Ivo Pukanić On Thursday, 12 October 2006, I read one of the most shameful articles that have emerged in Croatian newspapers in the recent past. On the 48^th page of Vjesnik, a newspaper financed by the government, an article was published where journalists openly boasted that they snitched on weapons trader Petr Pernička to the Czech District Attorney and that he was awaiting a new trial because of this information. This news would have gone completely unnoticed if Petr Pernička was not one of the rare people who assisted Croatia in freeing itself from Serbian occupation. Furthermore, he worked for was one of the main weapon suppliers to Croatia, the Winsley Company, which received payments of approximately $90 million. Because to this company, Croatia managed to attain serious weaponry: airplanes, helicopters, rocket launchers, S-300 rockets, anti-tank equipment, the lowest priced, best quality Kalashnikovs, and millions of bullets. The price that Croatia paid for this, under an embargo, was more than satisfactory. Therefore, Petr Pernička and his companions Josef Rotheichner and Zvonimir Zubak were fair in assisting Croatia and the price that they had to be paid. And now a government newspaper in the country that was saved partly due to the assistance of people such as Pernička, is practically putting him in prison, and is still boasting. If this is published in a newspaper which is financed by the government, does that mean that this is the official opinion held by Sanader’s government? If it is, then it is as shameful as the article in Vjesnik. According to documents and invoices which Nacional managed to attain, the Winsley company, where Pernička worked together with Josef Rotheichner and Zvonko Zubak, sold a MiG 21 Bis for $700.000 dollars, as well as helicopters – flying fortress MI-17 for $1.5 do $2.5 million dollars, depending on the model, as well as resources and additional equipment. According to the invoices that were paid, it is clear that during the international embargo a good price for the weapons was given. The question is which figures were shown to the people in Croatia who were providing the money. But that is not Pernička’s problem, but a problem for the Republic of Croatia. The Pernička case opens the affair of the “rocket system S-300” which Croatia needed prior to “Oluja” in order to scare the Serbs and stop them from undergoing air attacks on Croatian cities. It was enough to show a part of the system which was delivered at a war parade at Jarun; no Serbian pilot would have the nerve to sit in an airplane and bombard Croatia after that. That had its price, which was much larger than the $70-80 million dollars paid for that system. Today, in Zagreb, court proceedings are underway and, ten days ago, the judge declared that the case was open to the public. No one will be able to control what will be said anymore and only one thing is for certain – many things which would never see the light of day in a normal country, because they are secrets which human lives and destinies depend on, will be published. That is excellent for us journalists, but catastrophic to the credibility and earnestness of the country. This government cannot say that it had nothing to do with the decisions made when Minister Šušak was in charge, as no future government can say that they do not have anything to do with this government’s decision making. If those that manage Croatia believe that they are running a serious country, they should quickly gather a team and decide what to do with the entire situation. Without this, the ball which began rolling in the process of the S-300 could quickly turn into a giant snowball which will take down Petr Pernička and Croatia, while exposing the government to international ridicule for its outermost irresponsible behavior. These rockets were not attained to protect Budapest or Vienna, but to protect Zagreb from destruction. If Zagreb is playing dumb in relation to the entire case and pushing it under the carpet, it does not mean that this problem has been solved. On the contrary, it only emphasizes the problem and is only a matter of time when the entire case will explode in international measures. That will be the point of no return for everyone.