the public media, from major newspapers, to the state television.

This cultural change precipitated the economic and political one. The total lack of understanding of political and historical realities amongst the Slovene general population and its elites and absence of any clear national vision and programme has lead Slovenia onto a downward slope of total Balkanization, only 20 years after a historical chance for the survival of the nation opened with the independence. The Western culture has lost a valuable member of a thousand years due to blindness of political correctness and ignorance. This time, for good, I am afraid.

andym101 wrote:
Sep 27th 2010 9:19 GMT

I have visited Slovenia many times, both before and after its EU accession and the trend has seemed both clearly positive and from a significantly higher start point than the other ex-Yugo nations. Travelling from Italy to Slovenia the roads get better, however travelling past Slovenia through Croatia and into Serbia, the roads get worse, the agricultural machinery gets older and the graffiti gets worse.
I'd point out that the 15 were actually arrested in Slovenia, but presumably they spent a lot more time in Croatia and Serbia, where they were not arrested. And an excitable and innuendo ridden press is hardly different from the UK.

Slovenia will clean up its muck whether left by receding floodwaters or in its corridors of power. If only other countries in the region were as fastidious.

BTW It's nice to see an article specifically about this lovely country.
ICJ to rule on legality of Kosovo's independence
The International Court of Justice has begun ruling on the legality of Kosovo's 2008 secession from Serbia.

Kosovo's government says its independence is irreversible

22 July 2010
Judges are issuing a non-binding ruling on Serbia's claim that Kosovo's declaration of independence was a violation of its territorial integrity.

If the ICJ sides with Serbia, Kosovo could be pushed into negotiating a settlement. The opposite could see more countries recognising its independence.

Earlier, the US reaffirmed its "full support" for an independent Kosovo.

The commander of the Nato-led peacekeeping force meanwhile said its 10,000 troops were ready for any violence sparked by the ruling.

"On the field we don't have indications about nervousness, about any upcoming threat," said German General Markus Bentler of the Kosovo Protection force, K-for.

Serbian forces were driven out of Kosovo in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign aimed at halting the violent repression of the province's ethnic Albanians, who constituted 90% of its two million population.

Kosovo was then administered by the UN until February 2008, when its parliament voted to declare independence.

Most countries do not recognise Kosovo as independent, but it is thought others might do so if the ICJ decides in its favour.

So far 69 of the UN's 192 countries are in favour of recognition. They include the US, UK, neighbouring Albania and Croatia.

Those opposed include Russia, China and Bosnia.

The EU is not united on the issue - Spain and Greece are among five of its 27 members to be opposed.

Serbia still regards Kosovo as part of its territory and challenged its legality at the ICJ at The Hague.

At the start of the deliberations last December, Serbia's representatives argued that the move both challenged its sovereignty and undermined international law.

Kosovo's representatives meanwhile warned that any attempt to reverse its independence might spark further conflict.

STANCE ON RECOGNITION

69 of the UN's 192 countries have recognised Kosovo's independence.

   * Among those for: US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Turkey, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia
   * Among those against: Serbia, Russia, China, India, Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus, Bosnia


'Moment of truth'

Although non-binding, the court's ruling will provide a framework for diplomats to try to establish a working relationship between Serbia and Kosovo.

The dispute remains an obstacle to Serbia's hopes of joining the EU, and has hindered Kosovo's ability to attract foreign investment. Parts of northern Kosovo also remain tensely divided between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, and clashes occasionally erupt.


The ruling will also be closely watched by several other countries facing secessionist challenges themselves, such as China and Spain.

"The first and foremost consideration for any democratic government in the world is the preservation of its own sovereignty and territorial integrity," Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the BBC.

"We do expect that the court is not going to endorse the legality of the unilateral act of secession, because if they do so then no border anywhere in the world where a secessionist ambition is harboured will ever be safe."

During a meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci in Washington on Wednesday, US Vice-President Joe Biden "reaffirmed the United States' full support for an independent, democratic, whole, and multi-ethnic Kosovo whose future lies firmly within European and Euro-Atlantic institutions", the White House said in a statement.

Mr Biden also "reiterated the United States' firm support for Kosovo's sovereignty and territorial integrity," it added.

A senior US official told reporters that it was confident the ICJ would rule in favour of Kosovo's declaration of independence.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Belgrade says Serbia has called this "the moment of truth", and whatever the outcome it will be historic - the first time the ICJ has ruled on a case of territorial secession.

Carantha comments on:
ICJ to rule on legality of Kosovo's independence:

The ICJ's decision, that the declaration of independence of Kosovo from Serbia, in the sense of international law was not illegal, was a tremendous blow for Serbia. More precisely said, it was a blow for Belgrade and its great-Serbian policy, hegemony, expansionism and militarism. Furthermore, comments made by several mass medias, that this decision could have far-reaching implications for other separatist movements around the world, could be true.
In several federal states, it is true, people face exclusion and discrimination, and they oppose to the supremacy of the leading nations and their capitals, for example: Flemish towards Brussels, or Scots towards London, or Occitans (Southern France) and Bretons towards Paris… In Spain, Catalonia, the richest province in the federal state, declared itself a nation.

In this regard, Slovenia can set an example. At the end of WW1, Slovenians, because of Vienna pan-German policy, had to abandon Austria, which already at that time was a “jail of nations”. They entered “brotherly” Yugoslavia (Southern Slavia), where they had to tolerate great-Serbian unitarianism and hegemony and centralism of Belgrade, which seriously threatened their existence. Therefore, in 1991, Slovenia declared its independence. And it is not very likely, that a new Yugoslavia could be revived under the name of “Western Balkans”.
  
Slovenia May Need Budget Review on Greek Aid Payment (Update1)

May 2, 2010

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Slovenia will probably have to review its 2010 budget because of the cost of its portion of the European Union's bailout loan to Greece, according to the government's chief economic forecaster Bostjan Vasle.

Slovenia's share in the loan pool for debt-stricken Greece will increase to 384 million euros ($508 million), or 0.48 percent of the 80 billion euros total amount, from an initial estimate of 144 million euros. The decision needs approval from Slovenian lawmakers which are set to vote on the issue next month, according to the Finance Ministry.

"Slovenia may review government spending because the amount we may have to pay to Greece is so much higher," Bostjan Vasle told reporters in Ljubljana today.

Finance Ministers from the 16-member euro region approved a 80 billion euro aid package for Greece, with another 30 billion euros pledged from the International Monetary Fund. Slovenia's budget gap widened to 5.7 percent of gross domestic product last year from 1.8 percent a year earlier, an April report from the EU said. The gap this year will also be at 5.7 percent, the report said.

All euro region members must cut the swelling shortfalls to below 3 percent of GDP by 2013 after spending unprecedented amounts of money to shore up the financial system and spur economic growth in the wake of the worst post-war recession in Europe.

--Editor: Hellmuth Tromm.

So viel Geld sollen die anderen Euro-Staaten Griechenland leihen

Die Länder der Euro-Zone werden von Griechenland angepumpt. So teilen sich die Euro-Länder die Kredite in diesem Jahr auf:

Germany: 8,259 Milliarden Euro
Frankreich: 6,290 Milliarden Euro (20,97 %)
Italien: 5,527 Milliarden Euro (18,42 %)
Spanien: 3,673 Milliarden Euro (12,24 %)
Niederlande: 1,764 Milliarden Euro (5,88 %)
Belgien: 1,073 Milliarden Euro (3,58 %)
Österreich: 0,859 Milliarden Euro (2,86 %)
Portugal: 0,774 Milliarden Euro (2,58 %)
Finnland: 0,555 Milliarden Euro (1,85 %)
Irland: 0,491 Milliarden Euro (1,64 %)
Slowakei: 0,307 Milliarden Euro (1,02 %)
Slowenien: 0,145 Milliarden Euro (0,48 %)
Luxemburg: 0,077 Milliarden Euro (0,26 %)
Zypern: 0,061 Milliarden Euro (0,20 %)
Malta: 0,028 Milliarden Euro (0,09 %)
Quelle: Europäische Zentralbank, zit. nach dpa, 23.4.2010


Wo Athen Geld verschwendet

Griechenland hat sich mit der EU und dem Internationalen Währungsfonds auf ein Hilfspaket geeinigt. Das südeuropäische Land hat in der Vergangenheit viel Geld verschwendet, was zu der schweren Schuldenkrise geführt hat. Beispiele für die Vergeudung öffentlicher Gelder...

Pensionsregelungen

Unverheiratete oder geschiedene Töchter von Beschäftigten des öffentlichen Dienstes erhalten nach dem Tod ihrer Eltern deren Pension. Etwa 40.000 Frauen profitieren von dieser Regelung, die jährlich etwa 550 Millionen Euro kostet.
Staatsbediensteten genießen nicht nur Kündigungsschutz, sondern können auch schon vor Erreichen des 50. Lebensjahres in den Ruhestand gehen und eine Pension beziehen. Diese großzügige Regelung ist ein Grund dafür, dass die staatlichen Rentenausgaben viel schneller steigen als in anderen EU-Ländern.

Boni

Staatsbedienstete können durch diverse Boni bis zu 1300 Euro pro Monat hinzuverdienen. Extrageld gibt es beispielsweise für die Nutzung eines Computers, das Beherrschen einer Fremdsprache oder das pünktliche Erscheinen am Arbeitsplatz. Forstbedienstete erhalten einen Bonus für das Arbeiten im Freien.

14 Monatsgehälter

Alle Beschäftigten in Griechenland beziehen 14 Monatsgehälter. Ein halbes Monatsgehalt gibt es zu Ostern obendrauf, ein weiteres im Sommer. Das 14. Gehalt bekommen die Staatsbediensteten zu Weihnachten, wovon ein Teil der Wirtschaft profitiert: Taxis, Restaurants und Friseure dürfen dann legal eine Sondergebühr als „Weihnachtsgeschenk" erheben.
Die Regierung hat bereits die meisten Bonuszahlungen um zwölf Prozent gekürzt, das Weihnachts- und Ostergeld sogar um 30 Prozent. Das spart etwa 1,7 Milliarden Euro.


Freiflüge

Die Gewerkschaften verhinderten jahrelang die Privatisierung der überschuldeten Fluggesellschaft Olympic Airways. Das kostete die Steuerzahler Millionen, während die Beschäftigten großzügige Privilegien genießen: Ihre Familien können mit der Airline kostenlos um den Globus fliegen.

Staatsbetriebe

Der Staat besitzt 74 Unternehmen, vorwiegend Versorger und Transportfirmen. Viele davon beschäftigen zu viele Mitarbeiter und schreiben Verluste, kritisiert die OECD. Allein die größte Bahngesellschaft mit ihren mehr als 9000 Mitarbeitern fuhr 2008 ein Minus von 800 Millionen Euro ein.
Die Regierung hat versichert, Staatsunternehmen zu verschmelzen und sich von Beteiligungen zu trennen.

Gremienwahn

Eine griechische Eigenheit ist die Existenz von Hunderten staatlich berufener Gremien – wobei oft unklar ist, warum sie bestehen. So gibt es eine Kommission, die den See Kopais verwalten soll. Der ist allerdings schon in den dreißiger Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts ausgetrocknet.
Die Gremien sollen insgesamt mehr als 10.000 Mitarbeiter beschäftigen und kosten mehr als 100 Millionen Euro jährlich.
Die Regierung hat versprochen, mindestens 200 Kommissionen zusammenzulegen oder aufzulösen.

Verteidigungsausgaben

Griechenlands Rüstungsausgaben sind wegen der Spannungen mit dem Erzrivalen Türkei größer als die der anderen EU-Länder: Ihr Anteil am Bruttoinlandsprodukt lag 2007 und 2009 bei sechs Prozent.

Insgesamt steckte das klamme Land 14 Milliarden Euro jährlich in die Landesverteidigung, fast 80 Prozent davon wurden für Verwaltung und Personal ausgegeben.

Für 2010 ist ein Etat von nur noch 6,7 Milliarden Euro vorgesehen.

Für Waffekäufe sollen in diesem Jahr maximal 1,8 Milliarden Euro auszugeben werden.

(Quelle: Reuters (Stand: 3. Mai 2010)
  
European Union caution!
Post-Communism is showing its colours and unity of its members!
Is it Serbian attempt of Balkanization of Slovenian land or Protest against the European Union?

Why is Slovenia going red?

Who is responsible for this red demonstration?

Slovenia is an independent country which has gained its Independence with strong support of Western allies.
Is it not possible to demonstrate without the colours of Communism? Why should the Reds try to revive it? The Berlin Wall has fallen and Slovenian labour is paid with Euro money and not with unstable Balkan Dinars. Demonstrating in red will not create jobs or bring more Euros.





South Stream Gas Pipeline
  
The Enigmatic Putin
Carantha comments:
At the time, when the soccer match between Russia - Slovenia took place in Maribor on October 19, 2009, Russia and Slovenia signed an agreement on the South Stream gas pipeline project, which will pass through Slovenia in direction Italy. It was a very important contract for Slovenia. Russia, on the other hand, cannot be considered a true partner from the past, because of the pan-Slav ideology of the Slav brotherhood, the way it was imagined initially by many Slovenians. The past has taught, that this type of “brotherhood” brought to Slovenia the Communist ideology and regime. And what will it bring in the future? Slovenia must rely on its own proper forces.  Below we have copied a critical article about Russia, a great power, but still far from a modern nation.

Posted on Sept. 18, 2006
By Donna D’Aleo

The Enigmatic Putin

Whatever you think of Russian President Vladimir Putin personally, you have to admit that he has a great poker face and puts on quite a show. At this year’s G8 summit held in St. Petersburg, Russia came across as a formidable player that had earned a place on the world stage, and Putin reinforced the country’s dominance of energy security politics through his leadership role in passing the “St. Petersburg Plan of Action on Global Energy Security.” At the same time, Putin largely managed to avoid the expected criticism over the fate of Russian democracy and capitalism, when the crisis in the Middle East provided a temporary distraction. Rest assured. This July, St. Petersburg may not have been a Potemkin village, but at the same time, today’s Kremlin is not nearly as solid and threatening as the western media – or Vladimir Putin himself – portray it.

Today’s image of Russia is one of both an increasingly threatening Kremlin and a powerful, repressive head of state in Putin. Both foreign policy and domestic reforms are met with distrust and disdain from abroad, and more often than not, Vladimir Putin is a synonym for Kremlin power. Other writers in these pages espouse this idea. In my view it is greatly overstated.

There are areas in which Putin and his closest Kremlin allies exercise enormous power, both formally and informally. Yet overall, Putin’s power is more inconsistent than either strong or weak. In spite of his efforts, the situation in today’s Russia resembles more a sort of “Fragmented Presidentialism” than a “Managed Democracy.” In spite of his formal powers, Putin is vulnerable in many areas from inside the Kremlin. Thus, Putin is paradoxically both David and Goliath.

Even if the Putinite regime is more reminiscent of the Tsarist period than a “modern-day democracy,” a popular contention in western political circles, let us not forget that the last Tsar and his family were lined up and shot by power-consolidating revolutionaries. Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was overthrown by his own advisors in a coup, and Gorbachev did not leave office on a happy note. In other words, it is not the size of your power that matters, it’s what you can do with it.

Early Attempts at Consolidation

Putin started his first presidential term as a lightning rod for both criticism and hope, but when it came to his ability to accomplish any needed substantive reforms, he initially had little actual power beyond Moscow. Consolidating power was one of the top priorities of his first term, and today, the Kremlin has gathered enough to dominate certain strategic aspects of the state. Specifically, these include (but are not limited to) foreign policy, the “strategic management of natural resources” (primarily oil and gas), and fiscal policies.

As head of state, Putin yields a tremendous amount of power over foreign policy decision-making. This was evident in his response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, where he went against all of his advisors’ recommendations by phoning President Bush and pledging his unconditional support, solely based on his own instinct. This move notably altered U.S.-Russian foreign policy, at least for several years.

Putin’s diplomatic style is to use whatever assets he can to cover for the country’s international political and economic shortcomings. This extends beyond the use of Russia’s energy resources and often has to do with rather fortuitous timing. The terrorist assault in Beslan came to a horrific end on September 3, 2004. On September 16, Putin announced a major federal reform program, including a change in the way Duma representatives would be elected and an overhaul of federal-regional electoral procedures. Putin was vilified by western governments and activists – both in and outside Russia – who considered these reforms the death blow to the country’s nascent democracy. However, around September 27th, Vladimir Putin (conveniently) announced to the world that Russia had finally decided to proceed with ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, which needed just one more signatory to go into effect. Suddenly the roaring criticism of Putin dropped off to a whimper. Ironically, by enacting the agreement, Russia is expected to receive billions of dollars, hardly a sacrifice. Thanks to the timely use of Kyoto, Putin became the darling to a community that days before had considered him a demon, simply by signing a lucrative international agreement aiming to address a problem that even many in the Russian Academy of Science believe is based on dubious science.

It is well known that Russia’s place in the international community is due in large part to its dual arsenals of various natural resources and nuclear weapons. The strategic political and economic use of energy at home and abroad has been at the heart of Kremlin policies since the Soviet era. A tremendous circulation of elites between Gazprom and the Kremlin has essentially rendered the gas monopoly a distinct branch of the government. Today, there is even speculation that Putin himself will chair the behemoth after completing his second term in office. This is a typical scenario.

Divisions in the Power Structure

For decades, natural resource wealth has proven to be Russia’s diplomatic trump card and the state’s domestic economic crutch. Yet power over the industry is accumulating in a highly divided Kremlin, where the lack of consensus contributes to an increasing instability. There are multiple cliques with their own unique ideas about what to do with this power, which explains the often conflicting policies of the state, and points to the very different paths that Russia could take over the coming decades.

Beyond the figurehead of President Putin, there are said to be two loosely-based dueling Kremlin clans that dominate, the siloviki and the liberals. At the risk of oversimplification, the big difference between the two is that the siloviki want a strong Russia, believe that is best achieved by top-down guidance with a firm state hand, and are willing to use extreme measures in this pursuit. The liberals are western-oriented, more concerned with a strong Russian economy, and emphasize the invisible hand of the market, assuming that political and social stability will inevitably follow.

Besides the struggle for primacy in the Kremlin, the main divisive issue between the siloviki and the liberals is probably the direction of state control in the future over various aspects of the natural resource sector. Both generally support the partial re-nationalization of natural resources but differ on how to go about it. The liberals contend that any re-nationalization should be done legally, gradually, and when possible, informally, in order to avoid damaging investor confidence and impeding entrepreneurial freedom. They would prefer to see the state, or state-affiliated financial industrial groups, buy shares on the market rather than having them seized. Of course, this is in large part because the liberals stand to profit, as this group represents the oligarchy and big business. The attitude of the siloviki is that, since privatization was a semi-illegitimate disaster, “strategic” enterprises, especially in the energy sector, should be returned to state control by whatever means necessary. (It should be noted that multiple population polls show that the majority of Russians agree.) The siloviki are said to be the masterminds behind the Khodorkovsky affair and the seizure of Yukos, and increasingly seem more united in their tactics than they are in their worldviews. One can assume that they lobbied rather hard for the tax increase on energy exports and production, and that they consider property rights to be essentially another layer of bureaucracy.

The liberal faction’s objectives coincide best with western corporate interests. This said, they may be the leaders of privatization, but are not categorically champions of economic freedom and market values. One is hard-pressed to think of any privatizations thus far that have truly been transparent and fair. Vladimir Potanin’s brainchild, the 1995 Loans for Shares scheme, was a wild misappropriation of Russia’s natural wealth, done ostensibly with Yeltsin’s full consent. Now imprisoned, Mikhail Khodorkovsky used the Rosprom-Menatep Bank to buy Yukos for a mere $159 million. Sibneft was sold for $100 million and Sidanko for $130 million. The 1997 Svyazinvest privatization scandal led to the beginning of the end for Russian television’s autonomy. Russia’s large-scale privatizations have all been virtual formalities as political-economic forces negotiate the outcomes behind the scenes in advance. There was no truly fair way to privatize without selling Russia’s own lifeblood to foreign corporations. We should not be shocked when history keeps repeating itself; there have been no angels among any of the elites.

Today, with three or four major exceptions, the oligarchs are not gone – they just enter the Kremlin through the back door. According to one estimate done in October 2005, just 22 people own roughly 40 percent of the Russian national economy.

