Slovakia as a front line of influence of the powers: An artificially divided society
The following text was created based on a podcast video, speech-to-text software, and subsequent stylistic processing by AI. It is a good AI processing, although it contains minor errors.
UK government secretly paid foreign YouTube stars for 'propaganda' https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-government-secretly-paid-foreign-youtube-stars-for-propaganda/
Hello friends. In this video, I will talk about the power games that Slovakia has also fallen victim to. The problem is that Slovakia has in a way become a "punching bag" for several spheres of influence. Personally, I see Slovakia as a kind of front line, similar to a war, where fighting takes place only on the front line, not throughout the entire territory. Metaphorically, this also applies to Slovakia, which is in an information or power war between various great powers, whether it is Russia on one side or Western powers on the other. This situation is very harmful, primarily because it causes unnecessary division in society.
As a person who has insight into these power-driven, behind-the-scenes political and media games, I will talk about this in more detail because the media truly has more power than politicians. For this reason, I can comment on the topic. I have deeply penetrated the functioning of NGOs and the media. Politics is relatively transparent compared to them; there you will still find out what is happening, but you will learn almost nothing about the functioning of the media or NGOs. As one of the most prominent investigative anti-corruption activists, I have gained very rich experience with how this work looks behind the scenes, and it is not at all honest or transparent. It is paradoxical that those who call for transparency the most – whether they are the media or NGOs – are the least transparent.
I'm not saying that I'm a sympathizer of some far-right group that a priori condemns NGOs, nor am I demonizing them based on "pub talk" arguments. Really, no. I still think that NGOs are a good thing in themselves. I even perceive the fact that Western powers finance NGOs surprisingly positively. However, the mistake was made elsewhere, perhaps not even on the part of the Western powers that subsidize, but rather on the part of the recipients of the subsidies themselves.
A certain part of Slovak society has realized that it is possible to earn a lot of money for relatively little work in the non-governmental sector, whether based on a fictitious or alleged fight against corruption or for democracy. It is logical that if a non-governmental organization in Slovakia (and few people know how non-governmental organizations work) receives subsidies, it significantly transfers these funds to the media. The media and non-governmental organizations are therefore quite strongly interconnected. It is more or less a homogeneous mixture, and it should be openly appreciated that even the Stop Corruption Foundation is still transparent and admits cooperation with the media. This really needs to be praised because there are many completely hidden forms of cooperation between the non-governmental sector and journalists, where it works much less transparently.
It is logical that this whole situation leads to the division of society in Slovakia. The reason is that it really pays off for Slovak journalists and the NGO sector to spread disinformation about the allegedly corrupt current government and the loss of democracy in Slovakia. Otherwise, they would not receive subsidies. If they claimed that everything was fine in Slovakia, they would logically not receive any subsidies. If they want to get subsidies, they have to divide society and create an enemy.
I'm not saying that the current government is perfect or ideal; it has many problems and flaws. However, the situation is being portrayed as much worse than it actually is. In this way, society is unnecessarily divided and literally fighting to the death. This is very bad. However, without creating an enemy, the NGO sector and the media would not receive subsidies. Moreover, Slovakia is a very small country with a small media market, and it is not easy for the media to survive economically. They have probably already gotten used to huge subsidies from the NGO sector.
The NGO sector, in turn, draws subsidies from Western powers such as Great Britain, the United States, and perhaps other Western states, such as the Dutch government. Another very important source of subsidies is the European Union itself, the European Commission. Therefore, I do not think that the problem lies with the United States government or the British government, as has now been shown in connection with one affair. The problem is rather with the recipients of subsidies, who find it very profitable to divide society in Slovakia. If society were not divided and an enemy were not artificially created, they would not receive any subsidies, unless the NGO sector claimed that "we are doing well in Slovakia, there is democracy here."
