Page 56 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine September 2024

56 Opinion
bne September 2024
"Milanovic used the inappropriate, illegal actions of some people in Imotski to criminalise the entire rally and more than 20,000 fellow citizens who came to the concert to celebrate Victory Day and homeland gratitude,” the HDZ said.
“The presidential elections are approaching, so Milanovic ... clearly has nothing to offer except the leftists' favourite topic of partisans and Ustasha and his own political roots, so he once again divides Croatia into 'ours and yours’.”
Election ahead
2024 is an important election year for Croatia. First came the April general election, which returned the HDZ to power, albeit with a somewhat weaker showing than in the previous election, forcing it into an alliance with the Homeland Movement.
This was a somewhat awkward move for Prime Minister Andrej Plankovic’s party, as since coming to power he had sought to bring the party towards the centre and slough off its nationalist past to make it acceptable to a broader electoral base.
The domestic election result was broadly repeated in the Euro- pean Parliament election in June, with the HDZ coming out ahead and the Homeland Movement taking its first MEP seat.
Homeland Movement was founded by Miroslav Skoro, a popular former singer and failed presidential candidate. In the past, Skoro courted controversy by speaking out against the decision to outlaw the "For the homeland ready" salute that was used by the Ustasha and later by the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) in the 1990s.
COMMENT
As Plenkovic overhauled the HDZ, taking it closer to the centre, Homeland Movement gathered many disaffected nationalists.
Meanwhile, Milanovic’s SDP trailed the HDZ in both elections, and the president had an embarrassing debacle when he announced his candidacy for prime minister in April, only
to be told by the Constitutional Court ruled that he could not run while serving as president.
Milanovic’s popularity has been dented by his position on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. A vocal critic of EU support for Ukraine, Milanovic has argued that Croatia should remain neutral and has opposed training Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia. That has earned him accusations of being pro-Russian, while Plenkovic has taken a strong pro-Ukrainian stance.
The display of Ustasha symbols and gestures at the Thompson concert was no doubt an opportunity for Milanovic to claw back some of the moral high ground, given the HDZ’s alliance with the Homeland Movement.
As the election approaches, the HDZ opted to back an independent candidate, conservative former education minister Dragan Primorac, who also has the backing of smaller parties. However, it is as yet unclear how Primorac will perform against Milanovic. The HDZ’s partnership in government with the Homeland Movement may also be an issue for more moderate voices as the election approaches.”
Sino-Indian relations warm, but Delhi sticking to a neutral middle path
Ben Aris in Berlin
Recent signs of improved relations between India and China, such as progress in border dispute talks and a more open stance toward Chinese investment, suggest a tactical shift rather than a fundamental realignment in India’s geopolitical strategy, Capital Economics said in a note.
The changing relations between the world’s two most populous countries underscores a broader trend among emerging markets (EMs) that are increasingly courting Chinese investment to strengthen their positions in the evolving global economy, even as they continue to lean towards the West.
www.bne.eu
Unlike the Cold War era, where the world was divided into two ideological camps of socialism and capitalism, since
the start of the 1990s everyone is a capitalist. However, as
the leading emerging markets have developed over the last three decades they have started to flex their geopolitical muscles, which has led to tensions. Capital Economics earlier described this as a fractured world where countries have coalesced into two groups centred on the US and the Sino- Russia alliance.
In this new world India has historically sought “strategic autonomy” and strives to keep a neutral non-aligned position, but in the current geopolitical landscape, it is increasingly