The Russian government cannot afford too much of a monopoly position given the massive infrastructure investments that will be required, including the addition of new pipelines and repairs to old failing ones. Thus Lukoil, for example, is best kept tied to the Kremlin in more informal ways. As long as it continues to play by “the rules,” there is no reason to believe the Russian government would formally interfere with its business. At times, Lukoil has seemed to steer the Kremlin’s policy choices. A big factor in Russia’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq was the $3.5-billion agreement between a consortium of three Russian companies and Iraq to develop Iraq’s West Qurna oil fields. The companies stood to lose their investment if Saddam was ousted. This also explains Putin’s quick turnabout after the invasion, and his attempts to maintain private-company property rights to the oil field via post-invasion diplomacy and cooperation with the U.S.

Regional differences in power structures and massive corruption also dictate that neither Putin nor his Kremlin are as powerful as they seem from the outside. Writing and passing laws is one thing, successful implementation is another. Regardless of the leadership’s intentions, there are very real constraints on what can and cannot be changed, for better or for worse. If the state were to try and close the gap between the dual pricing system, the increase in costs would likely lead to riots in the street. This is not such an unlikely scenario. The Kremlin quickly reversed course on reform in 2005 when the monetization of pension benefits sparked massive nationwide protests.

Without solutions to several nagging domestic problems, the future will be bleak for Russia. Sectoral diversification and an increase in the number of small- and medium-sized enterprises are needed if Russia wants a stable economy. Physical infrastructure to provide citizens water and heat (among other things) is desperately in need of development and repair. The country is literally falling apart. The financial and commercial banking sector should be diversified and developed, as most banks are subsidiaries of financial-industrial conglomerates and do not offer services to the public. Legal reforms must be made, implemented, and expanded. Russian citizenship needs to be something worth having, which requires educational, health-care, pension, housing, and property-rights reforms, to name just a few. Only when these tasks are accomplished will the country stand a chance against collapsing under the weight of its looming demographic crisis. The many faces of corruption must be addressed, since this undermines the legitimacy of the state, among other things. Resource wealth is of limited use in the long-run unless other complementary goals are achieved, particularly in the domestic realm.
  
New Partner for South Stream
The St. Petersburg Times
November 17, 2009

Putin and Pahor watching their national teams playing a 2010 World Cup qualifying match in Moscow on Saturday.
(Reuters)
By Stephen Bierman and Anna Shiryaevskaya. Bloomberg

MOSCOW — Slovenia became the latest European country to join Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project on Saturday, signing an agreement which paves the way for Russian gas to reach European markets.

The accord followed talks between Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and was signed by Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and Slovenian Economy Minister Matej Lahovnik.

Slovenia joins Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Greece as a partner in the onshore section of South Stream, which is designed to boost Russian gas supplies to western markets while bypassing Ukraine. The 900-kilometer (560-mile) pipe, due to deliver gas by the end of 2015 and being built in partnership by Gazprom and Italy’s Eni SpA, will run under the Black Sea to the Balkans, where it will split into northern and southern routes.

“We have today signed the final agreement among all European partners needed for completion of this project,” said Putin at the signing ceremony in Moscow. The project will enable Russian gas to reach Italy, where Eni is headquartered.

Slovenia, which buys about 600 million cubic meters of the fuel a year from Gazprom, was among the Balkan countries affected by the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. The Adriatic nation now wants to avoid further disruption by diversifying energy sources.

“This agreement for us will be a very important event,” said Pahor.

The Slovenian section of the South Stream pipeline will be able to carry as much as 10 billion cubic meters a year, Lahovnik said Thursday in Ljubljana. The Russian gas-export monopoly and the Slovenian gas distributor Geoplin Plinovodi will form a joint venture to operate the pipeline with each company owning a 50 percent stake that will operate in line with European Union legislation, according to Lahovnik.

The cost of the project in Slovenia will be known in the next two years when the feasibility study is completed. Petrol Group, Slovenia’s largest energy group, may also benefit from increased gas flows through the country, according to former chief executive officer Marko Kryzanowski.

South Stream may compete with the planned Nabucco pipeline, backed by the European Union, which is designed to bring gas from the Caspian and Middle East to Austria through Turkey. It aims to start operations in 2014.

The South Stream agreement was signed hours before Russia and Slovenia met on the soccer field for their World Cup playoff.

?? Slovakia said Friday that it was upset by slow progress in its talks with Russia over new gas storage and guarantees of supply stability after suffering badly in January during a gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev, Reuters reported.

Slovakian Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek said his government asked Gazprom Export to prepare a document to outline anti-crisis measures but has had no response so far.

“We don’t know whether the documents are being prepared to prevent the crisis from repeating,” he told reporters after meeting Russian officials. “The second goal is to increase the security of Slovakia’s gas storage, and here we don’t have clarity either.

A standoff between Russia and Ukraine led to a halt of Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine for two weeks in January, and Slovakia was among the hardest hit.

See South Stream and Nabucco pipeline routes

Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Greece have alrady agreed to take part in South Stream, which will deliver gas from Central Asia and Russia to Central Europe and Italy through the Balkans.

The EU imports a quarter of its natural gas from Russia, mostly via Ukraine.

But disputes between Kiev and Moscow have disrupted supplies to Europe in recent years.
Slovenia - Croatia border dispute
  
Nacional
Zagreb, September 15, 2009

TRUCE AMERICAN STYLE
Americans bring down Slovene blockade

Comments to the Secretary of State

TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS have acknowledged that it was the US that in March dealt the first blow to the Slovenians, which continued when Hillary Clinton met with Samuel Zbogar.

HILLARY CLINTON Barack Obama's Secretary of State
was explicit in demanding an end to the blockade

The United States played the central role in the diplomatic pressure exerted on Slovenia. The Americans dealt the first blow to the Slovenians in March, and continued when Hillary Clinton met with Samuel Zbogar in Washington, and over the past weeks diplomatic activities have been additionally stepped up and Borut Pahor's government had to back down, a high-ranking diplomatic source at the Croatian Foreign Ministry confirmed for Nacional. A significant role in unblocking the negotiations was also played by Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Carl Bildt, Jadranka Kosor and Gordan Jandrokovic, but even among top Government officials they now acknowledge that the negotiations with the European Union would still be at a standstill had the US not gotten involved. Washington began pressuring the Slovenians in the early spring, when they tried to thwart Croatian accession to NATO.

From the US perspective this kind of Slovenian policy, on the long term, threatened to worsen the political situation in Southeastern Europe, where Croatia has the role of the country that should secure stability. It has reaffirmed this by sending troops to Afghanistan, and by recognising Kosovo's independence in March of 2008. Of particular importance is Croatian Government's complete departure from Tudjman's policy towards Bosnia & Herzegovina, which, de facto, boiled down to an attempt to carve up the neighbouring country. The Sanader administration adopted a diametrically opposed position and completely rejected the idea of revitalising Herceg-Bosna, the entity championed by the Croatian political right. This position significantly contributed to improving Croatian-American relations, and the US pressure on Slovenia. What the US position on the matter was became evident on 30 July when Hillary Clinton and Samuel Zbogar met in Washington. Hillary Clinton was explicit then in demanding the talks be unblocked, which was evident from the official statements after the meeting with Zbogar. "The United States hopes for a resolution to the dispute between Croatia and Slovenia. Obviously, the two prime ministers are going to be meeting on Friday, and we are hopeful that the matter will be resolved to the benefit of both countries," said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
  
Hillary Clinton:

The United States played the central role in the diplomatic pressure exerted on Slovenia… From the US perspective this kind of Slovenian policy, on the long term, threatened to worsen the political situation in Southeastern Europe, where Croatia has the role of the country that should secure stability. It has reaffirmed this by sending troops to Afghanistan, and by recognising Kosovo's independence… Says the Nacional (Zagreb).

Comments to the Secretary of State:

September 23, 2009

As we all know, Slovenia did the same thing (Afghanistan, Kosovo) and one asks himself, why should only Croatia play “the role of the country that would secure stability?" It is clear that the USA is interested in stability and security in both states, Croatia and Slovenia. And this is not because of sending troops to Afghanistan… but because of the geopolitical balance in Europe, i.e., between Eastern (Russia) and Western Europe.

Today it is evident, that Serbia, through its secret service, already gained the mastery over Croatia and Slovenia. Its aim is to establish the third Yugoslavia under the new name ”Western Balkans”. The western Masonry, in England, France, Italy… sustain this objective. Thus, independent Slovenia sets a good example for other European nations without a proper state, like: Catalonia, Veneto, Scotland, Flanders…

The definitive Serbian occupation of Slovenia and Croatia – because Serbia is and will be an inseparable ally of Russia – would overthrow the present-day balance of forces in Europe. It is possible that this is already happening, because the USA did not realize the problem in its core.

September 27, 2009

It is certain, that Hillary Clinton, Obama's Secretary of State, cannot understand the political situation in many parts of the world, where the USA would like to assure peace to the world. Like her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, her individual decisions are bound to the staff of consultants.  And it is evident, that they never became acquainted with the very circumstances of the individual states where conflicts are occurring, like it was in ex-Yugoslavia. They evidently knew the state but not its very internal problems, in which they were not seriously interested.

In this way, the breakup of Yugoslavia was a complete surprise to the United States and to the »consultants« of the Secretary of State. Still today, they are unable to recognize the true situation in the Balkans. It is evident, that the political face of (Western) Europe is changing gradually, even though the EU is trying to maintain the status quo by giving to nations like Scotland, Catalonia etc., only the status of cultural entities. In the future, not only the EU but also the USA will be confronted with another political image of the ancient continent. The image, which now is still covered by the mass-media in the hands of individual capitalistic groups.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

September 24, 2009

Comment from one of our Carantha readers on:
Truce American Style

With regards to the story about Hillary Clinton representing the U.S. in the "brokered" truce between Slovenia and Croatia and the latter being labelled as "...the country that would secure stability"....the U.S., on its road to Global control is once again doing what it has always done - courting fascist and or formerly fascist states and heaping praise on their "peaceful" roles.

Slovenia has been used as a pawn in the biggest game plan to come- the breakup of Russia.

Wake up and smell the coffee Slovenia-outsiders are no friends.
Oliver Obad


  
Obrezje Journal
Slovenia Border Spat Imperils Croatia’s NATO Bid

Planters mark the border between Obrezje, Slovenia, foreground, and Bregana, Croatia —
and between a NATO and European Union member and a nonmember.  

By DAN BILEFSKY
March 22, 2009

OBREZJE, Slovenia — Customers at Kalin, a rustic, 180-year-old tavern, can eat roast pork dinners here in Slovenia, step a few yards across the room to Croatia to use the bathroom, saunter back to Slovenia to pay the bill and end their meal on Croatian soil over a game of billiards and a shot of local pear brandy.


In the poolroom of Sasha Kalin’s tavern, a line marks the border.
In the Balkans, he says, “every little piece of land counts.”

They can do so because of the vagaries of history and an accident of geography. To prevent any confusion, Sasha Kalin, the tavern’s 36-year-old owner, has painted a fluorescent-yellow line across the floor to delineate the very spot, next to a pool table, where the border between Slovenia and Croatia bisects the property.

Tipsy customers who step outside and accidentally walk through a row of plants in concrete pots demarcating the border are stopped by unsmiling and armed Croatian border guards.

“This is the Balkans, so every little piece of land counts,” said Mr. Kalin, whose father is a Slovene and whose mother is a Croat, and who woke up one day in May 2004 to find that the Slovenian half of his restaurant was in the European Union and the Croatian half was not.

Where Slovenia ends and Croatia begins might appear to be an arcane regional concern. But it has suddenly taken on geopolitical significance, with a border dispute dating to the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s now threatening to stall the eastward push of the European Union and NATO.

The conflict involves a sea border the length of several football fields and a handful of tiny villages in the northern Istrian Peninsula. While hard to untangle for the uninitiated, it is deadly serious for proud Slovenes and Croats in a region long plagued by bloody conflicts over land.

The neighbors both lay claim to an area in the Bay of Piran.

At issue are rival claims to an area in the Bay of Piran that includes about eight square miles of the Adriatic Sea. Croatia wants the border drawn down the middle of the bay, but Slovenia objects, saying that a simple division of the bay would impede its ships from direct passage to the high seas.

Paradoxically, although the region was embroiled in wars in the 1990s, Slovenia and Croatia, both parts of the former Yugoslavia, have never fought a war with each other. While they have distinct languages, the two were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and share a Roman Catholic religious identity.

Yet a rivalry persists. Slovenes, who pride themselves on their Central European work ethic, depict Croats as lawless, lazy and excessively nationalistic. Croats, in turn, make fun of Slovenes as haughty and humorless. They also mock Slovenia for its tiny size.

Slovenia was the first former Yugoslav nation to join the European Union, in 2004, and it was the first formerly Communist country to adopt the euro. Croatia is eager to join the European Union, but Slovenia moved in December to stall Croatia’s bid.

Unless the stalemate is broken in the next few weeks, Croatia is unlikely to complete membership talks by the end of the year, throwing into doubt the future of the union’s expansion in the western Balkans.

The disagreement also threatens to derail an element of NATO’s 60th-anniversary celebrations next month in Strasbourg, France, when Croatia and Albania are expected to be admitted to the alliance.

While the government of Slovenia insists that it supports Croatia’s NATO accession, the Party of the Slovenian Nation, a nationalist group, is racing to gather the 40,000 signatures necessary to force a referendum on Croatia’s NATO bid. If a referendum takes place and voters say no, Slovenia’s government could be forced to block Croatia’s entry.

“Slovenia is misusing its position as a member of the E.U. and thinks it can blackmail us,” Tomislav Jakic, a foreign policy adviser to President Stjepan Mesic of Croatia, said in an interview. “But our bottom line is that we are not ready to pay for our accession to the E.U. with our territory.”

Mr. Jakic said the free passage of Slovene ships through Croatian water was assured under international law, contending that this rendered Slovenia’s claims meaningless.

Iztok Mirosic, the coordinator for Croatia at the Slovenian Foreign Ministry, said, however, that Slovenia had always had “direct contact” with the high seas while it was part of Yugoslavia, and that retaining this right was a matter of principle.

Moreover, he said, Croatia, and not Slovenia, initially linked the border dispute to entry talks.

“’We don’t want to block Croatia from joining the E.U.,” he said, “but we will have to unless we can reach a compromise.”

Borut Grgic, founder of the Institute for Strategic Studies in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, argued that both sides were exploiting the squabble to help forge national identity in their young countries, but he warned that it could create a dangerous precedent.

“Slovenia is now making things difficult for Croatia,” he said. “Then if Croatia joins, it will make things difficult for Serbia, and then Serbia will block Kosovo. As a result of this dispute, the whole region can take a step back.”

Here in Obrezje, Slovenia, and across the room in Bregana, Croatia, the battle over land has fanned strong emotions. When Yugoslavia was dissolved in 1991, a border was erected along a meandering stream, formalizing the division between the towns.

Today, some Croats still dine at Kalin, but Mr. Kalin lamented that freshly resurgent nationalism was keeping many people away — along with the nuisance of having to show their passports every time they crossed the border.

On a rainy afternoon, two bored border guards from Slovenia sat outside the restaurant. They could smell the roast pork inside but dared not enter.

“We never go to eat there,” said one, declining to give his name. “If we did, we might accidentally step onto Croatian territory and cause an international incident.”

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the reporter.

Eugene Brcic contributed reporting from Zagreb, Croatia.

  

Zagreb, March 12, 2009
Croatia has no need of a tottering EU

(And Slovenia? - Carantha's Observation)

Autor: Maroje Mihoviloviæ, Marko Biocina

The refusal of wealth nations to finance the collapsed economies of their neighbours to the east threatens to break the European Union into two blocs

Affected by the economic recession the European Union is facing what could be the greatest crisis in its history. Economic woes have resulted in a growing number of disagreements among the member states. Many in Europe now feel that the rejection by the wealthy states to finance the economic recovery of the poorer nations, mostly in the east of Europe, could bring about the break up of the European Union into two blocs. The foundations of this dispute lie in the unhappiness of some countries with the way the Union is structured.

THE FINANCIAL ELITE Bank of England governor Mervyn King, British Finance Minister Alistair Darling, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück.

Because they make the greatest financial contributions to the Union, Germany and France feel that they deserve greater authorities in running it. On the other hand the smaller states are unwilling to give up their powers and expect the Union to help them fight the recession. In the future this situation could result in significant problems in the internal functioning and structure of the EU. This possibility is a great problem for Croatia, currently negotiating its accession to the European Union. In these negotiations Croatia will undertake numerous obligations, many of which will be to its detriment. However, if the relations within the Union and the system on the basis of which it functions change, all of the obligations Croatia undertakes in the negotiations could prove harmful in the long run. The problem is that Croatia today can hardly foresee the shape of the Union after 2012 when it is expected to join. That is why Croatian Government, in the event of further disruptions in the European Union, should seriously reconsider its long-term political goals. If the trend towards economic protectionism in the European Union, now very evident, continues, Croatia too should adapt its policies to the protection of the domestic economy. At this moment protectionism is seriously undermining the stability of the European Union.