That is why it is probably worth constantly talking about the demise of democracy and spreading hoaxes that the Slovak government wants to leave NATO and the European Union, even though it is not true. It is worth spreading such hoaxes because then you logically get more money. These are unethical people who are not really interested in any values, only in money. This applies to leading journalists in Slovakia, as well as the NGO sector itself, which is really not doing it honestly.
I've already had big problems with the NGO sector, which I've talked about in detail in the past and in other videos. Really, even people from this sector have admitted to me that they don't do it honestly. They don't do it for any values, nor for democratic values, nor is it honestly about fighting corruption. It's simply a very dirty and ugly game. If you found some dirt on the Smer party, the sector would certainly be very happy to thank you, and it might even be published in the media the next day.
However, when I pointed out corruption in political parties other than Smer, I encountered great resistance. They openly told me: "Sorry, we can't publish that. We simply look for dirt to the bone in this context." They even hinted at it indirectly. Ms. Xénia Makarová from the Stop Corruption Foundation told me: "Thank you very much, interesting." Yet, on about 100 A4 pages, I had described in detail very dangerous corruption schemes, probably the largest in the history of Slovakia, which took place at the Ministry of the Environment under Ján Budaj. She said: "Thank you, interesting, but we will not deal with it." Later she told me why they would not deal with it.
Other very important corruption schemes are those in the specific non-governmental sector, specifically in various environmental organizations. These are a special category. At first, I was very surprised why the public and media space is so saturated with disinformation on the topic of ecology and why there is such strong and aggressive support for very disgusting eco-fascist propaganda, eco-fascist extremism, and left-wing extremism in ecology. I was very surprised by this, but later it turned out to be very significant.
As an anti-corruption activist, I have come to the conclusion and obtained direct evidence that the media receives huge amounts of money from the non-governmental sector for this. When a nature conservation organization receives huge subsidies and demonstrably only about 1% of them is used for nature conservation, and the remaining money goes God knows where, it must also end up in the media for propaganda. This is a serious matter. The police know about it, but nothing is being done.
The European Commission is also very heavily involved in these environmental subsidies. At least I, as an anti-corruption activist, have encountered the greatest corruption there, paradoxically in the European Commission. The European Commission is involved in the greatest corruption, and this corruption, unfortunately, also greatly spoils Slovakia, where very disgusting eco-fascist left-wing extremist propaganda is spreading. It is a left-wing fascist form of ecology, which is not related to serious ecology or expertise, and such false ecology will do us more harm than good. I have also been very intensively involved in the fight against disinformation in the field of ecology, and it is very dangerous disinformation.
Many specific examples could be given. Personally, I really think that a very substantial part of the financial income of the Slovak media is not only made up of reader subscriptions, but also of various non-transparent subsidies. Most of the subsidies in the field of ecology go through the LIFE program, which does not have to be approved by the Slovak government, but comes directly from the European Commission, and there the transparency is very low, practically non-existent. Europol could investigate it, but the European Commission has a certain influence on Europol's investigation, which means that the independence of the investigation is not possible. Perhaps it would be faster through Interpol, if it were investigated in some way.
Furthermore, there is the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which, however, falls directly under the European Commission. I was very surprised why OLAF employees are so extremely corrupt. I showed them in black and white that 99% of the money had been stolen and went for completely different purposes than they were intended for, but they pretended they would not investigate it. They replied that they were just "archiving it and could not investigate it." Later, I understood what the problem was: OLAF is directly subordinate to the European Commission, so a subordinate will never investigate a superior. It is huge corruption. There are no control mechanisms; they can steal as much money as they want, and no one investigates it.
The transparency of these projects is absolutely zero. There are so-called external evaluators who evaluate the projects. The European Commission can refer to them, but they are anonymous people whose information you cannot find anywhere. They are probably political henchmen of politicians from the European Commission. The transparency of the media in Slovakia is therefore very weak.
