"This morning, the Russian Federation launched a large-scale aggression against the independent and sovereign state of Ukraine. We Slovenians were in a similar situation 30 years ago, so we know how the Ukrainians feel today, and that is why our expressions of solidarity, our thoughts and prayers for them, come from our hearts, because we know how difficult it is in moments like these when you do not know whether you are alone, whether someone is with you, whether you will live to see tomorrow or whether you will defend yourself, whether the dream of living in a democratic and free country where you can choose your own destiny will survive or will be crushed by a brutal military force," the Prime Minister started by saying. "As we are aware that in order to successfully defend against aggression, in addition to guns, cannons and tanks, it is crucial that people have the will to defend their home and homeland, and that there is a morality that allows the will to win in the end. Yesterday the Polish Prime Minister and I addressed a special letter to our counterparts in the European Council, in which we called on the EU and the European Council, where the consensus of all 27 EU Member States is needed, to provide Ukraine with the prospect of full EU membership as soon as possible," stressed the Prime Minister. He added that several colleagues had joined this call during the night and today. "In a few hours, the European Council will be meeting in Brussels and we will try to convince those sceptical colleagues who have expressed scepticism about EU enlargement, either to the eastern neighbourhood or to the Western Balkan countries, that now is no longer the time for long deliberations, that the geostrategic situation has changed, that today we have woken up to a different world and a different Europe, and that bold decisions are now needed," emphasised the Prime Minister. He also pointed out that the history of past decades, especially the last two, has taught us, particularly in terms of our eastern neighbourhood, that if the EU does not expand, if the space of freedom and democracy does not expand, someone else will. "We need to learn from this harsh lesson and prevent EU citizens, especially those of us who are close to the crisis hotspots, from paying the price that our fathers and grandfathers did. This hope, which the European Union can offer to Ukraine, as well as to Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkan countries, is a possible gradual, real and realistic political response that Europe and the world need at this moment. We will only be able to realise this if Ukraine defends itself," said Prime Minister Janša, adding that Slovenia would not be independent and sovereign today if it were not able to defend itself. The Prime Minister continued by saying that he had spoken with the Ukrainian Prime Minister a few hours earlier. "He told me that according to their information, it is absolutely clear that the goal of the Russian aggression is to behead the Ukrainian state, to replace the current democratically elected power structure and to replace it with a puppet government such as Russia has installed in this part of Europe in the past," said Prime Minister Janša. The Ukrainian Prime Minister also said that Ukraine was struggling and needed help. "I am working with my European counterparts to provide Ukraine with the help it needs to defend itself. This is of utmost importance now." "Whatever happens today, tomorrow and in the coming days in Ukraine, in all the talks and meetings we have had at EU and NATO levels in recent weeks, there has never been such a high level of determination for a common response, common positions and common resistance to such aggressive actions for as long as Slovenia has been a member of both alliances. Therefore, I can say that those in the Kremlin who have completely exposed their goals and their actions with this aggressive move were wrong this time," said the Prime Minister. He added that 2008, when Russian got off with some mild sanctions following its military intervention in Georgia, would not repeat itself. "Nor will 2014, with the occupation of Crimea and a relatively mind response. Today and in recent days, the EU has become aware that we must become independent from Russian energy sources", stressed the Prime Minister, adding that the European Commission had launched a number of activities that would make this a reality in the months and years to come. "The realisation has dawned that, even in these times, we need real military power capable of securing the space of democracy and freedom that we share with our partners in the European Union and NATO," said the Prime Minister. Today, the Government gave its approval to some preventive security measures taken by NATO. "The NATO Summit will take place tomorrow, where some additional protective measures will be adopted," said the Prime Minister and continued: "Based on the working meetings held yesterday, the Government assessed the immediate level of threat to Slovenia, and we assessed that there was a possibility of cyberattacks, which were already taking place across Europe, and there was no doubt that they were coming from the Kremlin." "There is no imminent threat of military conflict on the territory of Slovenia, which is why we are not raising the combat readiness of the Slovenian armed forces, but we are introducing a standby, which will allow further measures to be taken in real time if necessary. The Government has also adopted a decision that the Parliament’s defence and foreign policy committees should also be informed of all these conclusions," said Prime Minister Janez Janša. The Prime Minister also pointed out that there were still a number of Slovenian citizens in the territory of Ukraine who had tried to leave the country in the early hours of the morning via road links." According to our information, some of them