The decision by Bank of England governor Mervyn King to start printing money in an attempt to alleviate the affects of the recession in Britain could further impair already tense relations among the European Union's member states. Printing money will result in inflation in Britain and a drop in the value of the British pound against the euro. That will mean that all British products and services will cost less on most of the foreign markets they are exported to, while products of the Eurozone countries will become less competitive on the British market. That is why many economists fear that this policy in Great Britain could further deepen the recession in the rest of the European Union.
And while it is a unilateral move, one Britain opted for without any consultation with the other member countries, there were few European politicians who criticised this behaviour on the part of the British. The reason is that over the past few months the governments of other large EU member states, such as Germany, France and Italy, have also begun leading very independent economic policies, avoiding an arrangement and joint anti-recession measures with all the countries that make up the Union.
The latest example of this kind of political doctrine was displayed at the European Union summit held at the beginning of this month in Brussels. And although one of the top items on the agenda was possible aid to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe who have been hardest hit by the recession, there was in the end no agreement on any such assistance package. The chief opponents of this kind of joint assistance plan were in fact Germany and France, the EU's most powerful members. And although the situation in the east of Europe is perilous to the economic stability of the entire Union, France and Germany are unwilling at this moment to bear the cost of financial aid to other countries, but rather consider fighting recession within their own borders a priority. That is why these two countries have already begun introducing various measures limiting access to their markets or, contrary to current EU rules, providing direct assistance to their companies.
This brand of economic protectionism could in the future result in significant political changes in the European Union. If the recession does last, it can be expected that a growing number of European states will begin to introduce these measures, and with that kind of policy it is hard to believe that the European Union, a community founded on the idea of a common free market and the equality of big and small countries and nations, can function. Jyoti Gupta, an Indian economist who has worked for years as a consultant for some of the best known global financial and political institutions such as the World Bank and the European Commission, is now a lecturer at the ESCP-EAP business school in London and Paris, and is a frequent guest lecturer in other countries, including Croatia, where he lectures at the Cotrugli Business Academy in Zagreb. Gupta feels that we can expect a significant rise in protectionism in Europe, one in which large European states will dominate.
"Every European country has its own problems at this point in time, and based on that its own specific political plan. The governments of the big countries such as Germany, France and Britain have judged at this moment that, if they wish to stay in power, they must first address the problems in their own countries. The chief goal of every government is to try to save as many jobs as they can, and to do so governments are trying to use political measures to protect domestic companies and the domestic economy. I think that it is quite unrealistic at this point in time to expect European countries to act in concert on these issues, especially if it concerns assistance to sectors of the economy that employ many people and where there is a significant possibility of a massive rise in unemployment. The governments of these countries are very much aware that these measures are not in line with current rules, but it appears to me that they believe that at this point in time that they have no choice," said Gupta.
It is not difficult to understand why the heads of the large European countries wish at this point in time to protect domestic industry. France, Germany and Italy are now faced with the greatest economic duress in decades, and the situation could soon become much worse. Germany is the economically most powerful country in Europe, but the fact that this country generates as much as 50 percent of its GDP via exports now appears to be a problem. The recession has caused a drop in the purchasing power of most of the markets German companies exported to and that is currently Germany's biggest problem. As early as by the last quarter of 2008 industrial production in Germany had fallen by 6.8 percent, the greatest single quarterly drop since 1965. In this kind of situation the German government expects a negative economic growth of 3 percent, a drop in the GDP of 2.25 percent and at least 500 thousand job losses. Nevertheless, many economists say that these forecasts are overly optimistic and that the consequences of the recession in Germany will be much worse. Norbert Walter, the chief economist at Deutsche Bank, recently said that the drop in the German GDP in 2009 would be at least 5 percent, perhaps more. Angela Merkel's government has already approved two assistance packages to German companies and banks worth 62 billion euro, but as these funds have proven inadequate, that government is preparing a third assistance package worth as much as 100 billion euro, of which companies will be able to access 75 billion in the form of state guarantees, and the rest as direct loans. These huge aid packages are a massive strain on the state treasury. That is why it is no wonder that Angela Merkel is not now disposed to putting aside further tens of billions of euro to bail out Eastern European countries.
It is much the same in France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who claimed during his election campaign that he would eliminate the budget deficit by 2010, is now faced with a series of requests for help from big French firms. Sarkozy has introduced the issue of state guarantees for private company loans, and set up a 26 billion euro economic assistance fund. The effect of this is, however, a growth in the French budget deficit, which will amount in 2009 to as much as 109 billion euro, that is to say 5.6 percent of the GDP. No Eurozone member state is allowed to have a budget deficit in excess of 3 percent, but it is clear now that France will this year fail to meet this criteria. Nevertheless, in spite of Sarkozy's measures analysts forecast that France will see a drop in its GDP of 2.3 percent in 2009, and a significant drop in industrial production, as a result of which some 170 thousand French citizens could find themselves out of work in the coming six months. Considering that the automobile industry is a part of the economy with which tens of thousands of jobs are linked, it is no wonder that Sarkozy has paid out 5 billion euro in state aid to the French companies in the sector, under the condition that they keep their production in France, to the detriment of their factories in Slovakia and elsewhere.
Drago Jakovcevic, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, feels that the policies currently being led by France and Germany are proof of the failure of the economic model on which the European Union was based. "The crisis is hitting the very foundations of the European Union's economic system and it will have to be changed radically. This is the downfall of the neoliberal model, which paid no heed to basic economic values and has therefore collapsed. It was based on the expansion of multinational companies and the allocation of capital to countries in which labour and natural resources were cheap. This worked well, because it was in the interest of these countries to finance their development with the help of foreign capital. But this destroyed manufacturing in developed countries. Now this is a significant problem, and since the European Union never had a common fiscal policy, it is clear that countries now want to independently protect their economies and preserve manufacturing. Why should France give money to develop the automobile industry in Slovakia or the Czech Republic, only to then import automobiles from there and thereby worsen their own foreign trade balance. This growth of economic protectionism is sure to bring about serious debate on the future of the monetary union."
Most of the debate on the possible break-up of the monetary union has been centred in Italy. And while that country has been through four recessions in the past ten years, the current economic situation is the worst since 1975. Just in the last quarter of 2008 Italian production fell by 2.1 percent, with a negative economic growth of 1.8 percent. Nevertheless, in spite of these poor indicators the government led by Silvio Berlusconi only approved a relatively modest 2 billion euro for stimulation measures to get the economy going and to assist large companies. The problem is that Italy has for years led a very disorderly fiscal policy, which led to a strong growth of the public debt, which currently stands at 103 percent of the GDP. This is why the Italian government does not at this moment in time have at its disposal sufficient funds to help its economy.
An additional problem for Italy is that its large banking groups such as Unicredito and Banca Intesa have for years led a very expansive business policy. They undertook a vigorous expansion of their operations in Eastern European countries, and are now quite sensitive to the problems the recession has caused in these states. Italian economists fear a scenario in which the collapse of a daughter bank company abroad would bring about the instability of the Italian banking system. That is why the state should help the banks maintain their liquidity, but since they lack the money needed to do so, some radical Italian economists have begun to advocate the idea that Italy reject the euro and once again introduce their own national currency. If Italy were to have its own currency, like Britain does, it could print enough money to bail out its economy. It is, however, hard to believe at this juncture that Italy would actually leave the monetary union, but just the idea of publicly debating the possibility was once unthinkable.
This is yet another proof that in these conditions of recession the heads of European states are expressing more and more unhappiness with the way the European Union functions. Nouriel Roubini, a Turkish economist, is a professor at the University of New York's Stern business school. Roubini is now one of the most esteemed economists in the world, and has earned this status largely by being the first to foresee that the situation on the US real estate market would grow into a global financial crisis. Roubini feels that this recession is the first real test of the strength of the Eurozone. "I think that it is not at this moment certain that the Eurozone will fall apart, but the likelihood that this will come to pass is greater with each passing day. The situation in Europe is such that many countries have banking systems too large to fail, but to big to salvage. If the systems in Ireland and Greece collapse, it is likely that Germany or France will bail them out, because the opposite would mean the collapse of the Eurozone. But the problem is if along with them help is required for Austria and Italy, Spain and Portugal or Belgium and the Netherlands. I think that helping them all will not be possible," he said.
Still, in a situation when it will not be possible to provide assistance to everyone, many European economists feel that the key is in the stabilisation of the economic situations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The countries in this region have for years based their development precisely on the foreign capital that has been invested into the region by large Western European banks.
The Austrian banks alone have invested about 224 billion euro there. This figure amounts to about 78 percent of the Austrian GDP and Austrians are now fearful that a recession could see many of these claims go into default. That would probably cause a collapse of the financial system in Austria. It is much the same in Italy, and there are significant outstanding debts in Eastern Europe held by banks from Germany, Belgium and France. The collection of these claims is currently most uncertain in Ukraine, Hungary, the Baltic states, Romania and Bulgaria. Most of these countries have already received help from the International Monetary Fund, but these funds were not enough to stabilise the situation and secure liquidity on the financial market.
That is why many feel that the European Union should secure an assistance fund for these countries of between 150 and 200 billion euro and thereby prevent the spread of the crisis to the countries of the Eurozone. The chef opponent of this idea is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is insisting that aid to each country be defined on an individual basis. US economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman feels that this approach could be very harmful. "The decision of European leaders to reject the idea of a joint plan to help the countries of Eastern Europe, and to instead to provide aid to each country individually will only result in the significant slowing of the distribution of the necessary funds. That will not succeed in stopping the negative recessionary trend," commented Krugman. Krugman's concern is understandable if one knows that the recession has yet to hit Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, three important member states, on a large scale. So far they are resisting the crisis above all because they have built up significant industrial production over the past decade. The economies of the Czech Republic and of Slovakia are based on exports and it can be expected that a drop in purchasing power in the European Union could soon cause serious problems for them too, while Poland is in a somewhat better situation because, as a country of 40 million inhabitants, it is a self-sufficient market.
Another advantage for Poland is that since acceding to the EU almost a million people have emigrated to other Union countries. This massive Diaspora has resulted in a constant flow of euro to Poland, which has had a positive effect on the Polish financial market. Nevertheless, it is presumed that a drop in economic activity in developed European countries will mean a large number of Polish immigrants will find themselves out of a job and will have to return to Poland. So although the economic situations in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are relatively stable, it can be expected that in the coming period these nations too will face significant difficulties. Many analysts feel that it would be fatal if the crisis in the financial systems of Eastern Europe were also to spill over into these countries, and that it is therefore crucial that the European Union acts as soon as possible. Nonetheless, even though this kind of negative scenario is very possible, the large member states of the European Union are at this moment not ready to finance assistance to Eastern Europe. That is why many feel that the economic recession could further deepen the differences and disagreements that exist between the members of the EU.
William Montgomery, a former US diplomat and ambassador to Croatia, is well acquainted with the political situation in Europe. He feels that the economic crisis only underscores the problems the European Union has been suffering from for years. "Even before the crisis started the European Union was faced with a number of challenges and open questions. The most important is the uncertainty concerning the future development of the Union, where some countries advocate a firm unitary community, while others seek a greater level of autonomy for the member states. Already then opinion polls have recorded a significant drop in the popularity of the Union among its inhabitants. If there was a greater level of agreement in the European Union on these key issues, the European countries would certainly get over the recession easier. But that is not the case, the problems existed before the recession - the large differences between the older, more developed, and the newer, less developed, member states were very evident and that is why it can be concluded that the crisis has hit the European Union at the worst possible moment. Today in the developed member states there truly is a growing resistance to the idea that they should finance the recovery of other countries; not just of the new members, but also of the older ones such as Greece. The deeper the recession goes and the longer it lasts, the greater the challenges the European Union will face."
It is quite evident that the economic woes have already begun to serve as triggers for political quarrels. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is the current frontrunner in these, who has over the past months on several occasions had sharp criticism for the Czech Republic, which at the beginning of the year took over the rotating presidency of the European Union. Sarkozy on several occasions stated that Europe should be much more engaged in conditions of global recession, and by doing so indirectly accused Czech politicians of being inactive. The Czechs responded in kind, accusing Sarkozy of promoting protectionism through his measures to help the French automobile industry, and by doing so undermining the Lisbon Agreement.
DRAGO JAKOVCEVIC, a professor at Zagreb's Faculty of Economics
The culmination of the conflict took place at the EU summit in Brussels, where the Czech's accused Sarkozy of presenting the summit as his own initiative in the public, even though it was initiated and organised by the Czech Republic. In the media this conflict has been interpreted for the most part through the prism of the personal antagonism between Sarkozy and the euro-sceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus, but the more likely reason is the unhappiness of the French with the way the Union is now functioning. The French feel that the administration of the Union should be assumed by the large states in moments of crisis, which will also bear the greatest cost of financial recovery. This French position is tacitly supported by Germany, and by some other large Union member states. If these countries do in fact decide to seek changes in the internal structure of the Union, it can be assumed that they will find stiff resistance from a number of the smaller countries. Political analysts feel that the Union could in the future bring under consideration the fundamental system of decision-making in the European Union, which is based on a consensus.
William Montgomery feels that this system is unsustainable on the long term. "A decision-making system based on consensus is unsustainable on the long term, both in the European Union and in NATO. But I think that an even greater problem for the Union is that it lacks a mechanism to control the behaviour of its member states. Take, for example, what is currently happening to Croatia. Slovenia previously promised the European Union that it would not allow border issues to affect Croatian accession to the European Union. Today it is doing precisely that, and the Union has no way to make it respect what it previously promised. I think that is a big problem," he commented.
In this situation it is to be expected that, if the crisis persists, the popularity of the Union will fall significantly among its inhabitants. There are already worrisome trends in public opinion. The extreme right-wing Dutch politician Gert Wilders recently said he would launch an initiative to chuck Bulgaria and Romania out of the Union, and opinion polls showed that Wilders' initiative is supported by 16 percent of the Dutch. On the other hand the opinion Bulgarians have of the European Union is not much better, and most of them feel that only politicians and criminals have benefited from accession to the EU.
This opinion of the EU, in Bulgaria, but also in the other new member states, is likely to get even worse if the Union continues to refuse them financial assistance in the crisis. Just in the second half of last year the Eurobarometer, the official statistics of the European Union, recorded a 3 percent drop in the popularity of the European Union. In 17 member states fewer than 50 percent of the population have a positive opinion of the European Union. It can be assumed that in the new statistical report, to be published in June, the popularity of the Union will be even lower. That is why many feel that the crisis could threaten the future of the community.
Nevertheless, Jyoti Gupta says that the European Union is sure to survive because it has no alternative. "In spite of the short term emergence of protectionism, I think that the large European countries have become aware that they have to help Eastern Europe, as the countries of the region are after all, on the long term, important markets for their companies. These countries still have a great deal of room for development, especially the development of infrastructure, and that is good for investment. That is why I feel that the European Union will survive in the long run. This crisis will result in a new world order in which some new economic powers will be affirmed, starting with China and India. On their own none of the large European countries will be an important global player on their own. I think that the leaders of the European countries are aware of that."
And while it is certain that the European Union will survive this crisis, it is very possible that it will undergo significant changes to its structure and to the way it functions. This possibility is now a significant problem for Croatia. In its accession negotiations with the European Union, Croatia is implementing many reforms, many of which are very exacting. In the process Croatia is giving up some of its significant economic resources, even entire sectors of the economy such as shipbuilding. And while these reforms are now felt to be acceptable, because they will result in greater benefit after accession to the Union, changes within the EU could threaten this calculation.
Drago Jakovcevic feels that Croatia has to start implementing reforms for its own benefit, not the Union's. "Croatia has to start with rational reforms in which it will look only to its own interests. And these interests are a growth in production and expansion to new export markets. It is illusory to think that our salvation is in exporting to the markets of the European Union, and I feel that we should strengthen our exports to the East. Today we do not know what the European Union will look like when we accede to it, and we should behave accordingly. Those who advocate accession to the European Union immediately and at all costs yesterday claimed that we need to copy the policies of the Baltic states, which are now on the brink of collapse. We need, therefore to look to securing long term sustainability with or without the European Union," he said.
It is easy to understand Jakovcevic's position, because it is certain that Croatia will not accede to the European Union before 2012. But Croatia is negotiating on its accession now, and by the time it happens the Union may have changed significantly. Croatian negotiators will soon be negotiating on measures in agriculture. In that sector Croatia will probably have to make significant limitations in the production of some agricultural products. This paid off for the current members because they began receiving large agricultural subsidies after acceding to the Union, which helped them develop their agricultural sector. But what if these subsidies are reduced in the future.
Still, it is difficult to believe at this point in time that the Government will abandon the European reforms that have been started. Montgomery says that it is a very tough political decision. "Croatia is now very close to the European Union and that is why it is clear that any change of policy would be a very difficult decision for the government, but on the other hand, and considering the Slovenian blockade, it is my opinion that the Prime Minister, before he agrees to implement any reform that will result in a loss of jobs or any other unpopular measure, must demand that the EU gives a guarantee on the date of accession to the Union."
  
Javno
Zagreb, February 27, 2009

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso welcomes Croatia`s Prime Minister Ivo Sanader ahead of their meeting in Brussels

REWARD AND PUNISHMENT
Does The European Union Want Croatia At All?
After Slovenia vetoed Croatia`s EU accession chapters, The Lisbon Treaty was no longer the sole problem in joining the union.

by Amalija Šašek
Slovenia has blocked the closure of another chapter, “Company Law” just a few hours after the meeting of Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and his Slovene counterpart Borut Pahor. Furthermore, five more EU members refused to give a green light to the “Justice and Fundamental Rights” chapter, due to dissatisfaction over Croatia`s collaboration with The Hague.

The border issue is a problem in Croatia`s European Union accession talks, Olli Rehn, commissioner for EU expansion, admitted recently. The European Commission has offered to mediate in the dispute. Experts, headed by Martti Ahtisaari, should find a solution, while Slovenia agrees with their intervention, which is trying to elude the international court by all means.

Debates of Croatian EU entry occurred in June last year when Ireland rejected to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. According to the 2001 Nice Treaty, the number of European Union members was limited to 27. The Lisbon Treaty is essentially an agreement on updates and alterations of the EU and the European Economic Community Creation Treaty. It should replace the EU Constitution and takes effect once and if all 27 present EU members ratify it.

Lisbon Treaty–replacement for the EU Constitution

The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on December 13, 2007 in Lisbon. It is essentially a treaty on amending the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which is supposed to replace the EU Constitution, passed in 2004 in Rome, which France and the Netherlands rejected at a referendum. The Lisbon Treaty should effect once and if all 27 present EU members ratify it.

Message to Croatia: You cannot access the EU without the Lisbon Treaty

At the start of 2007, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Croatia cannot become an EU member without the new European Constitution being adopted.

Johannes Laitenberger, the spokesperson of the European Commission, said in June 2008 that there were no obstacles for the expansion of the EU in the Treaty of Nice.

However, Merkel maintained her position, telling Croatia that it cannot enter the union without the new Constitution.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed with her, saying that no country can access the EU until the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. He especially emphasised it refers to Croatia.

Merkel and Sarkozy`s statements do not directly refer to Croatia

Neven Mimica, president of the Committee for European Integrations of the Croatian Parliament, believes that Sarkozy and Merkel`s statements did not directly refer to Croatia.


- Their views were more directed at countries which have not ratified the Lisbon Treaty. They were pressured into ratifying the agreement as soon as possible – Neven Mimica told Javno news site.

At the same time, Croatian politicians, diplomats, the people, President Stjepan Mesic even, never stopped believing that the path towards the EU was free and included no obstacles.

- The Lisbon Treaty should not be a condition for Croatia accessing the European Union – Mesic said in June last year.

- The European Union has already emphasised that there are no expansions, apart from Croatia. The European Union will offer Croatia the option of accession, and it is up to Croatia to use it – Gvozden Flego of the Committee for European Integrations of the Croatian Parliament said last year. Croatian Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry shares his view.

Lisbon Treaty is not the sole option for expansion

Neven Mimica explains that the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is not the only option for the expansion of the European Union.

- The Treaty of Nice can be replaced by annexes. The Treaty of Lisbon essentially includes amendments of previous treaties - Mimica explained.

However, interestingly enough, former Slovene prime minister Janez Jansa said last summer that Ireland saying “no” to the Lisbon Treaty should not have negative affects on Croatia joining the European Union, as he expressed his support.

Just six months later, in December 2008, to be precise, Slovenia officially blocked 11 chapters in Croatia`s European Union accession talks. Divided opinions of EU heads followed, they started condemning Slovenia for their rash moves and the veto, while nobody mentioned the Lisbon Treaty anymore.

Slovenia abuses its EU membership


- Everything Slovenia does is abuse of EU membership and the entire system. As long as a consensus is the decision-making manner, EU members have greater responsibility in accepting new countries. Clearly, there is no responsibility in Slovenia`s case - Mimica concluded. He pointed out that Slovenia is loosing touch between the veto and the objectives it wants to accomplish.

- They are deviating form their positions as well, and their goal is to avoid court solutions. The Slovene bloc will last as long as they believe we will cave in - Mimica said. He mentioned that Croatia has already caved in twice, therefore Slovenia hopes of a third strike.

- The first time Croatia caved in was with the Drnovsek-Racan Agreement; the second time Prime Minister Sanader caved in when he gave up on the Protected Ecological Fishery Zone (ZERP) - Mimica said.

He believes that the interests of Slovenia, which are unacceptable for Croatia, as well as the EU, should not be backed down before.

- What Slovenia is doing has nothing to do with the foundations of Europe - Mimica concluded.

Ireland might ratify the Lisbon Treaty

Ireland has one more chance to decide on the fate of the Treaty of Lisbon at a referendum. Polls show that 60 percent of the citizens believe the Lisbon Treaty would do better second time round. There was fear that Ireland might be isolated if it continues to reject the treaty.

Czech Republic changing its mind

At the end of last year, Czech Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said that the integration of the Balkans was important, without especially singling out Croatia. Following this, doubts arose that it will have to wait a while to join the EU.

Several days ago, Schwarzenberg said the European Union would be more careful while accepting new members due to the economic crisis. On this occasion, he refused to give Montenegro the green light for the start of accession talks.

Mimica believes that only Slovenia is blocking Croatia`s EU entry, because there is no great conspiracy against Croatia. Ireland has another shot at deciding about the ratification on the Lisbon Treaty, but one question remains: will Croatia and Slovenia manage to solve their dispute as soon as possible and deblock the accession chapters. On the contrary, not even the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty would help Croatia.
Croatia And Slovenia - Development Of Events
  
Croatia halted by those with criminal records
Nacional
Zagreb, February 24, 2009
by Eduard Šoštaric

Members of the marginal Slovenian People's Party (SSN) are attempting to collect 40,000 signatures in order to call a referendum to stop Croatia's entry into NATO; many of the individuals among them have been suspected of or charged with felonies.

PARTY LEADER KNOWN TO POLICE Ladislav Troha, former officer of the Slovenian military, is one of the top guns in the SSN; in one interview, he even admitted to participating in the attempted assassination of Zmago Jelincic

The marginal non-parliamentary Slovenian People's Party (SSN), which numbers about 1500 members and a current bank balance of EUR 2.3, has become a major international problem overnight. Some of its members, including those in the party leadership, have been filling newspaper pages for years, with several even convicted for attempted murder and aiding in attempted murder. The party leader is 28 year old Lovro Skrinjaric, son to a Croatian father and Serbian mother, who last year with close friend and SSN member Andrej Sisko was acquitted on charges of holding Matjaz Kek, then coach of the Maribor Football Team and the Slovenian National Football Team, against his will.

Andrej Sisko is currently serving a 22-month prison sentence for attempted murder, while the third party leader, Ladislav Troha, a controversial officer of the Slovenian army, admitted in an interview in 2001 that he had participated in the attempted assassination against Zmago Jelincic, then Chairman of the Parliamentary Defence Board.