Personally, I don't trust the so-called alternative and pro-Russian media, nor the so-called mainstream media. They all lie more or less the same and they all divide society. To be objective and impartial, Russian influences in Slovakia are also enormous. There were huge influences especially during the government of Matovič and Heger from 2020 to 2023, when during the COVID-19 crisis there was a huge division of society regarding vaccination and wearing masks. Pro-Russian media discouraged people from vaccination and wearing masks. It was a really serious problem, and people believed such propaganda that vaccines would poison you, or that Bill Gates wanted to chip you and control your mind, because vaccines contain chips and similar nonsense. The situation during COVID was almost at the level of collective madness.
Above all, these sentiments were fueled by pro-Russian disinformation websites. On the other hand, the current situation in Slovakia is no better. Although the current government, of course, has problems and is not flawless, the opposition is in much greater disarray and has much greater problems. Nevertheless, there is much more demonization here. Really, nowhere else in the world is there such an extreme as in Slovakia, where anti-government media are so extreme. Even the good things that the government does are absolutely demonized and criticized, as if the government only wanted the worst for the people. The situation has reached a total, even insane, extreme, when the construction of a new pumped-storage power plant – about which I asked absolute top experts in the field of energy, and they say it is an absolutely great and fantastic idea that will definitely be implemented – is demonized by the media.
The media does not ask experts if it is a good thing because they would get a clear answer. Instead, they invent propaganda and campaign against the construction of this power plant, presenting it as if the government was doing the worst thing in the world. A large part of the media spreads this propaganda, which really does not exist anywhere in the world. Such a crazy unique situation, where there would be such extremely anti-government media, is only possible in Slovakia. There is no other country in the world where it could go to a greater extreme. I do not believe that something like this exists, it is already such an extreme.
I don't understand who can still believe the current and so-called mainstream media for such nonsense and crazy propaganda. People are messed up, brainwashed, and they simply "swallow" all the propaganda from both mainstream and alternative media. So, as I say, it's from both sides. Both alternative and mainstream media spread nonsense, with all due respect. Don't believe either. Simply put, everyone, with all due respect, "shits" on you – we can call it that. I apologize for the vulgar language, but unfortunately, it's the truth, and the truth is very unpleasant.
People in Slovakia are absolutely fooled by propaganda. Nowadays, it's best to completely ignore the media, not read it, be completely apolitical, and have no opinion on politics, whether positive or negative. Propaganda in Slovakia is so strong that the average person has absolutely no chance to make sense of it. I really belong to a certain elite of the Slovak nation, who are somehow aware and have more information. Unfortunately, this does not apply to most people, most people simply let themselves be fooled by one side or the other.
Of course, after Trump took office, the United States government also canceled various foreign subsidies. However, this does not mean that some contracts cannot still be valid, because a contract cannot be easily canceled purely legally. So who knows what the truth is and whether only subsidies were canceled there. But by the fact that these contracts may still be running, unnecessarily inflammatory and aggressive anti-government propaganda can still be carried out in Slovakia with this money.
The same media, which are now extremely anti-government, would very quickly turn and become very strongly pro-government if their favorite political party, Progressive Slovakia, which also has very serious problems that the media do not report on, were to get into the government. It is a truly catastrophic political party. Analyzing their problems would require a separate lecture, which I have already mentioned in previous videos and podcasts.
Another big problem is that the current opposition political parties have absolutely no regional representation. Even the three current opposition parties – OĽaNO, SaS, and Progresívne Slovensko – have no regional structures at all. Although the Progresívne Slovensko party outwardly pretends to have them, in reality, it does not. This is also something to watch out for; one should not believe all their lies. Its regional structures are so extremely "deboned" that we can de facto say that it has no regional structures that would have any powers, nor are they financially supported. Simply put, they have no regional structures.
This is a very dangerous thing. If we have three political parties here that work only for the interests of Bratislava, but no longer work for the regions, it is a serious problem. The capital is fine, but it is very important to work for the regions as well, and I absolutely cannot imagine any politician from the Progressive Slovakia party going to the regions; of course, they never will. Just for comparison, all current coalition political parties have regional structures. It is really a serious problem. We have already seen that the absence of regional representation in Slovak politics caused enormous evil and division in society in connection with the reform of national parks, which was an absolute disaster.
