Alternatives & Analyses: Elections, April 2021

by Stefan Zhelev

In Love Letter to America, Yuri Aleksandrovich Bezmenov, a former KGB press and propaganda agent, describes the following four (4) stages for subversion of a democratic society:

1. demoralization
2. destabilization
3. crisis
4. „normalization“.

The demoralization stage takes between 15 to 20 years and in Bulgaria this process is now complete. The yellow press, the culture of depravity and the criminal negligence of politicians have permanently embedded vulgarity, rudeness, and profanity in the social fiber of the country. The result from the initial subversion stage is a demoralized nation that cannot adequately assess a given situation even in the face of the facts – viz. the premier’s drawer being photographed with money, gold bars, and a gun; the plethora of scandals with apartments of high-ranking political figures; the endless schemes to drain billions from EU funds and the national budget, as well as the systemic nepotism and the hiring of ignoramuses at all government levels.

During the second stage – destabilization – crucial national sectors are targeted such as the economy, international relations, and national defense. Economically, Bulgaria is scraping the bottom of Europe for over a decade. Internationally, the country cannot resolve historical issues with North Macedonia, let alone meaningfully contribute to the resolution of political issues in the region. The national defense rests in the hands of the man with the yellow shopping bag (reference to the current Defense Minister). Evidently, this second stage is completed now too.

These articles analyses and comments are made possible thanks to your empathy and contributions, which are the only guarantors of independence and objectivity in our work. The Alternatives and Analysis team.

For the last 32 years, Bulgarians lived through so many crises that we have stopped counting – Lukanov’s winter, Videnov’s winter, the economic crisis of 2008, the demographic crisis, a judicial crisis, parliamentary crises, etc. Bulgaria spirals in a repetitive, never-ending crisis. And maybe this means that the country has reached a state of “normalization”, as this final subversion stage is cynically labeled by its KGB creators. In a similar fashion, comrade Brezhnev in 1968 calls the tanks in Prague a “normalized” situation.  Well, for Bulgaria “normalization” means holding the last places in all development charts and rankings.

In Bulgaria, the active measures (another name for the subversion activities) have even gone a step further. Apparently, there is a fifth stage of societal erosion, which if we believe the statisticians will lead to the physical extinction of the nation within a couple of generations. The Organized Political Group (OPG – an abbreviation for an organized criminal group in the Bulgarian language) does not even attempt to hide its dependencies, interests, and primitivism. The gangbangers who have currently hijacked the country with impunity appoint judges, prosecutors, and police chiefs; these criminals buy votes, steal from public procurement processes, change laws for personal gains, and complete foreign nations’ agendas at the expense of their own people.

It is in a situation like this that in April of 2021, Bulgaria will conduct its elections. According to the President, the stakes during these elections are huge – breaking the status quo. But the status quo is not a result of GERB’s (the majority party in parliament) current mandate. The status quo is a product of the country’s governance since 1989. A governance that changed hands between socialists (former communists), new democrats, a monarch, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Democrats for a Stronger Bulgaria, and a multitude of other “well-wishers”. The exact same political parties or their clones will vie for power at the elections in April of 2021. So how can we change the status quo Mr. President? Which parties offer clear and rational paths for legislative changes leading to establishment of justice and the rule of law; leading to professional and functioning institutions that serve the citizenry; leading to a functioning economy that would return Bulgarians home and compel others to want to live in Bulgaria? You showed up at the anti-government protests in the summer of 2020, then you hid, and tomorrow you will be looking for another mandate. Despite depriving the Bulgarians seeking change from the creation of a unified political alternative, I believe my country is not a lost cause Mr. President. Bulgaria needs no messiahs; she needs us and a political formation that will unite our individual efforts for the attainment of the needed positive changes. The elections in April of 2021 may not offer an immediate solution, but they may be that necessary catharsis for the recreation of a civil society.

Countries in much direr straits than us have managed to change their course of history. Shortly after its independence, Singapore – a country comprising of different ethnicities and faiths, surrounded by hostile neighbors with no access to drinking water managed through the People’s Action Party to mobile its human resource and for 35 years to jump from the third world to the first. To eradicate nepotism and corruption the Singapore government imposed fair and uncompromising laws. It hired experts from developed nations and tasked them with the creation of detailed plans for the country’s socio-economic development. After the implementation of laws securing societal and economic stability, the country saw the evolution of moral norms and values respecting its different cultures (viz. Indian, Malay, Chinese) and religions (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc.) to achieve prosperity for all.

Yes, Bulgarians are Slavs. Southern ones. Maybe a little bit more Southern than needed. But together, we can prove Stanislav Stratiev wrong in his claim that apart from the sexual revolution, Bulgarians don’t have the potential for any other.

More about Yuri Bezmenov (also known as Tomas D. Schuman) and his book Love Letter to America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gnpCqsXE8g

Stanislav Stratiev – A conversation of a Bulgarian tourist with a German dove at Marienplatz in Munich

Lee Kuan Yew From the Third World to the First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144409.From_Third_World_to_First

Stefan Zhelev practices law as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Greater Sudbury, Ontario in Canada. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is an alumnus of the Central European University with a master’s degree in Political Science and the American University in Bulgaria with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations. He has completed the Directed Studies in international private law (conflict of laws) in the Hague’s Academy for International Law.

Thank you for your donnations via PayPal and bank transfers to IBAN BG58UBBS80021090022940