Bulgarian corruption - The Americans know about it

For anyone who is interested in the (unfortunately) real-life stories of Balkan-style corruption, have a look at these two US State Department cables that were released by WikiLeaks over the New Year holiday period.

The first one is titled "How do you make them reform when they don't want to?" and it details the background to what should have been a very negative EU progress report on Bulgarian anti-corruption measures. Unfortunately, the report was 'watered down' for political reasons, which were not specified. Well, I can tell you them - it doesn't look good that EU membership and the high ideals its promotes has not changed anything in Bulgaria and many other member states, new and old. What the politicians in the new and candidate states and Brussels painted (and continue to do so) was that with EU membership all these new states will become as rich as efficient as Germany in an instant. As we saw in 2010, most of Europe is not like Germany. Even 'old' members, such as Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Portugal are mired in high levels of corruption and/or had their supposed economic booms exposed to be solely built upon generous EU funding and pure speculation. Nothing really has changed integrally and intrinsically - it has all been cosmetic, much like the dumbing down of the EU report on Bulgaria.

The second one is far more gangsta and quite a story - Bulgarian soccer receives a red card for corruption. It has violence, murder, excess, rich-bastard football players and their pop-star WAGs, tax evasion... in other words, a real-life plot for a renewed series of 'Footballers Wives'. The match fixing schemes are unbelievable! And I love how they quote that Bulgarians half-jokingly say that their team's fourth place at the World Cup in 1994 has been the country's only achievement since the fall of Communism.

I have to say, these embassy officials seem to have a great job where they get to report about all of the lurid and gossipy details of the countries they are posted, and get paid for it! Pity the poor Bulgarians who have to put up with this reality.

More are on the way... A Balkan WikiLeaks

Not as much as more cables (that's a certain), but the WikiLeaks concept is now growing. I was wondering whether we would see an expansion of whistleblower websites, some with a regional or industry focus, or perhaps rivals might appear. I didn't have to wait too long. The Bulgarian media are reporting of BalkanLeaks, a local site inspired by WikiLeaks, to provide a place for people to leak secret information. Going by the motto 'the Balkans are not keeping secrets anymore', the site already has received and posted documents detailing shady gas deals, a conflict of interest involving the person who compiled the memorandum on Bulgaria's new Belene nuclear power plant, plus information about the anti-corruption police and powerful mafia figures.

Initial journalistic investigations into who is behind this Balkan WikiLeaks have pointed to a Bulgarian journalist resident in France, Atanas Chobanov. He has admitted that he is part of the BalkanLeaks team but claims that it was not his idea, though he has accepted the role of spokesperson due to his long-standing commitment to free speech.

Chobanov pointed out that the information received so far shows that there is an interest in Bulgaria and the Balkans in having such a site, and that at this stage the most important factor is safeguarding the anonymity of sources. He also added that soon on the site 'interesting details about Bulgaria's judicial system' will appear.

The server hosting this site happens to be the same one that hosts WikiLeaks in France. The company recently refused to bow to French government pressure to close down WikiLeaks from its servers.

This promises to be a very exciting website as the level of transparency in the Balkans is not very high. Nevertheless, the large number of mafia opponents and journalists murdered in the past two decades throughout the region forebodes a larger risk for those who leak such sensitive documents.

Photos: Bulgaria in the EU

Just came across a Bulgarian website that has been asking people to send in photos detailing the absurdities of Bulgarian life in the supposed advanced workings and organisation of EU standards. Under the title 'BG in EU' here are some prize pics...

The sign says: Coffee, Cigarettes, Alcohol, Dog and Chinese Food, Newspapers

Russian rocker latest darling of West

Yuri Shevchuk, legendary rock star famous for fronting the cult Soviet-era rock band DDT, has had a lot of press lately in the West over his opposition to Putin and how he is being excluded from TV and radio, in a pattern much like he faced during Soviet times. The West is using this as yet another example of how Putin's Russia is USSR 2.0. The reality is that it is true that Shevchuk is being shunned, but he is not unique nor is this purely a Russian phenomenon. As I have mentioned briefly in previous posts, just like under the former Communist regimes as today, political patronage is the most important factor to building a music career not only in Russia but in practically all former Eastern bloc countries undergoing democratisation. The Shevchuk experience is also being faced by artists in countries allied to the West such as Georgia, Ukraine and even current EU members.