This group has launched an initiative to collect the necessary 40 thousand signatures by 26 March 2009 to call a referendum on the issue of Croatia's entry into NATO, has brought the enlargement of the Alliance into question, has threatened the strategic interests of the Alliance in the stabilization of Southeast Europe and has given the Slovenian administration led by Boris Pahor nothing but a big headache. Premier Pahor has been facing immeasurable pressures from his Western allies to resolve this new problem and to enable Croatia to be received into full membership no later than 3 April 2009.

“We have paid for the initiative for the referendum out of our own pockets, as we have exactly EUR 2.3 in the party's account. We cannot turn out backs on those who have already signed the petition, just over 5000, and who have made it possible for Slovenia to refuse entering into a military alliance with the occupier. Perhaps that is not the right word, perhaps it sounds a bit harsh, but this is the only way that we can force the Slovenian government to resolve this 18-year old outstanding border issue with Croatia and to finally stand up to protect Slovenia's national interests. In recent years, the Slovenian political elite have only mentioned the border issue with Croatia at election time. We are not chauvinists and we do not hate Croatia, but this is just a good opportunity to resolve that which neither the Croatian nor Slovenian political elite have been able to resolve for so long,” commented SSN president Lovro Skrinjaric for Nacional's reporters at a meeting in Rogaska Slatina.

Carantha: For some years now, the Serbian underground has incited its confidants in Slovenia, who are to be found on all levels of its structure, to lead a denigratory campaign against Croatia. Carantha protested. Some weeks ago, this campaign reached its height, when the Slovenian footman brought up the perhaps Serbian conventional reproachful word Ustasha (Croatian fascists). And thereafter was a sudden peace. Someone laid down the conductor’s baton and the insulting choir became silent.

What has happened? It is quite evident, that the Serbian underground, which controls Slovenia, received a suitable order. But from whom? It could only have come from the Masons, who are interested in Croatia’s membership to Nato and who lead from the underground Washington, London…

In the conflict with Croatia, Slovenia only demands restoration of the border situation in 1991, when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence. On that day, Slovenia administrated the entire Bay of Piran and had the entry to international waters. But Croatia, or better said, the Serbian lobby which controls Istria, thereafter occupied some Slovenian border territory and closed Slovenia's exit to international waters. Now, Croatia insists on its “new” border. It has to be also said, that throughout history Istria in its entirety never belonged to Croatia, which was part of Hungary, but to Slovenia, which was part of Austria. Not earlier than in 1947, Istria was annexed to Croatia in sense of an agreement between Tito and Bakaric (Kupferstein), the Croatian communist leader.

In past years, some Slovenian patriots protested against Serbian infiltration in the Slovenian political and social structures. They were derided in public like mayor Ladislav Troha for example, others were persecuted, because they wore T-shirts with the Carantanian panther etc. Andrej Šiško was supposedly condemned because of a plot. These people entered SSN (Party of Slovenian Nation), which is the only party that insists on a referendum regarding Croatia's entry into NATO, until the border conflict is solved in a righteous way.

We regret, if now the National paper, an influential Croatian weekly (Zagreb), discovers Slovenian people with “criminal records” in SSN, who halt Croatia on its way to NATO. In this connection, it is true, its confident Hannes Swoboda, the Austrian EU deputy, is helpless.

Evidently, once again, the Black Panther of Carantania (SSN logo) lets its voice be heard worldwide, after the world press has for some years now, insistently and repeatedly called Slovenia a “former Republic of Yugoslavia”. What an ignorance pretending!
  
NEW KEY SLOVENIAN
Slovenian Škrinjaric Now Dictates Referendum
Javno
Zagreb, February 20, 2009
Mladen Starcevic

After Vincenc resigned, the new head of SSN is Škrinjaric, and the party is set on a referendum on Croatia.

Lovro Škrinjaric

Yesterday the Slovenian premier Borut Pahor met with the head of the SSN (Party of the Slovenian People) at the time, Zdenko Vinkov-Vincenc, in order to discuss their insistence of a referendum on the ratification of the protocol to allow Croatia into NATO.

After the meeting, Vincenc resigned from his position as president of the party, and even though he could not answer questions that concern the SSN, he could say why he regined.

"I reached a compromise with the premier" said Vincenc briefly.

"I convinced him on pulling the signatures. He did not dare to pull the signatures without the acceptance of his party, so he resigned so that he would not have to participate in filing the demand for the referendum"

- Marjan Podobnik on Vincenc

However, Marjan Podobnik, with whose "Zavod 25. junij" (25th June) organization SSN used to collect signatures for the referendum, says that it is he who made an agreement with Vincenc.

"I convinced him on pulling the signatures. He did not dare to pull the signatures without the acceptance of his party, so he resigned so that he would not have to participate in filing the demand for the referendum" said Podobnik.

Podobnik repeated that he hopes that the party whose new leader Lovro Škrinjaric is to meet with premier Borut Pahor today, will pull back the signatures, and that it is not in their interests to stop the entry of Croatia into NATO, but the protection of Slovenian interests.

He has a lot of faith in the people that left the party together with Vincenc.

"They have no hate. They are not bad people like Zmago Jelincic, they are not chauvinists. They are very correct and honourable people, and because they could not convince the others to stop collecting signatures, they left the party" claims Podobnik.

It is still not known how the new leader of SSN will act. However, Borut Pahor is "on the field" today, and will try to convince Škrinjaric to stop insisting on the referendum.

SNN flag

Carantha: We are very surprised! After years of campaigning against Croatia, led by the Serbian underground in Slovenia, now the entire apparatus is about to withdraw when the decisive moment arrived in initiating a referendum on Croatia's entry into NATO. The unique party, which still insists on a referendum, is SNN - Party of the Slovenian People. It is aware that this is a unique occasion also for the party, in order to become a player on the Slovenian political scene, where it had no substantial impact until now. SNN has for its sign the Black Panther of Carantania.
  
POLITOLOGIST:
Slovenes Have No Idea Who Is Leading Them
Javno
Zagreb, February 20, 2009
by Mladen Starcevic

Politologist Rimac believes the Croatian president made a stand in the perfect time.

Stjepan Mesic, Croatian President

As he addressed the Croatian nation on Thursday, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic looked back on the relations between Croatia and Slovenia in the light of recently raised issue of ratifying Croatia`s NATO accession agreement, which started a referendum procedure in Slovenia.

Slovene Political Elite Is Blackmailing Croatia

The Slovene Parliament adopted the Conclusion on the protection of Slovenia`s interests in negotiations with Croatia, although many Slovenians cannot see why the conclusion is necessary, to prevent attempts of Slovene nationalists of starting a referendum, which they committed themselves to. Still, the referendum issue was started by a non-Parliamentary party, the SSN, despite agreement, which encountered severe criticism of the Slovene government and the Parliament.

I think the statement came in the perfect time. President Mesic assures the Croatian side with his position not to make the same mistake as Slovenia. We need to clearly state which our positions are and not allow Slovene aspirations to become increased. -

- Ivan Rimac

Croatian President Stjepan Mesic pointed out that Slovenia was not acting in European spirit and that any sort of a bloc of NATO and EU entry amounted to diplomatic blackmail of the Slovene political elite.

We asked politologist Ivan Rimac whether the position of President Mesic favoured Croatia.

- I think the statement came in the perfect time. President Mesic assures the Croatian side with his position not to make the same mistake as Slovenia. We need to clearly state which our positions are and not allow Slovene aspirations to become increased - Rimac claims.

Ivan Rimac also believes that Slovenes are disclaiming themselves in their statements.

- Slovenes change positions in their statements and increase their aspirations. Thus, they show that they are not credible, that they are not good negotiators and have no idea who is leading them - Rimac criticised.

The politologist pointed out he believes that Croatian politicians have taken a good stand and adopted a good strategy in relations with Slovenians, and as far as the negative public opinion goes which Croat President Mesic stimulates in Slovenia, Rimac commented:

-Slovenes should think about how much they are turning on Croats because of fabrications certain politicians stated, and then should see the position of Croatian politicians - Ivan Rimac concluded.

Carantha: One is wondering when reading the headline in red. We repeat:  Slovene Political Elite Is Blackmailing Croatia and at the same time the Slovenian "elite" refuses a referendum concerning the border on the river Dragonja (Istria). One can imagine, that this is a directive from the Serbian underground, which controls Istria. The only purpose is to impair Slovenia's ability and to block its way to the open sea.
  
Slovenia falls out of NATO's favour
A day after Slovenia failed to ratify the protocol on Croatian and Albanian accession to NATO, it came under fire from the alliance's general secretary

Nacional
Zagreb, February 19, 2009
By Eduard Šoštaric

NATO GENERAL SECRETARY Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had tough words for Slovene Defence Minister Ljubica Jelusic at a meeting held in Brussels not long after the Slovene no to the ratification

As a result of its failure to ratify a protocol on the accession of Croatia and Albania to NATO, Slovenia has lost its credibility in the alliance and done irreparable damage to its international standing. There was not long to wait for the reaction from NATO to Slovenia's move. Just a day after the ratification failed NATO General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer cut short a visit to Reykjavik to return to the Brussels headquarters of the alliance and met personally with the Slovene Defence Minister Ljubica Jelusic.

We have learned from a diplomatic source that the General Secretary was very direct with Minister Jelusic, was not very diplomatic in his choice of words and made it clear to Slovenia that its behaviour was not credible and that it had not been welcomed among the allies. Scheffer was particularly upset with Slovene Prime Minister Borut Pahor, as he had spoken to him by phone ahead of the session of Slovene Parliament. Pahor had promise him that there would not be any snags in the ratification. The NATO General Secretary openly told Slovene officials that NATO feels that the Slovene move does not contribute to regional stability in the Balkans.

We have learned that Scheffer is in daily contact with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and that he is personally very engaged in seeing the protocol on full Croatian membership ratified in all of the NATO member parliaments by the end of March. It is quite clear then that Scheffer was very upset at the Slovenes who are doing precisely the contrary to his diplomatic efforts.

SANADER AND SCHEFFER The Croatian Prime Minister is in daily contact with the NATO General Secretary, who is personally very engaged in seeing Croatia join NATO as soon as possible

And, we have learned from sources close to the NATO General Secretary that there are concrete reasons for the disappointment in the latest move by Slovenia that are indirectly related to Croatia. Slovenia is by no means in a position to behave in this way ahead of the NATO summit in early April that is to celebrate its 60th anniversary. It is very important for the alliance that it accepts Albania and Croatia in full membership at the summit because it would have great symbolic significance for NATO to be expanding to new members 60 years after it was established.

Also, a failure to receive Croatia and Albania into full NATO membership in April of this year would be an embarrassing foreign policy blow to US President Barack Obama, who will be at the summit and will make his first visit to Europe since taking office. Obama also supports the widening of NATO and the "open doors" policy. And in the end it would be a blow to General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who would step down in the middle of this year with only half of the job done.

Carantha: In an article about Istria we already pointed out, that after WW2 the majority of Istrians have been exiled by the Yugoslav army in Italy. They were not only Italians but also Slovenians. And many were thrown in the pits (foibe). Thereafter, Istria was prevailingly populated by people of Serbian origin. It is true, that it was assigned to the territory of Croatia, but its very master remained Belgrade. And it remained as the master in charge even after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia.

Today, the master over Istria is the so-called Istrski zbor (Serbian influenced Assembly), from which, as we assume, origin the complications concerning the frontier between Slovenian and Croatian territory on the Istrian river Dragonja. Now, if Zagreb is the root cause of conflict in this area, than Slovenia has the right to a referendum on Croatia's  entry into NATO and its admission into the EU.
  
Economist.com
Charlemagne
Grumpy Uncle Vaclav
Dec 4th 2008
From The Economist print edition
It is wrong of other European Union countries
to dump on the Czechs’ EU presidency

(Illustration by Peter Schrank)

A LUNCH for European Union ambassadors to the Czech Republic, hosted by France’s man in Prague, sounds like a most agreeable affair: clever company and tasty food, in handsome surroundings. Yet by all accounts, a recent such lunch proved very awkward, thanks to its guest of honour: the country’s Eurosceptic president, Vaclav Klaus. He was politely asked about EU policies and how they might be handled when the Czechs take over the rotating EU presidency on January 1st. Each time the president growled that he was against the EU, so had no reason to answer such questions. The Czech presidency was an insignificant event, he added, because the EU is dominated by its big founding nations. Mr Klaus turned to the envoy from Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic that was the first ex-communist newcomer to hold the rotating presidency, earlier this year. Everybody knows the Slovene presidency was a charade, he ventured. It was scripted by big countries like France or Germany. (This is an excerpt of the article).

Carantha:
The remarks marked in colour raised a loud echo throughout whole Slovenia. Hence, it is a distortion! The same Vaclav Klaus later corrected the reporter's statement by saying precisely: “I said, it makes a difference, if the EU is presided by a great state like Germany or France, or by a small state like Slovenia”. President Klaus in no way denied the successful EU presidency of Slovenia.

It is generally known, that the great London press, which is respected across the world, is in hands of the Masonry, which is opposed to the existence of “tiny” Slovenia. Hence, the distortion in the Economist was typical set-up and did not happen by chance. It was one of the numerous attempts in order to damage Slovenia’s image in front of the world public. Before and during Slovenia’s EU presidency such attempts were printed on daily basis, organized by the masonic press. Why?

Slovenia’s EU presidency, which was excessively successful, has set an example for several minority nations like Scotland and others, that they, too, can sustain themselves as an independent nation. This is but the question of each great multinational state, like that of the British Isles, and not of Slovenia.
  

The Black Panther decided the 2008 Presidential Election

The above Black Panther sign, the coat of arms of Carantania, became a hit among the youth of present-day Slovenia. Soccer teams and their supporter groups use it as national symbol at play-offs instead of the Slovenian national flag. With its transparency, young Slovenians acknowledge their appurtenance to Slovenia. Besides, it proves the motto against modern football, this is, for a fair play, without speculations.

It is said, whenever young people flock to the football ground, the Black Panther is there too. Janez Janša and his party members must have noticed this also when they won the elections in 2004. Regretfully, they did not understand the trend. Then, in 2008, when Slovenia took over the EU Presidency, they remembered, that the Black Panther march is in full swing among Slovenia's young generation, who are young adults now and ready to vote. At that point they started to wear the panther symbol as the sign of the EU Presidency, which was consistently cut out by the mass media of Slovenia, when publishing images of meetings. It was a blockade.

Moreover, the Minister of Education under the Janša government did not introduce the history of Carantania in schools. The Minister of Culture did not support the corresponding materials and so on, which was very well noticed by the youth. They expected from the Janša government to hear the truth about Slovenia, its history and culture. A truth which never arrived. The persons responsible for this can only be linked to the ex-Yugoslav secret service, to which Carantania is like a red cloth in the face of a raging bull.

Be it as it may, the Janša coalition lost the 2008 elections in Slovenia by a few  votes, that belonged to the young people. Only one part of the younger electors, it is true, voted his party. But the transparency of the Black Panther came too late. The majority of young voters was dispersed.
  
Prof. dr. Edi Gobec

Arhiv pri dr. Gobcu vsebuje nešteto podatkov o Slovenskem življenju v Ameriki in po svetu

Vpogledi iz Amerike ob volitvah v Sloveniji

Dr. Edi Gobec

Povezanost Slovencev v domovini, zamejstvu in izseljenstvu

Upam, da vas zlasti pred volitvami, ki v veliki meri odlocajo o usodi naroda vsaj za naslednjih nekaj let, zanimajo razni vpogledi in mnenja iz vec strani, tako tudi od rojakov, ki živimo po svetu. Vsi smo , se med seboj dopolnjujemo in vsi moramo storiti vse, kar je v nasih moceh, za skupno dobro. Koncno je tudi res, da smo rojaki izven Slovenije že v zgodnjih petdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja in potem skozi vec desetletij v glasilu Slovenska država, knjigah (zaradi dr. Žebotove je moral v zapor tudi pisatelj Drago Jancar) in drugod opozarjali na nujnost slovenske neodvisnosti pod geslom: “Slovenec, na svoji zemlji svoj gospod!” V svobodi smo lahko že dolgo pred padcem berlinskega zidu ali “zamrzitvi” komunisticnih izkaznic v Sloveniji brez strahu obsojali grozote in zlorabe komunizma, ki je gotovo bil skupaj z nacizmom in fašizmom najbolj nasilen, lažen in zlocinski sistem v moderni zgodovini.

Skupno delo za osvobojenje in ustanovitev neodvisne
slovenske Države

Doma, v zamejstvu in po svetu smo vsak na svoj nacin iskali poti in skusali pripomoci k osvoboditvi izpod represivnega komunizma in k slovenski samostojnosti — od pogumne cetvorice in Nove revije do bistrega kmeta Ivana Omana in neugnanega politicnega upornika dr. Jozeta Pucnika ter Demosa. Tudi mi navadni zemljani na tujem smo vedeli, da se da zlasti v svobodnem svetu vplivati na marsikaj zelo pomembnega. Sam sem bil kot podpredsednik Narodne konfederacije ameriskih izseljenskih skupin med pobudniki, ki smo predlagali predsedniku Ronaldu Reaganu, naj oživi vsakoletne proklamacije v pomoc pod komunizmom zasužnjenim narodom. Uspeli smo! Še danes hranim telegram, s katerim me je predsednik Reagan povabil v Belo hiso, kjer smo bili 19. julija 1983 prve price njegovega prvega podpisa proklamacije “Captive Nations Week”. Le-ta je odmevala po Ameriki in vsem svetu, tudi za Železno zaveso. In isti predsednik je 12. junija 1987 pozval generalnega tajnika sovjetskih komunistov Mihaela Gorbaceva, naj poruši Berlinski zid. Zasužnjeni narodi so takrat, ob socasnem izrednem moralnem vplivu papeža Janeza Pavla II., pogumneje zadihali in se veselili, ko se je kmalu nato brez vojne zrušil tudi evropski komunisticni sistem, komunisticni voditelji pa so se morali marsikje umakniti na smetišce zgodovine, drugod pa so zamrznili svoje partijske izkaznice in se le zacasno hinavsko potuhnili.

Rojaki po vsem svetu smo tudi navdušeno nudili domovini moralno in financno pomoc, ko ste se modro in pogumno odlocili za ustanavljanje vecstrankarskega sistema in se uprli oblastvenim in izkorišcevalnim zlorabam komunisticne partije ali “lige”.

Pokoli, zapori, kraje premoženja in diktatura zelo majhne
komunisticne manjšine

Komunisti so v krvavem letu 1945 v senci od zmage pijane sovjetske armade spremenili Slovenijo v eno samo množicno grobišce (o cemer se vec desetletij ni smelo crhniti niti besedice) in si prilastili absolutno oblast v casu, ko je komuniticna partija v Sloveniji štela manj kot en odstotek celotnega prebivalstva. Skušali so obdržati oblast tudi se v osmem desetletju prejšnjega stoletja, ko je njihov voditelj Milan Kucan vztrajno zagovarjal nujnost marksisticne in komunisticne ideoloske “cistosti”, zlasti v javnih obcilih ter v šolskih ucbenikih in vzgojnih ustanovah. Takrat je ta rdeca partija ali liga, ki si je prizadevala obdržati ideološki, medijski in oblastveni monopol, dosegla najvišje število clanov (seveda med njimi tudi mnogo zaslepljenih, ustrahovanih ali oportunisticnih), a je vendar še vedno štela manj kot sedem odstotkov vseh v domovini živecih Slovencev!
Edvard Kardelj in
Milan Kucan
Kadar hoce manj kot sedem odstotkov vladati sto odstotkom prebivalstva, mora seveda uporabljati nasilje, tajno politicno policijo in popolno cenzuro v medijih ter stalno prepricevati množice podrejenih, da so partijski voditelji najbolj zaslužne, razumne, povezovalne, pogumne in nenadomestljive osebnosti v vsej državi. Potreben je bil torej kult osebnosti od Tita in Kardelja do zadnjega slovenskega vodje komunistov Kucana, ki so mu poleg vseh drugih cudovitih lastnosti pripisovali še izjemno lepe oci. Slednji s svojim "klanom" seveda vsa desetletja ni deloval vec na ravni krvavega iztrebljanja ali zapiranja nesomišljenikov in tekmecev za oblast, kot so pocenjali politicni botri, med njimi Ivan Macek Matija in Mitja Ribicic, ampak s povezovanjem in nagrajevanjem zvestih komunisticnih sil, njih politicnih naslednic in podmladkov ter celo nekdanjih razrednih sovražnikov, kapitalistov in tajkunov, pa z diskreditacijo in moralno, medijsko likvidacijo (linci) “nenaših”. To se je spretno izvajalo po Leninovem receptu: linc drugega za drugim, kadar postane (pre)nevaren. To strategijo so živo obcutili v katoliški Cerkvi (se spomnite, kako je bil nadškof dr. Rode "kazensko premešcen v Vatikan", kjer so ga kmalu povzdignili v kardinala) in seveda v politiki, zlasti clani pomladne opcije: prvaka Demosa dr. Pucnik in Peterle (vsakodnevni televizijski pozdrav, "Dobro jutro, žalost!"), pa dr. Bajuk (tako “nezmožen”, da je bil izbran za evropskega financnega ministra!), dr. Arhar (zaradi pošteno zaslužene višje place bolj nesprejemljiv kot vsak cez noc skrivnostno obogateli tajkun) in vse od leta 1988 dalje nezlomljivi Janez Janša. Pocasi, a vztrajno vendar spregledujemo in se blizamo casom, ko nas bo resnica dokoncno osvobodila.

