This article is a direct English translation of a commentary authored by Victor Breiner, the editor-in-chief of the Slovak Media Monitor. Originally published in Denník N, it is reproduced here in its entirety to provide international audiences with access to its content. The views expressed in this commentary reflect the author’s analysis and opinions as presented in the original publication.
Hope is not the conviction that something will end well, but the certainty that something makes sense – regardless of how it turns out,” said Václav Havel. However, a friend of mine says that hope is for those who do not know the facts.
Many of us had reason to believe that hope was the last thing we had left in recent months. But as of Friday, the conviction that things might turn out well no longer rests solely on hope, because today we know the facts – clearly and unequivocally.
One hundred and twenty thousand brave people gathered in squares across Slovakia, with tens of thousands more online, know without doubt that Slovakia belongs in Europe, NATO, and the West. They have a crystal-clear vision for the direction of the country and its future.
We now also know, beyond any doubt, that the Prime Minister, in collaboration with all members of the government and the President of the Republic, executed a calculated information operation against his own citizens to deter them from participating in protests. An act worthy of a Russian agent.
He grossly misused the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) and Military Intelligence – the two most critical security institutions tasked with protecting the state. He irreparably destroyed their international reputation and the trust upon which the exchange of intelligence depends, as he demonstrated that these institutions do not protect the state – they protect him.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I cannot help but express my genuine sympathy for all our honourable intelligence officers who must now grit their teeth and endure. Stay strong – we need you!
Pavol Gašpar, the director of the SIS, a friend of the Prime Minister from Čifáry and the son of Tibor Gašpar – who embraces Russian Ambassador Bratčikov at embassy garden parties in Bratislava and shakes hands with Putin’s inner circle in the Kremlin – has exploited the state institution entrusted to him for personal gain and, almost certainly, in cooperation with Russian intelligence services. One is more than enough.
Since the summer, Slovak and Czech schools have faced repeated bomb threats. Schools are evacuated, bomb squads with dogs sweep the premises, yet the public remains uninformed. Under the leadership of Matúš Šutaj Eštok, the police have so far failed to communicate anything to the public, aside from a statement by the now-former police president, who vaguely referred to it as a “cyberattack.” Meanwhile, the Czech intelligence service BIS – a paragon of a well-functioning institution with outstanding international credibility – unequivocally pointed the finger at Russia.
Three days after the police president’s remarks, journalists caught Tibor Gašpar and his close associate Bratčikov on the premises of the National Council. They claimed to have been discussing “cybersecurity” – with an ambassador whose country sponsors criminal hacking groups responsible for continuous cyberattacks against Ukraine, Slovakia, and NATO countries. Then there is the land registry, another target of attacks about which we have been told nothing, leaving no reason to doubt that it, too, originates from Russia.
During the Prime Minister’s information operation about a state coup – in which Šutaj Eštok willingly played an active role – the Interior Minister tied bomb threats, the land registry attack, and an alleged assassination attempt on the Prime Minister into one absurd, unpalatable espionage concoction involving foreign nationals – revolutionaries from Georgia. Really?
I am baffled by the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the German Social Democrats, to whom this foundation belongs, for their continued support of Šutaj Eštok and his Hlas party in Slovakia. They seem oblivious even to his comparison of children in carnival masks to Nazi practices. The century-long history of the SPD is built on solid values, and they should be deeply ashamed of the metaphorical brown shirt in which Šutaj Eštok dresses his words, as well as his gross misuse of the office and apparatus entrusted to him.
After Friday’s protests, it is indisputable that we are once again living in a captured state. All constitutional leaders, including President Pellegrini, with the assistance of intelligence services, can launch a manipulative information-psychological operation against their own citizens without batting an eyelid.
Simon Omaník knew why he refused to shake the President’s hand. As of today, no rational person aspiring to live in a modern, self-confident country – one unafraid of power, the future, or themselves – should consider the President deserving of that gesture.
I have yet to write the Prime Minister’s name, for the same reason Simon Omaník withheld his handshake. Lies, the spread of hatred, and Russian propaganda won him a democratic election. De jure, he leads the state. De facto, he has hijacked it. Again.
I do not challenge his mandate. However, the Prime Minister should remember that 120,000 people in Slovak squares and tens of thousands online have made it clear: while he may still be the government, we are the state.
