Bulgaria's most discordian elections.

[Dalek]

I'll start this of where I last stopped - the protests in Bulgaria. The protests in winter were most probably staged. It's not something new - staged protests to protect someone's interests (mostly Russia's) are mostly what protests are here. Then it got a bit out of control. This is where I don't know how much is staged and how much developed out of people's anger, but eventually it all turned against the ruling party - GERB. A guy set himself on fire. Then a bunch of other people set themselves on fire. Protests continued with people surrounding the parliment, yelling "MAFIA" and throwing tomatoes and eggs (I prefer molotovs, but people are kind of chill when it comes to thrashing the parliment around here)

GERB's leader - Boyko Borisov is a thug/policeman. He used to run methamphetamine trade a long time ago and before that he was Todor Zhivkov (Bulgaria's soviet leader) bodyguard. This guy has seen the Godfather and somehow convinced himself that he is indeed Don Corleone. Speed, whiskey and an Eastern European thug don't really make for a good prime-minister, but he's "Alpha as fuck" so he got elected four years ago and Bulgaria hasn't seen worse times since the Commies. A lot of information leaked against GERB. They stole a shit tone of cash from the EU (for example getting 3 milion to make new roads, and using 1 million on roads and 2 to make the politicians richer). Then a wiretapping leaked. On it were Boyko Borisov, a prosecutor and a minister who were discussing where they've put inside people and various schemes to trick people (too tipsy to explain about the wiretapping, some other time). Anyways, people got pissed about that. When Borisov was asked to comment the wiretapping recording he just said that there is no proof that it isn't someone else, faking his voice.

Briefly, GERB were trying to turn Bulgaria into a police state and they've got the police working for them (that's kind of close to the definition of a fascist party)

Eventually it was the day before elections. In Bulgaria it's called "A day for reflection" and political agitation is forbidden. On that day someone discovered 750 000 fake bulletins that were supposed to go for GERB. GERB denied and said that there's a conspiracy against them.

Skip to elections day. Results come out: 30% for GERB, 26% for Bulgarian Communist Party, 12 for Ataka (Nationalist party), 10 for DSB (Musulim and turks party) and 8 for NFSB (NATIONAL BULGARIAN LIBERATION FRONT - sounds badass, don't it?). So, GERB win, but everyone is against them. And there were 47 parties who you could vote for and almost everyone who didn't vote for GERB, voted against them. This causes outrage. People surround the parliment, fight with police, etc. GERB try to leer Ataka to form a coalition with them. Ataka's leader is an insane fanatic (when he ran for president, his election video was him, waving his fist in the air, yelling, with Bulgarian flags waving and "Dance of the Valkyres" playing in the background).  For once, I actually sympathised with him, because in a response to GERB's proposal, he said that GERB are a bunch of cunts, who try to rob Bulgaria and should probably be abolished from the face of Earth.

Eventually a coalition against GERB formed. This is the most absurd coalition ever - it's the Communist party, the nationalist party and the turks and musulims.

Boyko Borisov is failing hard. At press conferences he speaks a bunch of bullshit that is brilliantly absurd. For example "I AM THE ONLY EXPERT POLITIAN IN THIS COUNTRY" (nope, you're a thug) and his promise to Pork Farmers (who are his supporters) that he will help them establish trade in Arab countries (where, you know, no one fucking eats pork).

Eventually the countrie's main prosecutor (I don't know if that's the word, but I'm talking about the guy, who's on top of the law system and is independent from the other parties) anounces that he's got strong evidence that GERB faked the ellections. Then he started recieving threats and now he's covering, under very high security.

Now it's pretty unclear what is happening and going to happen. I'm reading the news, laughing my ass off, shouting "HAIL ERIS!"

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Dalek on world affairs.

[Golden Applesauce]

I always wondered how systems that allowed someone with a tiny plurality of votes to win worked. Sounds like the answer is "people get pissed until something less stupid emerges" ?

Is GERB still considered the "winner" after the coalition with more votes formed?

Dalek on world affairs.

Really? That was interesting as fuck.

[Cain]

Boyko Borisov probably has significant western political support, it is worth pointing out.

Bulgaria, despite being on the "other side" of the Iron Curtain kept up some very friendly relationships with NATO during the Cold War.  Those relationships include smuggling of drugs, weapons and archaeological goods across Bulgarian state lines, in return for western consumer goods and weapons. Despite the overstated hostility of GERB towards ethnic Turks in Bulgaria, Bulgarian state policy tends to follow on from Turkish state policy...well, the military preferences at least. 

[Left]

Setting oneself on fire sounds like an awful way to go...
...I wonder if setting some more deserving person on fire would gain your cause more political capital?

...I wonder if burning Bulgarians smell like barbecue?

Boyko Borisov probably has significant western political support, it is worth pointing out.

Why do we ALWAYS support the asshole?  We re-installed the Shah, we put Saddam Hussein in power, we bumped off Allende to put Pinochet into power, and probably more I can't think of right now.

[Pergamos]

Setting oneself on fire sounds like an awful way to go...
...I wonder if setting some more deserving person on fire would gain your cause more political capital?

...I wonder if burning Bulgarians smell like barbecue?

Boyko Borisov probably has significant western political support, it is worth pointing out.

Why do we ALWAYS support the asshole?  We re-installed the Shah, we put Saddam Hussein in power, we bumped off Allende to put Pinochet into power, and probably more I can't think of right now.

Well, Borisov sounds like a mafia style goon.  We like those, they are easy to buy generally, and they are not usually driven by ideology.  Someone driven by ideology (like the Ayatollahs, or the Kim dynasty in NK) can be WAY more dangerous.

[Cain]

Oh, they have an ideology.  Everyone has an ideology.  We've just reified those Mafia attitudes into something we don't recognize as ideology, possibly because it touches on the kind of uncomfortable yet seemingly structural relationships that exist between American-led global capitalism and organized crime.   

Mobsters tend to be committed anti-Communists, even when in charge of nominally Communist regimes.

[The Johnny]

They don't have VALUES either.

[Pergamos]

Oh, they have an ideology.  Everyone has an ideology.  We've just reified those Mafia attitudes into something we don't recognize as ideology, possibly because it touches on the kind of uncomfortable yet seemingly structural relationships that exist between American-led global capitalism and organized crime.   

Mobsters tend to be committed anti-Communists, even when in charge of nominally Communist regimes.

Yeah, I guess their ideology is just generally not very different from that of a corporate CEO.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Setting oneself on fire sounds like an awful way to go...
...I wonder if setting some more deserving person on fire would gain your cause more political capital?

...I wonder if burning Bulgarians smell like barbecue?

Boyko Borisov probably has significant western political support, it is worth pointing out.

Why do we ALWAYS support the asshole?  We re-installed the Shah, we put Saddam Hussein in power, we bumped off Allende to put Pinochet into power, and probably more I can't think of right now.

Because the asshole will do what we want.  Until he gets ideas of his own, whereupon he becomes THE MOST DANGEROUS ENEMY EVER, and we chuck him out and put another asshole in.  Rinse, repeat.