Roter, Kucan in Golobic na ameriskem prizoriscu

Le kaj naj mi v daljni Ameriki (po)vemo o ekipi Zdenka Roterja in Milana Kucana ali celo o kakšnem današnjem “Zaresnem kandidatu” Gregorju Golobicu? Ali njihove ameriške zgodbe nudijo boljši, tudi za Slovence v domovini pomembni vpogled? Poglejte!

Roter je nastopal v ameriškem škofijkem listu
in “pisal za jezuitsko revijo”

Naj zacnem z dr. Roterjem, vendar ne z njegovim zasliševanjem pri živem telesu zažganega in v bolnici v groznih bolecinah trpecega skofa Antona Vovka, niti ne z njegovim vplivom na fakulteto sociologov, politologov in novinarjev ali “zaslužnim” delom v Kucanovih propagandnih in volilnih kampanjah, ampak z njegovim “nedolžnim obiskom sorodnikov” v Ameriki.

Koncem leta 1987, pol leta pred aretacijo cetvorice, ki je sprožila v Ljubljani množicne demonstracije in dvignila duh upornosti, se je tovarišem zdelo potrebno prepricati tudi ameriške Slovence in Americane, da v Jugoslaviji in Sloveniji vlada odprto in pravicno ozracje, kjer se ni treba bati marksistov in komunistov. List skoraj milijonske clevelandske skofije, Catholic Universe Bulletin, je tako 18. decembra 1987 objavil clanek, “Common Ground seen for Marx and Christians” (Skupne osnove Marxa in kršcanstva), skupaj s sliko dr. Roterja in njegovega spremljevalca dr. Karla Bonuttija. Marx in Kristus, jugoslovanski komunisti in kristjani, imajo, kot je razložil dr. Roter, mnogo skupnega, saj ti humani komunisti sledijo mlademu Marxu, ki je “postavil religiozno ustvarjalnost na isto raven kot ekonomsko”. Ker urednik žal ni vedel, da je bil Marx že v prvem letniku univerze borben in strupen ateist, seveda ni vprašal dr. Roterja, kako mlademu Marxu sledijo. Dr. Roter je še pribil: “Razdobje medsebojnega nezaupanja je za nami. In hvala Bogu (z veliko zacetnico!), da je za nami!” Skratka, zaupajte komunistom!

Ce prezremo vlogo posredovalcev, se moramo vprašati, kako je bivsi oficir Ozne, zasliševalec škofa Vovka v casu njegovega najhujšega trpljenja in eden stebrov represivnega komunizma prodrl v uradno glasilo velike ameriške katoliške škofije? Predstavljen je bil kot “professor sociologije religije”, ameriškemu uredniku pa se seveda ni niti sanjalo, da igrajo takšni profesorji v Sloveniji povsem drugacno vlogo kot njihovi vrstniki v Ameriki in v drugih demokraticnih drzavah. Porocali so tudi, da je predaval na krajevni jezuitski in clevelandski državni univerzi, kar seveda ob naklonjenosti kakega profesorja ni bilo težko doseci. Dr. Roter je tudi povedal, da “piše clanek za vodilno jezuitsko revijo America." Le kako naj bi sodelavcu tako ugledne vseameriske revije ne prisluhnili tudi v škofijskem listu? Problem je le, da ni bil nikdar med sodelavci te jezuitske revije, kar mi je potrdil njen urednik. Ce so vas, dragi rojaki v Sloveniji, kdaj marksisticni ideologi in njih strategi “vlekli za nos” in to s podvojenimi mocmi poskušajo zlasti v casu volitev, vam bo morda v olajšanje, da so prevarali tudi katoliski tisk v Ameriki. Moralni nauk pa je: ne nasedajmo volkovom v ovcjih oblacilih!

Primer politike »castnih« doktoratov:  Univerza iz New Delhija mu je podelila castni doktorat.

Barantanje za Kucanov (ne)castni doktorat:
od vsi proti do vsi za

Po vecmesecnih skrbnih pripravah in zbiranju gradiva o Kucanovih velikih zaslugah za mir in zmago vecstrankarskega sistema (kjer se je pojavil v vlogi dr. Pucnika in drugih nasprotnikov komunisticnega enopartijskega sistema, ki ga je prav on sam vodil), je odbor Clevelandske drzavne univerze za podelitev priznanj na seji dne 14. decembra 2000 razpravljal o predloženem gradivu (posebno zanimiva je izjava, ki primerja Kucana z George Washingtonom!) in potem soglasno odlocil, da je predlagani kandidat neprimeren za podelitev castnega doktorata.

Na drugi seji odbora dne 17. januarja 2001 pa je ena odbornica sporocila, da se predsednik Kucan zanima za ustanovitev stolice na tej univerzi” (katere cena je bila po takratni izjavi univerze dva milijona in 400,000 dolarjev). Tej izjavi, kjer je zaupnik Glickman posvaril, da ne sme nastati vtis, da so doktorati na prodaj in je nastalo vprašanje, ali naj se znesek vnaprej izterja, je sledilo glasovanje. Zdaj so bili vsi odborniki soglasno za podelitev doktorata. Seveda je administracija pozneje pojasnjevala, da omemba stolice ni imela nobene zveze s podelitvijo doktorata. Saj verjamete, ali ne? Vendar izgleda, da univerza ni nikdar izterjala denarja, saj bi bilo z zahtevo skoraj dveh milijonov in pol dolarjev potrjeno, da je prav ta pricakovani znesek spremenil stoodstotno odklonitev doktorata v stoodstotno podporo zanj.

Vse se je uredilo tako, da je bil volk sit in koza cela, ceprav se je necastno spet predstavljalo javnosti kot castno. Žal ne prvic in tudi ne zadnjic.

Dr. Žižek navdušen nad “novim slovenskim Stalinom”
Gregorjem Golobicem

Clanek “The Marx Brother” (Marksov brat), objavljen v ameriški reviji The New Yorker dne 5. maja 2003 opisuje pogovor Rebecce Mead s filozofom dr. Slavojem Žižkom, ki je v kazalu nakazan s podnaslovom: “Is Slavoj Žižek an academic or a comedian?” (Je Slavoj Žižek akademik ali komedijant?). Žižek novinarki, ki ga je obiskala v Ljubljani (ni znano, na cigave stroške) poleg pripomb o svoji filozofiji in doživetjih posreduje svoje poglede in komentarje, med njimi npr. zavracanje kršcanstva in navdušenje za ateizem; izjavo, da je tromostovje nacrtoval “fašisticni arhitekt v tretjem desetletju prejšnjega stoletja” (kako si upa Plecnika oznaciti za fasista!); vabilo premijera (dr. Drnovška), naj bi on, dr. Žižek, ideolog liberalne demokratske stranke, postal minister znanosti ali kulture, kar je prezirljivo zavrnil — “sprejel bi edino notranje ministrstvo ali mesto vodje tajne policije”; ali svoj presenetljiv ugodni pogled na sv. Pavla kot “prvega leninista” (zanimivo, zakaj ni raje Lenin “pavelist”); pa mnenje o smucanju (to je neumnost, ko gres gor in prideš spet dol), pa izjava, da kot ljubljancan ni bil še nikdar na ljubljanskem gradu (logicno: ce bi šel gor, bi potem prišel spet dol, zakaj bi torej hodil gor).
Slavoj Žicek, illustracija Marco Brollo

Kot smo letos brali v slovenskem tisku, se zdaj dr. Žižek vraca na politicno prizorisce kot ideolog Golobiceve stranke Zares. Torej prisluhnimo, kaj je izjavil o Golobicu v reviji The New Yorker, na strani 43: “On (Golobic) je moj najboljsi prijatelj! Ljubim ga! (I love him!) On je bodoci slovenski Stalin. To je mož oblasti. Kadar sem v njegovi pisarni in mu telefonira kak minister, mu rece: “F…. off” (spolzka, vulgarna beseda, ki se v olikani družbi ne uporablja), “nimam casa zate!” Pomislite, kako korajžno nastopi celo, ko želi z njim govoriti kak minister!

Žižek vsekakor obožuje tako "pogumnega", neolikanega in oblastnega Golobica, ki naj bi postal bodoci slovenski Stalin. Seveda se bo to zgodilo le pod pogojem, da na volitvah zmagajo simpatizerji in nasledniki komunisticne stranke ali združeni levicarji. Žal nam ni znano, ce se bi dr. Žižek v tem slucaju še vedno zanimal za položaj notranjega ministra ali za službo vodje tajne policije (slovenske KGB pod slovenskim Stalinom). Na takšnem položaju bi morda lahko Slovenijo enkrat za vselej “ocistili” slovenskih pomladnih politikov, zlasti tistega Janeza Janše, ki je nekako preživel nešteto podtikanj in sramotenj, aretacijo cetvorice, Depalo vas in celo “pretresljive” peticije, ki jih je g. Zgaga razposlal (veckrat skupaj s svojo sliko) po širnem svetu v opozorilo na Janševo zatiranje uboge Slovenije (ki naj bi ob vsej nevrednosti celo predsedovala Evropski zvezi) in na strahovite pritiske (cigave?) na slovenske novinarje. Sicer je res, da je Vecerov novinar Miro Petek tudi doživljal moralne in življenjsko nevarne fizicne “pritiske” pod prejšnjo, bolj tovariško vlado, a na to in na nedavno nasilje Janševih nasprotnikov nad MAGom je uspavana javnost menda že bolj pozabila kot na (sociologom religije tako priljubljeno) Špansko inkvizicijo! Le kdo pa se danes sploh dovolj živo zaveda teh za tovariše tako neznosnih pomladno-demokraticnih razmer (nikdar jim kljub blagostanju ni bilo tako slabo!), ko je Slovenija zašla že tako dalec, da vse vec zadev v življenju nic vec ne zavisi od "modrosti in dobrote" manjšinjske partije, njih vodij in izbrancev, ampak od vseh slovenskih volilcev!

No, dragi volilci, dobro in skrbno premislite, za koga boste volili in pojdite gotovo volit! Za Slovenijo gre in za njeno in vaso bodocnost!
___________________
O avtorju: Dr. Edi Gobec je profesor emeritus sociologije, ravnatelj Slovenskega ameriškega raziskovalnega sredšsca in avtor številnih knjig in vec sto razprav in clankov. Leta 1971 je bil izbran za "Odlicnega vzgojitelja Amerike" (Outstanding Educator of America), v letu 1984 pa je postal clan Newyorške akademije znanosti. Mnogo je predaval v ZDA in Kanadi, pa tudi na Islandiji in v Avstraliji, že 12. julija 1991 pa je imel izredno odmeven govor v korist slovenskeneodvisnosti na vseameriški konvenciji Mladih republikancev v Miamiju, Floridi. Na kentski univerzi je poleg rednih dolžnosti na fakulteti za sociologijo in antropologijo 25 let brezplacno pouceval tudi slovenšcino in druge slovenske studije in poskrbel za podelitev vsakoletnih Slovenskih študijskih nagrad (ki jih je na Dan priznanj predsednik univerze slovesno podelili najboljšim študentom). Za vse Slovence utegne biti zgodovinsko izredno pomembna najvecja zbirka arhivov in dokumentacije o slovenskih dosežkih po vsem svetu, ki jo bo, ko dokonca še zadnje knjige, daroval Sloveniji.
  
Janez Janša - the truth about Patria


Janez Janša, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, wearing the Black Panther sign, the coat of arms of Carantania (Slovenia). During his EU presidency in the first half of 2008, this Slovenian Medieval State symbol was the official badge worn by European representatives at EU meetings held in Slovenia. The Carantha editorial staff appreciates this characteristic of the Prime Minister, by which Slovenia stepped into the world spot light as a nation, that was part of Europe since early on in history.

We already called the public's attention to the fact, that Slovenian Press and TV systematically removed all Black Panther badges on photos published by the media. Why? Because Carantania, the historical Slovenia, does not fit the model of the so-called Western Balkans (the new Yugoslavia), into which Slovenia should be integrated in the future.

Most recently, the Finnish Television accused Prime Minister Janez Janša of bribery, by accepting smear money from the Finnish manufacturer Patria. Sufficient "proof" should be the letter "J." on a document. It was a punch in the face, stimulated by the opposition in Slovenia in order to discredit the Slovenian Prime Minister and his government before the September elections.

Carantha editorial staff condemns such practices, and we fully support our Prime Minister Janez Janša!
  
Slovenia Chief is Accused of Censorship
The New York Times
By Dan Bilefsky
Published: January 21, 2008
Carantha's comments:

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia - As a young journalist in the late 1980s, Janez Jansa, now prime minister, played a critical role in spurring Slovenia’s pro-democracy movement after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for opposing the Communist government and writing articles attacking the former Yugoslav Army.

In an extraordinary inversion of the past, his opponents now accuse him of trying to censor the news media whose freedom he fought to uphold. A recent report by Freedom House, a pro-democracy watchdog group based in New York, said that the Slovene news media “faced indirect political and economic pressure from the government and business interests” and that government officials sometimes treated journalists as if they were “the political opposition.”

Such is the concern about press freedom in this formerly Communist country that 571 journalists recently signed a petition delivered to Parliament and to European leaders that accused Mr. Jansa of censorship. The petition — supported by the European Federation of Journalists — questioned whether Slovenia, which took over the presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1, was sufficiently democratic to represent the bloc of nearly 500 million people.

The public attack is still reverberating in this Balkan nation of two million people.

“It is embarrassing for Slovenia and for the E.U. that it is now presided over by a country that does not uphold European values of press freedom,” said Blaz Zgaga, one of two journalists who led the petition drive.

Media analysts say that concerns about press freedom in Slovenia reflect a trend across Eastern and Central Europe, where former Communist countries are struggling to shed the authoritarian political cultures of the past. In Slovenia, which was part of the former Yugoslavia ruled by Tito for 35 years, the Communist Party exerted control over the news media and censored opponents.

Mr. Jansa, asked last week whether he was stifling the media, was emphatic. If the main measure of press freedom “is the possibility to criticize the government, then we have 200 percent freedom,” he said.

The government cited several independent studies, including a 2007 report by Reporters Without Borders that ranked Slovenia above France, Spain, Italy, Australia and the United States in press freedom.

Yet journalists, media executives and analysts in Slovenia say that its center-right government has used state-owned funds or companies with controlling stakes in leading newspapers to weed out editors and journalists critical of the government.

The former secretary of state for the economy, Andrijana Starina Kosem, said during an interview that in August 2005, she and the prime minister orchestrated a deal to gain editorial influence over Delo, the country’s most influential newspaper. Delo, of which Lasko, a beer company, owns a majority of shares, was founded in 1959 and is the second largest daily newspaper in Slovenia, after the tabloid Slovenske Novice. Delo’s influence on Slovene public life is comparable to that of The Times of London or Le Monde in their countries.

Starina Kosem, who now runs the supervisory board of Delo and was once a golf partner of the prime minister’s, said Lasko was determined to buy part of Mercator, a large retailer partly owned by the state. In a private meeting in Mr. Jansa’s office, she said, the government agreed to sell part of its stake in Mercator to Lasko in return for the brewer’s promise to install editors and management sympathetic to the government.

“Jansa was determined to gain control of the media, and he did a deal to make sure that would happen,” said Ms. Kosem, who resigned from her post as state secretary in May 2007 before disclosing her allegations of state censorship in a letter leaked to the press.

Anze Logar, a government spokesman, denied that the government had tried to gain control of Delo. The share sale, he said, had been motivated to reduce government ownership of private industry.

Ms. Kosem said she had helped arrange the agreement because she was convinced that as a former dissident, Mr. Jansa, now 49, would still use his influence to expand media freedom.

Instead, she said, he would send a flurry of cellphone text messages each morning berating editors of papers with headlines critical of the government, an allegation his office denied.

Shortly after the purported deal, she said, Delo’s new management installed a new editor, Peter Jancic, whose mandate was to bring the paper into line with government thinking. Nearly a dozen Delo journalists resigned in protest.

Delo journalists say critical reporting of government policies has become increasingly difficult. As evidence, they point to Mr. Jancic’s decision to recall the Delo correspondent in Vienna to Ljubljana in April after he published stories critical of government policy toward the Slovene minority in Austria. The correspondent in Zagreb, Croatia, who had criticized the government for a police buildup at Slovenia’s disputed border with Croatia, was also recalled.

Mr. Jancic, who has since been replaced as editor, said during an interview that the correspondents had been recalled because they were injecting their opinions into stories. He said that as editor, he never came under direct government pressure.

“My editorial policy was to be fair, accurate and unbiased,” he said.

Writing in a recent issue of Delo, Drago Jancar, a leading Slovene rightist intellectual, said that Mr. Jansa was a victim of unprecedented “media lynching” and that “sensationalism making mountains out of molehills is in full swing.”

He lamented that when a state minister’s wife used an official car to go to the store to buy a broom, it was front-page news.
  
Carantha's comment: This article is evidently a a collection of half-true tales, as to provoke in the reader a negative inclination towards Slovenia. - It would be interesting to know who the authorities are that put pressure on the journalists, having one of them signing a petition not long ago.

We quote the results of a recent research conducted by the Faculty for Applicate Science Studies (Lublana). The outcome was presented at a conference by Prof. Matej Makarovic. See the corresponding section in daily Delo (Lublana) of January 9, 2008. We read, among other things, the following:

Based on the results of the analysis it was ascertained, that authorities control and put pressure on the mass media "in the way, that, in certain cases, they can significantly influence their activity" stressed Prof. Makarovic. He added, that "the estimations of pressures differentiate. On the one side, there  are journalists, who see the chief culprit in the government, and then there are journalists, who see the culprit in the circles of the former governal garniture".

We have analyzed the comments of four Slovenian dailies: "do not show the effective pressure of the existing government, because we cannot say for certain, if the dailies are reporting in favour of the government coalition" said Prof. Makarovic.

The article in the NYT appeared on January 21, the results of the inquiry was already published on January 9. Thus, the reporter must have taken into consideration the results of the aforesaid analysis, which he didn't. It is about manipulation of the readers, if not about a direct instigation against Slovenia.

What does it mean, "former governal garniture"? It is about the government of the Liberal and Social Democrats (post-Communist structures), which are under control of the Serbian secret service. The mass media and journalists have to play into their hands. Evidently, Slovenia is still a kind of Serbian march (krajina). The "petition" of journalists against the Jansa government was signed, because Slovenia, which through the EU presidency enjoys a new international position, could be saved from the Serbian secret service and its mason allies in the West. Not at least of those who are with the New York Times.