It was the absolute liquidation of national parks, and yet politicians and the media very violently promoted this liquidation of nature, which was called by the beautiful marketing name "reform of national parks." But it was the complete liquidation of national parks. It would have been enough to involve more regional people, and such destructive things for nature would never have been able to pass. One thing is real ecology, the other is ecofascism, i.e., some false left-wing ecology that only pretends to be ecology, but in reality destroys ecology.
These are very sad things. Evil always has the upper hand, it has always been like that in history, and the present is no exception. Although I have already said it, I will repeat it once again, probably the most important thing I want to emphasize: although I do not have direct evidence, there is enough indirect evidence to suggest that a very substantial part of the financial income of Slovak media comes from various revenues from the non-governmental sector.
This is a very dangerous thing. We cannot talk about any media freedom in Slovakia when a very significant, substantial part of their income comes from various subsidies. As a result, you can no longer do your job completely freely, but you have to artificially show some activity. When you artificially show activity, you also have to create an artificial enemy. The current government is really not as bad as the media presents it.
In general, people are terribly divided into political camps. As a person who sees behind the scenes and belongs to the imaginary elite of the Slovak nation, I see it a little differently. I see it as the current government is not as bad and demonic as the media portrays it, and the current opposition is not as flawless, amazing, and perfect as the media portrays it. Because of this unnecessary polarization of society, which the media artificially creates, there is a completely artificial division of society. In previous podcasts, I talked in more detail about the big problems that opposition political parties have. There is much more corruption, and in most parameters, these political parties are much worse off.
Also, the non-governmental organization Stop Corruption Foundation acts as a political party, really as a marketing agency for the Progressive Slovakia party. If they were really doing their job apolitically and impartially, they would also have to deal with the corruption of Matovič's and Heger's government, and there was really a lot of corruption there. I specifically dealt with the topic of ecology, but there are really many more topics.
During COVID, the so-called public procurement was cancelled. This means that ministries could award contracts to various companies in a very non-transparent way. It is interesting that the Stop Corruption Foundation is not at all concerned about these contracts. However, they dealt with a 10-year-old affair, such as the so-called "hacienda" or "guesthouses" case, which was corruption worth hundreds of thousands of euros. And even that was only hypothetical, whether any rules were actually violated there.
The whole affair was completely manipulated, with perhaps the greatest blame lying with the European Commission itself, which approved subsidy schemes that are prone to abuse. Simply put, the European Commission cannot approve such non-transparent schemes at all. Moreover, this did not only concern Slovakia. It was said as if it were only a problem for Slovakia, but such corruption certainly occurred throughout the European Union, because the temptation to misuse such subsidies was great. It would be naive to think that only Slovakia has such problems.
We have absolutely crazy media in Slovakia that inform and spread absolutely crazy things. In addition, the European Commission has exactly the same responsibility for these subsidies, as does the current opposition, which was in power and did not cancel it. It also had exactly the same responsibility for it, but propaganda was made as if only the Smer party was behind it and it was only a problem for Slovakia.
Furthermore, an interesting thought occurred to me in connection with the absolutely insane frenzy of some Czech media in the fight against Slovakia. We can call it racism, chauvinism, xenophobia, what they are spreading, and it is really an obsession with Slovakia. This mainly concerns the media owned by Ivan Lukačovič, a very prominent Czech neo-Nazi. Perhaps this person's neo-Nazism is not the only motivation for making Slovakia the worst country in the world and spreading hateful content against Slovakia and the Slovak nation. There may also be a motivation to deliberately create an atmosphere that Slovakia is the worst country in the world.
Therefore, logically, the NGO sector in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia can receive more money. It could simply be about nothing other than money. I'm just thinking aloud; these are essentially indirect pieces of evidence, more like clues, and it's a very credible hypothesis. I'm not saying that's how it is, but there could be such a motivation. Although these are Czech media, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are very closely linked linguistically. Moreover, some Czech NGOs operate cross-border in Slovakia, not just in the Czech Republic.
