Bradylama
So Old I'm Losing Radiation Signs
Silly boy. There's nothing more productive than the eradication of the human race.
Cro-Report!
- Thread starter Ratty Sr.
- Start date
So Old I'm Losing Radiation Signs
Silly boy. There's nothing more productive than the eradication of the human race.
This Vukovar battle reminds me of the Warsaw uprising in 1944.
I think Vukovar battle was smaller in scale (since Vukovar is a small town compared to Warsaw), but greater in importance (since it practically determined the outcome of the war). Either way, they were both very, very messy.
Member of Khans
Vault Dweller
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Croatia about to recieve a second fixed line telephone operator!
After a decade-long systematic theft of Croatian citizens, Croatian monopolistic telecomm is about to get competition. On 11/19/2004 Council of Croatian Agency for Telecommunications granted the license for public telephone service in fixed network to company Optima Telekom, owned by Ronald Zuvanic, former minister of maritime affairs, traffic and communications.
Hundreds of pages of text could be written about the current Croatian fixed operator, and it still wouldn't be enough to encompass all affairs, scandals, swindling and countless other ill practices that are associated with it. Here is a brief recap:
Many decades ago the government of the Socialist Republic Croatia founded a state-owned company (well, all companies were state-owned back then - it was the era of communism) HPT - Croatian Post and Telecommunications. This company began to provide fixed line telephone services to Croatian citizens. It was built entirely with people's money - back then, a fixed phone line costed up to thousand dollars, and the company made millions as more and more Croats purchased telephones.
In 1991, when socialist Yugoslavia collapsed, HPT, already a huge and incredibly wealthy company with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, was left in hands of the new Croatian government. As privatisation of state-owned companies began, people naturally expected that HPT would be sold cheaply to Croatian workers - after all, it was with their capital, with capital of Croatian people, that the company was built and developed into such a mastodont. However, the government had other plans.
Years of mismanagement, theft and corruption led to a a deep economic crisis in 1999. The government urgently needed fresh funds, and what better way to get funds than to sell Croatian national wealth to foreigners? By directions of prime minister Zlatko Matesa and the cleptomanic minister of finances Borislav Skegro, HPT was divided into two companies - Croatian Post (HP), a bloated and inefficient socialist mastodont choking in debt, and the rapidly-growing, highly-profitable Croatian Telecommunications (Hrvatske Telekomunikacije, or HT for short). Croatian Telecommunications, or HT, had three branches - 'regular' HT (fixed line operator), Hinet (ISP) and Cronet (mobile phone operator). After the division, a large percentage of HT stocks were sold to Deutsche Telekom (German fixed operator) for a multibillion sum. However, details of the contract between the Croatian government and DT management were kept secret from the public, and people already began to have their doubts. Most were optimistic, though, and expected the influx of German capital and expertise to benefit the company and lead to quicker technological development in all fields of communications. Croatian online surfers (who were still quite a rare breed at that time) already had wet dreams about introduction of cheap broadband communications. However, they were all dead wrong.
In January 2000 a new regime replaced the old one - more democratic, more fair, more honest... or so we foolishly believed. The status quo in Croatian telecommunications was maintained until 2001, when time came to sell another large portion of HT stocks. This was the moment when more dirty laundry of the former government began to surface - namely, the contract from 1999 apparently contained a stipulation that the next portion of HT stocks had to be sold to DT! This would give the German company the major share in HT and an effective monopoly in Croatian telecommunications market. To shock and disbelief of all public experts and analysts, the government signed a new, extremely favorable contract with DT (favorable for DT - for Croatian people it was absolutely disasterous), giving it a major share of HT and a bunch of other privileges. Though this contract (many clauses of which are glaringly illegal and unconstitutional) was (and still is) kept in secrecy as well, some details from it leaked into the public and more insightful people began to see true extent of the outrageous fraud our government played on its citizens.