Articles on Slovenia's largest bank, the Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB)
  
KBC starts tender process for sale of its 34 pct stake in Slovenia's NLB
CNBC
30 Apr 2008
BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - Financial services group KBC NV said it has now set the terms and conditions for the sale its 34 percent stake in Slovenia's NLB bank to a third party, as well as for the divestment of its 50 percent stake in NLB Vita.
The tender process started on Wednesday, the group said in a statement, adding the most suitable new partner or partners for NLB will be selected by mutual consent between KBC and the Slovene government.
KBC announced in June 2006 it would sell its stake in NLB bank.
The bank acquired the stake in 2002 but became a purely financial investor rather than a strategic one after it felt it would be unable to "bring the international development of NLB in the Balkans sufficiently up to cruising speed". antonia.vandevelde@thomsonreuters.com ava/ms1 COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
KBC starts sale process for stake in Slovenia's NLB

Carantha on "KBC starts sale process for stake in Slovenia's NLB"

Apr 30, 2008
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian banking and insurance group KBC (KBC.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it had started the process of selling its 34 percent stake in Slovenia's largest financial group, Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB).
KBC, which has extensive operations in eastern Europe, said it had set the terms and conditions governing the sale of the stake to a third party and the divestment of KBC's 50 percent stake in NLB Vita, a life insurance joint venture with NLB.
"The aim of KBC and the Slovene government is to organise an orderly, efficient and transparent tender process led by KBC, so that the most suitable new partner(s) for NLB can be selected in mutual consent between KBC and the Republic of Slovenia," KBC said in a statement.
It added that the tender process started on Wednesday with a resolution of NLB's supervisory board supporting the sale.
KBC bought the stake in 2002, but decided in 2006 to regard it as purely financial rather than strategic after Slovenia refused to let the Belgian group raise its stake to a majority.
"The sale envisaged is thus wholly consistent with KBC's strategy, which is to explore and act on opportunities to acquire direct majority ownership of companies in the region," Chief Executive Andre Bergen said in a statement.
A KBC spokeswoman said no specific timing was involved in the sale process.
"We are not in a hurry. We want to do it in an orderly manner and in mutual consent with the Republic of Slovenia," she said.
KBC has appointed U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to assist in the sale process.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Dale Hudson)
  
Carantha on "KBC starts sale process for stake in Slovenia's NLB"
It is a further failure of the international Masonry and its Serbian allies to lock Slovenia in their financial embrace. As we already warned some time ago, the Belgian banking group KBC intended to increase its share from 34 to 49% in Slovenia's largest bank, the LB (Ljubljanska banka). In this way, together with the 5% pertaining to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London), LB, which controls 40% of Slovenia's financial transactions, would be placed under foreign, i.e., Masonic control. No doubt, it was an attempt to ruin the independence of Slovenia.
The intentions of KBC, as it is said, was to convert LB into an international investment bank for "south-east" Europe, read Serbia. Until now, 3 billion euros "investment capital" has already been channeled to Serbia by ex-Yugoslav functionaries (Serbian confidants), who control the Slovenian economy. It is about "investments" without return, it is simply plundering Slovenia outright.
Failure of the KBC, failure of the Masonic international press, to prevent the Slovenian EU presidency, failure to integrate Slovenia into an "Euro-region" (dream by Riccardo Illy, Trieste) and some other attempts, bear witness, that also a small nation can survive imperialist attacks from the "democratic" great powers, if it finds the  necessary energy and self-confidence. Slovenia found it!
  
A Coup de Grâce?
Object Image, replacement for Object that Trellix was unable to create from RTF. Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0 Photo
Slovenia in Europe
NLB bank,Lublana
KBC bank, Brussel


From Brussels' KBC bank
An Ultimatum for Slovenia?
It has been denied, but the question remains

In 2002, the Belgian based KBC financial services group became a 34% percent shareholder of Slovenia's largest bank, the Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB) in Lublana (Slovenia). At that time, the KBC obligated itself that it would not increase its share until the end of 2005. In this year, the net profit of the KBC exceeded 1 billion Euro, of which the NLB group contributed 20 million Euros. Now, in 2006, KBC would like to increase its stake in the NLB to 49% or more. According to press releases, an ultimatum had been issued to the Janez Janša government: If you do not permit us to increase our share in NLB, than we would be forced to withdraw from Slovenia! Anyway, the KBC and the Slovenian government soon after denied the »ultimatum«. But the problem remains.

The NLB group owns no less than 41% of the bank capital of all Slovenia. If the Belgian banking group KBC succeeds to acquire the majority of shares in NLB, where the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) already has investments, then not only NLB, but the entire Slovenian banking system would be under foreign control. One should consider that this has happened already in the former Yugoslavia. Here is a retrospective!

At the beginning of the 70s, complying with secret directives from Belgrade, all Slovenian banks were merged into a sole group called Ljubljanska banka - Združena banka (Lublana Bank - United Bank). The summit of the group was soon infiltrated by Kos, the Belgrade secret service. In this way, Belgrade controlled the entire financial system in Slovenia. Acting under its authority and direction, Slovenian capital was channelled as »investments« into the southern part of Yugoslavia, in the Balkans. These »investments« were never recovered. In this way, Slovenia has been robbed on two fronts, because it contributed already to the federal treasury of Belgrade. This contribution amounted to ca. 17%, whereas the share of the Slovenian population amounted only to  8%.

Belgian's »plans«
Having in sight the impact of one-time events in the Balkans (ex-Yugoslavia), one is surprised to encounter very similar intentions and tactics from the Belgian bank. KBC commented in a recent statement: It does not see itself remaining a minority shareholder in NLB Bank over the long term, without being able to have sufficient say in NLB's operational management. As a minority shareholder, KBC feels it would lack sufficient influence to bring NLB's performance into line with the European average. Nor would it be able to bring the international development of NLB in the Balkans sufficiently up to cruising speed. Furthermore, KBC... will continue to explore and act on opportunities for direct investment in the Balkan states. (daily Delo, May 11, Lublana 2006).

Only a day before, Brussels' correspondent for daily Delo (Lublana) tried to alarm the Slovenian government and public with the following quotation: The very probable withdrawal of KBC from the Slovenian NLB means, that one third of the Slovenian banking system must prepare itself to lose a solid owner; an important reform provision, this is, the continuation of privatisation of the NLB will have an uncertain future until further notice. (Delo, May 10, 2006). But the question concerning KBC and NBL is trailing already for a long time.

Indeed, on March 16, 2006, the chairman of imminent reforms, the ex- Development Minister Dr. Jože P. Damijan, voted in favour of selling NLB shares to KBC: »This is the best way to improve efficiency and competitiveness«, he said in Brussels, after talks with Guenter Verheugen, the European commissioner for enterprise and industry. Evidently, he inseparable connected this operation with the reforms of Slovenian economy, that he chaired. His statement comes amidst media reports, that Damijan was considering resigning as minister due to disagreements over NLB privatisation, notably because Finance Minister, Dr. Andrej Bajuk, wants NLB to remain in Slovenian hands.

Dr. Andrej Bajuk, Finance Minister of Slovenia
The Restraint of the Slovenian Government

The Finance Ministry, which in the negotiations with KBC represents the Slovenian State, NLB's largest shareholder, does not agree with the increase of Belgian's bank share. In his interview with TV Slovenija, Finance Minister Bajuk declared: KBC wanted to reach a deal with the government that would allow the Belgian firm to become a major stockholder in NLB. In our negotiations with KBC we made our standpoint very clear: We must retain NLB in Slovenian hands, which does not necessarily mean in the hands of the State. The Minister also called for forming a holding company for Slovenian investors, which should ensure that NLB remains in Slovenian hands.

The Minister added: We explained to the Belgians, that time was not the issue in allowing KBC to acquire a majority stake, but rather Slovenia's responsibility to maintain the stability of its financial system and to meet European Union regulations. In this connection Bajuk explained that another issue was Slovenia's system of insuring deposits of individual banks. Slovenian legislation, he said, sets down that depositors in a defunct bank be repaid from a fund financed by other banks - if the NLB were to go bankrupt, it would lead to huge problems on the Slovenian banking market. (Delo, May 11, 2006).

Nevertheless, the Slovenian press, controlled by the ex-Yugoslav (Serbian) lobby, criticised right from the beginning the government's standpoint in the KBC affair: The decision of the Belgian bank ... certainly is not good news for Slovenia, its international and investment reputation as well as banking system. It also cannot be good news for the government of Janez Janša and its reform plans... KBC, the greatest foreign investor in the banks of new Europe, practically let us know, that it is withdrawing from Slovenia... Because there are no investors in Slovenia...its one third share will medium-term end in the hands of Austrian or Italian capital... We hope, that the » KBC case « will not scare away foreign investors from Slovenia, which is traditionally unkind toward foreign investments... (Delo, May 10, 2006). Thus, the  news media has launched a propaganda campaign in favour of KBC, which certainly were directives from the background.

A similar standpoint was expressed by the opposition, the Liberal Democratic Party (completely in Serbian hands). In 2002, the same Liberal government started a process of selling NLB shares to KBC. In 2001, this government sold Banka Koper to Banca San Paolo (Turin). In 2003, evidently in accordance with the government privatization programme, the Krekova banka (Maribor) was sold to the Reiffeisen bank (Austria). They never revealed to the Slovenian public, how the proceeds from the sales were used. Where did they disappear to? More new »investments« in Serbia? Already in 1994, the Slovenian bank in Trieste, the Tržaška kreditna banka, went into insolvency, because Serbia did not repay the loans...

Considering these facts, one is asking himself: What is behind all this for Slovenia, if a bank of NLB's size is in the hands of the »international« KBC group? Slovenia needs a financing, that corresponds to its own conditions! This means, a favourable financing for its imminent economical reforms, which will increase production and create new jobs. The »international« banks, however, are only interested in profit and not in the development of a country. Moreover! Concerning the Balkans, there is every indication that the situation is different. In this area, the »international« banks and their supporters are interested first in economic and political supremacy, profit comes second. At any rate, the Balkan investments will never be repaid. At this point, the foreseen association KBC - NLB will become the key players in the field: Under Belgian and other foreign authorities, the Slovenian banking system would be engaged in financing the Balkan area, which present a considerable risk to the country's entire financial system. Once again, Slovenia would lose its capital, whereas the foreign masters would have no risks. Nothing to say, a diabolic plan of a renewed plundering of Slovenia under the European and »international« mask.

A mercy-stroke?
The one-time NLB (Nova Ljubljanska banka) was a solid credit institution with many foreign offices in Milan, Prague, London, Paris... In Frankfurt it had a subsidiary called LHB Internationale Handelsbank, another one in New York, called LBS Bank. Today, these banking groups have disappeared. The subsidiary of New York, it was said, went into bankruptcy because of non-returned loans. But it was not specified, who the debtors were.

It was in the 90s, when Serbia was under the embargo. The confidants of the Serbian secret service, who since the time of Yugoslavia occupied all key positions in Slovenian political, cultural and economical structures, raised loans all over, in Slovenia and abroad. In Slovenia, perhaps the Red Cross was raising »loans« everywhere. Anyway, it was not only about the survival of Serbia under the embargo, but also about its intention to destroy Slovenian structures in general. Evidently, Slovenia had to be »punished«, because it was the first among the Yugoslav federal republics, which declared independence.

The selling-out of Slovenian enterprises and banks, which started under the government of the Liberal Democrats (until 2004), clearly had the purpose to break down Slovenia as a national entity. Consequently, except for NLB, no other banks remained in Slovenian State ownership. Now, if NLB also would be regulated by foreigners, it would be a coup de grâce to the same Slovenia. This country would be an independent State on paper only.

We do not know if capitals from ex-Yugoslavia (now in Serbian hands) have been invested in KBC. Anyway, after having experience with the Belgian Brewing Industry Holding Company called Interbrew, that not long ago tried to take over the great Brewery Union in Lublana, such an idea comes to mind. It is a tentative plan to break Slovenia and to change it practically into a Serbian march. Of course, also with the help of »international« institutions! In this regard, the representatives from Brussels, sitting at the Slovenian negotiation table, talk persistently about Slovenia's future role in the Balkans. Their slogans remain always the same: international, Europe, Southern Europe, Western Balkans... but not Slovenia.

Concerning the ownership question of Slovenian banks, the present-day Janez Janša government, and in particular the Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk, demonstrated all the necessary responsibility towards Slovenia and its future! Be that as it may, one must give recognition to the present-day Slovenian government.
  
Slovenia Blocks Asset Sale as Communist Past Shadows EU Present
Bloomberg News

New York - London - Tokyo, March 28, 2007
By Charles Goldsmith and Boris Cerni

Carantha's standpoint:

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Slovenia on Jan. 1 became the first former communist country to join Europe's single currency. By enthusiastically embracing capitalism? Far from it.
Slovenia beat other east European nations into the euro partly by retaining elements of its communist past, shunning shock therapy and clinging to state control of banks and telecommunications companies. That helped Slovenia avoid the inflation that has so far barred nations such as Latvia from adopting the currency -- and alienated some foreign investors.
Take KBC Group NV. Belgium's second-biggest financial- services company bought 34 percent of Nova Ljubljanska Banka in 2002. Now KBC may dump its 435 million-euro ($573 million) investment in Slovenia's largest lender after the government blocked its bid for a majority stake in the Ljubljana-based bank.
``I'm sad because it's a missed opportunity,'' says Andre Bergen, KBC's chief executive officer.``It was our intention to use NLB as the jumping-off point for the Balkans.''
In contrast to central and eastern European countries that opted for a pain now, gain later policy through the rapid sale of state-owned industries, Slovenia chose a go-slow approach. While that helped provide short-term benefits such as protecting jobs and smoothing the way to euro membership, economists say growth may be jeopardized in the nation of 2 million people.
``The Slovenians were concerned that if they let capital come in and out at leisure, they were going to have no control over their own economy,'' says Francois Lecavalier, the top official for Slovenia at the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. ``The issue is whether that's going to be sufficient for continued success.''

Tito Streets
Slovenia formed the northwest corner of Yugoslavia prior to independence in 1991. Today, there's little physical evidence of the country's communist past, other than a few streets named after Josip Broz Tito, who ruled Yugoslavia for 35 years until his death in 1980. There are plenty of vestiges in politics and its influence on economic policy.
``Slovenia is still a pretty socialist country, especially in people's minds,'' says Matej Steinbacher, CEO of the Ljubljana-based Free Society Institute, which promotes free markets and limited government.
The coalition government includes the Pensioners Party, which supports the continuation of generous state benefits and whose leadership is ``proud'' of its communist heritage, says party General Secretary Pavel Brglez.
Franc Batic, 68, who owns a shoe-repair shop in Ljubljana, the Slovene capital, says it was easier to find work and live on an average salary under communism. "During socialist times we had a much better quality of life,'' Batic says.

`Socialist Country'
Slovenia's government says the economy is on the right track, with exports rising 16 percent last year and the economy growing 5.2 percent. Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk says the gradual approach was necessary to avoid upheaval.
``When you have a past like Slovenia's, the remnants of that, of course, exist,'' says Bajuk, 63, whose Ljubljana office is a three-minute walk from NLB's 14-story headquarters.``Slovenia is very much in the transitional process of changing the minds of people. The younger generation is very different.''
From 1989 through 2005, foreign direct investment in Slovenia totaled $1,536 per person, compared with $5,061 in the Czech Republic and $4,229 in Hungary, according to the 2006 Transition Report by the EBRD, set up to spur investment in central and eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Overseas Owners
Meanwhile, some nations that moved faster have suffered high inflation. The annual rate was 7.2 percent last month in Latvia and 9 percent in Hungary, compared with 2.3 percent in Slovenia, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency.
Prime Minister Janez Jansa, elected in 2004 on a promise to step up sales of state-owned companies, initially considered following Estonia and Slovakia in adopting a flat income tax. He backed away after a November 2005 protest in Ljubljana attracted 40,000 people.
The government, which plans to reduce the state's controlling stake in NLB to 25 percent, in December refused to let KBC acquire a majority on the grounds that it could jeopardize Slovenia's ability to fulfill EU rules on banking stability.
Stanka Jarc, an 83-year-old retiree, applauds that stance.
``I think foreign ownership of banks is not a good idea,'' she says at NLB's main Ljubljana branch. ``I just don't trust them.''
Keeping a minority stake in NLB isn't attractive to KBC, which says it needs control to cut jobs and improve performance. The Brussels-based bank has abandoned the idea of spending as much as 400 million euros to make Slovenia its Balkan hub and will sell its NLB stake if the price is right, says CEO Bergen.
Instead, the Belgian firm is investing elsewhere in the region: in January it bought 70 percent of Bulgaria's DZI Insurance for 185 million euros and said it would buy control of A Banka of Serbia for an undisclosed price.
``On the one hand, you have as a shareholder a government with a political outlook, and on the other hand a financial institution with a business logic,'' Bergen says. ``These are not the same.'' - (Highlights in colour done by Carantha).
  
Carantha's standpoint
We think, we are not wrong in our judgement by assuming that the high international finance service Bloomberg News is run by the Mason and Hebrew circles. Evidently, these circles cannot forget, that the Belgian banking group KBC has made little progress in the privatization of Slovenia’s Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB). The KBC planned a take over of NLB by increasing its share from 34% to 49%. Together with the 5% pertaining to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London), 54 % of NLB would have been in foreign hands. But NLB controls 40 % of Slovenia’s finances. In this way, foreign banks would not only have full control over NLB, but the Slovenian banking and finance system would come into foreign ownership. Carantha has already reported and warned of such circumstances, and we cannot stress enough how important this is for the country.

The KBC group and its allies had a clear plan. The idea was to convert NLB into an "international" bank, directed to finance the Balkans (please read also: A Coup de Grâce? An Ultimatum for Slovenia?). Of course, not with Belgian or other foreign capitals, but with Slovenian money. It is a well known fact that investment loans made to Serbia were never paid back. In this way the Yugoslav bank continues to plunder without precedence. Under foreign control and Serbian plundering of Slovenian banks, Slovenia would have become a banana-republic. These financial circles in collaboration with their Slovenian allies, the Liberal Democrats, released their anger in the above article in Bloomberg News. They simply cannot accept that the "tiny ex-Yugoslav republic" did not allow them to seize its financial assets. What a big failure! We expect that they will continue in their endeavours to break up Slovenia.
  
Slovenia's communist past shadows its capitalist present
Herald Tribune
Thursday, March 29, 2007
By Charles Goldsmith and Boris Cerni Bloomberg News

Carantha comments:

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia: Slovenia on Jan. 1 became the first former communist country to adopt the euro - but not by enthusiastically embracing capitalism. Far from it.
Slovenia beat other East European countries into the euro partly by retaining elements of its communist past, shunning shock therapy and clinging to state control of banks and telecommunications companies. That helped Slovenia avoid the inflation that has so far barred countries like Latvia from adopting the currency - but has alienated some foreign investors.
Take KBC Group, a leading Belgian financial services company. KBC bought 34 percent of Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB), the largest lender in Slovenia, in 2002. Now KBC may sell its investment of 435 million Euros, or $580 million, after the government blocked its bid for a majority stake in the bank.
"I'm sad because it's a missed opportunity," said Andr? Bergen, the KBC chief executive. "It was our intention to use NLB as the jumping-off point for the Balkans."
In contrast to Central and East European countries that opted for a "pain now, gain later" policy through the rapid sale of state-owned industries, Slovenia chose a go-slow approach. While that helped provide short-term benefits like protecting jobs and smoothing the way to euro membership, economists say growth may be jeopardized in the nation of two million people.
"The Slovenians were concerned that if they let capital come in and out at leisure, they were going to have no control over their own economy," said François Lecavalier, the top official for Slovenia at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. "The issue is whether that's going to be sufficient for continued success."
Slovenia formed the northwest corner of Yugoslavia before independence in 1991. Today, there is little physical evidence of the country's communist past, other than a few streets named after Josip Broz Tito, who ruled Yugoslavia for 35 years until his death in 1980. But there are plenty of vestiges in politics and its influence on economic policy.
"Slovenia is still a pretty socialist country, especially in people's minds", said Matej Steinbacher, chief executive of the Free Society Institute, based in Ljubljana, which promotes free markets and limited government.
The coalition government includes the Pensioners Party, which supports the continuation of generous state benefits and whose leadership is "proud" of its communist heritage, said the party general secretary, Pavel Brglez.
Franc Batic, 68, who owns a shoe-repair shop in Ljubljana, the Slovene capital, said it was easier to find work and live on an average salary under communism. "During socialist times we had a much better quality of life", Batic said.
Slovenia's government says the economy is on the right track, with exports rising 16 percent last year and the economy growing 5.2 percent. The finance minister, Andrej Bajuk, said the gradual approach was necessary to avoid upheaval.
"When you have a past like Slovenia's, the remnants of that, of course, exist," said Bajuk, whose office in Ljubljana is a three-minute walk from NLB's 14-story headquarters. "Slovenia is very much in the transitional process of changing the minds of people. The younger generation is very different."
From 1989 through 2005, foreign direct investment in Slovenia totaled $1,536 per person, compared with $5,061 in the Czech Republic and $4,229 in Hungary, according to the 2006 Transition Report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Meanwhile, some nations that moved faster have experienced high inflation. The annual rate was 7.2 percent last month in Latvia and 9 percent in Hungary, compared with 2.3 percent in Slovenia, according to Eurostat, the European Union statistics agency.
Prime Minister Janez Janša, elected in 2004 on a promise to step up sales of state-owned companies, initially considered following Estonia and Slovakia in adopting a flat income tax. He backed away after a November 2005 protest in Ljubljana attracted 40,000 people.
The government, which plans to reduce the state's controlling stake in NLB to 25 percent, in December refused to let KBC acquire a majority on the grounds that it could jeopardize Slovenia's ability to fulfill EU rules on banking stability.
Stanka Jarc, an 83-year-old retiree, applauded that stance. "I think foreign ownership of banks is not a good idea," she said at NLB's main branch in Ljubljana. "I just don't trust them."
Keeping a minority stake in NLB is not attractive to KBC, which says it needs control to cut jobs and improve performance. The bank, based in Brussels, has abandoned the idea of spending as much as 400 million Euros to make Slovenia its Balkan hub and will sell its NLB stake if the price is right, said Bergen, the chief executive.
Instead, the Belgian firm is investing elsewhere in the region: in January it bought 70 percent of DZI Insurance of Bulgaria for €185 million and said it would buy control of A Banka of Serbia for an undisclosed price.
"On the one hand, you have as a shareholder a government with a political outlook, and on the other hand a financial institution with a business logic," Bergen said. "These are not the same."
  
