Peter Pellegrini, a pro-Russia candidate is elected President of Slovakia. Prime Minister Robert Fico is also pro-Russia. The EU further splinters.
Pellegrini Wins Slovak Presidential Election
Reuters reports Pellegrini Wins Slovak Presidential Election in Boost for Pro-Russian PM Fico
Slovak nationalist-left government candidate Peter Pellegrini won the country’s presidential election on Saturday, cementing the grip of pro-Russian Prime Minister Robert Fico over the country.
Fico, who took power for the fourth time last October, has turned the country’s foreign policy to more pro-Russian views and initiated reforms of criminal law and the media, which have raised concerns over weakening the rule of law.
Slovak presidents do not have many executive powers, but can veto laws or challenge them in the constitutional court. They nominate constitutional court judges, who may become important in political strife over the fate of Fico’s reforms, which would dramatically ease punishments for corruption.
Pellegrini, 48, said his victory meant the government would have support in its aims, and not face an “opposition, opportunistic power centre” in reference to outgoing liberal president Zuzana Caputova.
The independent Korcok, 60, was Slovakia’s envoy to the EU and later ambassador to the U.S., before taking the foreign affairs portfolio in centre-right governments in 2021-2022. At the time, Slovakia was a staunch ally of Ukraine, providing it with air defence and fighter jets.
Pellegrini has portrayed Korcok as a warmonger for his support for arming Ukraine and suggested he could take Slovak troops into the war in the neighbouring country, which Korcok denied.
EU Parliament Polls in France
Decline of the EU Center
The EU is increasingly fragmented over Ukraine, agricultural policy, and energy policy. There is no chance that the EU increases its push towards EVs.
The European parliament elections are in June and the centrists rate to take some huge losses, especially in France, but all across Europe.
The EU is increasingly dysfunctional. Rules make it near impossible to implement any major changes on the Euro, trade policy, and fiscal policy rules, areas that require unanimity to make changes.
In areas where countries can decide individual actions such as support for Ukraine, Slovokia now firmly joins Germany and Hungary in a pro-Russia stance.
Hungarian Leader Victor Orban Congratulates Pellengrini
Macron is increasingly isolated in France for wanting to stand up to Putin. That will hurt him the parliamentary elections.
European Council President Calls on Europe to Switch to a War Economy
On March 21, I reported European Council President Calls on Europe to Switch to a War
As a way to create jobs, EC President Charles Michel promotes a war economy. Where that would lead is obvious.
Solidarity With Ukraine
Solidarity with Ukraine is drying up everywhere. Support is “so deep” that in the EU it died over wheat. Seriously. It’s not just Poland. Farmers across the EU are hopping mad over Ukrainian wheat and corn.
Fortunately, Michel’s call is going nowhere for two reasons.
The first is support for Ukraine is waning. The second and more important is fiscal rules would prevent it.
And it’s impossible to change the fiscal rules.
Expect a Financial Crisis in Europe With France at the Epicenter
The EU never enforced its Growth and Stability Pact or Maastricht Treaty rules. The crisis is coming to a head with France and Italy in the spotlight. The first casualty will be Green policy.
For discussion, please see Expect a Financial Crisis in Europe With France at the Epicenter
The EU never enforced its Growth and Stability Pact or Maastricht Treaty rules. The crisis is coming to a head with France and Italy in the spotlight. The first casualty will be Green policy.
Ukraine Won’t Win the War, It’s Time for a New Strategy
On March 16, I noted Ukraine Won’t Win the War, It’s Time for a New Strategy
Support for Ukraine is waning in the US and has totally dried up in Germany. French president Emmanuel Macron is making a symbolic last stand but it’s more likely to backfire than help Ukraine.
In Germany, SPD, the lead party in the ruling coalition, openly supports a partition of Ukraine.
In the US, Biden is making a big push for Ukraine with no stated goals or endgame.