Namely, one of the clauses in the contract guaranteed DT a monopoly in fixed line communactions for another five years! You read right - our government legally bound its citizens to pay outrageous prices in telecommunications, even though HT had been built over the years with people's money! Not only that, but DT were free to alter prices and tariffes of public communications however they desired, and there wasn't a single stipulation that would force them to invest some of their revenues in company's development.
DT, of course, took full advantage of the situation. Immediately after the contract was signed, they increased prices in fixed line communications by 300%, introduced a huge monthly subscription fee for fixed lines and halted all investments in technological development. Over the past four years, not a single penny was invested in development. Multibillion dollar yearly revenues were systematically funneled out of the company to Germany, were they were used to service debts of Deutsche Telekom, debts that were created through poor management under circumstances of a free, competitive (read - non-monopolist) telecommunications market! HT (rebranded from "Hrvatske Telekomunikacije" to "Hrvatski Telekom") stopped employing young domestic telecommunication engineers (and Croatia's engineers are among the finest in Europe) and instead became a training ground for third-class German 'experts' whose incompetence caused Croatia to fall even further behind other transitional countries when it comes to fixed telecommunications and internet technology. HT eventually introduced 'new' technologies like ISDN (which they had the audacity to advertise as 'revolutionary' even though it was introduced five years after most western countries had declared it obsolete), but all equipment was outdated and malfunctioning crap they dragged in from Germany. But never mind, what's important is that they spent millions on rebranding the company once again this year, so now it's called T-Com, its mobile communications branch is called T-Mobile and its ISP is called T-Online.
This unbearable situation lasts even now. Though there is slim hope that the decision of the Council for Telecommunications to give the secondary license for fixed telephony to Optima Telekom will lead to liberalisation of the market, that isn't very likely. The market of mobile communications (cellular phones) was liberalized in 2001, when HTmobile (formerly known as Cronet, now known as T-Mobile) received competition in form of a joint Austrian-Croatian venture VIPnet. Arrival of VIPnet led to a one-time major decrease in prices and introduction of new mobile services and technologies. As a result, Croatia now has very sophisticated mobile communications and is one of technological leaders in that field on global scale - we were one of the first countries in the world to introduce GPRS, EDGE, MMS, UMTS and a number of other novelties. However, rapid technological advance wasn't accompanied by a gradual decrease in tariffes and subscription fees. Quite the contrary, T-Mobile and VIPnet formed a secret illegal cartel and agreed to boost prices of inter-grid SMS messages, so it now costs 20 cents (instead of 4 or 5) to send an SMS from a T-Mobile cellphone to a VIPnet cellphone and vice versa. This alone generates millions of dollars of monthly revenues for both T-Mobile and VIP, because SMS is one of the most popular forms of communication in Croatia. These allegations are currently under investigation by the State Attorney (who is undoubtedly on DT's payroll).
Another very suspicious detail about Optima Telekom is the fact that its president and founder is Ronald Zuvanic, who was minister in the government until 2004 (yes, in that same government that signed the criminal contract with Deutsche Telekom). In 2003 his government issued the license for second fixed line operator to a company called Divan, though that decision was never made official. However, in the last month of his mandate, Zuvanic cancelled the already-issued license without explanation. Then, mere months later, Zuvanic founded his own company, Optima Telekom, and applied for that very license! As if that isn't enough, the fact that the current government's Council for Telecommunications decided to issue him the license so quickly is also quite indicative. Namely, Optima Telekom was not the only applicant, and other companies that applied for the license offered even better terms in their applications, particularly for their subscribers (i.e. Croatian people) - namely, Optima Telekom's application is the only submitted application that doesn't mention (much needed) decreases in prices and fees... It is quite obvious that this fradulent contest for the secondary fixed operator was nothing but another attempt to perpetuate the endless swindling and shameless robbing of Croatian citizens. The only thing that can put a definitive stop to this is European Union and its strict anti-trust, anti-monopoly laws. However, EU is still far away for Croatia, and patience of its citizens grows thinner with each filthy billion that lands into pockets of corrupt politicians and DT managers.
