[Diocletian]

Jeffery T. Kuhner has been writing articles critical of Croatia's HDZ not out of some objective view, but rather because he is very, very close to Dr. Ivic Pasalic, the man who lost his leadership bid for the HDZ to the current leader Ivo Sanader by 55% to 45%. Sanader represents the moderate faction within the party and Pasalic represented the hard right nationalist faction that has since been expelled and dispersed amongst several other parties.

Pasalic was President Tudjman's main advisor during the post-war phase and was loathed by Croatia's liberals and those working for George Soros.

I don't have hard evidence, but it's not difficult to conclude that Mr. Kuhner is on Pasalic's payroll. Pasalic has tried several times to get back into the political game but the Sanader machine has been an effective one, both wiping out the hard right and sidelining Croatia's liberals and socialists time and time again.

As for Croatia being a mafia state, corruption is still typically high (but normal on a Balkan level) as four decades of communism have imprinted such poor business standards and politics on the country.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Seems to me that if the criticism is basically limited to reminders of the terrible atrocities committed all over the Balkans over 60 years ago, plus statements that Croatia is more crooked than the President of the US, that is praising with faint damns.