did not make it because of heavy traffic and most returned to the capital, where the majority, which is in contact with the Slovenian Embassy, remain there and are safe. So far, there are no reports of anyone missing or injured," said the Prime Minister. He added: "We have been informed that there are also some people in Ukraine on business and we have been in contact with them." The Prime Minister also said that communication is still largely working and that the Government was "doing everything to ensure that no Slovenian citizen is left behind". The Prime Minister continued by answering questions from the press. Asked whether he would go forward with his planned visit to Ukraine and whether Vladimir Putin would be personally sanctioned, the Prime Minister said that his visit to Ukraine was not cancelled, but "it has been delayed due to the European Council meeting and technical, communication and security circumstances". "It is very likely that the visit will not be possible tomorrow, but it is not cancelled and it is postponed, which is also in agreement with the Ukrainian Prime Minister. As for the concrete forms of sanctions or additional sanctions, these will be presented at the European Council. The economic, financial and other sanctions that have already been adopted or are in the pipeline are harsher and are not the same as they were in 2008 or 2014," the Prime Minister said. "The Russian Federation is a nuclear power, due to its hundreds of nuclear warheads, and it is a regional military power, but it is not an economic power. Notwithstanding the fact that economic sanctions usually affect both parties, i.e. the party imposing the sanctions as well as the targeted party, in the case of these sanctions it is quite clear who will be the loser in the medium term. The average wage in Russia is four times lower than in the EU. Russia's economy is dependent on energy, where the market is shrinking, and on Western technology. In fact, there is not a single Russian company that produces anything that does not use Western technology, which needs spare parts and maintenance," said the Prime Minister. He added that yesterday marked the beginning of a new Cold War era for the Russian Federation. "I must stress that all the sanctions and measures we have adopted today in the NATO framework are not directed against the Russian people, but against the irrational, reckless and aggressive policies of the current Russian leadership. We all want the Russian people to elect representatives in the future who will not endanger anyone," said Prime Minister Janez Janša. Asked about the cyberattacks and how serious the indications are that the Russian Federation is behind them, the Prime Minister said that it was not just about indications. He recalled that a few weeks ago, when some Slovenian institutions and media were also attacked, Portugal experienced a large-scale cyberattack "which we firmly believe came from Moscow". "A third of the country was without a proper mobile connection for several days, without data transmission, and significant economic damage was sustained," the Prime Minister stressed and went on to say, "We also assess that Slovenia could be the target of a serious cyberattack, and companies and critical infrastructure are therefore being warned of this." "Of course, we are also vulnerable as individuals, because we depend on this means of communication, and we need to prepare for a situation where it will not be possible to call home or work or a doctor using a mobile phone, so we need to think about how to deal with such a situation," said Prime Minister Janša. Asked about the evacuation of foreign citizens from Ukraine, the Prime Minister said that no evacuation was being planned at European level, but added: "We are all preparing for a possible wave of refugees that could follow this aggression against Ukraine, and the neighbouring countries are particularly prepared for this wave." "This will also be discussed today at the European Council, but it is difficult to predict the outcome of today's meeting," said the Prime Minister, adding: "There is a broad consensus on a further package of sanctions, as this has been coordinated for some time, or at least since the intelligence services realised that Russia was preparing for aggression." "There is great unanimity in the definition of this act by the Russian Federation in terms of international law, and also in the condemnation of aggression. The greatest dilemmas are to be expected with regard to the proposal that the Polish Prime Minister and I have made concerning a strategic political decision on Ukraine's future in Europe, which is of the utmost importance not only that it happens, but that it happens as soon as possible, because the successful defence of the Ukrainian people also depends on the morality of recognising them as equals, as part of the European family, as a country that belongs in Europe," Prime Minister Janez Janša concluded. Yugoslav Underground
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In Belgrade have demonstrated on the third evening in a row, thousands of people against the Corona-crisis management of the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic. Unlike the two previous days, the protests in the Serbian capital were on Thursday, but peaceful. Protesters sat on the street in front of the Parliament. On Transparent was to be read with reference to the Coronavirus induced lung disease: “Vucic is more dangerous than Covid!”. In other Serbian cities demonstrations against the President were held, including in Novi Sad in the North and Nis in the South. On Tuesday and Wednesday it was in Belgrade to violent confrontations between protesters and the security forces came. Protesters stones and fired dropped flares, the police used tear gas. Dozens of people were injured. Inflamed the Protest on one of Vucic announced a four-day curfew, which was supposed to last from Friday to Monday had. On Thursday, the government took a u-turn and dropped the plans for the curfew to fall. Instead, a ban on gatherings of more than ten people, it was announced – of which the protests are affected. