"Storm" celebration in Zagreb: Military parade with a look into the past

Croatia is celebrating its 30th anniversary in the coming days military-police operations Storm, among other things, a military parade, that is, a parade of the armed forces that will be held on Thursday, August 31 in Zagreb. However, it seems that the manifestation itself has more other motives than the simple one, even though it "circled" the said jubilee.

For example, massive new arming of the member states was agreed upon NATO. This will require more than twice as much investment from the budget than today, so such expenditure needs to be justified as convincingly as possible. writes Deutsche Welle.

Some of the latest pieces of expensive military equipment that Croatia has recently acquired will be used for this, but the parade certainly also has the function of popularizing service in the army in general. Namely, accelerated preparations are underway for the re-introduction of mandatory military service in that country. This is the fourth parade in the 34-year history of the Republic of Croatia.

Stormy anniversary and scratched scars

No more competition with neighbors

With the independent political analyst Davor Đenera, we talked about a thesis that has been emphasized in recent weeks among the public - that the parade is organized primarily because of the message to Serbia, which will therefore soon, already in September, organize its own parade as a response to that message.

"There is no reason to compare those two parades, simply because Croatia is in NATO, so it is not building its own defense system independently, and not primarily in relation to Serbia. However, it is certainly obvious that Aleksandar Vučić insists on that comparison," says Djenero.

"For example, he was very concerned about the fact that, according to military readiness indices, Serbia has overtaken Croatia in recent years," he added, "while there was no particular upset about it here."

Like some other analysts in Croatia, Đenero also believes that there is realistically no place for the thesis of mirroring the two neighboring countries through these manifestations. From the Croatian perspective, he is convinced, the focus is more on some other aspects, which are much more relevant than any reason for a new neighborly upheaval. "Both concern the context of NATO and have nothing to do with Serbia," Djenero emphasizes.

This is primarily about the recent rearrangement of relations in NATO after Russia's attack on Ukraine and the beginning of the second term of US President Donald Trump: "A period known as Pax Americana has passed, but now everything has become questionable and problematic, and above all the cost of Europe's defense. Related to this is the general redesign of economic and political relations between countries and continents. Croatia is looking for its place in it. And in particular, it is looking for a way to somehow compensate for the expected cost for the army. To use armaments for the development of its industry."

The painful costs of armaments

"However, for now we only have two important corporations in it, HS Produkt and Šestan Bush, along with novelties from the Orka company that seem interesting. On the other hand, it is extremely unpleasant that Croatia destroyed its shipbuilding industry, so now it no longer has the capacity to build its own military fleet. And it must have it, also because of the coast guard," concluded Davor Đenero.

It is assumed, at the very least, that Croatia will come out on top economically when it comes to armaments. The growth of the military system will be difficult to justify, and the consequences will be felt on civilian public expenditures.

Ivan Šiber, expert in political psychology and marketing, and professor emeritus of the University of Zagreb, believes that we are witnessing how the whole of Croatia is trying to find strong points to justify the logic of the government and the general situation. And it is characterized, in his opinion, by misery and misery.

"These are not too difficult words," says Schieber for DW, "because it is so politically, economically, demographically, and certainly. The round number of the anniversary of the Storm is practical for advertising. However, I would compare that parade and its surely considerable price with that modest, marginal celebration two and a half months ago."

Our interlocutor is referring to the celebration of 70 years since the end of World War II in Croatia. The authorities treated this with considerable restraint.

"However, that's why the media could read that it wasn't even liberation, which is a position informally supported by the strongest political forces in the country. According to them, Croatia only started in 1991, while our entire prehistory is sorrow and grief. Of course, with these remarks, I do not want to diminish the importance of the Storm or its celebration, but for us the historical picture is extremely unbalanced, like in the USA with the Civil War", Ivan Šiber believes.

Still a problem with partisans and Ustasha

"You know, there in the movies and elsewhere you can always feel in the foreground that kind of suffering of the American South," adds the political scientist, "and their tradition and obvious, expressed resentment. But, when we talk about America, in Croatia we should also know that, for example, the entire Irish immigration there was sent directly to the front line, in exchange for citizenship! I mention this because of today's announcements of some new wars, according to which this parade also stands in a certain relation. But we still we have a problem with the Second World War, the partisans and the Ustasha, where the victory of one automatically means the defeat of the other, without compromise."

Šiber insists on the position that the presentation of weapons cannot be as important for Croatia as a consistent representation of national policy and a credible position in international relations would be. "Croatian state power must harmonize with our constitution, stop being ashamed of the victory in the Second World War, and sincerely turn to those values - and the parades will come into their own," he told us about this year's celebration of the Storm and - the acquisition of new weapons.

Behind that policy of intensive armament must stand a concrete policy of attitudes towards one's own past, considering the forties and nineties of the last century, or it will be difficult to talk about a future for Croatia, Šiber is convinced.

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