After a decade-long systematic theft of Croatian citizens, Croatian monopolistic telecomm is about to get competition. On 11/19/2004 Council of Croatian Agency for Telecommunications granted the license for public telephone service in fixed network to company Optima Telekom, owned by Ronald Zuvanic, former minister of maritime affairs, traffic and communications.
Hundreds of pages of text could be written about the current Croatian fixed operator, and it still wouldn't be enough to encompass all affairs, scandals, swindling and countless other ill practices that are associated with it. Here is a brief recap:
Many decades ago the government of the Socialist Republic Croatia founded a state-owned company (well, all companies were state-owned back then - it was the era of communism) HPT - Croatian Post and Telecommunications. This company began to provide fixed line telephone services to Croatian citizens. It was built entirely with people's money - back then, a fixed phone line costed up to thousand dollars, and the company made millions as more and more Croats purchased telephones.
In 1991, when socialist Yugoslavia collapsed, HPT, already a huge and incredibly wealthy company with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, was left in hands of the new Croatian government. As privatisation of state-owned companies began, people naturally expected that HPT would be sold cheaply to Croatian workers - after all, it was with their capital, with capital of Croatian people, that the company was built and developed into such a mastodont. However, the government had other plans.
Years of mismanagement, theft and corruption led to a a deep economic crisis in 1999. The government urgently needed fresh funds, and what better way to get funds than to sell Croatian national wealth to foreigners? By directions of prime minister Zlatko Matesa and the cleptomanic minister of finances Borislav Skegro, HPT was divided into two companies - Croatian Post (HP), a bloated and inefficient socialist mastodont choking in debt, and the rapidly-growing, highly-profitable Croatian Telecommunications (Hrvatske Telekomunikacije, or HT for short). Croatian Telecommunications, or HT, had three branches - 'regular' HT (fixed line operator), Hinet (ISP) and Cronet (mobile phone operator). After the division, a large percentage of HT stocks were sold to Deutsche Telekom (German fixed operator) for a multibillion sum. However, details of the contract between the Croatian government and DT management were kept secret from the public, and people already began to have their doubts. Most were optimistic, though, and expected the influx of German capital and expertise to benefit the company and lead to quicker technological development in all fields of communications. Croatian online surfers (who were still quite a rare breed at that time) already had wet dreams about introduction of cheap broadband communications. However, they were all dead wrong.
In January 2000 a new regime replaced the old one - more democratic, more fair, more honest... or so we foolishly believed. The status quo in Croatian telecommunications was maintained until 2001, when time came to sell another large portion of HT stocks. This was the moment when more dirty laundry of the former government began to surface - namely, the contract from 1999 apparently contained a stipulation that the next portion of HT stocks had to be sold to DT! This would give the German company the major share in HT and an effective monopoly in Croatian telecommunications market. To shock and disbelief of all public experts and analysts, the government signed a new, extremely favorable contract with DT (favorable for DT - for Croatian people it was absolutely disasterous), giving it a major share of HT and a bunch of other privileges. Though this contract (many clauses of which are glaringly illegal and unconstitutional) was (and still is) kept in secrecy as well, some details from it leaked into the public and more insightful people began to see true extent of the outrageous fraud our government played on its citizens.
Namely, one of the clauses in the contract guaranteed DT a monopoly in fixed line communactions for another five years! You read right - our government legally bound its citizens to pay outrageous prices in telecommunications, even though HT had been built over the years with people's money! Not only that, but DT were free to alter prices and tariffes of public communications however they desired, and there wasn't a single stipulation that would force them to invest some of their revenues in company's development.
