Lecture to the Benefactor

After his recent meeting with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, George Soros, the American businessman, was reportedly scandalized and said it had been the most unpleasant conversation in his life. Irritation was also obvious in the statement issued by Tudjman's Cabinet, so that the President must have given a lecture to the benefactor.

There was a wide range of complaints: Tudjman made an objection that the Open Society Foundation, founded and funded by Soros, was helping only Muslims and not Croats which is either ignorance or a notorious lie. His main argument for proving the Foundation's political incorrectness was the fact that the Soros Foundation rallies the people who belonged to the former regime and those who had spent years in emigration.

Soros has not had any luck in Croatia from the very beginning. He was immediately perceived as a disturbing factor for two reasons. Large sums of Dollars granted to Croatia were ignored and even treated as an aggravating circumstance because of his political beliefs. He described nationalism as a negative phenomenon and opposed it to democracy. On the other hand, the Croatian authorities expected to be flattered by those who were helping their country financially. Money without love incited the President's grumpiness. And suspicion: it was very difficult for Tudjman to comprehend why would any one who is not equally thrilled with his regime invest into Croatia. Ulterior motives were sought: what does he want if he is not after making money, secret intentions were discovered along with secret organizations, all of which was followed with an open media campaign. Masons, Jews, queer profits, nostalgia, etc. were mentioned.

Tudjman's anger can be understood even though the Soros Foundations has given only this year 5 million dollars towards humanitarian aid to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, while the cost of scientific and cultural projects financed by the Foundation for Croatia amounted to about 1,250,000 Dollars. Soros is famous for helping independent media and the regimes in this area thrive on restricted media which are subjected to the ruling policy. No sooner did Tudjman turn "the cathedral of Croatian spirit" into a Croatian version of Belgrade's TV Bastille, lined up the papers and cleared the media space thinking that he would live happily ever after, than Soros appeared intending to help independent media and bringing a dangerous virus of journalistic freedom. The Soros Foundation helped "Feral Tribune" and "Novi list" from Rijeka. Wherever one independent paper springs up, another one is bound to follow, and those who do not intend to be independent are forced to adjust. Tudjman has realized that this could undermine the system which he had built.