Bulgaria behaves like a deeply provincial country News and analyzes from Bulgaria DW
Comment by Veselin Stoynev:
Euro-Atlantic Bulgaria is behaving like a deeply provincial country, if the question of whether it is part of the NATO and EU alliance in which it is a member arises. Of course, provincialism is not a sporadic view, but a constant state of life of each individual provincial country. But in international crises, the edges of our parade suit shine.
Why is this reduction?
The political provincialist always plays a double agent. In front of foreigners he pretends to be relentlessly faithful – the syndrome of the “16th Soviet Republic”. In front of his family is the great hitter who spent foreign prime ministers “with 200” – the “Ganyo Borisov” syndrome.
But far more educated politicians are entering the same game. In the wake of the Ukrainian crisis, the president and the defense minister are blabbering on about the deascalation, diplomatic exit and limited military participation of just one battalion. And the prime minister and the right-wing parties in his coalition are racing to the throne of our loyalty to NATO and rejecting the old division of the world in the sphere of influence. In the end, the roles inevitably mix, because in the severe world crisis, no one wants to listen to choral singing, which is why the Prime Minister leaned over to the music in two voices. In an interview with the BBC, Kiril Petkov both swore how much I foresee a member of the Alliance is Bulgaria, and convinced the world of the strange power of this battalion under Bulgarian command, which may be joined by unclear how many allied platoon or company to form a “completely” effective ground battalion battle group “.
Not that if the battalion was a brigade or an entire corps, we would tie our pants to the defense. In military terms, Bulgaria is a miniature force with antique weapons, especially aimed at Russia. But we are part of the most powerful military alliance. In which we can at least stand with dignity in the last row, and not to develop community center autonomy with a cherry ball near the line.
However, dignity is not beauty by birth, but sensible and responsible behavior. Which requires at least being able to take care of yourself, to be complete, to plan and pursue your own development. But when you always want to go “on the thin strip”, even your luck cheats. And the cunning Bai Ganyo is called Marko Totev. Many governments have postponed the purchase of new fighter jets, and when we finally decided to buy them, we were no longer the most trusted buyer. After we prepaid for the F-16, it turned out that we could get them two years later – because of the Kovid pandemic, which interrupted the manufacturer’s supply chain. In the same way, we bought a nuclear reactor that we do not use. We have not diversified our gas supply for decades, and now, in a military conflict, we are threatened with eating another 100 sticks naked and a bag of salt. If Europe depends on 40% of Russian gas, Bulgaria is twice as much. And it will suffer twice – whether Russia returns the faucet or Brussels stops it itself. Because we can immediately count on a liquefied gas terminal from elsewhere, nor is the pipeline with Greece ready.
All this reduction “between the atoms” of the Bulgarian political elites makes him claim the Russophile sentiments in the country. As in World War II – participated only formally, but then did not bomb the Anglo-Americans, and the Red Army occupied us. Now, we have chosen other allies completely voluntarily, we are playing pro forma again and we will pay dearly again. At the same time becoming even bigger Russophiles. Because the Americans took over 2 billion levs from us, not the planes. Because you are winning Washington and Brussels, tomorrow our gas will be cut off and we will stay cold. And how much more will inflation rise …
A game of the eye in NATO
The Russians are not to blame and the Kremlin is not Russia. But the Kremlin has always been imperialist – in tsarist, Stalinist, Brezhnev and Putin times. The Kremlin is ruled by a great power, with imperial interests in expansion and enclosure with buffer states – even those the size of Ukraine.
NATO in Eastern Europe
Putin can allow both to bluff with an army of 130,000 at the gates of Ukraine in order to achieve a diplomatic victory, and to really invade, because what is presented cannot be endless and the rifle must explode in some action. The United States can allow itself to play to the fullest in this game of nerves, with Biden even publicly announcing invasion data to prevent, like a modern-day Sorge, whom he can’t help but believe.
However, other NATO countries cannot allow themselves to be played on – and are not supported, although there are appropriate interests and dependencies on Russia. Because now is the biggest test of whether they really are a team.
Veselin Stoynev
The most hopeless thing is for Bulgaria to see the child who wants a lot, but still can’t hide well, so every time he has to buzz and wander to find the other children one by one.
This comment shows the personal opinion of the author. It may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and Deutsche Welle as a whole.
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