By: Gašper Blažič
In Slovenia, we have already gotten used to the fact that the essence of the seductive charm of “new faces” is that someone is “brought” into politics who was not in it before (even if he actually was) and thus is considered a “messiah”, who will finally bring some freshness and order to the political scene. Which is actually just a repetition of the already seen, namely the eternal Hegelian struggle between “thesis” and “antithesis”, whereby the new face is the result of both, namely “synthesis” – which in fact confirms the positions of the “thesis”, i.e., the succession of the communist regime and of his “parallel mechanism”.
Perhaps the introduction sounds a bit complicated, but after yesterday’s first round of presidential elections, it became clear that the previously mentioned (already transformed many times) succession of the red regime will this time bet on a new “new face”, Nataša Pirc Musar (hereinafter referred to as NPM). She has actually always been connected to politics in some way, but never directly. Let us remind you: in the early 1990s, she appeared as a young lawyer on national television and quickly became a trade union official. In 1996, as we recently revealed on the online Demokracija, she competed for the position of general director of RTVS for the first time (after the prominent Žarko Petan was literally liquidated for the second time in this position), wherein she did not win a single vote from the then members of the SZDL Council of RTVS, which the current government coalition wants to re-introduce as a pretext for the “depoliticisation” of the public institution in Kolodvorska Street. And let’s be honest: NPM is cheering for exactly this new law, which was adopted without public debate following an emergency procedure.
Information Commissioner to the taste of transition predators
Not even a decade has passed after this event – meanwhile she was on Pop TV and Aktiva Group – she became an information officer. And she quickly showed her true colours, as she quickly abused this position by, from the position of an “independent” referee on paper, actually going against the spring side in a very active and concrete way all the time. Due to the strong political support of the transitional left, she thus won another mandate, for which she was nominated by the then president of the republic, Danilo Türk. Who supported her even before the first round of elections.
Of course, that is not all: “impartial” NPM also intervened in the economy, where the predatory elites were at work. Ten years ago, the Agency for the Protection of Competition supervised the alleged cartel collusion of the companies Mercator, Spar, and Engrotuš. The control over the investigated companies also envisaged the seizure of e-mails of employees in companies where the investigation of restriction of competition is carried out, which is otherwise allowed by law. It was this article of law that NPM, in her role as information commissioner, tried to challenge in the constitutional court, but the latter rejected the initiative at the time, stating that the proponent (Office of the Information Commissioner) “does not have the legal authority to carry out inspections”. In other words: NPM exceeded her powers when she wanted to carry out inspection control over the agency that exercises control over economic entities in the case of cartel connections. Nothing happened, because NPM is “ours”.
She also engaged in affairs related to the so-called Washington’s dispatch, when she prevented then-minister Dimitrij Rupel from finding the employee who made the dispatch public. If we compare this with the last affair regarding the dispatches, when the possibilities for signatures for NPM were also sought at Slovenian diplomatic missions abroad – and even then, the dispatch had no confidentiality markings! – this time they found the culprit very quickly and identified him by name and surname. The ambassador in Washington, Tone Kajzer, was politically liquidated within a few days, and the current president of the republic, Borut Pahor, also generously helped the liquidators. Who only post festum accused the government of not consulting him about this move, but that was a hailstorm. As the legendary Anton Korošec would say: “Your majesty, it is too late!”
It should also not be forgotten how many times NPM, in her role as information commissioner, has fined SDS and media critical to the transitional left. She paid special attention to the defence of the personal rights of former Udba agents, who still have the status of untouchables. For example, due to the alleged publication of personal data of Drago Isajlović, known from the JBTZ affair, NPM fined SDS five thousand euros. Which was actually a very serious warning to archival researchers and publicists, such as Igor Omerza and Rado Pezdir. As if to say, do not scratch where it does not itch!
At the same time, it is of course worth asking whether NPM would act significantly differently as the president of the republic than when she was the information commissioner? Do you believe she has mellowed down over the years and become impartial?
If you ask me, I believe in her attitude of “above politics” as much as the now-retired Supreme Judge Branko Masleša and his judicial group of orthodox defenders of revolutionary traditions have demonstrated such an attitude.
