Unusual plays are becoming frequent in Croatian (opposition) political theatre. The title for one of them could be:`` Stipe from Belgrade - Stipe to Belgrade." Here is a short synopsis: Stipe in question is, of course, Mesic - the last president of late Yugoslavia, who these days is, it seems, again discovering the attractions of residing in Belgrade. Let us recall: the title of his book was at first ``How we destroyed Yugoslavia" to be later moderated to ``How Yugoslavia was Destroyed" (as if he did not take part in that business); one wonders after his interview in Belgrade magazine ``Vreme" whether his next book's title will be ``How we shall build new Yugoslavia"? Mesic not only made a friendly visit to St. Sava agit-prop but also, in a friendly conversation, promissed to bring a ``moderate" forces to power in Croatia; these new authorities would immediately eliminate ``para-statelet Herceg-Bosna"; to a remark from his chetnik collocutors how the Croatian Army is a ``state whithin the state" he added that it is indeed a ``private" army. The Croatians, made sleepy and confused by the God, still have not understood that some of the finest sons of Croatia, in the newpapers of the country which has occupied a quarter of Croatia for four years, not only malign their own country and its armed forces but also reveal military secrets. For example, in that same ``Vreme", a parliamentary representative and ex-distributor of Soros' dollars Miko Tripalo, assured chetnik public about the weekness of the Croatian Army.
The climax if these Serbo-Croatian games without frontiers was the Croatian ex-police minister Josip Boljkovac's interview in Belgrade magazine ``Telegraf", in which we found out about an unusual classification of our friends and enemies; the friends are: yugo-generals, nice and peaceful types, with strong inclinations towards ``democracy of european type," then wonderful chetnik humanists as Hadzic, Kertes and similar, while the enemies are, until recently, fellow party members and now dangerous Croatian extremists Susak, Seks, Vukojevic, Glavas and Mercep.
This is what the forementioned prides of Croatian opposition say, but even more important is to whom they talk. Both in naive and jaded sections of Croatian public there is a stereotype about the so-called correct Serbs and their media outlets - which include the above mentioned ``Vreme"; the ``Nedjeljna Dalmacija" commentator Miljenko Jegorovic has recently analysed political and professional positions in the Belgrade press. His conclusions were: ``Telegraf" is a newspaper of ``the united patriotic right" whose characteristic expressions are ``ustashe, balije, ustashe authorities," while the world renowned ``Vreme" cherishes ``declared independence, while owing a subtle and consistent loyalty to the opposition greater-serbian parties." whose characteristic expressions are ``republic Srpska, Republic Srpska Krajina, self-declared Republic Kosovo, so-called Croatian Republic Herceg-Bosna, president Karadzic, president martic" etc. Put more bluntly: ``Telegraf' is a plain chetnik paper while ``Vreme" is a de-luxe chetnik paper. Every Croatian who voluntarily accepts to cooperate with either of them, makes a clear political statement.
While some Croatian outstanding people, as we saw, have been plotting with the chetniks, others have chosen the Italian neo-fascists for their privileged collocutors and friends. The spectacle has lasted long enough and left enough of an impression on mostly anasthesized Croation public: the recent ``Congress of 'Istrians'" in Pula hotel ``Histria". Some of the patriotic media explained the real goals behind the event. Remarkably convincingly ``Vjesnik" correspondent from Bonn, Ivankovic, from the heart of Europe explained that the notorious ``Europe of the regions" abused by the Istrian seccessionists is as much of a nonsense as the ``federal Europe" and that for a long time to come the only reality will be Europe of national states in the (post)modern sense of the word; otherwise Europe will cease to exist. The other, unpatriotic (or annoying [pun]), media, of course, practically justified Istrian seccessionist intentions - starting with a predictable ``Feral" and ending with an only seemingly confused Darko Plevnik from ``Slobodna" who with a seemingly ``critical" title hides his appology of euro-istria and euro-bandits who sit in the Croatian parliament. ``This indicates that the Presidential government's policy in Istria must be much more sophisticated than the one practised so far; much more european and far less balkan-like policy," writes Plevnik. ``Istria is the european reconnaissance patrol for Croatia, not the destroyer of Croatia; similarly, Croatia is not the Istria's tamer but its home."
Our luck is in the fact that between the Istrian ``Croats" who would sell Istria and the Italian irredentists who would buy her, lies several tens of kilometers of Slovenian state - in which, instead of our euro-commedians, live, apparently, wise men, who know who they are dealing with on both sides of the state ``meja" [border in Slovenian]. Recently, we could have read with some shame the analysis by a Slovenian from Trieste, Paolo G. Paravel, who from first hand could see the game of the Italian neo-fascists (or as he calls them ``neo-irredentist extremist organisations"). ``These organisations play a complicated game," says Parovelo. ``At home they still promote racist antislovenian and anticroatian nationalism, in Slovenia and Croatia present themselves as democrats, in Rome behave as the makers of an ``adriatic policy" and in Europe accept support from extremist German refugee organisations."
