Independent and Sovereign

[Ivo Skoric]

Independent and sovereign Croatia will have elections on Sunday. The 
two leading opposing parties are so close, that there are even talks 
of their coalition. Welcome to the world of "dempublicans". And it 
does not really matter at all. As if they would have any say anyway. 
With most of that country's policies being dictated from abroad, it 
really is not that relevant who would be elected to ensure Croatia's 
compliance. From the fact that Croatia cannot try its own criminals, 
but instead have to surrender them to foreign courts, to the fact 
that 95% of its financial institutions and most of the capital now 
circulating the country are foreign owned, it is difficult to 
determine what exactly was left of the independence and sovereignty 
to Croatia alone. True, within the EU, banks and other corporations 
are trans-nationally owned and most of the legislation is now coming 
from Brussels, not from the member nations legislatures. But, Croatia 
is not a member of the EU. Without the benefits, however, it shares 
the burdens. Do Croatian corporate entities own shares of strategic 
foreign corporations?

>From the fresh issue of Feral Tribune we learn of the newest proof 
that 'independent and sovereign' are just empty words. For years 
after the war, city of Split had been toying with the idea to turn 
old Yugoslav Navy base Lora into the peace culture complex (as it was 
done with the old Yugoslav military baracks at Metelkova in 
Ljubljana, Slovenia). Navy base was built in record time 
misappropriating private land - all in name of the communist ideals 
and brotherhood and unity - only to be used as an infamous military 
prison for those of old inhabitants who failed to escape before the 
change of flags. Lora's history demands its future demilitarized use 
in the name of humanity.

This, however, will not happen - in the name of sovereignty. The same 
sovereignty that handed over Croatian banks, merchants navy, 
factories, and even judiciary to the foreign powers, now kowtows to 
NATO. NATO believes Lora is an excellent strategic navy port, and 
should stay just that. NATO has great plans for Lora. It should be a 
place where NATO sailors can stop over and relax for a day or two. 
That means support infrastructure for young men to play, or cold cash 
for city of Split. Given that Split girls are perhaps the most 
beautiful in Europe (they constantly win Croatia's beauty peagants), 
one may understand NATO's designs. But do citizens of Split really 
have a say in what will happen with a part of their city? Does so-
called independent and sovereign Croatia have a choice in the matter? 
Or is the choice already made? In that case the best choice for a 
Croatian president to assert sovereignty is to abdicate.

ivo

Ivo Skoric
1773 Lexington Ave
New York NY 10029
212.369.9197
ivo at balkansnet.org
http://balkansnet.org