It will be interesting to see what concoction Speaker Mike Johnson come up with, but more money will do nothing but prolong the war.
Why is this our battle anyway when Europe increasingly does not give a damn? Don’t we have enough problems here on our own border?
Hmmm… McCain’s dead, Nulan’s retired, Obama’s term-limited, and Biden has dementia. Looks like Lindsay Graham is going to have to engineer this coup all by himself.
I think Toria Nudelman got removed. Recall this was right before the Crocus attacks.
Anyways, I think Linda Graham should lead the Ukraine war effort. From the front lines. If he doesn’t make it back alive, I’d say McCain’s probably decomposed enough that the 2 of them would fit in McCain’s casket like the two war-mongering peas that they were.
looks like your blog s been invaded by trolls, bots or wha’ever Mish ….
Someone, wink-wink, created 25 accounts to improve his persistent downvote score? 🙂
Are the PM and Pres-elect of Slovakia actually pro-Russia or are they just not anti-Russia?
Net negative 20 for an innocuous comment on a day-old post? The bots and paid commenters are working hard today!
The EU is not a democratic institution. It doesn’t represent the people of France, Italy or Germany (the so-called anchor countries); there has never been an election for the EU (except in the UK, where the EU was defeated).
No one made Vicky Nuland and Jake Sullivan stage a coup in Ukraine back in 2015. The US ambassador to Moscow (now Biden’s CIA director) told Obama and Biden that expanding into Ukraine was a stupid idea. It was in 2015, and it was a bad idea two years ago.
NATO ceased to have a purpose around 1997. The cold war ended, and with it the stated reason for NATO to exist. At this point, its a bunch of dangerous bureaucrats causing trouble on purpose to perpetuate their own jobs.
Russia doesn’t have the population to invade western Europe, and they would rather just extract money from Europe via natgas pipelines…. exactly what they were doing before the terrorists in Washington DC started this foolishness.
Ukraine’s future will be decided in Moscow, again. same as last time. History usually rhymes, but sometimes it repeats
They like to use the US as a model, but we have also had numerous conflicts between state governments and the Federal government. It’s one of the flaws of centralization. And the European nations are much more independent than US states.
Isn’t Melania from Slovakia ?
Wrong. She was born in Slovenia, which was once part of Yugoslavia.
Lol American geography lesson
Ask a European about US geography if you want a good laugh.
if I remember well , the US is ubicated somewhere between Canada and Mexico ….Big question remaining, why should the most corrupt country in the fckn world, Whorekraine, a country that 80% of Americans can t even find on a fckn map, become your 51st state ? WHY?
“most corrupt country in the fckn world”
That must’ve been a close contest.
Nobody in the EU really cares about Slovakia having a pro-Putin president (or Hungary being pro-Putin). That’s a bit like Alabama in the US deciding that 2+2 = 5.
Some EU measures require unanimous consent from all member states in order to pass. Hungary has shown itself to be quite capable of throwing sand in the gears of the EU to delay measures it doesn’t like.
The EU has a well-known mechanism to get to unanimous consent. It’s called the “Brussels overnight marathon.” Even Orban always folds in the end.
My kids and grandkids just sent me lots of photos and videos of the eclipse. Impressive! All the birds and animals went crazy!
Must be a flat-earther that downvoted me.
maybe because you talked some, albeit sentimental, sense for a change and they couldn t believe their fckn eyes ? Btw , I swear, I, for one, did not vote you down, this time….
Many non-human animals went crazy too!
Hmmm. Not doubling down on batsjit crazy Russophobia and the destruction of Ukraine now makes you pro-Russian?
They are pro-Slovakia and pro-common sense.
Above all, they are pro-Ukrainian which is being demolished by US/Nato policy.
I thought it was Russia that invaded Ukraine, bombed it, shelled it, occupied 20% of it and killed a lot of Ukrainians?