Likewise, some embassies in Slovakia may decide whether to provide subsidies to Slovak NGOs.
Media criticism and funding of the non-governmental sector
Based on what is written in the Czech media – and in some of them, Slovakia is indeed presented as a completely lost country where democracy has ceased to exist – the motivation to provide money to the non-governmental sector in Slovakia logically increases. These funds can then, in a way, be a reward for the news that so tastelessy humiliates Slovakia. The Slovak non-governmental sector can thus return the favor to Ivo Lukačovič as the owner of the media. They can thank him: "Thank you for spreading such filth about Slovakia, because thanks to that we received fantastic money and subsidies. Thank you for the amazing propaganda about the total demise of democracy in Slovakia, because based on that we received fantastic millions and subsidies in huge amounts."
It is possible that the financing is carried out in this way, or that journalists are directly paid to spread such information. These payments may also come from public sources or from foreign embassies, which can be quite a "fantastic business". Under the guise of "saving democracy" and "free journalism", Slovakia is being tarnished in a humiliating and demeaning way, portraying it as a backward, almost African country. Such actions are then presented as "amazing education for democracy" or an "exemplary example" of its support.
Subsidies may also be intended to prevent people in the Czech Republic from voting for Babiš. Because Babiš is compared to the current Slovak government, which is allegedly the worst in the world, propaganda is spreading, such as: "Babiš equals the Slovak government, and since the Slovak government is the worst, you'd better not vote for him, because you'll end up like Slovakia." There may be very unpleasant money behind this propaganda.
Ivo Lukačovič is a really unpleasant and disgusting businessman. When I looked at how he does business, it's something repulsive. I have never seen such disgusting and nasty marketing as he does on his service https://www.google.com/search?q=Windu.com. It is an incredibly aggressive and deceptive way of advertising his own subscription service. I won't go into detail because it would be a separate lecture, but I really haven't seen anything like it. He is perhaps a person extremely greedy for money, which is the only value for him, and therefore has no problem spreading such ugly propaganda about Slovakia.
Fico's government and the Bitcoin case
However, we know how Mr. Petr Fiala, or rather the so-called "democratic" political parties in the Czech Republic, fared. The Bitcon case is an absolute farce that would be too strong even for the most backward African country. It's an extreme.
In the Czech Republic, society is also being unnecessarily and artificially divided, partly due to Andrej Babiš, as the Czech media openly declared war on him. I have studied the Čapí hnízdo case in detail, which received the most media attention. I have unequivocally concluded that the problem is not Andrej Babiš, but the Czech media, which declared war on Andrej Babiš in an absolutely demeaning and hateful manner.
Perhaps also based on subsidies and foreign grants, some media need to invent completely false "investigative journalism" to show activity. It is completely questionable whether Andrej Babiš's company violated the law at all. It is a matter of perspective whether it violated it or not, and even if it did, it was really just a small and minor offense. Nevertheless, they made Andrej Babiš out to be a person who does nothing but steal, and they spread such an atmosphere in the Czech media.
Historical injustices and media propaganda
Perhaps this hatred towards Andrej Babiš on the part of the Czech media may also be due to the fact that Czechs have some kind of complex about Slovakia or Slovak politicians. In the past, the Czechs were ruled by the Slovak Gustav Husák, who was the highest-ranking member of the Communist Party. While Slovaks remember Gustav Husák relatively well, Czechs, on the other hand, do not like him and speak of him as the greatest evil of communism.
While in Slovakia people welcomed the fact that Husák represented the interests of Slovaks and the Slovak nation more, during socialism the injustice suffered by Slovaks was indeed justified and serious. The dirtiest and most disgusting industries were in Slovakia, while the clean and more lucrative, economically more interesting industries were in the Czech Republic. The injustice suffered by Slovaks is therefore truly justified.
