Zasto Glava(s) mora pasti


During his recent visit to the Ukraine, Stipe Mesic continued the campaign of defamation aimed at his dead predecessor. While political analysts across the globe know all to well that the late Franjo Tudjman led his nation to independence, topping it off with a brilliant military victory in the summer of 1995, Mesic thinks quite differently. His latest comments on Croatia's recent history chilled the bones of every honest Croatian capable of remembering the painful and honorable war years. By describing Tudjman's politics as "xenophobic" and "anti-Serbian," Mesic, Croatia's president, plays into the hands of anti-Croatian politicians and ideologues. His hatred and contempt for Croatia's foundation, victory and success (achieved by Tudjman) is a fixture in everyday Croatian politics. The latest political and media lynching of Branimir Glavas, a tough and shrewd wartime leader, is testament to the prevailing political atmosphere. While Mesic ridicules his nation abroad, Glavas is becoming a victim of colleagues at home. Nowhere in the world does the national interest suffer because of every-day dirty politics as they do in Croatia. Nowhere in the world are matters of national interest and dignity made victims of cheap politicization on par with the current situation in Croatia.

Honor your captivators, not your liberators

It all began recently when Glavas, a member of parliament, refused to lend his vote to the passing of the "anti-fascist declaration." Knowing all to well that the self-proclaimed "anti-fascists," Mesic, Racan and Sanader (his ex-party chief and Prime Minister) once again fleeced the eyes of the Croatian masses with a ridiculous and unnecessary parliamentary declaration, Glavas, an opponent of the "official" history of the so-called "anti-fascist" movement, which led Croatians into a 45 year long Serbian-dominated communist prison called Yugoslavia, refused to toe the party line. Well aware of the present geo-political paradigm that pits a neo-Yugoslavism (or Balkanization) wrapped up in the "glory" of "anti-fascism" against a distinct Croatianhood or healthy nationalism, Glavas refused to accept the declaration. Mr. Glavas also told a crowd at a HDZ youth-party function in Slavonija, that Croatia's ICTY indicted general, Ante Gotovina, was a national hero. All this was too much for the Prime Minister who is playing the Balkan role alongside his newfound political ally, president Stipe Mesic.

Sanader the bread-winner

Structuring his foreign policy on the promise to extradite Croatian war-veterans to The Hague and leading Croatia into the European Union, Ivo Sanader, simultaneously attempting to consolidate his power across Croatia, has failed his international sponsors. Already in hiding for four years, general Ante Gotovina remains outside of his reach. The chief prosecutor of the ICTY, Carla del Ponte, has repeatedly told Sanader that Gotovina literally holds the keys to EU acceptance of Croatia. The British Foreign Office has repeatedly scolded Sanader for failing to provide Gotovina. Therefore it is no wonder that the lynching of Branimir Glavas has begun. Glavas, a controversial figure in Croatia, has become the latest victim of Sanader’s politics of appeasement. In absence of Gotovina, the demonizing, and probable apprehension, indictment and conviction of Glavas will ensue. Therefore it is no coincidence that stories of supposed war crimes ordered by Glavas have resurfaced in Croatia’s mail-order media.

Appeasing the enemy

The lynching of Glavas, responsible for the successful defense of the city of Osijek against Serbian aggression, will serve several purposes. Domestically, Sanader will attempt to restructure power in eastern Croatia. On the foreign plane, he will appease Croatia’s adversaries (Britain, ICTY) in Europe. The Croatian population will be entertained by the latest lynching, distracted from the reality of economic shambles. And most importantly, he will continue to criminalize the Homeland War by taking part in yet another mini-campaign of historical revision. Sanader and Mesic are leading Croatia into the West-Balkan union. And that road is paved with the humiliation and criminalizing of Croatia’s military leaders. Military leaders that are living proof of Croatia’s pride, glory and victory. All that (they) must be removed so that the small nation’s sovereign course (paid for in blood) can be reversed.

Frano Budimlic
New York