No other country in the world has been so covered by intelligence services as Croatia, said the President. All those representatives of Europe and America, and all sorts of so-called humanitarian, media, and non-governmental organizations, all of them have had the task to observe the situation in Croatia with the goal of preparing and producing a different Croatia. During the last two years, until the elections in Bosnia-Hercegovina, they had a plan to destabilize HDZ, the political party responsible for the establishment of Croatia. With our policy, we forced all those meddlers to abandon their decision to destabilize Croatia. Just the opposite, these days we have been officially informed that the USA and Europe are counting on a stable Croatia. That is the result of our decisive attitude with respect to the elections in Bosnia-Hercegovina: we threatened to boycott the elections unless they stop electoral engineering at the account of Croats. Since they know that they cannot do anything in Bosnia without Croatian support, they had to give in. After that, there were pressures and friendly persuasion, to sign the Agreement about Ploce. I said no! We would only sign the agreement about Ploce after the agreement about special relations is signed. Again, it turned out I was right.
Several days ago, they moved in armed troop carriers against Martin Brod. I told them, if they attack, not only Croatian police, but also Croatian Army would offer resistance. When they faced that they accepted that border disputes be solved by commissions.
The founding of the Croatian Army was crucial for the establishment of the independent Croatian State and the Croatian State can base its policy on that. Therefore, the task for all of you, the leadership and the whole Croatian Army is the preservation of the unity of the Croatian Armed Forces. Do not allow in the Military any opinions apart from the patriotic ones. Do not allow any abuse of laws. As in the past, in the future the establishment and strength of the Croatian State will depend on the Croatian Army, regardless of the situation.
Of course, our goal is the integration in Euro-Atlantic security systems, but that should not be emphasized as our most important or the only goal. The first and only goal is the establishment of such armed forces as is in the interest of the Croatian State. Besides, in spite of the unity in NATO, various NATO members have their disagreements. An example is a recent establishment of a pact between France and Great Britain. Europe wants to be more independent than is allowed by NATO, where Americans dictate all the decisions and have full control. There is also Russia. Russia is currently in crisis, but it remains a Eurasian great power. We must pay attention to that as well and keep our options open. Thus, we will soon sign a military agreement with Russia.
It is correct that our strategy should be, as Admiral Domazet said, a victory in the first battle. However, if that is impossible, we must be prepared for a long war. Under no circumstances should we allow any capitulation.
Rights now in the Hague, in addition to Croats from Bosnia-Hercegovina, they have five or six generals from Croatia on their list [of suspects for war crimes]. From that point of view, we also need the unity of the military. There must be no deviation from the state policy. There must be the unity of the military and the population. Only if we preserve that, we will be able to say no to them. We liberated out country from the aggressor and we will not allow you to try our men. Besides five or six generals, on their list they also have individuals without military connections, so that that policy of the destabilization of Croatia is still present.
As far as Bosnia-Hercegovina is concerned, we should support the consistent implementation of the Dayton Agreement. Therefore, we should fight for what we accepted in Washington. We accepted the Federation, but only under condition that the Federation enters in a confederation, or establishes special relations, with Croatia. We must be wise in this endeavor as well, because it will not be easy to achieve it. That is a challenge that will last not one or two years, but for decades. You know that some radicals among Croats demanded annexation of Bosnia-Hercegovina. I've said this before and repeat it now: even if someone gave me Bosnia-Hercegovina for free I would not want such Croatia, with 2 million Serbs and 2 million Muslims. In such a Croatia the Croatian people would have been in a worse and more uncertain position than in the former Yugoslavia. With our policy we achieved the most that could have been achieved in the given international situation. We secured our southern borders and a half of Bosnia, therefore the Federation, has been tied to Croatia. In that sense, do not allow any incidents. That is not easy, but such a solution for Bosnia-Hercegovina is of historic significance for the Croatian People and the Croatian State.
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In his introduction, Dr. Ivic Pasalic said that modern democracy is based on the rule of law and free expression of opinion and that the free expression through media is one of the fundamental rights. He added that the media are pillars of the democratic society.
Dr. Smiljko Sokol believes that this field is rife with misunderstandings, in spite of the desire of all that democracy and the freedom of media are continuously improved.
Mirko Sapunar compared the number of publications that could have been bought in Croatia before the Patriotic War with the number of publications that can be bought today. Thus, among other, he pointed out that today there are 2960 publications on sale, 760 of which are printed in Croatia. Damir Matkovic expressed doubt that the television is an ideal means for the development of democracy. Rather, he asserted that television is an ideal means for the simulation of democracy. Matkovic gives an especially important role for the development of democracy to local radio stations.
Dunja Ujevic believes that a philosophical discussion about the freedom of media is absolutely inappropriate for that topic, because the current state is on the verge of incident. Most of the media, stressed Ujevic, are manufacturing the situation that blocks the possibility for action by and normal functioning of the state. Andelko Milardovic, among other, warned that anything can be said and written in the domestic media. That establishes a semblance of communication although it is absent from the media. Such polarization, asserts Milardovic, leads to the politics of high risk.
Talking about the media in Western democracies, Ante Beljo emphasized that abroad there is no equivalent freedom to write whatever one may want, without responsibility. Thus, he expressed support for responsible journalism.
We can only develop Croatian television to the extent we are prepared to develop a free democratic society, believes Ivica Vrkic. He stressed that the television has definitely been opening up, since there are no forbidden topics or forbidden personalities.