Wrong. It was US that staged a coup in Ukraine, and the new puppet government in Kiev bombed and shelled the oblasts in the east that had majority ethnic Russians and killed a lot of them.
Blame Victoria Nuland, who most (almost all?) Americans have never heard of. Biden had nominated her for the #2 post in the State Department back in July 2023, but it appears that she was never confirmed by the Senate and “retired” (pushed out maybe?) at the end of March 2024.
Do you realize this could have been stopped in 2008 with 2 words: No Nato.
How would you feel about a China/Russia alliance on the border in Mexico as well as Canada, with a lot of bases on Caribbean islands, Cuba, Haiti, etc., and more in every country in S America. And then think tanks going on for decades about how American power must be destroyed, the regime toppled, the country split into constituent states, and all kinds of NGO’s doing everything they can to exacerbate ethnic differences?
Looks like we got some ‘democratic’ warmonging trolls on the blog …
Simply an anti-war candidate won over a pro-war candidate. But not being 100% behind the Ukraine project, makes you a Putin agent in the clown world the propaganda syndicate has manufactured.
The good thing about the wall-to-wall propaganda blitzkrieg is the emergence of alternative media, which didn’t exist just a few years ago.
The corrupt parasitic EU circus is desperately keeping up appearances these days ! However, if summer elections are being fairly handled and respected , things will change dramatically this very year still ! For BETTER that is !
Mish is right, the UE is dysfunctional, but a comeback to tne USSR don’t seems a good solution.
An alliance between Europe and Russia will be excellent for both, but russians don’t tolerate partners, only servants. Ukraine, Chechenia or Poland know it.
NONSENSE ! Russia only wanted to be in business with the EU and with its legitimate sphere of influence respected ! The US of A hated the idea of a strong EU/Russia alliance , that s why and how the war against Russia with Whorekrainian cannonfodder got started ….Deluded if you think otherwise…
Germany has furnished Ukraine with over $30 billion in military aid and just gave them another $500 million on the 29th of last month so I doubt if you can call Germany pro-Russian. If we add non-military aid Germany has given another 27.8 Billion Euros as of three days ago so all together it seems to me that Germany is significantly pro-Ukraine.
I rather doubt that Slovakia electing a pro-Russian president will seriously hurt the EU. Both Slovakia and Hungary although very vocal have no plans of leaving the EU which is rather a contradiction I would think. It would be nice if someone would explain why. Generally, ever since the EU and the Euro were created, there are a Chines Army of people who predict its imminent demise yet both are still here. I would also like someone to explain why that is so to me. Anyone what to take a stab at it?
Excellent analysis Mish.
Scott Ritter had an interesting analysis a few days ago. There are parts of Western Ukraine that butt against Hungary. Should Russia take those then this will open that pathway of trade with BRIC’s. Also, this will then benefit Serbia which is under European and American aggression and open trade to Asia to them as well. It may well be that the Belt and Road will include Hungary and Serbia. I commend Slovakia and they may well jump on this train.
The EU was never imagined to be a Euro nanny state, but has become an beaurocratic octopus. Countries are going to get disenchanted with the amount of control Brussels is exerting and rightly so. In fairness, Brussels does what America dictates and many times this is for nefarious purposes. A number of businesses are leaving Europe for America due to energy costs. Nord Stream 2 was a terrorist attack for American benefits.
Lastly, if or when European countries turn to BRIC’s instead of the Western hegemony, then the only thing I have to say to Western Europe including Scandinavia is enjoy your kebab and falafels.
“There are parts of Western Ukraine that butt against Hungary.”
J K, scuttlebutt that I’ve read online is that Hungary and Poland could both make (and take) land claims on Ukraine.
Poland has denied it but Hungary is mum.
Romania too. The borders got redrawn at Yalta near thee d of WWII.
Plus Slovakia and Romania. The number of ways in which west Ukraine can become a total mess by the end of this decade, is practically limitless.
Scott Ritter seriously?
