Saturday, November 10, 2018

Meanwhile in Southeast NATO

The murder of a Bulgarian journalist doesn't get the international notoriety of a Saudi writer because nobody is highly interested in exploiting her death. But this murder is a sign of Bulgaria getting unsteady in the NATO ranks, and if not reversed we will have problems in the Black Sea and Balkans.

Now I'm really worried:

The brutal murder of journalist Viktoria Marinova as she was jogging along the Danube one sunny day in the fall of 2018 recently focused global attention on Bulgaria.

Marinova’s murder occurred right after as a regional TV station head and host she aired a report on a large-scale corruption case involving EU funds. Not unlike other inconvenient stories for Bulgaria’s ruling oligarchy, that case has been ignored by the country’s mainstream media. ...

Whichever proves to be the case, Marinova’s murder once again put Bulgaria in the international spotlight as “the poorest and most corrupt” EU member state. ...

The grave failure of Bulgaria’s principal allies and partners to notice its troubles, however, may cause serious trouble for the entire West further down the road because of the Balkan country’s geopolitical position, which lends it greater importance than its own potential does.

Brussels, Washington, and Berlin simply aren’t justified in taking Bulgaria’s Western belonging for granted.

Corruption provides openings for Russia to gain influence. We should pay attention to Bulgaria and help them get back on the path of rule of law that the country's rulers have abandoned since they qualified for NATO membership.

I'm pretty sure I linked this murder in a data dump but can't find the reference. But if I didn't, I still did worry about it (perhaps I accidentally erased it in my Dumpageddon).