Carantha's Comment: As we already reported, the Belgian based KBC financial services group had strong intentions to increase its share from 34 to 49% in Slovenia's largest bank, the NLB (Nova Ljubljanska banka) . In this way, the NLB, which controls 40% of the financial market in Slovenia together with the 5%  shares held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, would come under foreign ownership. As it is quite evident, the KBC group is in the hands of the Masonry, which is not favourably inclined towards Slovenia but to Serbia (Balkans). So, if the “Belgian” KBC would gain control over NLB,  Slovenia's largest bank, then financing of the “Balkans”, as KBC openly announced, would be carried out with Slovenian and not with Belgian capital. The reality is, that capital investments in Serbia never returned, and it would be about a simple plundering of Slovenia and a possible financial collapse.
The Masonic mass-media, like the International Herald Tribune, which is part of the New York Times Media Group, gets all exited because the KBC failed to succeed in Slovenia. They evidently consider Slovenians incapable or stupid and did not expect that the Slovenian people, who, in their opinion suffer from inferiority complexes, would recognize the Mason (and Serbian) tricks hidden behind “international” credit institutes like KBC. Slovenians should have thrown themselves blindly into the arms of the KBC.  Therefore, their reporters, evidently confidants of mason circles, attacked Slovenians and equated them with communists. Before the KBC affair, they did not know anything about it. In a way, they even publish incorrect statistical data: Slovenia totaled $1,536 per person, compared with $5,061 in the Czech Republic and $4,229 in Hungary… But the Czech Republic and Hungary, with ca 10 million inhabitants each, offer other possibilities for investments and their economies are on a much lower level. One of the main issues is, that they have a cheap labour force, which is underpaid in comparison to Slovenia.
  
A non-correct statement under the prestigeous name of the World Bank
(Carantha's Statement)
Washington, October 27, 2005
Slovenia
Overview
Since Slovenia joined the World Bank in 1993, the Bank has helped to advance the country's structural reform agenda. World Bank assistance has focused primarily on providing policy advice and support for institution-building rather than on high-volume lending. Slovenia is Central Europe's wealthiest country, with a 2002 per capita gross national income of US$ 9,810. The country's GDP growth has averaged a solid 4 percent since 1996. Foreign direct investment inflows reached record levels in 2002, mostly linked to privatization.
World Bank Assistance
World Bank commitments to Slovenia have totaled US$ 128.4 million for four projects. In addition, a Global Environment Facility project phased out ozone depleting substances.  One active World Bank-supported operation remain under implementation - a Real Estate Modernization Project supported by a US$ 15 million loan.

In the early years of the Bank's partnership with the country, the Bank provided broad support for structural reforms, particularly those that would help to rebalance the roles of state and the private sector. During the later years, the Bank's support moved to highly focused interventions, as well as capacity building to strengthen key institutions so that Slovenia would enter the EU as a strong partner.

From Borrower to Donor Status
Slovenia is well prepared to manage its remaining development challenges and, on March 17, 2004, the country 'graduated' from recipient to donor status with the World Bank. As a development partner, Slovenia can still receive limited technical assistance over the next two to three years if it so chooses.  

A Model for Transition Countries
The World Bank's partnership with Slovenia and its support for reforms in the country represents a model that might serve well for other transition countries. The country is well-equipped to play the role of transition frontrunner, both by helping to build capacity in neighbouring Balkan countries and by sharing its own reform lessons.

Some Remarks:
The statement Slovenia is Central Europe's wealthiest country is certainly not correct. Actually, it is about a falsification, because one would think that the author of this statement with normal education, would know where Central Europe is (Northern Italy, Switzerland, southern Germany, Austria, Czechia….). In this area, Slovenia, like other post-Communist countries, appears as a very poor nation. Of course, the quotation of per capita gross national income of US$ 9,810 is only an average, which does not reflect the real situation. This can only be individuated by quoting what percentage of shares has the group, that is holding the greatest part of capitals. It is the post-Communist and Serbian lobby, which in this way continues to control and to expropriate Slovenia. The consequences are tremendous. The proceeds from the sale of the former state patrimony and the capital gains are not traceable, they are very probably transferred to Serbia.  They are not invested in Slovenia, where unemployment is on the rise in a terrible way. Indeed, after the job losses Slovenia appears on top of the EU countries. Notwithstanding this, the author of the World Bank statement presents the country as a role model that might serve well for other transition countries. Moreover, Slovenia should play the role of helping to build capacity in the neighbouring Balkan countries. It is a clear prediction of further plundering of Slovenian capitals for the Balkans. It would be only right, that authors of false statements like this one, would assume responsibility for its contents with their signature. It is not fair, that they are hiding behind the title of the World Bank, which is not as prestigious as it appears from the outside.
  
Offensive comments about Slovenia
Carantha's Remarks
Letter from our reader
Protest letters
Bitmap Image
Washington, July 7, 2006
World
Embassy Row
By James Morrison
Slovenian visit
The prime minister of Slovenia meets with President Bush on Monday to discuss the progress the Balkan nation has made since declaring independence from Yugoslavia 15 years ago. Janez Jansa is coming at an "important and symbolic time for Slovenia, its neighborhood of the Western Balkans and Europe in general," Miriam Mozgan, the deputy chief of mission at the Slovenian Embassy, said yesterday.

"Celebrations of the 15th anniversary of independence and of a remarkable transition to effective democracy and prosperous economy have just concluded," she said. Miss Mozgan called Slovenia a "model for the countries" in the region. "In the past few years, Slovenia has confirmed that it considers its membership in NATO and the European Union as a responsibility to contribute to the extension of the frontiers of democracy, stability and prosperity," she added.
Mr. Jansa, at 47, is one of the new generation of Balkan leaders, who fought the Yugoslav authoritarian regime as a student activist in the late 1980s. His arrest in 1988 helped spark widespread pro-democracy demonstrations. Slovenia gained its independence after a 10-day war with the Yugoslav army in 1991. This will be his first visit to Washington since becoming prime minister in November 2004. As defense minister, he first met Mr. Bush in 2001 when the president visited Slovenia for a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Jansa led his country in its first year as member of both NATO and the European Union. Slovenia joined the Western alliance in March 2004 and the European Union in May of that year. Slovenia is recognized as the most successful of the six republics that made up the Yugoslav federation. The 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, ranks Slovenia 38 among 161 nations surveyed in the guide.
"Slovenia is the most advanced of the countries that joined the European Union in 2004," the index said. The White House, in announcing the visit last month, said, "Under Prime Minister Jansa's leadership, Slovenia has significantly increased its efforts bilaterally and within NATO and the European Union to support democracy and secure freedom in south-central Europe, Afghanistan and Iraq." Slovenia sent four military trainers to Iraq and 22 troops to Afghanistan. It also sent 34 troops to Kosovo and 200 to Bosnia as part of international peacekeeping efforts.
On his Washington visit, Mr. Jansa is also due to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican; Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Indiana Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, who has Slovenian heritage.
  
Carantha's Remarks:

We received the above article from one of our readers, and we sincerely thank him for his contribution. Below, we also published his accompanying letter and protest letter, addressed to Mr. James Morisson, the Washington Times editorial, the Slovenian Ambassador to the US - Samuel Žbogar, and to the Embassy of Slovenia. We wholly agree with the reader's standpoint and we are looking forward to our fellow Slovenians, as well as to other friends of Slovenia, to send protest letters to the addresses below. - Contrary to our reader's belief, the article in question does not reveal ignorance about Slovenia. It is about a purposive misinformation in Balkan style carried out by Serbian secret service (like in the case of "TV Austria"). The perpetrators speculated in particular on the public in Slovenia, who would get the impression, that the famous Washington Post portrayed Slovenia as a Balkan country, and PM Janez Janša as a "Balkan" leader. Thus, because the everyday Slovenian man should not distinguish between the Washington Post and the Washington Times. It is not by accident, that the daily Delo in Lublana (entirely in Serbian hands) also called attention to this kind of reporting about PM Janez Janša in the "Washington "Times". What a coincidence!
  
Letter from our reader:
We have another battle against media ignorance. In the American newspaper "The Washington Times" an article about the visit of Slovenian PM Janez Jansa to the US incorrectly referred to Slovenia as a "Balkan nation" and to the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa as a "Balkan leader".

Once again this is an absolute disgrace and offensive to all Slovenians around the world because historically, politically and culturally Slovenia is a Central European country and NOT Balkan. Its obvious that the person who wrote this has no knowledge of Slovenian culture and history. If you agree, I urge you to do the same and get as many other Slovenians as possible to protest against Slovenia being labelled a "Balkan nation". Even the American CIA World Fact book says Slovenia is a Central European country with historical ties to Western Europe.

Lep pozdrav, Peter V.
  
Protest letters
James Morrison - reporter
jmorrison@washingtontimes.com
Slovenian Ambassador to the US
Samuel Žbogar
samuel.zbogar@mzz-dkp.gov.si
Embassy of Slovenia
vwa@mzz-dkp.gov.si

Subject: Offensive and incorrect comments about Slovenia
Dear Mr.  Morrison,

I would like to bring to your attention an error in your article titled "Slovenian visit". In it you incorrectly refer to Slovenia as a "Balkan nation" and to the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa as a "Balkan leader". As a person of Slovenian heritage, I find that description completely offensive and inaccurate as would all Slovenians.
Politically, historically and culturally Slovenia is a Central European country NOT a Balkan country. Anyone who has visited Slovenia will confirm that fact. The fact also is that Slovenia is a member of the European Union - No Balkan country is a member of the European Union. Even the CIA World Fact Book states that Slovenia is a Central European country with historical ties to Western Europe - see it for yourself; http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/si.html
To prevent further insult being inflicted, I demand that in future Slovenia be correctly referred to as a "Central European nation" and that an apology be provided to the Slovenian community for the offense caused.
Yours Sincerely,
(signature)
***
July 10, 2006
Dear Mr Morrison,
I would like to bring to your attention a geographical mistake in your article titled "Slovenian visit".
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060706-103238-5919r.htm
Please allow me to explain the concept of "Balkan nation".

In the year 395 A.D., after the death of the Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great, the Roman Empire was divided between his two sons.  Arcadius got the Eastern and Honorious the Western Empire.  The border between the two Empires went right through the center of the Balkans -- what is today Bosnia -- roughly along the red line on the map below.


For the next one thousand years the region has been the point where occidental and oriental cultures produced a mosaic of religions and nationalities. Until the arrival of Islam. Islam's left flank soon conquered Iberian peninsula while the right flank went after the Balkans. In 1389 the resistance of Christian forces was overcome at the battle of Kosovo and for the next six  centuries the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans. The Central Europe created a line of defense that ran about one hundred miles on either side of the red line. The duration of this battle zone spans more than twenty generations.  To this day is this separation considered where the Central Europe ends and the Balkans begin.

Slovenia was considerably distant from this war zone on the Balkans.  Slovenia, (white patch on the map above), then a territory of the Austrian Empire, shared a peaceful border with the Venetian Republic, the land settled by Venedi in pre-Roman days.  After the end of Roman Empire the newly arrived Slav settlers combined with the Venedi population, who gave the root ven to both modern Venetians as well as Slovenians. (ref.: VENETI, ISBN 0-9681236-0-0, 1996, et. al.)
Borut Prah
Oakland Hills, CA
  
Harrah's, Slovenian group Hit suspend talks on park: Hit
Yahoo News
April 2, 2008


A flag flies in front of Harrah's Atlantic City. Harrah's Entertainment of the United States and Slovenia's Hit Group are suspending talks on construction of a 750-million-euro (1.17-billion-dollar) entertainment park in western Slovenia, the Hit Group said in a statement Wednesday. (AFP/File/Saul Loeb)

Carantha's comments:

LJUBLJANA (AFP) - Harrah's Entertainment of the United States and Slovenia's Hit Group are suspending talks on construction of a 750-million-euro (1.17-billion-dollar) entertainment park in western Slovenia, the Hit Group said in a statement Wednesday.

"The two companies concluded that they could not find a solution that would meet the interests of both," said Hit Group, which controls the largest casinos in the tiny European Union state.

It added that "it was not possible to define a managing structure that would fulfill the interests of the Hit Group for a balanced development of Nova Gorica as a tourist destination and granting, at the same time, (Harrah's) expected influence in the new joint company."

The statement came two-and-a-half-years after the start of negotiations between the two companies, during which the Slovenian government had agreed to important concessions in gaming legislation in order to open the way for Harrah's investment.

The government announced last summer it was ready to change the legislation on domestic gaming companies, allowing foreign investors to own up to a 49 percent stake in the company, rather than the current 20 percent, and cutting tax on profits from gaming from 38 percent to 17.5 percent.

The two companies said last year that as soon as the law had been changed they would create of a joint venture company, in which Hit would hold a 51 percent stake and Harrah's 49 percent, to build the park by 2010.

The joint venture mega-entertainment park was expected to be one of the largest of its kind in the central Europe and would include hotels with over 650 top-class rooms, a 2000-seat congress center, more than 3000 gaming machines and 120 gaming tables.

Although the Hit Group had announced the entertainment park would be built respecting the environment and the local communities, many citizens and local authorities opposed the project, fearing its core gambling sector would have a strong negative impact in the whole region.

Slovenia's Finance Ministry issued a statement late Wednesday saying it would not comment the interruption of talks but said it had prepared the legislation needed for the park's construction.
  
Carantha:

The background of the "mega entertainment park"
The Slovenian Casino Hit of Nova Gorica (Littoral) is controlled by the Serbian underground lobby, a remainder of the ex-Yugoslav secret service, which is operating in Slovenia after its declaration of independence. This lobby is linked to Free Mason and Jewish capitals, which also own Harrah's Entertainment in Las Vegas. Their joint venture had one specific purpose only, to create a "mega" entertainment park in Nova Gorica close to the Italian border, as to attract, first of all, Italian gamblers.

However, such a park would have been catastrophic for the Slovenian community of Littoral and its characteristics. It would have destroyed its Slovenian cultural tradition and social structure. Among other things was projected to import ca. 12,000 foreign (Serbian) employees with their families. The plan included schools for their children in Serbian language, which would have been a burden to the Slovenian taxpayer. Not to mention the disgusting malversations, prostitution and all sorts of criminals, which come with such a "park". And because of Jewish involvement, not at last the possibility of Islamic terrorism.

Harrah's assured its participation under one key condition: Slovenia should cut the income tax from 36 percent to 17,5 percent. Indeed, this was also agreed to. The person responsible to promote the new gambling casino was Andrej Bajuk, the Minister of Finances of Slovenia in the present-day Janša Government. This was quite a surprise for the people of Littoral. Moreover, the Slovenian Social Democratic Party, led by Janez Janša, was in agreement with Andrej Bajuk concerning a "mega" gambling operation in Nova Gorica.

Who is Andrej Bajuk? His grand-father was Marko Bajuk, the director of classic gymnasium in Ljubljana before and during the WW2. He was a partisan of the Karadjorjevic' Yugoslavia (great Serbia), which was linked to the international Masonry. In 1945, he and his family withdrew to Austria and then to Argentina, where Andrej Bajuk was raised and studied. It is clear that the Bajuk's remained linked to the Masonry, which assured to Andrej studies in USA and a job with a famous bank in Paris.

In 1999, he catapulted "from Paris" to Slovenia and started a political carrier. That he is a Mason adherent, one must conclude from the fact, that the magazine The Banker, issued by the Mason Financial Times (London), bestowed him the title "European Minister of Finance 2005", in order to assure him the prestige. It was expected that consequences will follow this "decoration". Indeed, he was constrained to agree to the claims of the Mason Harrah's.

Negotiations for a "mega" entertainment centre are now interrupted, but the treachery of Littoral and Slovenia remains. The Janša party, which unanimously gave its support to Bajuk, lost once again its good name and votes in Littoral.
  
A further ultimatum to Slovenia?
It comes from the Harrah's (Las Vegas)
For its "investment" in Slovenia, this company claims a symbolic income tax
Its mega-gambling-hall would have a catastrophic impact on the environment

In the weekly Demokracija of November 9 (Lublana 2006) we came across an interview with Niko Trošt, the director of the gambling-house Casino Hit of Nova Gorica (Slovenia). The weekly supports the present-day Janša government. Therefore, the opposition calls it "Janša's paper". In this long interview, the chief question was not explicitly asked, at what point did Casino giant Harrah's Entertainment join up with Slovenia's HIT Group of Nova Gorica. It is about an attempt to make Slovenia a fully dependent state of foreign capitals, i.e., turn the country into "a Banana Republic". In this way its national Slovenian structure would be ruined.
(Carantha's Commentary and Standpoint).

Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0 Photo


Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0 Photo
Las Vegas
Nova Gorica
Voice from Littoral
We already reported about the KBC, a Belgian banking group, which wanted to elevate its share in the Ljublanska banka from 34% to 49%. In this way foreign banks would have had full control over Slovenian banking and finance system. Now, another ultimatum has been given to Slovenia. What's the matter?

The representatives of the gambling-house Harrah's Entertainment, Las Vegas (USA), announced it will spend $700 million to jointly develop a hotel-casino in Slovenia with the Slovenian company Casinò Hit of Nova Gorica. In this way, a mega-gambling-hall would be built close to the Slovenian border with Italy. The paper Finance (Lublana, July 2005) wrote, the enterprises of Las Vegas and Nova Gorica are ready to invest no less than 1 billion Euros in the new "entertainment-consumption centre". Harrah's is seeking amendments that Slovenia would reduce the income tax from the present 37% to 10%. Of course, in the paper's article such a request was accompanied with the corresponding business data:

In 2004 Harrah's Entertainment yielded $4,5 billion net income (15,2 % more than the year before), and net profit rose to $367,7 billion (up 26,6 %). The paper quoted that Harrah's Entertainment owns over 40%  mega gambling projects in USA, Canada, Australia and Uruguay, and that it is trading at the New York Stock Exchange...  The exact data about this »mega« we found in an article published in the Chicago Tribune, which we reproduced below.