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic denied that the renunciation of the output have to do lock with the demonstrations. Rather, the government came to the conclusion that a mild Corona would follow the measures rather of the population. The number of new deaths due to the pandemic in the Balkan country had reached a record level. On Tuesday, the authorities have recorded 13 deaths within 24 hours – as many as never before since the beginning of the virus spread in Serbia. Critics Vucic, the Corona restrictions prior to the parliamentary elections on may 21. To have June to quickly, and so a second wave of Infection favored relaxed. From the elections, the progressive party (SNS) to the President had emerged as the clear winner of the show. The ballot was, however, of several parties boycotted. The Opposition accuses Vucic an increasingly autocratic leadership style. P.Vukadin Yugoslav Underground Nato is unsure of itself, the EU is divided as never before, Russia is on the front foot, and the myriad disputes in the Balkans remain unresolved. And yet, 20 years after the Kosovo War, western powers are not paying attention to a region that remains a powder keg. In the summer of 1999, 50,000 Nato troops entered the Serbian province of Kosovo following a 78-day aerial bombing campaign. The Serbian military had been forced to retreat after Nato sided with the Kosovo Liberation Army. They were heady days. The Americans and British, led by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, saw the outcome as a victory for humanitarian intervention, as outlined in Mr Blair’s famous “Chicago speech” a few days after the bombing started. It was a theme he returned to in the lead-up to the Iraq War of 2003. I was only ten years old, in Croatia on the swelteringly hot day British troops crossed the border from Macedonia. But, the night before, I had watched on TV a Russian armoured column rumble through the capital, Pristina, on its way to take the Slatina military airbase before Nato could get there. It had travelled 600 kilometres from Bosnia, using a training exercise as cover for its movement. My family drew different conclusions from Mr. Clinton and Mr. Blair. I saw a rare example of air power alone achieving a military victory, and was relieved at the Serbian surrender, as a ground war would have been devastating for both sides. I also was convinced that I had just witnessed the moment when, after a decade of the tide of Russian power rolling out, it began to roll back in. For the Americans and British, the success of Kosovo was followed in 2001 by a well-executed Nato peacekeeping deployment in Macedonia, and the British intervention in Sierra Leone. But then came Iraq and Libya. With their fingers, and two countries horribly burnt, so-called humanitarian intervention was off the table, and most Nato powers remain cautious when it comes to committing to action. At the same time, the EU is attempting to flex its limited military muscles and to forget its hapless response as the war in Bosnia was about to break out in 1992. Jacques Poos, the then prime minister of Luxembourg, said: “This is the hour of Europe.” Jacques Delors, the EU Commission chairman, added: “We do not interfere in American affairs. We hope they will have enough respect not to interfere in ours.” They then dithered for three years, amid a huge loss of life until the US stepped in. Now, Moscow may have concluded that the degree of delusion about EU’s military and diplomatic powers remains intact. To Moscow, Kosovo marked 10 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the diminishing of Russian power. Moscow was helpless to come to Serbia’s aid. It was also determined that humiliation would be its last. Getting to the airport first, and making itself a player in what happened next, was a small victory, but one upon which Russia built. The Second Chechen War was launched in October to avenge the ignominy of the first, then, two months later, Vladimir Putin came to power and the military budget grew rapidly. Military success in Chechnya in 2002 was followed by Georgia in 2008, Crimea in 2014 and Syria since 2015. Two decades on, Nato is war-weary and Russia is back on the world stage. But Moscow knows that, with a declining population and an economy reliant on energy sources that are slowly running down, it will struggle to maintain its current level of strength. Hence, it may be tempted to achieve some foreign policy goals relatively quickly. If that is the case, the Balkans presents a stage on which it can still play. The politics of this was not on the minds of Kosovan-Albanians' minds this summer, as they marked the 20th anniversary of the war. Mr Clinton was the most high-profile guest, and it is a fair bet that some of the young men in the crowds were named 'Tonibler' after the former British prime minister. There is much to celebrate in Kosovo and indeed Serbia – an end to the mass killing, and the birth of democracy. However, the ongoing tensions between the two, and indeed their neighbours, mean that the situation is never more than an “incident” away from escalating. This is why 3,500 troops remain on the ground even though several Nato members, including the US, are mulling a drawdown. Western attention is at best fitful, and this is a mistake. When Europe takes its eye off the Balkans, things rarely go well. Serbia and Kosovo remain hostile to one another, to the extent that the 2018 announcement of plans for a Kosovan army brought the threat of war from Belgrade. Several times in the past two years, the Serbian army has been put on full alert, and moved elite forces to the border. It