My column in Croatian Poslovni dnevnik (Business Daily): Kosor and Pahor full of love without any benefit.

 

Friendly relations between two prime ministers is a marketing strategy with which major problems harassing both countries want to be hidden from more and more enraged hosts of unemployed people.

The day after Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor were strengthening Croatian-Slovenian relations in Kranjska Gora beside burning fireplace while drinking hot tea, a taxi driver asked me while driving through Zagreb: "Are they really in love?" I replied that I didn't know and that I didn't care, but admit it, so many meetings between leaders of both countries - who both publicly declare of each other that they are friends - this is already a comedy. Particularly because no benefit from their friendship is seen other than they possibly enrich their geographic knowledge and get familiar with places that perhaps they never before did. You know that Jadranka Kosor is not familiar with Slovenian mountains, but despite that Pahor kindly keeps showing them to her. On the other hand, Pahor doesn't know Croatian coast very well, so Kosor offered to show him the beauty of Adriatic Sea, ah this damn apple of dispute between Croatia and Slovenia. Isn't it so? Is there anything else? Of course, world has not yet recovered from recession that is not fully over, and many experts predict that recovery would be even more difficult.

Interview with Marko Ilešič; the first Slovenian who became judge on the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, speaks about border dispute between Ljubljana and Zagreb, and analyzes its influence on Croatian accession to EU (Croatian Poslovni dnevnik - Business Daily). 

 

 

This was a title of round table, which as a part of Slovenian Book Fair took place at the end of last November in Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana. 

 

  

Correction: Zavgajev is already in Slovenia 

"On Tuesday, the 12th January, Poslovni dnevnik (Business daily) by Editorial Board's mistake published an old, outdated version of text. Namely, in Ana Jud's commentary entitled "Ljubljana rises superior only to Zagreb" ought to be written "... As a new Russian Ambassador to Slovenia arrived Doku Zavgajev, former chief director of Russian Foreign Ministry ...." The Editorial Board apologizes to readers and particularly to author." 

My column in Croatian Poslovni dnevnik (Business Daily): Ljubljana rises superior only to Zagreb

 

To all other countries, except for the first neighbors, Slovenia is ready to serve as a village girl in performing tasks.

 

Diplomacy is noble, but very hard work, as probably could explain every Croatian Ambassador to Slovenia, who had to fight for rights of his country in Slovenia. Most likely you can see it also for yourselves if you observe many unreasonable handlings of Slovenian diplomacy. I know that there are Croats who are convinced that Slovenian politics is more intelligent than Croatian - I know several Croats who think that way - but nevertheless I think this is only superficial view of events in our beautiful Alpine country. Reasons? In historical 1991 Serbian nationalists have compared Slovenian people to Viennese coachmen, which at that time was not the most appropriate label as Slovenia's attainment of independence was still smarter move than all Slobodan Milosevič's moves together, but nevertheless we can not overlook the fact that Slovenian diplomacy often behaves like an elephant in porcelain store. Even the eminent The Economist some time ago described the then Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel. OK, Slovenian foreign policy got rid of Rupel, who in 2003 signed so called Vilnius Statement, pushing Slovenia thus unnecessarily into circle of accomplice state s in the American war against Iraq. But as we can see today, Rupel wasn't at all main problem of Slovenian diplomacy.