Wednesday 24 April 2013

Postcard from Portorož (2)

So what’s with Slovenia & Croatia ? Firstly, Croatia got almost all the coastline – and all the islands – after WW2. Slovenians go to Croatia en masse for the beaches, and many of them have holiday homes there. Almost all of them can understand Croatian & vice-versa; and those over 30 learned Serbo-Croat properly at school, meaning reading’n’writing it (in Cyrillic: Slovene is in Latin script). They share the output of a jointly-financed nuclear power plant situated in Slovenia (a Westinghouse jobber, none of your Soviet junk), and of course a reliable nuke represents a reliable cash-flow: always good for lining pockets ... So they airily talk about building another; but (need I say?) it is completely out of the question. 
 
That's Croatia over there - but should it be?
And in July, Croatia too will be an EU member (though joining Slovenia as a eurozone member is a remote prospect indeed). So – brotherly neighbours ? Not a bit of it, for the border is hotly disputed - enter 'dragonja croatia' in the googlemaps search-bar and see the dotted lines.  In particular, a significant 500m of estuary held by the Croats would mean a lot to their Northern neighbour which only enjoys 46 km of coastline and just one port, Koper. The 500m would transform their access to the Adriatic and international shipping lanes. (I’ve met a disputed border once before, in my soldiering days, helping Oman repel the Yemenis in the ‘80s. They can get very nasty indeed.)
Source: Wiki

Also, while Slovenia is rather more equally split as between white and red, in WW2 Crotia was - how shall we put this – rather more uniformly white. So the tensions remain. In fact, Croatia technically shouldn’t be able to join the EU party at all (or NATO) until this spat is settled – but they will (and have), bcause the expansionists decree it. 

Meanwhile, the issue has gone to binding arbitration, and who knows what happens then ?  But it's all a bit parochial compared to relations with Germany, which will be the subject of the next postcard. 

ND

9 comments:

Electro-Kevin said...

I'll be sailing off Sutivan later this year.

Dinghy, not super yacht, just to be clear.

(Gutted to hear that JLS have split up.)

phil5 said...

EK, try a 40-foot Bavaria jobby, with a downstairs, cooker, beer fridge and beds and everything.

ND, which side was white and red? Even after a Google I am unsure. Was white the fascist Germany/Italy supporters, and red the Commie/Allies supporters?

CityUnslicker said...

Pnhil I was thinking the same - a russian civil war reference?!

Nick Drew said...

sorry, that's, errr, spelling a la fat-finger-on-the-blackberry

Blue Eyes said...

Facist is someone who spends too much time social networking?

Can't they just link up in a political and economic union or summink?

Electro-Kevin said...

I think you mean Face-ist, Blue. (As in Facebook.)

Phil 5 - To get myself on one of those boats do I have to deal drugs or sell my body ?

Well I already HAVE sold my body for the best price I can get. Hence the dinghy. :((

rwendland said...

Off-topic ND, but interesting interview with Charles Hendry in the Guardian today.

One thing that comes out is that Cuadrilla's test borehole was damaged by the small earthquake it caused "deformed the casing on its well", but Cuadrilla failed to inform the authorities about it in a reasonable timeframe. Hendry's comment was "Cuadrilla is very aware of what it needs to do in terms of public and government acceptance, ... If they haven't got the best practice they won't be going ahead." So not only did Cuadrilla have hopeless PR, they also don't have a good approach to dealing with regulators by the look of it.

Hendry also confirmed the EDF strike price position: "The government wants a number that begins with an 8 – EDF want something that begins with a 9". So it doesn't look like the difference is too huge. Looks to me like the Horizon/Hitachi ABWR would be econcomic with a £8x/MWh price, and if EDF could offer a somewhat cheaper/faster to build reactor design, they could make the economics work if someone would lend them the billions reqd. Of course by the time these come on-stream, onshore wind will probably be in the £7x/MWh range.

Hope you're enjoying the sun out there!

phil5 said...

Gotcha, thanks ND.

EK, hiring a 40 foot yacht is not as expensive as you might think. Around £1,500 for a week for something that will sleep 6-8 people. Don't forget you won't need a hotel cos you sleep abroad. You need a Day Skipper qualification, or you could do a Sunsail (or similar company) flotilla.

assurance info said...

"""" So what’s with Slovenia & Croatia ? Firstly, Croatia got almost all the coastline – and all the islands – after WW2. Slovenians go to Croatia en masse for the beaches, and many of them have holiday homes there. Almost all of them can understand Croatian & vice-versa; and those over 30 learned Serbo-Croat properly at school, meaning reading’n’writing it (in Cyrillic: Slovene is in Latin script). They share the output of a jointly-financed nuclear power plant situated in Slovenia (a Westinghouse jobber, none of your Soviet junk), and of course a reliable nuke represents a reliable cash-flow: always good for lining pockets ... So they airily talk about building another; but (need I say?) it is completely out of the question. """"