Instead of sending equipment for medical teams, military and police forces in Iraq to become quickly involved in the action of maintaining law and order in that country, Ivica Račan’s government has made two serious foreign policy gaffs in the past few days. Nacional has learned from diplomatic sources in Zagreb that the US recently sought Croatian approval for flyovers by a US military transport plane not carrying arms. Due to a complete lack of harmonization in the state leadership, the Americans received two contradictory responses: Premier Račan approved the US request, while Defence Minister Željka Antunović rejected it. Due to such conduct by the most responsible state officials, the US withdrew their request. With this irresponsible conduct, the government has given Croatia-American relations a new serious blow, commented a high-ranking diplomatic source in Zagreb.

Račan was hoping Blair would receive him, but he received the response that the Premier is too busy At the time that ties between Zagreb and Washington were beginning to snap, government vice-president Goran Granić stated that certain foreign diplomats in Zagreb were “showing they are not up to their jobs. They were in fact a little ridiculous is assessing the situation without any argument. At times, their comments appeared to be downright tragic.” When asked who those diplomats were, Granić directly responded, “Members of the British Embassy, the US Ambassador, the Spanish and the Dutch.” With such a comment, Granić aroused severe consternation among diplomatic circles in Zagreb: everyone agrees that such a comment will arouse more distrust between Zagreb, Washington and London. Premier Račan reacted weakly, his close associates claim that he believes Granić did the right thing and he could have been even harsher with the diplomats. It is no surprise then that new penalties followed: Premier Račan was hoping to again be invited to visit Great Britain prior to the summer holidays. However, the response from London was a cold shower: British Premier Tony Blair has no free time to meet with Račan until the fall.Quick Penalties

Therefore, the penalties were not long in coming: the US immediately, for the second time in one month, cancelled that already scheduled signing of the so-called Adriatic Charter, a document which arose at the initiation of the Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula. With the signing, Croatia, Macedonia and Albania would commit to accelerating efforts for their inclusion to the NATO pact, while the US would take on the task of giving those states clear support. This charter, to be signed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, should have paved the path for Croatia’s accelerated inclusion into NATO. After rejecting the request for flyovers by US military planes, this of course will not happen. While only Croatia is to blame for finding itself again on the margins, the greatest losers are undoubtedly Skopje and Tirana, who will also have to pay for Croatia’s diplomatic errors. One other thing: Nacional has learned that a new date for the signing has not been set, meaning that the charter has been placed on hold for the long term.

Despite this, in response to a US inquiry as to whether Croatia is prepared to participate in the reconstruction of Iraq, the government of Ivica Račan had the courage to send in a list of ten companies which should be included in the rebuilding. The Foreign Ministry has already head meetings with the key leaders in Djuro Djaković, Geofizika, Ingra, Geotehnika, Lavčević, Primorje- Rijeka, Končar and other companies which have already worked in Iraq and wish to become involved in building and reconstructing infrastructure, roads and energy systems or in geophysical inquiries. The government and the companies have already begun seeking political and economic partners in the US which could lobby for the Croatian companies. Unlike Croatia, numerous other countries, such as Italy, Spain or Germany, first sent or offered military or police troops to help first establish order in Iraq. They are aware that only by getting involved in the creation of a safe environment in Iraq could they have the moral or political right to ask that their companies participate in the reconstruction of the country. The Croatian government is expecting that despite the fact they condemned the US military intervention, that its companies will receive contracts in Iraq. However, instead Polish, Italian, Hungarian, Spanish and Czech countries will be working there instead, as those countries have already helped or offered help in establishing peace and order.

If the government truly wanted to win back the trust of the US and Great Britain and to help in winning contracts for Croatian companies in Iraq, they would have already gotten involved in establishing peace there. It would be best if, for example, we had immediately sent medical equipment or equipment for police and military forces to Iraq. With that, we would have shown our sincere inclination to become involved in raising the level of security in Iraq. In the current situation, however, Croatia’s moral and political position are seriously questions: on the one hand we condemned the US military intervention, but that will not stop us now from trying to earn money on its victory.

