Slovenia is a small nation and never simply in bodily measurement or as a result of it has a inhabitants of two.1 million. It has no actual geopolitical standing: it doesn’t form the international coverage or financial system of different nations, however it’s formed by them. There’s a prevailing perception in Slovenia, subsequently, that we must always deal with our tender energy. Distinctive Slovenians will pull the nation out of anonymity, placing the nation on the map or securing recognition by way of their benefit, this view holds.
Because of this the achievements of basketball gamers Goran Dragić and Luka Dončić, skilled bike owner Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France victories, the two-time Olympic gold medallist Janja Garnbret, Laibach’s notoriety and Katarina Čas’s movie roles are all framed as nationwide alternatives.
However none of those Slovenian-born figures, nonetheless spectacular, generate as a lot pleasure as the previous Melanija Knavs, now Melania Trump. When Donald Trump’s return to energy made Melania the first woman once more, the media response in Slovenia was predictable: state-run shops largely downplayed the connection, however business media wasted no time selling it as a possibility.
Slovenia’s largest business tv community, Pop TV (nomen est omen), aired an interview with Ivo Boscarol, a rich Slovenian businessman who attended the inauguration celebrations in Washington. His argument? The Slovenian authorities had missed a golden alternative to make use of Melania’s presence within the White Home to enhance its ties with the US.
Now, as a lot as I get pleasure from cringing at Pop TV, I do take its affect significantly. It’s essentially the most watched channel in Slovenia, that means many Slovenians are probably absorbing and internalising this narrative. Some media commentators have even advised that Melania could be a golden ticket in case “every part goes flawed”. I’m wondering if Trump’s rejection of the transatlantic alliance in favour of Vladimir Putin and his risk to launch a commerce struggle on the EU imply that has already occurred.
The issue with this pondering, nonetheless, is that it’s not grounded in any actuality. There may be nothing in any respect in Melania’s memoir to point that she has any curiosity in fostering a political or financial relationship between her adopted nation and Slovenia. Quite the opposite, the few instances she talked about Slovenia throughout her first stint as Flotus, it was usually a reference to its “totalitarian previous”, maybe enjoying into the American concern and loathing of communism and socialism.
Melania grew up within the small city of Sevnica and she or he left to pursue a modelling profession earlier than Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. She has usually stored quiet about her Slovenian heritage, despite the fact that a lot of her household nonetheless lives right here, and she or he supposedly speaks Slovene along with her son. In her speeches, she has constantly framed the US as the perfect, the place to be, whereas Slovenia is, properly, a spot to neglect. Maybe that’s why she has by no means seen match to go to Slovenia throughout her tenure as first woman.
However let’s entertain the hypothetical for a second. What if Melania’s place did current a singular alternative for Slovenia? It’s laborious to think about, provided that little or no is understood about her private political opinions – besides that she opposed her husband’s stance on abortion, a uncommon divergence. Nonetheless, her determination to marry a problematic public determine after which stay married to a pacesetter displaying authoritarian tendencies speaks volumes. There’s a sure complicity in that selection: a tacit approval of Trump’s concept that humiliating Volodymyr Zelenskyy or making Ukraine give up to Russia’s calls for is the idea for peace; of his renaming the Gulf of Mexico because the Gulf of America; of his plan to rebuild Gaza however maybe not for Palestinians; a nod to his gender essentialism, demonisation of immigrants, local weather denial; and even, sarcastically, abortion bans.
So Melania might grow to be Slovenia’s finest alternative to acquire a particular relationship with a fascist regime within the making. Is that the chance Slovenia desires? I’m not naive – rightwing ideologies have supporters in Slovenia, they usually little doubt look as much as Trump. However funnily sufficient, I’m extra afraid of the neoliberal politicians in energy, and the enterprise elites of our nation who see any connection – irrespective of how poisonous – as a possible win. I would love to know whether or not we’re in peril of relations between Slovenia and the US being – as our hopeful prime minister wished on X after Trump’s inauguration – “additional strengthened”.
For now, Slovenia is lucky that Melania has but to point out any actual curiosity in utilizing her place to strengthen ties with the nation of her start. There isn’t a diplomatic gambit to be made, no grand strategic transfer to think about. Any celebration of Melania within the White Home will cross, if it hasn’t already, and with it – fortunately – Slovenia’s fleeting hope of leveraging her for political acquire. Maybe our subsequent world movie star will supply a extra constructive alternative. Till then, Slovenia could also be higher served by specializing in constructing relationships primarily based on shared values and long-term pursuits – moderately than counting on the whims of problematic people.
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