DT, of course, took full advantage of the situation. Immediately after the contract was signed, they increased prices in fixed line communications by 300%, introduced a huge monthly subscription fee for fixed lines and halted all investments in technological development. Over the past four years, not a single penny was invested in development. Multibillion dollar yearly revenues were systematically funneled out of the company to Germany, were they were used to service debts of Deutsche Telekom, debts that were created through poor management under circumstances of a free, competitive (read - non-monopolist) telecommunications market! HT (rebranded from "Hrvatske Telekomunikacije" to "Hrvatski Telekom") stopped employing young domestic telecommunication engineers (and Croatia's engineers are among the finest in Europe) and instead became a training ground for third-class German 'experts' whose incompetence caused Croatia to fall even further behind other transitional countries when it comes to fixed telecommunications and internet technology. HT eventually introduced 'new' technologies like ISDN (which they had the audacity to advertise as 'revolutionary' even though it was introduced five years after most western countries had declared it obsolete), but all equipment was outdated and malfunctioning crap they dragged in from Germany. But never mind, what's important is that they spent millions on rebranding the company once again this year, so now it's called T-Com, its mobile communications branch is called T-Mobile and its ISP is called T-Online.
This unbearable situation lasts even now. Though there is slim hope that the decision of the Council for Telecommunications to give the secondary license for fixed telephony to Optima Telekom will lead to liberalisation of the market, that isn't very likely. The market of mobile communications (cellular phones) was liberalized in 2001, when HTmobile (formerly known as Cronet, now known as T-Mobile) received competition in form of a joint Austrian-Croatian venture VIPnet. Arrival of VIPnet led to a one-time major decrease in prices and introduction of new mobile services and technologies. As a result, Croatia now has very sophisticated mobile communications and is one of technological leaders in that field on global scale - we were one of the first countries in the world to introduce GPRS, EDGE, MMS, UMTS and a number of other novelties. However, rapid technological advance wasn't accompanied by a gradual decrease in tariffes and subscription fees. Quite the contrary, T-Mobile and VIPnet formed a secret illegal cartel and agreed to boost prices of inter-grid SMS messages, so it now costs 20 cents (instead of 4 or 5) to send an SMS from a T-Mobile cellphone to a VIPnet cellphone and vice versa. This alone generates millions of dollars of monthly revenues for both T-Mobile and VIP, because SMS is one of the most popular forms of communication in Croatia. These allegations are currently under investigation by the State Attorney (who is undoubtedly on DT's payroll).
Another very suspicious detail about Optima Telekom is the fact that its president and founder is Ronald Zuvanic, who was minister in the government until 2004 (yes, in that same government that signed the criminal contract with Deutsche Telekom). In 2003 his government issued the license for second fixed line operator to a company called Divan, though that decision was never made official. However, in the last month of his mandate, Zuvanic cancelled the already-issued license without explanation. Then, mere months later, Zuvanic founded his own company, Optima Telekom, and applied for that very license! As if that isn't enough, the fact that the current government's Council for Telecommunications decided to issue him the license so quickly is also quite indicative. Namely, Optima Telekom was not the only applicant, and other companies that applied for the license offered even better terms in their applications, particularly for their subscribers (i.e. Croatian people) - namely, Optima Telekom's application is the only submitted application that doesn't mention (much needed) decreases in prices and fees... It is quite obvious that this fradulent contest for the secondary fixed operator was nothing but another attempt to perpetuate the endless swindling and shameless robbing of Croatian citizens. The only thing that can put a definitive stop to this is European Union and its strict anti-trust, anti-monopoly laws. However, EU is still far away for Croatia, and patience of its citizens grows thinner with each filthy billion that lands into pockets of corrupt politicians and DT managers.
The Vault Dweller
always looking for water.
Member of Khans said:Like this report... go on with it :
Yes me too! I would like to learn more about Eastern Europe...its a black smudge on my knowledge of Geography.
Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
Member of Khans
Vault Dweller
On mine too... unfortunately, because I live in a (so called) united Europe...
NMA is a good place for political and geographical education.
NMA is a good place for political and geographical education.
The_Vault_Dweller said:
I couldn't have said it better.
Croatia is not in Eastern Europe. At least not geographically.
Everything East from Germany and West from Dagestan = Eastern Europe.
Silly Belgish people, they can't tell East from South.
