Slovakia is one of the smallest member-states of the European Union. It used to be part of Czechoslovakia. In 1993, Slovakia separated from Czechia and became an independent republic, which was a political dream that had been pursued for the whole of the 20th century by the majority of Slovak political activists and intellectuals. The separation of Slovakia and Czechia went peacefully and smoothly, quite unlike the dissolution of the former republics of the former Yugoslavia. (By the way, Slovakia – the former constituent part of Czechoslovakia – is not to be confused with Slovenia, also an EU member-state – the former constituent part of Yugoslavia. Both countries are Slavic nations, whose names derive from the Slavic word meaning word, hence the similarity in their denominations.)
Slovakia is one of the smallest countries of the European Union, but despite its small size both in terms of area (slightly smaller than Croatia but slightly larger than Denmark or the Netherlands) and population (roughly as populous as Norway or Ireland), it stands out as an entity that is courageously pursuing its own interests rather than being submissive to the dicates from Brussels. In this respect Slovakia resembles Hungary. Quite recently, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico (pronounced: FEE-tsaw, not FEE-kaw) dared to visit Moscow and Beijing, which was a gauntlet thrown down for Brussels to take up. Slovakia’s prime minister’s policy making which is free from external influence and pressure – quite like the policy making on the part of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán – is proof that even a relatively insignificant country can follow its own path rather than that imposed on it by external forces. In other words, it takes a leader, a statesman, a brave individual, a man of strong convictions and principles to run a country in accordance with the country’s best interests. What are those interests?
One of them is not to be involved in military hostilities. That’s precisely one of the prerogatives of Robert Fico’s political platform. Slovakia’s prime minister laid down his principles of good governance while giving a speech occasioned by the anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising, August 29–October 29, 1944, that broke out against the Germans who had been controlling and occupying the country for a few years. Robert Fico spoke to a large audience where a couple of elderly combatants – participants of the uprising – were present. He spoke against the backdrop of an impressive monument commemorating the historic events. In his speech, the prime minister intertwined the past with the presence. He vividly depicted the atrocities of war and contrasted them with the present-day reckless talks among the present-day European politicians who are discussing the possibility of war (with Russia) as if it were a computer game that you can start and end at will, sitting in a comfortable place. In an attempt to get across the horrors of war and the unspoken suffering, Robert Fico mentioned the assassination on his own person. Not to appear as a hero or a victim of the event. No. Slovakia’s prime minister said something along the following lines: I was hit by the bullets and was speedily helicoptered to a hospital where I was taken good care of and could survive. Imagine now, Robert Fico continued, that you get hit here, in this field, in this low temperature. There is no chopper going to pick you up. You are lucky enough if a stretcher-bearer or a medical orderly is close by and tends to your wound superficially. That’s it. Your chances of survival are small. That’s what war is all about. Robert Fico mentioned American President Roosevelt, who famously remarked that some of the more bellicose senators or representatives should have a shell exploding in their backyard to make them realize what war really is all about.
Slovakia’s prime minister mentioned the morally reprehensible demolition of the monuments to the Red Army soldiers who liberated Slovakia at the end of the Second World War. There ought to be no dehumanization of other nations, other peoples, he said. His attempts at bringing about reconciliation or at least mutual understanding between Russia and Europe were met with hostility in the West. Sweden’s prime minister revealed to Robert Fico that Slovak Social Democrats might be excluded from the cooperation of European social democratic parties because of Fico’s visit to Moscow and Beijing. When Slovakia became a member-state of the European Union in 2004, said the Slovak prime minister, the Union seemed to be a peaceful organization. Sadly, it is no longer so. War is the order of the day in Brussels. But if anybody wants to draw Slovakia into war, he will have to replace Slovakia’s prime minister because – Robert Fico said – so long as he remains Slovakia’s prime minister, Slovakia will not let itself be drawn into a military conflict.
Did Robert Fico invite yet another assassination attempt on his life?