“Salto mortale” of Golob and the “libertarian” media
But let’s leave aside the past delusions of NPM and focus on the current slippages of the so-called new faces. The most recognisable among them has been leading the government since the summer. Before that, he was an official of the state-owned electricity retailer, and in the more distant past, an official in the party of Zoran Janković and later also in the party of Alenka Bratušek. Following Janković’s example of a wannabe politically “deposed” businessman, he entered politics with the blessing of his godfathers and came to the top as the “synthesis” I mentioned in the introduction of the column. Of course, it was clear that it was just a new upgrade of the “thesis”, which he only confirmed with his comments on the evening of the first round of the presidential election.
It is probably not necessary to comment on these words. Except that Stane Dolanc, if he were still alive, would probably be very proud of “Rob”.
But be careful: on the evening of the first round of elections, something happened that at first glance seems incredible, but was actually highly expected: Robert Golob, who a few days before energetically defended Milan Brglez (the heavily defeated candidate of his party) and had to “blow the whistle on” both NPM and Milan Kučan, suddenly turned the tables: now NPM is “ours”, she will have to be defended and brought to the presidency so that Slovenia can continue to remain “politically stable”. What does this stability mean according to him? That all important functions are finally taken over by personnel from the transitional “synthesis”: “If it was not us, it would mean that someone else…”
In other words: the political factors of the transitional left, which until yesterday were apparently at odds with each other, suddenly united and announced that on November 13th, 2022, we will actually have a referendum on whether we want to have a stable and secure future (NPM) or an extension of the “dark times” (Logar). It should not surprise us that the “dispute” that took place on the Golob-Kučan route until yesterday evening was actually just a repeat of the theatre performance from 2007, when Danilo Türk had a heated argument with the then president of the wrestling association Janez Stanovnik-Tine for the needs of the public. The latter gave our Danilo a friendly pat on the shoulder after the first round, as if nothing had ever happened between them…
And here Bojan Požar is right when he mentions that part of the MSM press that has so far attacked NPM: “It will now be invaluable and also fun to watch how the media will be under the control of the transitional left, which until now has orchestrated attacks on NPM (the tycoon privatiser from tax havens, tax optimiser, waster of budget money, lawyer for the elite, inappropriate character traits for the president of the republic), in order to get Brglez into the second round, turn the tables overnight and forget all of this. But just such a conducted salto mortale will also happen, Pop TV, the magazine Reporter, and the portal Necenzuirano, for example, will have to immediately stop all attacks on Pirc Musar and her husband Aleš (Musar) and thus prove that they function like puppets on a string.” (source: Požareport)
Three weeks of hell are coming!
In short, the first round is over, and the real war against normality is well underway. And do not be surprised that in the media listed by Požar, in the next three weeks, you will read stories worth crying and gnashing your teeth about the dark reign of Janez Janša and his government from March 2020 to May 2022. And the government in which Anže Logar was Minister of Foreign Affairs. You will read stories about how during this period Slovenia also regressed in foreign policy, how Tanja Fajon, Irena Joveva, Milan Brglez and others in the European institutions tried to protect the rule of law in Slovenia, how with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine Slovenia acted very unilaterally and did not listen to Russia’s arguments, how the previous government threatened already acquired European funds due to violence against media freedom, how the government made controversial staffing among ambassadors (sent the incriminated Kajzer to Washington, while at the same time twisting the hands of the excellent ambassador Marta Kos with an inspection in Bern, who resigned due to pressure), and on and on… And maybe we will read some story about how NPM has been a confirmation godmother several times (and is also normally married), just as Kučan had a religious grandmother and convinced with this the religious community that he is a greater moral authority than the self-identified atheist Jože Pučnik. And since Logar is already an old acquaintance from the Ljubljana city council, because he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Ljubljana, while NPM has never been a member of any of the parties, let alone a political functionary. And on and on…
Psychological shearing of sheep or so the hairdressing of the masses begins. Get ready because the next three weeks are going to be hell in the media!