Interesting. I didn't know a large part of Africa belonged to Eastern Europe. Nor did I know that parts of Sweden did, nor did I know that Finland belonged to Eastern Europe.Jebus said:
Bah. There is no clear definition of Eastern Europe, and frankly, there never has been. After the second world war, the border lay at BRD/DDR border, now, according to you, it lies at the border of Germany. And where, pray tell, is the eastern border of Eastern Europe? Is it the caucasus? Or is it the border of Russia? Or does it lie vertically through Istanbul?
People and organisations have constantly shifted around the definition of Eastern Europe to fit their political needs, because everyone knows Eastern Europe is inferior to Western, right? Bah. If Poland becomes a major economic power again the border will shift further east. If Germany falls into heavy recline, the border may shift further west. *grumbles*
Croatia is historically, culturally, economically, ethnically and geographically in Mid-Europe, and everyone who disagrees should shut up.
*shuts up*
I've used the term eastern and western europe to denote the Warsaw Pact and NATO countries, respectively. And isn't the eastern border of Europe traditionally the Urals?
No. My point was that there were no traditional borders. The entire point of denoting stuff and Western and Eastern is to cultivate a feeling of superiority/inferiority while there really is no such thing.
Interestingly, this attitude has been around since the split of Christianity into Catholicism and orthodoxy. Predictably the borders were completely different then.
Also, if you use that to refer to Warsaw pact/NATO countries what would you call Switzerland (they didn't join NATO, IIRC), and what would you call Germany, NATO or Warsaw? Pheh.
Interestingly, this attitude has been around since the split of Christianity into Catholicism and orthodoxy. Predictably the borders were completely different then.
Also, if you use that to refer to Warsaw pact/NATO countries what would you call Switzerland (they didn't join NATO, IIRC), and what would you call Germany, NATO or Warsaw? Pheh.
Because that's a poor and too general discussion of Eastern Europe?
According to a Croatian novelist and poet, Miroslav Krleza, Eastern Europe, in cultural sense, begins east of hotel Esplanade in Zagreb, Croatian capital. Well, actually he said Balkan rather than Eastern Europe, but Balkan can be culturally qualified as "Eastern Europe" fairly accurately. Though his "definition" is obviously metaphorical and without scientific meaning, it still correctly indicates that western regions of Croatia, core of what was to become a Habsburgian province in 1527, "reliqiae reliqiarum olim incliti regni Croatiae, Slavoniae et Dalmatiae", are in fact threshold of our western, Roman-catholic civilization, the final bastion before the boiling and aggressive forces of orthodoxy and islam.
My point? Eastern Europe, in a traditional sense, begins where Ottoman and Russian conquests stopped. Now its border is shifting gradually to the east and will probably establish itself on eastern borders of Belarus and Russia. It remaines to be seen, however, whether the strong connections with Poland will eventually lead Ukraine to integration with Mid-Europe.
My point? Eastern Europe, in a traditional sense, begins where Ottoman and Russian conquests stopped. Now its border is shifting gradually to the east and will probably establish itself on eastern borders of Belarus and Russia. It remaines to be seen, however, whether the strong connections with Poland will eventually lead Ukraine to integration with Mid-Europe.
Ok, you people are reading far too much into this.
Here's a map of Europe:
This, my friends, is Europe. It runs straight from Lissabon and Reykjavik to Moskow and Istambul.
Now draw a line exactly through the middle of it. Where is that line situated? Indeed, right through the center of Germany. So Germany, Italy, Austria and perhaps Switzerland are central Europe, everything West from there is Western Europe, everything East from there is Eastern Europe.
Djeezes, Ratty, this isn't about politics or history, this is about plain old geography.
Here's a map of Europe:
This, my friends, is Europe. It runs straight from Lissabon and Reykjavik to Moskow and Istambul.
Now draw a line exactly through the middle of it. Where is that line situated? Indeed, right through the center of Germany. So Germany, Italy, Austria and perhaps Switzerland are central Europe, everything West from there is Western Europe, everything East from there is Eastern Europe.
Djeezes, Ratty, this isn't about politics or history, this is about plain old geography.