Shift in European Power to the North

While French President Jacques Chirac is trying to renew contacts with British Premier Tony Blair, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would be happiest if he could forget all he said about the American intervention – for they are aware that after the war in Iraq, the center of European and world politics has shifted north towards London – Zagreb is acting as though it wanted to bring down even the last standing bridges. As if it were not enough that Premier Račan concluded over a month ago that Zagreb and London had opposing standpoints on the Iraq issue and bragged that it was he who changed Croatian policy towards the US and Britain, now government vice-president Goran Granić has offended the diplomatic core in Zagreb in an unseen before way. After these two shameful political moves, it is no surprise that London has not yet initialled the EU Agreement on Stabilization and Association – without which the procedure for accepting Croatia as a candidate for EU membership cannot begin. Nor should Račan’s position on the waiting list to be received by Tony Blair be seen as surprising.

The consequences of such poor policies have already left their mark. While one of the greatest problems of the Croatian economy continues to be the lack of serious foreign investment, American capital has rushed at Serbia. While the government tried with all its might to hand over the Sisak Steel Mill to an unknown Russian partner, the Serbian steel mill Smederevo was purchased by the largest American company in that branch, US Steel. However, that is not all: the US has also financed the creation of feasibility studies for the construction of an oil pipeline which would go through the refinery at Pančevo, allowing the transport of Caspian oil to move from the Romanian port of Constanza to Trieste, and from there to Austria and Germany. The US company Boeing is considering the possibility of opening a regional center for plane repairs in Belgrade, the company Galaxi signed a contract with Ruma guma, which also foresees the construction of a tin can factory, British American Tobacco intends to buy a part of the Serbian tobacco industry and the final negotiations are on for the entry of American capital in the Kragujevac company Crvena Zastava, in its weapons production segment. While US capital is entering into Serbia big time, their military units are strengthening their position in Kosovo. For that reason, the US has built the massive military base Bonsteen near Priština, which has already been equipped to accept the largest US military planes.

Political Hypocrisy

The newest foreign diplomatic failures by the Croatian government confirm that its leading politicians fail to understand the strategic importance of the war in Iraq. They do not understand that it was not intended to create a world order, as some officials claimed, but only the opposite, to establish a new atmosphere for the activities of the most important world institutions, such as the UN, EU and NATO. Political analysts agree that after the war in Iraq, Tony Blair has become the new world political leader. Liberal left winger Blair achieved his reputation and support because he did not enter into the war on Iraq motivated by the same military, economic and financial interests as ultraconservative and right wing President Bush: the British Premier stood with the US out of deep moral and political beliefs. Blair believes that it is necessary to eliminate the sources of world terrorism, and the first step towards that goal is the elimination of tyrannical regimes and the establishment of conditions for the building of democratic and free societies in areas where such traditions and experiences have not previously existed.

Blair’s position has become so solid that he become not only the most powerful British Premier since Winston Churchill, but he has presented himself as a corrective force for President Bush. After British Premier helped him at the critical moment, the US president will be unable to make a single important move without the consultation and approval of Tony Blair. With that, Blair secured a precedent for European influence in American policy. Due to a strengthened position in his own country, and due to his reputation in the US, Tony Blair will quickly stand at the head of a new majority in the EU. The ad hoc created anti-Saddam coalition of Britain, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Poland, the Czech Republic and states of the Vilnius Group will soon become the leading political force in the EU. If Croatia continues to wander through the European political scene, it will find its place neither in that group, nor in the EU.

The only reasonable explanation for the blindness of the Račan government can be sought in the internal policy conditions and the fact that elections are upon us. Both Račan and Granić have taken the Tudjman formula of spiting the west in order to woo the right wing voters, as well as part of the left voters who continue to view the US and Britain as imperialist conquerors. Like Tudjman in his time, Račan is also confronting the US and UK and dragging out its commitments towards the ICTY. With that, he likely wishes to show that he is the true successor to Tudjman’s policies of giving in, but only under strong pressures. In that way, Croatia would again be in its former position as a trouble making state. After the changes in Serbia, that position will cause even greater problems for the Croatian diplomacy. In opting for such a strategy, Račan and Granić have forgotten just how much damage Tudjman’s conduct brought for strategic interests: Croatia is still outside the EU. Furthermore, it is ultimately immoral for Račan and Granić to so seriously threaten our national interest due to their personal and party interests.

The political outcome on the international political stage only confirmed the deep delusions of Croatian policy and its incompetence to assess in which direction such should evolve. Denmark, Ireland, Holland, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Hungary as well as Spain and Italy cannot be accused for becoming US satellite states for their political positions. In fact, the opposite is true: unlike Croatia, they have secured their positions as respectable and equal participants in building new relations in the international community.