By decision of one third of its voters (many of whom probably were not alive at time of referendum), Croatia has now finally passed the final obstacle on its way to the EU. Or better said formal way, since, in practice, we had aceepted all of EU rules and norms; according to our politicians, membership in the EU should give us prosperity and safety. They act like there is emptiness outside of EU, that has nothing to offer to us. And not to forget that preparations for referendum included chaning a Constitution so that, instead of absolute majority, only a relative majority (50% plus one vote of people who actually voted) was needed for Croatia to enter EU.
Politicians here are still using memories of World War 2 and Croatian War for Independence to stir up trouble, to manipulate people into fighting each other, leaving them unable to see real dangers on time – or indeed, to see them at all. Moreover, old Communist tricks are still used. When there was referendum about entrance into EU, voting papers were numbered – due to that fact alone, several of my cousins – more than half of those I spoke to – decided not to go to referendum. Needless to say, they were all anti-EU.
Meanwhile, our politicians cry about recession, that we have to have cuts, and at the same time, ex-President of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, has his own secretary, his own office – Office of Former President – and few villas. All of that on taxpayers' expense. Ivo Josipovic calls Partisan hats to be "hats of love and peace" despite the fact that Communist idea of election campaigns involved preemptively killing off all non-Communist candidates, all political opponents in fact, and voting with gum balls, so it could be heard when someone was against Party. Right now, these same communists are trying to stop commemorations of Bleiburg and Vukovar.
But all that is okay, I guess, because it is perfectly in line with Germany's goal of creating Fourth Reich. Their (Croatian politicians') "flawless" logic, which basically goes patriot = nationalist, nationalist = Ustasha, Ustasha = Nazi, therefore patriot = Nazi is used to weaken any opposition to old Communist group. In similar vein, Office for victims of communist crimes is under heavy attack.
Slavko Kvaternik said: "It is not shameful to be a Croat, but it is unfortunate.". And he was correct. Croatia can be expected to become similar to Greece – we have a single bank that is not in foreign ownership, and all that remains of our industry is shipbuilding industry – once third in the world – and arms industry. And former is being rapidly destroyed, in order not to pose a threat to Western-owned Korean shipbuilding. And while Russia is prepared to invest into our shipyards, to save them, I don't think our politicians will even think of accepting it.
Croatian populace in Hertzegovina is not only ignored, it is being attacked by current Croatian political scene. Scene which, despite all the farce, is being set by West. I have to ask myself if both Monti and Papademos being delegated, not elected, is simply a way in which world oligarchy wants to cut last ties of people to the government, which isn't for the people for quite some time – and it is even less from the people.
Meanwhile, United States are doing everything they can to buy EU – they already are controlling good deal of world economy and policies through IMF, which itself never brought any stability – IMF is actually instrument of US world domination. Meanwhile, financial derivatives are now at value of above 1,5 quadrillion USD – or 25 times more than current world GNP, and over a dozen largest EU banks are being held alive by taxpayers' money, because they are "too big to fail".
Croatian Government wants to sell Croatia Insurance as well as Postal Bank - one of last monetary institutions still not in foreign ownership. They are also apparently preparing to sell HEP, a Croatian power distributer.
Croatia is also not a multi-party - or even two-party - country. SDP and HDZ are both Communists, with exception that SDP are Stalinists and HDZ are Titoists. National minorities and Croats from BiH are priviledged when it comes to entrance into Parliament. All major media - such as Croatian Radio Television, major newstapers like Free Dalmatia, Morning Newspaper, Evening Newspaper, or 24 Hours - are owned by Communists.
Meanwhile, small parties are unable to do anything save for going into coalition with one of two major parties - logical, since HDZ and SDP have almost exclusive overage in all major media, which is also owned by Communists (sometimes, owners are open members of HDZ/SDP), meaning that most people don't even realize there is any option except to vote for said parties. Ivo Josipovic, meanwhile, has stated long time ago that he will make Croatia red (that is, return it to ways of Communism). By looks of it, he is making good on his promise - rehabiliting Chetniks from Srb, attacking Croatia and its independence where- and when- -ever he can. He also supported ACTA - regardless of Internet censure that is sure to follow, ACTA also prevents poor nations to manufacture generic cures, which are often only thing stopping health disaster from occuring in same countries. Moreover, ACTA has article that makes it so a person will have his/her Internet access shut down after three breaches of law (law being ACTA). However, it is entirely possible for a hacker to use someone else's Internet connection - or at least Internet signature (known as IP) - to download materials. Therefore, it is entirely possible - probable, actually - that ACTA will result in innocent people getting their Internet access shut down; and there simply is no way around it. Danger is especially great with wireless connections, although it is also present with wired connections. Moreover, what if someone is downloading material from computer in firm, or a library? Who is responsible then? In the end, ACTA is heavily undemocratic in its very core. I also fear that it may be manipulated so as to prevent freedom of speech, which, truth be told, would be nothing new. But it would probably be first time to happen on so large scale.
It is hard to hope for any change in political situation in Croatia as long as old Communists are still holding everything that matters in shaping public opinion. Many streets are still named after Josip Broz Tito - I don't want to even think about what response would it be if someone tried to rename one after Ante Pavelic. And on West, it is forgotten that Tito did not leave Stalin - Stalin threw Tito out, and while Tito did try to kiss up to Stalin for next few months or a year, he soon realized that he won't be accepted back into Warshaw Pact, and so decided to ask West for a help (it also had an effect of easing burden on Soviet Union, because Western states now had falling-apart country to contend with. If Stalin did not "dispose" of Yugoslavia, USSR would have broken down in 1980 or earlier instead of 1990). Meanwhile, Croatian linguistic purists, who want to purify Croatian languages of foreign words and grammar that creeped in during centuries we spent under foreign rule, are being held in contempt by ruling class, since anything that can help Croatian people and Croatian national identity survive is, to them, a nightmare.
What is more, there are many notions pushed by Big Four of EU, which lead towards revival of Yugoslavia. That is helped by the fact that, since 1999 and death of Tudjman, Croatian politics is increasingly regional, and decreasingly national. Croatia is held as leader of South-East Europe (colloquially called Balkans), and that despite the fact that Croatia, historically and culturologically, was always part of South and Central Europe (Slavonia gravitated more towards Western, Dalmatia towards Southern Europe).
As for European Union, its policy of trying to emulate United States, and replace various national identities with single "European" identity, it is wrong thing to do. Europe is consisiting of different nations, with different histories, cultures and traditions, as well as different economies. Trying to "melt" them into new supra-national state will only increase tensions and will serve to balkanize Europe, turning it into gigantic gunpowder barrel (various superpowers squabbling over Balkans and trying to either expand their territory there (and that since Middle Ages), or create political alliances to their liking (Yugoslavia) was what turned Balkans into gunpowder barrel in first place) that may well trigger World War Three with its inevitable collapse (I hope it won't, but I have followed politics closely enough to learn never to hope, but simply to do what I can). Indeed, most if not all of EUs troubles can be traced back to its ignorance of political reality and pressures for greater integration, even though exact opposite is needed.