could have been different. Losing Kosovo led to the revolution in Serbia, which overthrew President Slobodan Milosevic the following year. In came a genuine liberal, Zoran Djindjic, who had called the EU “Serbia’s fresh air”. He announced complete co-operation with the International Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and swore to root out organised crime from government and big business. This ensured retaliation. In March 2003, Mr Djindjic was shot and killed by a sniper in Belgrade. A bullet hit him in the back, went through his heart, exited his abdomen, and hit a bodyguard. He was 51 and left behind a wife, two young children, and a divided nation. The outside world barely noticed. There was already a war in Afghanistan, and it was just eight days before the invasion of Iraq began. The news channels mentioned Mr Djindjic’s death, and moved on. Meanwhile, in Serbia, corruption came back strongly, democratisation slowed, and the gangs running guns, drugs, and illegal immigration into western Europe flourished. Today, a former ultra-nationalist, Aleksandar Vucic, is president of Serbia. Mr Vucic seeks a peaceful solution to the issues between Belgrade and Pristina, even if his past gives some hope to the hardliners who still want to “freeze” the Kosovo question in the hope that eventually the EU will fall apart, Nato will disband, and Russia will ride to the nation’s rescue and help rebuild a shattered dream of “Greater Serbia”. That is unlikely and President Vucic is not pushing this agenda, but those who dream of that scenario are still players in the game. That includes President Putin. In January, he showed up in Serbia for his third visit in eight years to shore up both countries’ non-recognition of an independent Kosovo. The situation needs a solution. One proposal to draw a line under the past involves a land swap in which Kosovo gives up territory in its north, which has a Serb-majority population, and Serbia gives land with a Kosovan majority. This sounds attractive, but is problematic, as any land swap would attract the envious attention of others in the region. The Serbs in Bosnia might step up efforts to integrate their territory, known as Republika Srpska, into Serbia proper. Then the Albanians of Macedonia, kindred spirits of the Kosovans, could reignite their 2001 military effort to create a separate state. This, in turn, means that both Kosovan and Macedonian Albanians might wish to merge into a “Greater Albania”. These are, indeed “mights”, but given the region’s history over the past 120 years, they are plausible. It follows that if the above scenarios came to pass, what was left of Macedonia would fall prey to division as Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria scrambled to protect their interests. The outside world remains busy elsewhere, but, after the drawdown from Afghanistan, the retreat from Iraq, and a partial recovery from the financial crash, there is enough diplomatic bandwidth for the Balkans to come back onto the radar. And a glance at the screen shows how much work remains to be done. P.J. Vukadin Political Expert Yugoslav Underground The Referendum in Macedonia is planned to be held on 30 September 2018. The question included in the referendum is as follows: Do you support EU and NATO membership by accepting the deal between Macedonia and Greece?". It is related to the 27-year long dispute between Macedonia and Greece over the former name and follows an agreement with Greece on the issue which has prevented the accession of Macedonia to the European Union and NATO. According to Telma’s survey, the majority of respondents (41.5%) would accept the agreement, whereas 35.1% would vote against.
When asked about the attendance in the referendum, 66.4% of respondents declare that they are going to vote, 19.8% want to boycott the referendum, and 12.4% of the respondents cannot determine. The ethnical analysis of responses shows that the Albanian majority would like to vote for the agreement (88%), whereas among the Macedonians such support is less popular (27.4%). Most of Macedonians would like to vote against the change of the name (45.2%), among Albanians only 2.2% Young and educated people are the vast majority of respondents that are in favour of the agreement (48.2%). 73% of respondents were informed about the agreement from the media. For 48.3% of respondents, the referendum question is clear, but for 44.8% it is not understandable. The survey was conducted by telephone. 1,026 respondents were tested from 24th of July to 1st of August. Sources: Telma, Anketa, SonjaNikolovska, availableat:https://telma.com.mk/anketa-41-5-ke-glasaat-za-35-1-protiv/ (accessed: 7.08.2018) Zuzanna Halina Sielska Canada will become the first country in the world to federally legalize Marijuana. Over many decades of debate, taboo, and laws that prevent people from smoking pot, Canada its changing that. Will this be the country that can lead other countries to that direction? Its hard to say. Here in the Balkans many countries have laws against it. Lets just take a look at some of the countries and laws in the Balkans:
Why should other countries join? More money for the government. Canada is a G7 country, that is one of the best countries to live in the world, its not considered a corrupt country, and I would say a majority of countries in the balkans like Slovenia and Croatia could see benefits for there government. Taxes that come in, from the selling of marijuana is huge. Look at the United States, its already over a billion dollar industry. That could see alot of positives: - Better infustructure - More spending for security and military - Money spent on education So should we see mairjuana legal in the balkans? Will let you decide as a tax payer, but we shall see. Janez K. |
AuthorBoth authors are Slovenian and Croatian Archives
July 2019
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