ONLY CROATIA (November 6, 2009)

Thus a poster in the window of an abandoned shop I walked past in the center of Zagreb. “Only Croatia,” I kept repeating in my mind as I kept walking. Ever more intrigued, I stopped and turned around. In addition to these words in bold lettering, the poster shows the blue flag of the European Union crossed by a red line. “No,” it is written next to the flag in much more discrete lettering, “thanks!” Not a great fan of the Union, I still shuddered. The poster undoubtedly comes from ardent nationalists, but it offers no information about its origin. And nationalism in Croatia goes hand in hand with organized crime. One shields the other by all means available.