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I second your recommendation of Balkan Insight as a reliable source. I've lived in Croatia for ~5 years training local LEA's in modern cyber and intel technique

I second your recommendation of Balkan Insight as a reliable source. I've lived in Croatia for ~5 years training local LEA's in modern cyber and intel techniques (OSINT being a large part of it). The older population is still deeply divided over the horrors of the war with many veterans living on government money (some of them have never seen a fight). I have a lot of trust in the younger people who are sick of it all, want change and believe in integration, free movement (within EU) and modern values. But if you go out for drinks in a less touristy bar that you'll find yourself amidst a celebration of war criminals and/or people who benefited from the spoils of war (and organized crime that goes hand in hand there). Fun facts: the owner of Rimac is building his car company on his fathers criminal empire, the hooligans supporting the local Zagreb club (some of them Neo Nazi's) are being celebrated for enforcing the law in places where the police has no power or helping with local community efforts (rebuilding the city after the earthquake), ... There is a saying in Croatia "Where were you in '92" that is reserved for the older population. You never know who you are befriending and what crimes they got into during the war. Among the most horrible people that stem from the place are the modern elite. Anyone who shows their money and who often no longer live there. The owner of "Konzum", a huge grocery chain where the owner built his empire on war money and extracts the revenues via off-shore companies while sitting comfortably in his flat in London while his employees scrape by with shit working condition and terrible pay. There is also the puppet-mayor of Zagreb who peddles most of his contracts to the Bosnian mob and who is unable to speak up. It really pisses off the older Croatians. The top lawyer of the country is in the mob, as are several judges. The Hack club "Mama" in Zagreb is constantly harassed by the local criminals who want them to vacate the premises so they can rent it out for higher prices, despite a long term contract being in place. Many of the trendy cafe's are run by the mobsters wifes, GF's and sisters. You can get a great deal there in the middle of the town for lease for your new restaurant or club idea and once you're in - BOOM! the rent double or triples. People wonder why restaurants and clubs never survive there more than 2-3 years and often shut down while they are at the peak of their popularity. It's not because Zagreb constantly plays with new ideas, it's because otherwise you might lose a couple of fingers, or worse. Also cops are useless there (unless you pay them) ... in fact I got some of my best weed of a corrupt cop in Zagreb. There is also the question of Dubravka Šuica who is now in the Vice-President of the European Commission, a corrupt individual who got rich as a teacher moving into politics and supporting the local "construction projects" and benefited from pork-barrel projects in her home region Dubrovnik.

disabled 5y ago
All of this is true. > There is a saying in Croatia "Where were you in '92" that is reserved for the older population. You never know who you are befriending and what crimes they got into during the war. Yeah, I am in my early 30s (I was 3 in '92) and my family is American. Let's just say that I am third generation Croatian-American (for all 3 generations we are American, and this is by birth), and I am half-Croatian (by blood). My grandmother always said that the fighting was always a 2-way street and that neither side has been innocent. She also said that she had Serb friends and that they were "the nicest people she ever knew." It's different in America. I do not know many old people in Croatia. I also especially take offense to people understating the evils of our Nazi (Ustaše) movement. One reason (of several) is that I have a relative who died fighting the Croatian fascists. I also wish that Croatia would stay out of Bosnia. I know that is an unpopular thing to say, but we should. It's one thing to give ethnic Croats in Bosnia Croatian citizenship. It's another thing to be funding segregated schools (partially funded by the Roman Catholic Church--on behalf of Croatia) that indoctrinate the next generation of youth with a completely different version of the history of Bosnia. I also know of corruption done by Croatian diplomatic officials posted abroad (which is just about the worst form of corruption there is--and can be quite dangerous), although Croatia probably would do nothing about it. Anyways, another thing that irritates me is that there are both Croatians and Croatian emigrants selling insignia with the our Nazi Coat of Arms on it (the Ustaše--we were a Nazi puppet state in WWII so it is literally a Nazi insignia). Just for reference, on the left is the Nazi (Ustaše) coat of arms [Note: often the "U" at the top is left out--it's Nazi insignia either way], while on the right is the Croatian coat of arms: https://dubokavoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Grbovi-NDH-i-RH-800x581.jpg https://dubokavoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Grbovi-NDH... Here are some listings on Etsy literally selling the Nazi coat of arms: > https://www.etsy.com/listing/249865187/croatian-cuturica-size-xl-750ml-old-grb?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+grb&ref=sr_gallery-1-11&organic_search_click=1&frs=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/249865187/croatian-cuturica-siz... > https://www.etsy.com/listing/505814936/old-croatian-grb-croatian-coat-of-arms?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+coat+croatia&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/505814936/old-croatian-grb-croa... > https://www.etsy.com/listing/917628493/croatian-pendant-charm-jewellery?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+coat+croatian&ref=sr_gallery-1-20&organic_search_click=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/917628493/croatian-pendant-char... > https://www.etsy.com/listing/998887249/croatian-national-symbol-croatian-coat?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+coat+croatian&ref=sr_gallery-1-34&organic_search_click=1&frs=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/998887249/croatian-national-sym...