…and you will definitely enjoy your tortillas and guacamoles ….won t you ?
I do like Mexican food. It beats Russian food by a lightyear.
Since Sebia is not in the EU it won’t have a problem leaving it. Hungry doesn’t seem keen to and explain to me why Hungry voted for Sweden and Finland to join Nato if Hungry is pro-Russian? Wouldn’t something like that not be good for Russia or is this part of Putin’s “Master Plan”?
China’ Belt and Road is not very popular in the EU these days. I understand it has something to do with the EU not seeing it in their best interest. Italy which had been in it is now out of it.
Sure Doug, in your capacity of an (ex) US agent, you would say that wouldn t you… Germany’s alleged 30 billion coming from a increasingly deindustrialised country, sounds great , most of it merely promised most likely , moreover in a military monopolised privatized environment, 30bln is literally peanuts, for the same amount of money Russia can and WILL crush the fckn shit out of your 51st nazi state !
Me a CIA agent? Don’t be ridiculous. By the way, your best friend has forgotten about that 500 Euro loan you gave him last January 5th at the Spirito.
Here is a question for you. Did Vikings have Libertarian tendencies? Since you are here I assume you are not a socialist.
The EU is like the mafia. Everybody would be better off if they didn’t exist, but since they do, you have to deal with them or they’ll deal with you.
You’re right that Slovakia won’t damage the EU. That’s America’s job. They’ve been doing a helluva job in the Ukraine. Next up Romania, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.
Hungary is a major recipient of EU transfer payments. I suspect that Slovakia also is a net beneficiary of EU transfer payments. So they won’t be going anywhere.
Socialist fascist Europe is more communist than Russia. Europe is not worth defending and won’t defend themselves. USA should not spend another dime on Europe, cut loose from NATO, and let them be hanged.
Concur. Close the bases in Germany and be out of there.
Russia has absolutely NO plans to invade the fckn EU ! ALL that Russia ever wanted was getting along fairly and doing business with us! Let that be exactly what the US of A could not agree and not live with, hence the war in fckn Whorekraine ! Yeah sure, get your fat asses out of fckn Europe, it is bad enough as it is, even without you !
Unless he decides to.
Looks like YOU got some help from some agency trolls !
probably for the wrong reasons …yet I DO AGREE !
I’ve never seen any Estonians helping defend America’s southern border. End NATO yesterday.
The EU isn’t filled with centrists. They are way left of center as defined just a few years ago.
Also, is anyone that wants a negotiated peace in Ukraine and an end to the deaths now designated as Pro Russia?
The last train to a negotiated peace left Istanbul two years ago. This won’t be over until Kharkov is Russia again and Ukraine’s flag is only yellow (having lost Odessa and access to the Black Sea). Either that or intercontinental nuclear war.
There’s a lesson here for small countries: never trust America. Are you listening Georgia? Armenia?
Sadly, you are likely correct. What a waste of lives.
“The Gallup Poll reflects this, whereby confidence in combined government and institutions in 2022 collapsed to 28%. We are now approaching below 20%.
People trust small businesses more than anyone—the sector Biden has been trying to destroy. We are rapidly approaching the collapse of the United States and all of Western Society. Confidence in the British government is down to 13%.
The corruption has spread far and wide in Western governments and there is no hope of our survival at this point in time.”
link to armstrongeconomics.com
The EU was never destined for success. It might work, though, as a totalitarian state. 🙂
Interesting that Victor Orban is rooting for Trump.
“It might work, though, as a totalitarian state.”
Totalitarian states fail. Just look at the Anglo ones.
Where’s Cookies?
Teaching at Columbia. It’d be a dang shame if she met with a “nasty surprise” of the kind she instigated on Crocus City.
Teaching at Columbia, with HR Clinton as the senior colleague. HRC teaches regime changes and kinetic wars, while Cookies will teach proxy wars and coups, I suppose!