Is this not enough to convince you that Peevski is a strategic handicap for the future of this country?
The omnipotent DP is in sole charge of all services, and everything else in the state - the caretaker prime minister and caretaker ministers are his subcontractors. He sends the gendarmerie wherever and whenever he wants, the NRA, the anti-terror units - everything is under his command.
Have you heard of anyone working on the case of the arrest of the head of the General Directorate of Customs or against the former Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior? You have not heard anything and will not hear anything in the next few days. And that is a certainty. Peevski feeds on criminal activities, including smuggling through customs and raids on businesses, and his incomparable machine of subordination and control cannot exist without "blinded" services and the judiciary on a leash.
Dogan is by no means a comparable threat. Peevski's media points out that Rumen Gaitanski - the wolf - will be a candidate on Dogan's election list - but even children will tell you that, in this case - the primary blame for the lack of proper collateral for extended credit liens lies with the institution that gives the loan and sleeps through the quality of the collateral. So the "wolf" is the one who ate the cake, but someone else gave it to him, and the prosecution should focus precisely on the BDB bosses and the Central Bank supervisors.
Peevski is trying to cover his BDB loan tracks with some BT property in Blagoevgrad. Does anyone believe the Bulgarian Development Bank will get over a fifth of the debt if sold? And this hard fact is a revelation for those who have been professionally involved in the case from day one?! A classic case of continuous crime.What about the systematic discrediting attack by the caretaker government, formally believed to be GERB's but under Peevski's total control, against the machine voting and the arrogant attempts to influence the decisions of the Central Election Commission? Peevski wants to steal the election from you and pre-determine the outcome by looking for a smokescreen to obscure his actions to control and buy votes.
And this is just the beginning - Peevski's Praetorians want to discredit the machine voting system and thus reduce the turnout to give his vote more weight. Peeveksy is intervening ex officio through the Ministry of the Interior and the MEG, undermining confidence in machine voting.
Recently, I have been hearing some naive questions - how can a politician with 88% disapproval win elections or power? Peevski's power is not based on the percentage of votes he gets and the MPs he can send to Parliament but on the fact that he controls Bulgaria's most prominent political party - GERB - and the institutions without question. Now that ex-BSP leader Ninova has been expelled from the BSP, he controls the socialists.
Dogan is by no means a comparable threat. Peevski's media points out that Rumen Gaitanski - the Wolf will be a candidate on Dogan's election list - but even children will tell you that in this case - the principal blame for the lack of proper collateral to extended credit liens rest with the institution that gives the loan and sleeps through the quality of collateral. So the "wolf" is the one who ate the cake, but someone else gave it to him, and the prosecution should focus precisely on the BDB's bosses and the Central Bank supervisors.
Peevski is trying to cover his BDB credit tracks with some BT real estate in Blagoevgrad. Does anyone believe that the Bulgarian Development Bank will get more than a fifth of the debt when they are sold? And this hard fact is a revelation for those involved professionally in the case from day one?! A classic case of a continuous crime.
What about the systematic discrediting attack by the caretaker government, formally believed to be GERB's but under total control by Peevski, against the machine voting and the arrogant attempts to influence decisions of the Central Electoral Commission? Peevski wants to steal the election from you and pre-determine the outcome by looking for a smokescreen of scandals, dimming his actions to control and buy votes.
And this is just the beginning—Peevski's praetorians want to discredit machine voting and thus lower voter turnout to give his vote greater weight. Peeveksy intervenes ex officio through the Ministry of Interior and the MEG, undermining the trust in machine voting.
Recently, I heard some childishly naive questions - how can a politician with 88% disapproval win elections or power? Peevski's power does not rest on the percentage of votes he gets and the MPs he may send to parliament, but from the fact that he controls the largest Bulgarian political party - GERB and the institutions without question. Now that ex-BSP leader Ninova has been removed from the BSP, he controls the socialists. It has long been common knowledge that Peevsky has his people on the BSP's Executive Board. But Ninova kept quiet in the name of "unity".
Only the PPDB remains to balance and check Peevsky. However, yet again, they can hardly stop him on their own because they still naively believe that it is beneath their dignity to take part in his dirty warfare, and instead, they should concentrate on the future of Bulgaria. The leaders see Peevski removed PPDB's appointee, Andrei Gyurov, in one stroke as deputy governor of the ostensibly independent Central Bank, activating the hapless Anti-Corruption Commission. In general, he does what he wants, and PPDP has other priorities and is hesitant to declare an all-out war on Peevski along the political front in Bulgaria. And it is unapologetic.
Those who see nothing fatal to democracy in Peevsky's actions in the broader context of developments in Bulgaria miss his ultimate goal. This one-man dictatorship subdues all checks and balances of various powers and institutions. Such benign neglect of Bulgaria's pro-reformist politicians makes them accomplices in the crime against democracy because of their lack of reaction and sober assessment of the looming danger. The erstwhile prime opponent Borisov is no longer so much "the problem" because he is yesterday's news, wholly irrelevant and under Peevski's control. It is like focusing your criticism of the war in Ukraine on blaming Medvedev rather than Putin.
We should focus on the greatest threat to Bulgarian democracy since the beginning of the transition and mobilise all possible means to deny this self-styled czar of corruption control over Bulgaria's future. If Peevsku succeeds, it will be too late to roll him back. His autocracy will take Bulgaria years to come to its senses, and the result will be bloodshed precisely because getting out of a dictatorship means fighting outside the rules.
Only an ideologically blind fool could claim Peevsky is an asset in the fight against Russian influence and interests. Just look at the media he controls - they are the prominent mouthpieces of Russian propaganda - PIK is at the top of the pyramid of Russian media influence agents. Not to mention the social media influencers, whose claim to independence vanishes with the first test - the critical judgement of Peevski's actions. In the morning, they praise Peevski, and the rest of the day, they thunder against Ukraine and push Russian talking points. Mark my words - in many ways, Peevski's systematic dismantling of Bulgaria's democratic traditions and institutions resembles Georgia's Ivanishvili's rise to power. Peevsky's Novo Nachalo - Fresh Start resembles Ivanishvili's Georgia's Dream. When he came to power 12 years ago, Ivanishvili was pro-EU and pro-NATO, which aligned with everything Saakashvili said. Today, his party is trying to ban the opposition. Does anyone believe that, once Peevski transforms his hidden power into visible power, he will allow any meaningful opposition to his rule?
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