Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Patrick Lawrence continues his analysis of the overall situation, combining his knowledge of history with his keen observation of current events. Although at first glance, seemingly small events previously deemed “unnewsworthy” by the mainstream media may have been hard to connect, Patrick now presents a potential emerging trend taking shape and gaining momentum.
In addition to the lukewarm reception of Zelenskyy in Washington DC recently, there have been other indications of waning “Western” unity for continued support,
To quote,
“The mood elsewhere appears to be no brighter. That astonishing debacle in the Canadian Parliament—presenting an old SS man as a hero because he fought the Soviets?—cannot have done Zelensky’s constituency in Canada any good. Across the pond there are signs of impatience as roughly eight million Ukrainian refugees settle in Europe, displaying little interest—and who can blame them?—in going home when the war is over. War or no, solidarity or no, the Poles have blocked imports of cheap Ukrainian wheat. There are signs of buyer’s remorse among the Finns a matter of months after their impulsive decision to join NATO. And now the Slovakians and their new leader’s alarming display of political and intellectual independence.”
As always, we appreciate your thoughts and comments. We read all of them and although we may not respond, we are thankful for the time and consideration you give the subjects we select to share with you.
The Directors
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Patrick Lawrence: Depleted Ukrainium
October 5, 2023
What Comes After Failure?
By Patrick Lawrence
You cannot name the last time you read anything about a parliamentary election in Slovakia, so I won’t bother asking. But you are reading about one this week, assuming you still follow mainstream media—if only to understand what you are supposed to think about one or another event, as against what has actually occurred.
In results announced in Bratislava Sunday, a leftist party whose primary platform plank is opposition to the war in Ukraine won 23 percent of the vote. On Monday the Slovakian president, Zuzana Čaputová, formally asked Robert Fico, who leads the SMER party, to form a government. It looks like he will do so in a coalition with either Voice, a social-democratic party that took 15 percent of the vote, or with Progressive Slovakia, a liberal-centrist party that finished with 18 percent of the vote.
Fico is an interesting figure. He has served as prime minister twice over the course of a decade, during which time he proved sufficiently European to bring Slovakia into the euro. To one or another extent, his likely coalition partners favor keeping Slovakia as a card-carrying member of the Western coalition supporting Ukraine. But they did not win the election: Fico did. And Fico is all business in his opposition to Slovakia’s support for the U.S. proxy war tearing Ukraine and its people to pieces.