While most musicians, singers and actors in the West are and can be apolitical, in the Eastern bloc that is just not possible. As a layover from Communist times when good politicial credentials was the main prerequisite for a long and fruitful career, the same still applies. That there is multi-party politics in most former Eastern bloc countries makes it even riskier than before. A singer must carefully chose for which political party he/she will sing for at politicial rallies during election campaigns. If that party wins and enters into government, expect to appear on TV quite a bit. On the otherhand, if a singer is identified with an opposition party, quite often they will face a difficult time appearing on TV, getting advertising and face punitive bureaucratic hassles. A firm example of making and breaking political patronage in Eastern Europe came with Ukraine's selection of its representative for Eurovision this year. At first the relatively unknown singer Vasyl Lazarovych was announced as Ukraine's singer and that a competition would be held to pick a song for him. Lazarovych happened to be close friends with the government-appointed Director of the Ukrainian national broadcasting station, the organisation responsible for Ukraine's selection for Eurovision. When elections in March saw the pro-Western Yushchenko government ousted for pro-Russian parties led by Yanukovych, as is often the case with political appointees, the Ukrainin TV director was quickly replaced with a new person close to the new government. Also to go was Lazarovych as a supposed anti-corruption measure (Lazarovych was selected as he would self-fund his Eurovision campaign), but most people in Eastern Europe saw the real reason for this sacking of sorts was that he was too closely identified as a Yushchenko supporter. A new competition to select a new song was quickly organised, heavily featuring singers who had been sidelined under the previous government and consequently sung on the election campaign for political parties that eventually formed the new government. Another obscure singer won the competition and went on to sing at Eurovision.

Ukraine is not alone in having had politically motivated selections for representatives. Bulgaria's singer at Eurovision 2008 worked as an assistant to the head of Bulgarian National TV and was an member of the youth wing of the then ruling Socialist Party. Macedonia's 2000 entry featured the cat screeching of 'I lurve you a hundert persent yes ay du' by XXL, a girl band whose members happen to be the daughters of high ranking functionaries tied to Macedonia's then ruling party. While the Serbo-Montenegrin entrants in 2005, 6 boys hoddled together as boy band 'No Name' were all sons of businessmen with very close relations with the sleazy and very corrupt Montenegrin president Milo Djukanović.

As always, politics and music go hand in hand. It's no surprise that many of Russia's top singers of Russia happen also to be members of Putin's Edinnaya Rossiya (United Russia) party, much like how many were Communist Party members back in the day. In Serbia, the pink-haired turbofolk singer Zorica Brunclik will always be associated with her membership in the much despised JUL party led by Milošević's wife Mira Marković. Being close to the ruling family awarded Brunclik with heavy exposure on the government controlled media, a string many surprising number one hits and even a short stint as Minister of Culture. After Milošević was toppled in October 2000, so too did Brunclik's profile and career, disappearing from public sight due to her close connections with the old regime and not daring to reappear on the idiot box until many years later, and that being only on local provincial stations. Brunclik recently appeared on a celebrity reality TV show, helping her to resurrect her career, though she had to face a barrage of criticism due to her past political allegiances while being followed by the cameras.

Now don't think that all this only applies to the Eastern Bloc. Country stars the Dixie Chicks faced a major backlash after their very public opposition to the US invasion of Iraq and disapproval of George W. Bush. The US government were not behind this, but many political elements close to the then administration were responsible for villifying the country music band.

Relatively speaking, it would have been better if Shevchuk was the unique case that the Western media would like us to believe. However, the reality is that in any political system, if you want to go far, best toe the line.

75% of Macedonians support EU membership

Still high support, but a major drop from 89% of a few months ago. Reasons for the fall include the EU's call for a name change which would threaten national identity, frustration at the EU's double standards and increasingly slow progress, and a realisation that EU membership does not instantly or fundamentally guarantee changes in living standards, application of the rule of law, corruption or financial stability. Macedonians see that neighbouring Bulgaria's inclusion into the EU in 2007 has failed to bring much benefitial change to your average Bulgarian, nor has 30 years in the European family brought much vaunted change to wages, the rule of law, financial stability or corruption in its southern neighbour Greece. Otherwise, one of the main reasons why Macedonians want to join the EU is that they would like greater opportunity to leave the country and freely work in richer EU countries like Germany and the UK - hardly a benefit for Macedonia.