He also saw through the game of the Croatian parliamentarian Jakovcic and his friends: ``Istrian leadership, although it kept talking about autonomy, Europe, peace and similar things in reality did just the opposite: they approachedthe Italian neo-irredentists." Then, that same leadership allowed that the Italian minority in Croatia be pushed ``from the idea of autonomy to that of seccession from Croatia." Parovel says that the guilt for degeneration of Istrian politics lies equally with ``Croatian, Slovenian and Italian democratic forces who treated the problem with a mixture of dissinterest and superficiality and left the Istrians to themselves.
The wise and nationalistic Slovenians - never mind how our ``Europeans" try to present them as more ``European" than the Croats - have nothing to worry about. After stating that ``the response from Slovenian Istria was even more unclear" at the ``Congress of 'Istrians'" - Slovenians actually boycotted the Congress - the largest Slovenian daily ``Delo" coolly concluded that ``without the Slovenian part Istria will never be transnational." Lucky for us, the miserable Croats, who are now left thinking about how to elect the Slovenians to the Parliament so that they can protect us from outselves.
At the same time, while some of the Croatian Parliamentarians were cooing together with the chetniks and others with the Italian black shirts, a third group celebrated in Split 50 years since the founding of the Partisan Peoples government of Croatia. From a brief report and a photo that appeared on 4/15/95 in ``Slobodna Dalmacija", it was possible to notice that, according to an already established custom, it was a gathering of the reformed Croatian (Split) Communists ( Martin Jurjevic), incorrigible yugo-nostalgic SUBNOR [Federal Union of Participants in Peoples Liberation War] members, nowdays SABH [Union of Antifascist fighters of Croatia] members ( Milan Rako, Miroslav Curin and others), ``dalmatian action" members (Mira Ljubicic-Lorger) and ``leftist intellectuals" from the Split Law School (Boris Bukuljas).
Only the uninformed could have thought that this was a gathering of the Croatian ``antifascists"; for those who have known them closely and for a long time it is clear that they are all the members of a same political party whose most appropriate name could be the Union of Communists- movement for Yugoslavia (by the way the gathering took place in the building where the offices of their publication, ``Feral Tribune" are located). The presence of the two SUBNOR members was particularly striking; the presence of the two contemporary Croatian traitors who on 2/6/91, only 10 days after de-facto declaration of war to Croatia in the guise of the KOS [former Yugoslav Counter Intelligence Service] produced movie with Martin Spegelj in main role, called in ``Slobodna Dalmacija" for an ``uprising" against democratically elected Croatian authorities and in support of already mentioned SKPzJ. In passing let us mention that the SDP's boss, Ivica Racan, in a recent interview rejected the services of such allies; his Split chief Jurjevic, on the other hand, will never renounce them. Miko Tripalo also failed to denounce them recently during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Partisan ``liberation" of Croatia; Rako and Curin were, besides him, the keynote speakers. Finally, as in '91 , and 50 years ago [during the WWII], they still demand from the Croatian authorities to start ``the fight against recently growing support for neo-fascist ideas [in Croatia]." In that, as we saw earlier, they will have full support from the democratic Belgrade.
A few days ago the same company - Mesic, Boljkovac, Mira Ljubic-Lorger and others - thanks to the skillful picture mixer in the Croatian Television, could have been seen in the dazzling quarters of the Zagreb Hotel ``Esplanade", at the debate about the situation in the Croation judiciary. The host was a Croatian ex-nationalist Ivan Zvonimir Cicak from Ha-ha-oa [Croatian Helsinki Watch Committee for human rights], who as usually did not hide that his bosses have enough money to greet their guests in an elite cosmopolitan ambiance. We - who have been watching them - in the Belgrade press, Pula hotel ``Istria" or in Bacvice, near Split - have been trying to discern hat keeps them together? Love for the chetniks or the Italian irredentists? Not very convincing. Hatred for the Croatian authorities, especially the patriotic part, and love for some future Yugoslavia? No, although some traces of that could be found. In that case, what keeps them together?
Easy: their love for power and for anyone who can help them fulfill their goals. Love for the chetniks and the Italian irredentists follows from their love for power, but most of all from the Cicak's bosses love for power and money which are most important in the whole thing. It is only necessary to glean the ideas in the [Cicak's] bosses heads: ``get rid of Milosevic and Tudjman", ``third of fourth Yugoslavia" or something similar. Then be at hand when the time for the first , second or third comes [!?]. The name for that is politics. The Croatian and opposition politics.