Re: US funds aided political parties, By Lukáš Fila, Vol 8, No 44, Nov 18 to 24
I am not surprised by this [news that US organisations supported political parties before the last elections] in the least. After spending a few days in Bratislava just before the elections, it was absolutely clear to me that the soon-to-be-reelected government was receiving help from the West, either directly or slightly less directly. Even if the right-wing political parties did not receive money directly from any foreign NGO or government, there are hundreds of other ways that the West made its message clear: "Vote for the Right, or we will bury you!" And certainly the rich businessmen who support the ruling parties also owe their wealth to the West, to whom they would sell the whole country for a pittance, if they could.
After spending a lot of time in train stations in those few days before the elections, I realized that probably every bench in every train station in the country was plastered with blue advertisements for the [Slovak Democratic and Christian Union] SDKÚ, and in Košice even at least one entire tram was painted as an advertisement for the government - the ruling party turned public transportation into its own advertisement! And the media could only spend its time complaining about how Fico and Mečiar were corrupt "karieristi". There is absolutely no question in my mind that Dzurinda's supporters bought him the elections.
Joseph Grim Feinberg