All eyes on Bulgaria's Pironkova

Noone expected Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova to win against 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in a thrilling 6-2, 6-3 quarter-final game. So unexpected was Pironkova's success that no Bulgarian journalist had been assigned to cover Wimbledon this year. Now all of Bulgaria has its eyes firmly directed towards SW19 in hope that Pironkova will nail it ('piron' in Bulgarian means 'nail') and possibly make it into the final. Not since the success of Maleeva sisters or the disappointment of Sesil Karatancheva, who after a 2 year ban for drug abuse now plays for Kazakhstan, has Bulgarian tennis shown such promise. Let's hope that Pironkova nails it all the way.

What ever happened to Lechkov?

Unfancied Paraguay and Japan are currently playing a second round match in this year's World Cup, the result of which will see either of these teams for the first time making it to the quarter finals. Most World Cups produce a winning underdog - a team which never expected to make it past the first round making it all the way to the quarter or even semi finals. In 2006 it was Ukraine, 2002 it was South Korea and Turkey, 1998 Croatia, 1990 Cameroon, while in 1994 Bulgaria made it to the semis after shockingly defeating Germany 2-1. One of the stars of the Bulgarian squad was an unassuming Yordan Lechkov, a modest footballer playing at the time for German side Hamburg. He scored two key goals at that World Cup and instantly became an international star. Mention 'Bulgaria' in most parts of the world and the first response usually is 'Lechkov'. His career afterwards was characterised by disputes with the clubs he played for and the Bulgarian football officials. Never one comfortable with the limelight, he decided to quit football and returned to his hometown of Sliven in central Bulgaria. With a desire to put something back into the community, he opened a football academy and then a hotel complex which included a huge nightclub called 'Imperia'. Complaints to the local council about the loud noise emanating from the club almost led to its closure. So what could Lechkov do to avoid this? Become mayor, of course, which he did after being elected in 2003. Now head of council, no more threat of closure. Reeelected in 2007, Lechkov has recently been accused of official misconduct and was removed from his post of mayor. However, the appeals court today in Burgas has reappointed Lechkov as mayor, but I feel we haven't seen the end of this.

Sofia Gay Parade held amidst threat from ultra-nationalists

700 people today marched under heavy police protection through Sofia in the third gay pride parade to be held in Bulgaria. This came amidst much public and media discussion in recent weeks after a 23 year old man was brutally attacked by Neo-Nazis in an inner Sofia park because he 'looked gay' in their self-styled campaign to 'clean the parks of abnormal people'. Despite entry into the European Union in 2007, Bulgaria still remains a socially conservative country which as one woman at the parade who was holding a placard with 'We, your mothers, support you' said: [Bulgarian] society is intolerant towards Roma, it's intolerant towards people with disablities, but differences must be accepted'. Unfortunately, a majority of Bulgarians do not share the views of this brave mother. As evident in the many comments made on forums about the gay pride parade and gay rights in Bulgaria, many Bulgarians believe that gay people are mentally sick and should see a psychologist. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, who holds considerable sway over Bulgarian society, joined other, mainly extreme right-wing, organisations in condemning the parade. Even an 'anti-parade' was held, with ultra-nationalists holding signs such as 'all abnormals go to Uganda'. On the other hand, NGOs promoting human rights and many ambassadors of western European countries publicly and prominently offered their support.

What may seem contradictory to all this is that while Bulgarian society in general is intolerant to a gay pride parade and gay people, one of the most popular singers in Bulgaria, Azis, happens to be openly gay. However, when asked about the gay pride parade, according to one Bulgarian celebrity gossip website, Azis said that he 'doesn't support such displays' as he doesn't see that it's 'proper'. He added that 'what's the point of parading when trying to promote equality, participants in the parade end up behaving like clowns'.

The big question hanging over Bulgaria is whether it is truly prepared to be a tolerant society fitting the ideals espoused by the EU. Membership into the Union ostensibly was supposed to facilitate greater tolerance in society, however in practice this may take much longer than expected.