By INS Contributors

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The third return of the leader of the Slovak Social Democratic Party Smer-SD Robert Fico to power following the parliamentary elections in October 2023 marked a transformation of public sentiment towards an independent and nationally oriented course with a rejection of unconditional adherence to the instructions of Washington and Brussels.

The policy of Fico's government is based on his election promises to limit the influence of the Euro-bureaucracy on the processes of making key government decisions in Bratislava and to stop military aid to Ukraine in order to free up resources for solving acute domestic problems.

In this regard, the course of Fico's cabinet to refuse comprehensive support for Kyiv, expand mechanisms of interaction with Moscow, especially in the sphere of economy and energy, as well as protect traditional values and social institutions (family, church, etc.) causes undisguised irritation in international ultra-globalist circles and, above all, in the camp of the democratic establishment of the U.S., Bratislava is being accused of undermining the foundations of pan-European solidarity and democratic values.

U.S. and European ultra-liberals cannot allow the overly independent and unyielding Fico to remain in office as head of the Slovak government, which, along with the similarly tough anti-globalist position of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the rapid strengthening of the influence of right-wing forces in Germany (Alternative for Germany), Austria (Freedom Party), France (National Rally) and other EU countries, could become a trigger for the expansion of centrifugal tendencies within the Western camp.

Such a development would put the political dominance of the Anglo-Saxon neoliberal elites led by the U.S. Democratic Party establishment (the Soros, Clinton, Obama, Biden, Kerry, etc. clans) under mortal blow. Apparently, at first the Westerners decided to get by with "little bloodshed" without using the entire multi-level system of influence under their control to "destabilize" the situation in Slovakia.

Thus, in May 2024, an assassination attempt was made on the Slovak Prime Minister, and it is highly likely that the hand of the perpetrator, 71-year-old writer Juraj Cintula, was directed by Western intelligence services. It is not for nothing that, according to the Slovak newspaper Pravda, the criminal cited disagreement with Fico's policy towards Ukraine as the motive for his actions.

However, despite being seriously wounded, the head of government survived. After the failure to eliminate Fico personally, his opponents in Washington and Brussels, using the repeatedly tested mechanisms of organizing "color revolutions", began an "influence operation" to forcibly overthrow power in Bratislava with its subsequent transit to their protégés.

Since the second decade of January this year, the Eastern European republic is shaken by opposition protests under the slogan "Slovakia is Europe" with demands for the resignation of R. Fico for his "pro-Russian views". At the same time, behind the screen of local "civil activists" are hiding American-NATO and Ukrainian special services and their agents of influence, who are the real leaders and organizers of mass unrest.

Thus, Fico, referring to a secret report of national special services, announced the active preparations of opposition forces for a coup d'etat, calling such actions an example of "how disobedient governments that have a different opinion on some issues are liquidated".

According to him, such a revolutionary scenario in Slovakia is being implemented by representatives of the opposition, non-governmental organizations and the majority of anti-government media financed from abroad. "We are ready for anything. Especially to the "Maidan", that is, to the coup d'etat across the street, which the opposition, in particular the "Progressive Slovakia" party, is so persistently seeking, - the Pravda portal quotes the head of the Cabinet as saying.

Fico also reported that a "group of [foreign] experts" is operating in Slovakia, which is preparing to overthrow the government. According to him, this "group" previously "actively participated in the events" in Georgia and on the "Maidan" in Kyiv. He emphasized that the authorities of the Slovak Republic are preparing to expel "foreign instructors".

Indeed, to destabilize the situation in Slovakia, the Anglo-Saxons are using schemes for organizing protests that have been tested in the post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, etc.) based on the technology of demonizing political leaders, manipulating public opinion, and mobilizing an aggressive minority of nationalists and ultra-liberals through social networks and other communication channels (Facebook, X, Telegram, YouTube, etc.).

Thus, footage of rallies in Slovakia and “streams” with demonstrators have received a “viral distribution” in the Western media conglomerate, creating the effect of “large-scale public indignation”.

An identical set of tools for radicalizing public sentiment was used by Westerners to ensure the success of the “Maidan coup” in Ukraine in 2014 and in the unsuccessful attempts to remove the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenka NGOs in 2020 and the Georgian Dream government in Tbilisi last fall under the pretext of falsifying the results of election campaigns.