Chicago Tribune
Chicago, July 27, 2006
Harrah's 2Q Profit Up, Misses Estimates
By RYAN NAKASHIMA - AP Business Writer

LAS VEGAS -- Casino and hotel operator Harrah's Entertainment Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter profit rose because of solid consumer demand, but planning and development expenses caused it to miss Wall Street expectations, sending the stock down.
The world's largest casino company said net income rose 22 percent from a year ago, to $128.6 million, or 69 cents per share. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations rose 10.5 percent, to 95 cents, from 86 cents in last year's second quarter. - Wall Street expected earnings of $1.02 per share, according to a Thomson Financial survey of analysts. - Harrah's shares fell $2.75, or 4.3 percent, to $61.10 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
"I understand that our quarterly results were below consensus estimates, an outcome I am never pleased with," Harrah's chief executive Gary Loveman told a conference call with analysts. "In this case, however, the difference is due largely to expenditures undertaken to ensure that we come out with high-quality, innovative development concepts that tie our properties together in an innovative fashion in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City," he said.
Development expenses reached $18 million in the quarter, up from $7 million a year ago, as the company pursued projects in Singapore, the Bahamas, Spain, Slovenia and prepared a master plan for its properties in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, N.J., and Biloxi, Miss., said Chief Financial Officer Chuck Atwood. Those expenses were expected to continue at a high rate through the end of the year, he said.
"The good news is we have lots of opportunities to grow, the bad news is it costs a lot to pursue them," Atwood said. - Loveman assured analysts that after planning was complete, the company had "a long history of spending its money prudently and we are not going to part company with this."
Some development costs were related to the company's unsuccessful bid for a casino in Singapore's Marina Bay. Atwood said Harrah's must decide by Monday whether to bid for a second casino project on the Singapore resort island of Sentosa.
Revenue rose 67 percent to $2.37 billion from $1.42 billion last year, slightly exceeding Wall Street estimates of $2.36 billion. - "Our core business -- particularly in Las Vegas and Atlantic City -- remains robust, and customer visitation and spending remains healthy across the country," the company said. Harrah's said it realized $118 million in synergy benefits in the first year since its June 2005 purchase of Caesars Entertainment and expected another $180 million in the second year. - It said it expected to take a hit of 4 cents to 6 cents per share to its profits in the third quarter due to a temporary shutdown of its New Jersey casinos because of a government budget impasse.
Analyst Celeste Brown of Morgan Stanley said in a research note the company's operational results were in line, but she expected the stock to take a beating for missing estimates, "given the 'shoot-first, ask questions later' approach to gaming stocks of late."

Impact on the environment
From the above article, written in a soulless American style, we only learn about a tremendously large business opportunity for Harrah's. Of course, nothing has been said about the impact that such mega-gambling-casino would have on the social, cultural and natural environment. - For this reason alone, for example, the plan of a proposed Disneyland, a similar "mega" near Venice (Venetia, Italy), has been rejected by the local authorities because of irreparable damage to the environment.

It is about destroying the national, social, cultural, and natural milieu, which such "mega" would bring to the area of Nova Gorica (Slovenia) and Gorizia (Italy): money washing, prostitution, corruption, employment of clandestine immigrants… It has been said that Harrah's is in the hands of Hebrew capital (?). The investors, as to gain the favour of the local population, talked about "2000 new jobs" (!?). For whom? This is only a trick, of course.

The present-day Casino Hit (Nova Gorica) is already under control of the Serbian secret service, and Serbian people are sitting in the most important key positions. The capital gain of a possible American/Slovenian (in fact Serbian) investment in the "mega" would certainly be transferred abroad to America and Serbia. And Slovenia will be stuck with a ruined environment.

The people who come to gamble in Nova Gorica are Italians. The (post-communist) Social Democrats, who, together with the Liberal Democrats administrate the community of Nova Gorica, advocate for the approval of Harrah's casino. Both parties are post-Communist and Yugoslav (Serbian) oriented. As it seems, they still have to follow the directives of Belgrade. Anyway, the interview in "Janša's paper" provokes the impression, that now the Janša government, too, agrees with the "mega" gambling project.

The eventual investors also count on people's inferiority complex, which has been created in the mind of the Slovenian public for decades during the period of Yugoslavia. In the sense of this, "tiny" Slovenia should be fascinated by the generous »American« bid and would gladly accept the plan. The final decision depends on the central Slovenian government (Lublana), which evidently is under pressure. Like in the case of the proposed Disneyland near Venice, Harrah's casino does not fit into the environment of Nova Gorica - Gorizia. If ever approved, it would mean the ruin for the entire area.

We quote from the Slovenian press of Sunday, November 12, 2006: There was an accident on the road Sežana - Štanjel, in which Danilo Kodric, the ex-director of finances at Casino Hit, died. This was not the first accident or suicide attempt that cost the life of an executive employee at Casino Hit. The Slovenian public has been alarmed about this incident.
  
Would gambling-hall ruin Slovenia? - A misguiding relation

Ljubljana, July 25, 2007
Carantha comments:
Several Parties Hold Talks with US Gaming Company Exec
Representatives of three parliamentary parties have met Jan Jones, senior vice president of US gaming company Harrah's Entertainment, exchanging views on a mega gaming centre that Harrah's is planning to build in the border city of Nova Gorica in partnership with the local gaming company Hit.
Borut Pahor, the head of the opposition Social Democrats (SD), welcomed foreign investment in Slovenia, after meeting the US official on Tuesday. He believes the EUR 750m resort, which includes hotels, casinos, wellness centres and other facilities, could unite the Italian border town of Gorizia with Slovenia's Nova Gorica. Pahor believes the project could provide Nova Gorica with "new jobs, more value added and a development drive that we all aspire for". New investments to Slovenia would also bring more people with higher education to Slovenia, Pahor told STA on Wednesday. The head of the largest opposition party also believes it is imperative that Harrah's representatives discuss the investment with the local community. "The investment is of such magnitude that it can alter the identity of this city in the next ten years." Pahor moreover wants the company to be aware that it does not only hold rights but also duties to the local environment.

Nada Skuk, the vice president of the junior coalition People's Party (SLS), meanwhile voiced her disapproval of "such expansion of gaming in Slovenia". The party believes that gaming is an ethically contentious industry, which makes financial benefits equally disputable, Skuk told STA today.

Jones also met Zmago Jelincic, the head of the opposition National Party (SNS). Jelincic told STA today that the talks served to "clear many issues" and added that the project presented a "unique opportunity". Jelincic, whom the Americans had allegedly promised aid in his project to construct an aeronautical museum in nearby Ajdovscina, said that the government's plan to progressively lower gaming taxes in accordance with the increasing profits was logical.
> ?
  
Carantha comments:
The proposed partnership, as published by the Government Communication Office, is only a partial outline of the true facts. Of course, they don't mention the very problems that this new gambling industry of Harrah’s Entertainment and present-day Casino Hit would bring to Nova Gorica (Littoral, Slovenia). Firstly, Hit is already in the hands of the Serbian lobby, and positions would be filled by some thousand workers from Serbia. Together with their families, ca. 12.000 Serbian people would take up residence in Slovenia. It would be more appropriate to employ Slovenian citizens. Serbians would change the ethnic structure of Nova Gorica and Littoral. These moves are threatening to the Slovenian country characteristics.

Apart from that, one must also realize that Harrah’s Entertainment and similar gambling-halls are financed mostly by Jewish capital. Little Slovenia, however, is not America, and Harrah’s would not be safe from Islamic terrorism, carried out by al-Qaeda, Hamas and other extremist groups. Seen from this viewpoint, one must say, that the Janša government and in particular its Finance Minister, Andrej Bajuk, have been imprudent to agree with Harrah’s new gambling-project in Slovenia. It will ruin Slovenia.

  
The list of regular Masonic lodges, pertaining to the Mother High Council of the World based in London, also includes the names of three Slovenian lodges.


Regular Grand Lodge of England
The Masonic High Council Meeting at London England
SIT LUX ET LUX FUIT

The Masonic High Council the Mother High Council of the World is the governing body of Ancient Craft Freemasonry.

List of Lodges that have warrants in England and Overseas.
Most lodges meet regularly once a month.
Meetings are open to all Freemasons in good standing with a recognized and regular jurisdiction.

LIST OF REGULAR MASONIC LODGES    


Lodge Anton Tomaž Linhart No. 26, Slovenia No. 1
consecrated 16th November 2002

Lodge Simon Gregorcic No. 28, Slovenia No. 2


Lodge Baron Jurij Vega No. 29, Slovenia No. 3

The Slovenian public does not know their status and activity. But it is well known that the Masons in general occupy key positions in public life. In this connection, the question rises, if the anti-Slovenian and anti-Catholic spirit spread by the Slovenian press and television is due to the activity of the aforesaid lodges? The same question concerns the introduction of false events in people's tradition, as for example, the Night of Witches on the eve of All Saints Day, which never existed in Slovenian history. It is a "Celtic" custom of Celtic origin, the performing of which in Slovenia could only be well paid.

Furthermore, one is asking, if the ongoing anti-Slovenian activities in the border countries of Slovenia are also connected with the Masonic lodge? In the first place, it is about the paranoiac opposition towards the Slovenian community in Carinthia, carried out by its governor Haider. Even the sentencing decision of the Austrian Constitutional Court in favour of bilingual signs had no effect in that province! Governor Haider is not alone in this. Is he supported by the Masons? - The same question rises in the case of Riccardo Illy, who is planning to destroy Slovenia by introducing "Euroregions". One of them should integrate the western part of Slovenia…

Besides, it is said, that several associations like the Lions or Rotary clubs are under control of these lodges. In fact, these clubs control in a prevailing way arts performance and charities in Slovenia. Be it as it may, we assume, that the control over Slovenian public life, false interpretation of Slovenian culture and history (once practized by the University of Graz, now by the University of Ljubljana), and therewith the inoculation of inferiority complexes in the mind of the Slovenian public, can be connected to the Lodges activity.

If these lodges exist today in Slovenia, one would expect from them to abolish false models of thinking, which already for a century are blocking Slovenian public life and reasoning. Only then, they will fulfil their purpose.
  
Mysterious
Symbols and tools of the Free Masons

Winkelmaß und Zirkel - als verzierte Bronzeplastik: Diese beiden Symbole gehören zu den Freimaurern. Manchmal werden sie als Abzeichen verwendet. Ursprünglich waren dies Werkzeuge der freemasons - der Steinmetze.

Im Jahr 2007 feierte die Freimaurerloge Zum Goldenen Rade in Osnabrück 200-jähriges Bestehen. Auch dieser Zusammenschluss der Bundesbrüder nutzt das Winkelmaß als Symbol.

Zu besonderen Anlässen kleiden sich die Freimaurer in bestimmter Weise. Dieser Freimauerschurz ist mit den Symbolen des salomonischen Tempels, der zwei Säulen, dem musivischen Pflaster, Mond und Sonne und dem Buchstaben G bemalt - für Geometrie (18. Jahrhundert). Der Tempel ist das erste, in der Bibel erwähnte Bauwerk aus Stein, dessen Boden aus einem Pflastermosaik bestanden haben soll, die Säulen symbolisieren die Grundpfeiler der Humanität. Mond und Sonne können für die höhere Kraft, die das Universum regiert, stehen.

Dieser unbekannte Bundesbruder (Foto um 1870) zeigt sich im Maurerschurz, mit Schärpe und Abzeichen.

Logenteppich mit freimaurerischen Symbolen. Jede Loge hat in der Regel so einen Teppich, auf dem Zeichen dargestellt sind. Die Arbeit soll zum Nachdenken anregen.

Die Bibel (anderswo der Talmud oder der Koran) stellt zusammen mit Winkelmaß und Zirkel die drei Hauptsymbole dar: Die "drei großen Lichter" stehen für das Heilige Gesetz, Gewissen und Gerechtigkeit (Winkelmaß) und die Liebe zu den Menschen (Zirkel). In Logen gibt es häufig einen Altar, auf denen die Bibel aufgeschlagen liegt.

Hammer, Meißel und ein rauer Stein: Der Stein bezeichnet Menschen mit ihren Ecken und Kanten. Hammer und Meißel bearbeiten den Charakter dieses Menschen - durch Nachdenken und geistige Arbeit. Dann kann der Stein zum Bau des Tempels genutzt werden - im übertragenen Sinn natürlich.

Im Tempel der Großloge der Freimaurer in Berlin-Dahlem: Das Auge im Dreieck mit den Lichtstrahlen hat gleich mehrfache Bedeutung. Es ist das allsehende Auge (Gottes), das die Wahrheit symbolisiert. Das es umrahmende Dreieck erinnert ebenso an Gott und die Schöpfung wie diverse Lichtsymbole (flammende Lichtstrahlen). Mond und Sonne (links und rechts) können für die Kräfte der Natur stehen.

Tempelraum der Johannis-Freimaurer in Bremen - Nachbau im Focke-Museum.

Ein neuer Freimaurer wird eingeführt. Nach dem Ritual der Initiation (Bild von etwa 1745 aus Frankreich) ist er zunächst Lehrling, nach ein bis zwei Jahren Geselle und nach einer gewissen Zeit dann Meister. Auch bei der Initiation spielt die Zahl 3 eine große symbolische Rolle. Z. B. werden drei kleine Lichter entzündet oder drei symbolische Schläge verabreicht. Weitere beliebte Zahlen sind 5,7 und 11 (Primzahlen).

In Bremen gehörte das Alleinlassen in der Dunklen Kammer zum Aufnahmeritual. An Totenkopf, Stundenglas und Bibel sollte der Suchende zunächst über sich und die Vergänglichkeit nachdenken (Rekonstruktion im Focke-Museum).
  
Latest thrilling news from Slovenia!
(cf: Ribicic - Portrait of a political Policeman)

Mitja Ribicic
Dr. Jožko Šavli, 2005

On May 24, 2005, TV Lublana broadcasted, that the 86 year old Mitja Ribicic, who, after the Second World War, together with Ivan Macek, led the Yugoslav secret service department (the ill-famed Ozna or Udba) in Slovenia, has been indicted in the sense of the art. 373 of Penal Codex of Slovenia, for the crime of genocide. The bill of indictment is based on a document accidentally found in the Archives of Slovenia. It is evidence that in 1945 and 1946 Mitja Ribicic ordered the genocide of no less then 234 people. Moreover, during that time, about one half of ca. 13,000 inhabitants were arrested in Slovenia and slaughtered without judgement.  Is the new »panther revolution« striking again in Slovenia?

Who is Mitja Ribicic? He was born in Trieste, in the district of Sv. Jakob (S. Giacomo), in 1919. Living in fear from the then Italian Fascist regime, his family, like so many other Slovenians in Littoral, found shelter in Slovenia (Yugoslavia). There he grew up, became a member of the Communist party, and during the WW2 he participated in the liberation war. In postwar times, he was part of the summit of the Yugoslav secret service and political structure. From 1969 to 1971 he was the premier of the Yugoslav federal government... He received many high decorations from the Yugoslav Memorial of 1941and other countries …like Mexico, Italy, Poland, Cuba etc.

In Slovenia, in 1990, some time before the declaration of independence, a Parliamentary Commission was appointed to investigate the mass murder at the end of the WW2. The Commission was unsuccessful, and the second Commission, founded in 1994, was failing just as well. Then, Albert Svetina (* 1915), also a one-time member of the Yugoslav secret service, gave evidence as witness against Ribicic. In 1949, he had to escape to Hungary in order to save his life. His recent book Svetina revealed the very image of the Slovenian Communist staff, who were leading the Liberation Front and the revolution during the WW2. The horror of the human slaughter, particularly in Lower Styria, was witnessed by Zdenko Zavadlav (*1924), who was also a one-time member of Ozna.

The news about Ribicic hit like a bomb shell, and were soon taken over in the border countries, as in Trieste, Zagreb, Klagenfurt... It is not very likely, that just in this time period the documents against Ribicic were found accidentally, because the investigation of the postwar mass slaughter in Slovenia, known as the Akcija Sprave (Action Conciliation), is an ongoing process since 2001. In this case, the so-called Zveza borcev (League of Combatants) of Slovenia, which is uniting members of the ancient Yugoslav apparatus and practically represents the one-time Yugoslav Communist structure, has been hit in particular. Be that as it may, it seems that the quiet »Black Panther Revolution« takes hold in Slovenia.

  
Slovenians are not Yugonostalgic!

There are Slovenians of Communist origin to whom the name Yugonostalgic is attached, despite the fact that the country of Yugoslavia does not exist anymore. This applies to a minority of Slovenians. The majority has voted for membership of the European Union, where Slovenians belong from the times of the creation of the Duchy of Carantania, which together with the Republic (Freistaat) of Bavaria was part of the Carolingian Empire, or the Holy Roman Empire. If Slovenians were Yugoslav Communists, they would not be members of the European Union today. The EU is not interested in resurrection of ex-Yugoslavia.

Es ist nicht wichtig, ob Du Franc oder Franz heisst. Du bist entweder ein Slowene, Österreicher, Deutscher oder…. Auf jeden Fall bist Du ein West Europäer und ein Mitglied der EU und Nato. Und in Europa sollst Du bleiben! Verteidige Deinen eigenen Christlichen Glauben!

It is not important if your name is Franc or Franz. You are a Slovenian, Austrian, German, or…. In any case you are a west European and a member of the EU and Nato. And you should remain loyal to the EU. Defend your own Christian belief!
  
Facts you must know about Slovenia!

Slovenia is located in Central Europe.
Slovenia does not belong to the Balkans. The Balkan Mountains are one thousand kilometers away from Slovenia. Slovenia is neither physically nor geographically part of the Balkan Mountains.
Slovenia is a member of the European Union.
Slovenia is an independent country that ceded from Yugoslavia in 1991.
Slovenians are not Slovaks.
Slovakia, too, is an independent country since 1993.

Definition of Balkan Mountains

The Balkan Mountains stretch through more than half of the State of Bulgaria in direction to the Black Sea. The Western Balkan Mountains start by Belgrade in the eastern part of Serbia. From Western Balkan Mountains to Slovenia is approximately 1,000 km, therefore, it is absurd to call Slovenia a Western Balkan state. It is obvious that Serbia wants to retain political dominance over Slovenia, which ceded from Yugoslavia in 1991. Yugoslavia is dead, therefore, it is nonsense to renew that country, which has a history of dictatorship and ethnic cleansing .

For own trade Slovenians are adequately protected and there is no need to mention them in connection with Balkan. Example: "Balkan and Slovenian Tour" or "Balkan and Central European Tour". The name Balkan should disappear in dealings with Slovenia. Slovenia is an independent country that for a short time was connected to Yugoslavia. People of Slovenia have also vivid memories of atrocities in the Balkans. To erase these memories is an enormous task for Slovenians and other countries belonging in the past to the FNRJ.
(for Carantha, B. Ježovnik)

Central Europe - Source: Wikipedia

 
  
Definition of Balkan Mountains

The most part of the Balkan Mountains is locatd in the State of Bulgaria in direction to the Black Sea. The smaller part of the Western Balkan Mountains start by Belgrade and end at the Bulgarian boarder in the eastern part of Serbia. The distance between the Western Balkan Mountains and Slovenia is approximately 1,000 km, therefore, it is absurd to call Slovenia a Western Balkan state. It is obvious that Serbia wants to retain political dominance over Slovenia, which ceded from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Slovenians are adequately protected and there is no need to mention them in connection with Balkan. Example: "Balkan and Slovenian Tour" or "Balkan and Central European Tour". The name Balkan should disappear altogether in the dealings of Slovenia with other countries. Slovenia is an independent country that was short time connected to Yugoslavia. People of Slovenia have also vivid memories of atrocities in the Balkans. To erase these memories is an enormous task for Slovenians.

Balkan peninsula (as defined geographically, by the Danube-Sava-Kupa line)

(for Carantha, B. Ježovnik)
  
A Letter to The Washington Post
The Washington Post
Washington, August 07, 2006

The Post recently offended many (over?)sensitive Slovenes.

Dear Washington Post,
Hey there. It's me, Michael. I've been meaning to write to you for some time -- ever since I heard about your controversial coverage of Prime Minister Janez Janša's visit to the U.S. Your archives are a bit difficult to navigate; I could only find this rather tame article about the trip. Was that the one that originally called Slovenia a "Balkan" country?
To be fair, that idea isn't totally cuckoo-land crazy. Wikipedia notes that it's sometimes included in the region, and as you yourselves pointed out, the Encyclopedia Britannica, American Heritage Dictionary and Prince Charles have all done the same. I guess it's kind of like the whole Is Finland part of Scandinavia? deal. The vast majority of people either think Finland is in Scandinavia or they don't care; meanwhile, some locals froth at the mouth just hearing the question. A similar thing is at work with Slovenia and the Balkans.
Really, how could you have known that it would unleash a "wave" of protest letters, from Ohio, West Virginia, Sydney, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver? Who would have suspected that one could touch such a raw nerve with geographical terminology? ('Tis revealing, though, that the Foreign Minister himself (when you asked him) said he "wasn't offended" but preferred "Central Europe.")
Either way, welcome to my world. Or better said: welcome to my e-mail inbox.
It took me a while to figure out how enraged some Slovenes can get about being lumped together with countries like Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. I mean, now it's clear to me that those countries have nothing in common. But I guess it's the kind of thing you have to pick up by living here.
Best regards, Michael