Archives for March 30th, 2004

The grafitti reads: “Quick, into NATO; Iraq is waiting!”

Slovenia is now an official member of NATO. Since there is no Slovenian air force to speak of, Italian and Hungarian planes will patrol the country’s air space, guarding it from possible attacks by Mothra or MechaGodzilla.

Last March, 66% of Slovenian voters decided in favor of joining NATO, but enthusiasm for the alliance has always been mixed. The country was snubbed during the first wave of expansion, and many locals see it as a puppet of American foreign policy. (Oddly, the fact that NATO didn’t enter Iraq in support of the U.S. hasn’t convinced them otherwise.)

There are occasional rumors that NATO will build a base here, which makes some people worry that the sun will be blacked out by stealth bombers and the quiet countryside shattered by the sound of artillery practice. But nothing concrete has been announced so far.

All in all, it was an uneventful day, without any serious celebrations. I suppose Slovenes don’t have to worry about Mothra anymore, which is good.

And finally, today’s award for sloppy reporting about Slovenia goes to Sonya Ross of the Associated Press, for writing that Bush was welcoming “seven former Soviet-dominated nations” into NATO. Neither Slovenia nor Yugoslavia were members of the Soviet Union. Remember the NAM? This is why (careful) reporters use the phrase “former communist countries” when talking about EU and NATO expansion into Eastern Europe. See this BBC story for a textbook example.