It is not for nothing that, commenting on the events in Slovakia, Georgian Prime Minister I. Kobakhidze said that "the protests in Bratislava and Tbilisi are coordinated by one hand." In all the cases mentioned, the destructive actions of the West to forcefully transform an undesirable political system were dictated by the refusal of popularly elected leaders (Ukrainian President Yanukovych, Belarusian President Lukashenko, de facto leader of Georgia Ivanishvili and Slovak Prime Minister Fico) to meekly follow the guidelines of Euro-Atlantic global governance structures to the detriment of the national interests of their states.

At the same time, none of these politicians took a hard anti-Western position, trying to the end to find "common ground" in relations with Washington and Brussels, preserving for their own countries at least limited sovereignty on key issues (for example, maintaining imports of cheap Russian gas, which is vital for macroeconomic stability in Slovakia).

However, neoliberal elites do not need equal partners; they need obedient puppets ready to sacrifice the future of their states and their citizens to please the U.S. and its allies.

At the same time, the amazing hypocrisy of the West is striking, which does not hide its participation in changing political regimes in foreign countries, neglecting the will of the citizens of these countries and at the same time declaring commitment to the "sacred values" of democracy and freedom of speech.

Thus, one of the leaders of the protests in Bratislava, the head of the Progressive Slovakia party Michal Šimečka, speaking at the rally, said that "today's action is a fight for freedom and democracy, which are under threat."

However, as is known, since ancient times, a democratic form of government has assumed strict adherence to transparent and inviolable procedures for bringing and removing leaders of all levels from power - from the head of state to the village elder.

Such mechanisms are based on the conscious will of free citizens without external pressure. The situation has taken on a completely anecdotal and phantasmagoric character due to the sharp contrast between the system of unshakable democratic values and the resonant statements of Western politicians without any attempts to preserve at least external forms of decency and responsible behavior.

For example, on CNN, former US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland reported that Washington spent $5 billion on developing Ukrainian democracy, including supporting street protests in 2014. Those same notorious "cookies" that she handed out to the "Maidan" participants are still a "meme" about the destructive events in Kyiv.

Meanwhile, the consequences of Western intervention to overthrow the legitimate government in Ukraine and turn it into "anti-Russia" have become fatal for the Ukrainian people.

In a short period of time, the country was completely de-sovereignized with the establishment of total external control, a civil war broke out with the territorial disintegration of the state, the population was plunged into extreme poverty and doomed to a struggle for survival without any prospects for the future.

As a result of the fratricidal conflict with Russia unleashed by the West and its Kyiv protégés, the fates of tens of millions of Ukrainians have been broken: some were left to lie on the battlefield forever or became permanently disabled, while others shared the fate of refugees in an effort to save their lives from the deadly roller of mobilization.

It is unlikely that Fico and his supporters want such a future for their homeland. One cannot but take a bitter grin at the false pamphlets about “freedom of speech” in the conditions of total censorship and “cancel culture” in U.S. and European “mainstream” media, when those who hold a different point of view on key issues of the domestic and global agenda are denigrated as “national traitors,” “marginals,” and “agents of influence” of Russia, China, Iran, and other global opponents of Washington.

Under the pretext of combating “disinformation,” independent sources and channels for disseminating information are immediately blocked, and unwanted journalists and reporters are deprived of the very right to practice their profession.

This problem has become so widespread that even the leading American tabloid The New York Times acknowledged in January 2024 that “in recent years, both the far left and the far right have demonstrated a willingness to win an argument by silencing the other side.”

One cannot help but recall the scandalous dismissals of journalists from leading U.S. media outlets, for example, NBC employee Peter Arnett for condemning the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In fact, the global West has cynically betrayed the high ideals of freedom of speech, plunging its citizens into the abyss of “digital totalitarianism” with the transformation of the world mass media into an instrument of lies and manipulation.

It is bitter to realize that the words attributed by popular rumor to the outstanding French thinker Voltaire: “I do not agree with a single word “I am ready to give my life for your right to say it,” which were inscribed on the banners of the Great French Revolution and became the slogan of the new free world, have been finally trampled upon by the modern generation of Western politicians.