sreda, marec 30, 2005

Slovenia celebrates 1st anniversary in Nato

On 29 March 2004, Slovenia became a full-fledged member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato). Just one year later, the country still views its membership as a foreign policy success story, and is proud of its countrymen who now work for the organization, and of its nearly 300 soldiers who are involved in Nato operations around the world.

Speaking on the occasion of the anniversary, Foreign Minister Dimitri Rupel said, “Our membership is already being used in ways beneficial to the national interest, which is also intertwined with the interest in strengthening Euro-Atlantic and global security.”

However, according to Delo, Sociologist and political analyst Gorazd Kovačič remains unconvinced of the benefits of Nato membership to Slovenia. “The Slovene state apparatus does not have enough staff to be able to make use of the various tenders and offers for economic cooperation. The security situation has not changed, since Nato is a military organization and Slovenia needs security which is not based primarily on the military but more so on other social actors” [Delo / 29.03.05 / Prva obletnica vstopa Slovenije v Nato].

110th Anniversary of Ljubljana Earthquake

Easter Sunday was notable for one more reason: it was the 110th anniversary of the 1895 earthquake that destroyed Ljubljana. That year, Easter fell on 14 April, and the 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 20:17. Shocks were felt as far away as Vienna, Split and Florence.

At that time, Ljubljana was home to some 31,000 people, and was made up of around 1400 buildings; few people were killed, but about 10 percent of the buildings were damaged. Large-scale demolition followed, and the post-earthquake period saw a wide expansion of the city [Delo / 27.03.05 / Ob 110. obletnici ljubljanskega potresa].

Slovenia celebrates Easter

Easter was celebrated across most of Slovenia on 27 March with a wide range of traditions. Central to most families’ celebrations, however, was the traditional Easter dinner of ham, horseradish, eggs, bread and potica [ICE / 25.03.05 / Slovenia’s diverse Easter celebrations].

One of the most striking features of Slovene Easter is the traditional Easter eggs, called "pisanice," "rumenice," "remenke" or "pirhi," depending on where and in what manner they are made. A gallery of some of this year’s best eggs can be found here.