29 years ago, on this day, the 7th and 4th Guards Brigade entered Knin, ending centuries of Serbian oppression of the Croatian people and their attempts to annex this part of Croatia into the criminal ideas of creating a "Greater Serbia." At that moment, at least regarding Lika, Banija, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia, these ideas became, hopefully, forever dispersed, and dreams of domination over Croatia were turned into nightmares.

The Croatian people, in the military-police operation Storm, once again showed how unity, honesty, and love for the homeland can become a powerful weapon and tool when used for greater purposes. Unfortunately, that patriotic zeal and love for sanctities were later overshadowed by personal interests that, unfortunately, govern numerous institutions of our Croatia. Guided by the wrong values of individuals and criminal groups, which often operate within ruling political structures at all levels and from parties with different beliefs, many today wonder: "Is this what we fought for?"

The name of General Ante Gotovina will forever be inscribed on the glorious list of Croatian heroes throughout our tumultuous history, alongside greats like Ban Josip Jelačić, Prince Domagoj, the Zrinski-Frankopan family, and many others who must not or may be mentioned. On November 16, 2012, General Ante Gotovina said a sentence on Jelačić Square in Zagreb, after being acquitted of all charges by the Hague Tribunal, which should guide all of us Croats: "This is the dot on the 'i,' the war belongs to history, let's all turn to the future!"

Defeated in Peace
In every conflict, there are winners and losers or only losers. Today, there is often a feeling among the Croatian people that the winners of the war have become the losers in peace. Patriotic songs that inspired Croatian fighters are now tacitly banned, the insignia and slogans of the Croatian soldier are often undesirable and ridiculed. Those who defended Croatia from the bar, from the first lines of parties and political groups in Vienna, Brussels, Zagreb, and other "backgrounds" today beat their chests with great patriotism, wrapped in the Croatian flag with one hand on their hearts and the other in our pockets. While some fought for Croatia, others fought for personal interests, positions, salaries, and wealth, which they took and continue to take from the Croatian people in the same or worse way than the Venetians, Turks, Hungarians, Serbs, communists, and domestic traitors, who are not a phenomenon only in the Croatian nation.

Punished Defenders and Plundered Croatia
Instead of employment and productive life, many Croatian veterans were given malicious pensions, condemning them to a meaningless life with a beer in hand in front of the local shop and at the bar of numerous casinos and betting shops. The apathy of idle or meaningless existence is the greatest punishment that many heroes of the Homeland War could receive for their merits. In moments when the greatest plunder of the Croatian people was taking place, which can be compared to the unfortunate years at the end of World War II and nationalization, the goal of those who defeated Croatia in peace was precisely that apathy and economic despair, which enabled the plunder and sale of Croatia. Unfortunately, this process continues.

Karlobag as a Hostage of Personal Interests
This very policy of personal interests can be seen in our small Karlobag, where the authorities have become maximally alienated from the people. Where individuals in power consider themselves untouchable and feel they do not have to respond to the inquiries of those they should serve, not rule over. Where family farms are an excuse for ruling over "feudal" estates, and the municipality is personal property that sometimes helps everyone, but only when it is not needed just by them. We need the Republic of Croatia, but we do not need the municipality of Karlobag, with almost all jobs in the municipality and connected companies that simply do not function and serve solely for the employment of incompetent and ignorant individuals who, for example, with diplomas from the Faculty of Economics, do not know the difference between gross and net salary. We need an economically successful Croatian Karlobag and surrounding places, not party duties and feudal salaries of unnecessary clerks and their servants. When local administration does not serve the local people, it serves only those in power, and in that case, the bill is paid by those who remain silent with bowed and frightened heads.

Politics as a Goal
A few years ago, during a business conversation, I heard the following statement: "My husband and his friend, a former minister from the SDP, after graduating, tossed a coin to decide who would join the HDZ and who the SDP to ensure that their personal interests were always protected." This way of thinking, or anational politics where communists became great believers, Yugoslavs became greater Croats than defenders, and communists became the greatest capitalists, is not the way we will stop the historical departure of the Croatian people from their homeland, or more precisely, the departure of the Croatian people from the "enslaved" Croatian Karlobag.

Croatian women and men! I congratulate you on Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day!

Domagoj Skledar
Editor, Karlobag.eu