disabled 5y ago

All of this is true. > There is a saying in Croatia "Where were you in '92" that is reserved for the older population. You never know who you are befriending and what crimes they got into during the war. Yeah, I am in my early 30s (I was 3 in '92) and my family is American. Let's just say that I am third generation Croatian-American (for all 3 generations we are American, and this is by birth), and I am half-Croatian (by blood). My grandmother always said that the fighting was always a 2-way street and that neither side has been innocent. She also said that she had Serb friends and that they were "the nicest people she ever knew." It's different in America. I do not know many old people in Croatia. I also especially take offense to people understating the evils of our Nazi (Ustaše) movement. One reason (of several) is that I have a relative who died fighting the Croatian fascists. I also wish that Croatia would stay out of Bosnia. I know that is an unpopular thing to say, but we should. It's one thing to give ethnic Croats in Bosnia Croatian citizenship. It's another thing to be funding segregated schools (partially funded by the Roman Catholic Church--on behalf of Croatia) that indoctrinate the next generation of youth with a completely different version of the history of Bosnia. I also know of corruption done by Croatian diplomatic officials posted abroad (which is just about the worst form of corruption there is--and can be quite dangerous), although Croatia probably would do nothing about it. Anyways, another thing that irritates me is that there are both Croatians and Croatian emigrants selling insignia with the our Nazi Coat of Arms on it (the Ustaše--we were a Nazi puppet state in WWII so it is literally a Nazi insignia). Just for reference, on the left is the Nazi (Ustaše) coat of arms [Note: often the "U" at the top is left out--it's Nazi insignia either way], while on the right is the Croatian coat of arms: https://dubokavoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Grbovi-NDH-i-RH-800x581.jpg https://dubokavoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Grbovi-NDH... Here are some listings on Etsy literally selling the Nazi coat of arms: > https://www.etsy.com/listing/249865187/croatian-cuturica-size-xl-750ml-old-grb?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+grb&ref=sr_gallery-1-11&organic_search_click=1&frs=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/249865187/croatian-cuturica-siz... > https://www.etsy.com/listing/505814936/old-croatian-grb-croatian-coat-of-arms?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+coat+croatia&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/505814936/old-croatian-grb-croa... > https://www.etsy.com/listing/917628493/croatian-pendant-charm-jewellery?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+coat+croatian&ref=sr_gallery-1-20&organic_search_click=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/917628493/croatian-pendant-char... > https://www.etsy.com/listing/998887249/croatian-national-symbol-croatian-coat?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=old+coat+croatian&ref=sr_gallery-1-34&organic_search_click=1&frs=1 https://www.etsy.com/listing/998887249/croatian-national-sym...