The same applies to environmental burdens from various industries, whether it's the Chemkostrážske furnaces in eastern Slovakia, tar pits from environmentally unfriendly oil processing, or old aluminum plants (which are now ecological, but during socialism were a huge burden, with red dust falling on people's heads). There are many such dirty environmental burdens in Slovakia. In the Czech Republic, there are certainly not as many environmental burdens and polluted nature as there were in our country.
That is why Slovaks welcomed the division of Czechoslovakia more than Czechs, because the interests of the Slovak nation were not sufficiently represented. Perhaps based on this, people subconsciously associate Babiš with Gustáv Husák, who was really disliked in the Czech Republic. So maybe there is also a subconscious hatred or chauvinism or racism towards the Slovak politician Babiš, who successfully established himself in Czech politics.
Fake journalism and PPA
We see how society was artificially divided by fake investigative journalism in Slovakia as well. For example, let's go back to before 2020, when propaganda was spread that nothing else was done at the Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA) but stealing. In the end, it burst like a bubble. It turned out to be a very transparent and well-functioning organization where there is no problem. The media propaganda collapsed like a house of cards, but the media did not apologize for it.
In the end, it turned out that the main source of information for the media was the dubious farmer Patrik Magdoško, who was later found to have a lot on his conscience. He himself committed subsidy fraud and the police are investigating him for it, and I think it will soon go to court. He himself actually cheated with subsidies, and accused other people of theft, or propaganda was spread about a certain Mrs. Rožková, who took subsidies for a concrete area or an airport. Again, it mysteriously died down and burst like a bubble. It turned out to be a lie, but the media did not apologize for spreading Mr. Magdoško's hoaxes.
Or, in the Dobytkár case, the police tried to investigate corruption at the PPA. In the end, the biggest "fish" was Norbert Bödör, a businessman who had never done business in agriculture. He was allegedly the biggest corrupt person, but again it burst like a bubble. The media did not apologize for spreading disinformation on this topic and unnecessarily dividing society. The indictment was so nonsensical that the court had to dismiss it. The media will not apologize for spreading disinformation.
To this day, the main source of disinformation spread by the media in the field of agriculture and forestry are Patrik Magdoško and especially Alojz Hlina as a mentally handicapped MP. The media have no problem publishing it, but when it turns out to be a hoax, the media do not apologize: "Sorry, we spread Alojz Hlina's hoax." It is already a holy war against the current government, where the end justifies the means. Such extremely anti-government media as we have in Slovakia are a world record, you really won't find that anywhere else. Nowhere else in the world will you find such an extreme.
Freedom of the press and the enforceability of law
There is also complete freedom of the press, for example in the United States. There is a completely different legislation. There, the enforceability of law in the case of disinformation is completely different. There, the media would go bankrupt if they spread even one piece of disinformation about a politician. In Slovakia, we have completely different legislation. No politician would dare to create legislation the same as in the United States, where one piece of disinformation could mean the complete collapse of the media. That does not exist here. If politicians approved something like that, they would not dare to do it. Politicians are afraid of the media because the media have much greater power, and therefore they will not dare to approve such a law as in the United States.
In Slovakia, it works in such a way that the state even pays for damages. It works in such a way that the state pays for financial damages for a politician being slandered. This is how a politician can defend themselves. Instead of the journalist paying, the state pays, it pays the damage. This is perhaps absolutely unimaginable for Americans or members of other nations, but this is how it strangely works. It's very strange.
In Slovakia, it works in such a way that I don't know which of the media, whether alternative or mainstream, could even function if legislation like in the United States applied, where law enforcement is very strong and one piece of misinformation can mean the complete collapse of the entire media outlet. The situation there is completely different. Our Slovak media would completely collapse. Markíza Television, the largest television station in Slovakia, which spreads crazy misinformation, would go bankrupt. Aktuality, Denník N – I'm not even talking about them. I don't even want to count how many media outlets would go bankrupt.