How long is Bulgarian Independence? What about the World?

This political cartoon on the cover of French periodical Le Petit Journal illustrates the Bosnian Crisis of 1908: King Ferdinand (middle) of Bulgaria declares independence and becomes Tsar, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph (L) annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid looks on. Photo: Cplakidas, Wikipedia

Because our English speaking friends asked for Bulgarian Independence Day Sep 22

THE CROSSROAD POSITION NEVER-EVER BEEN INDEPENDENT

1908: King Ferdinand of Bulgaria declares independence and becomes Tsar, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid looks on
Until then, the newly liberated Bulgaria had been a Principality (i.e. a Kingdom), with its monarch bearing the title of Knyaz (“Prince” or “King”), and still a tributary (vassal) state to the Ottoman Empire. With the Declaration of Independence of 1908, Bulgaria restored its medieval titles of Tsardom (technically meaning “an empire”) and “Tsar” (“#Emperor”). These changes were reflected in the constitutional amendments of 1911.

The Bulgars FOUNDED the 1st unified Bulgarian state in 681 AD which dominated most of the Balkans and significantly influenced Slavic cultures by developing Cyrillic script. ONE THE EARLIEST SOCIETIES in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Neolithic Karanovo culture, which dates back to 6,500 BC. In Antiquity (6th–3rd century BC), the region became a battleground for Thracians, Persians, Celts and Macedonian Greeks until it was conquered by the Roman Empire in 45 AD.

Thus, the period 1908-1944 in Bulgarian history before the Soviet OCCUPATION and Soviet-ORCHESTRATED coup

of September 9, 1944, and the ESTABLISHMENT of the communist regime is known as the 3rd Bulgarian Tsardom (1878-1944/46), a successor to the 1st Bulgarian Empire (632/680-1018) and the 2nd Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396). 
Independence Day has been celebrated as an official public holiday since a decision of the Bulgarian Parliament from September 10, 1998 – 90 years after the Declaration of Independence of 1908, 10 years of Democracy after the

DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION of 1989,

when the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP) was forced to give up its political monopoly

and one year after 1997 REFORM PACAGE restored economic growth. The loss of COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance 1949-91) markets in 1990 and the subsequent “SHOCK THERAPY” of the planned system caused a steep decline in industrial and agricultural production, ultimately followed by an economic collapse in 1997. 

On November 21, 1999, US President Bill Clinton visited Sofia at the invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart, Petar Stoyanov. This is the first visit to us by an acting American president, and the last until 2019. Clinton praised this former communist nation for its commitment to democracy and economic reform. One year before he came to Bulgaria, Bill Clinton was declared innocent of two counts of impeachment, which were raised by the House of Representatives – perjury and impediment to justice. The first is in connection with Clinton’s testimony of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Bulgaria, which aspires to one day joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, supported NATO’s air war over Kosovo by permitting U-S and allied warplanes to fly over its territory. It also is supporting U-N economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, a policy that has taken a heavy toll on the already weak Bulgarian economy. In 2013 Bill Clinton boycotted Bulgarian counterpart Petar Stoyanov. The US ex-president has been demonstratingly refusing to go to the annual meeting of the foundation of our head of state “Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation” in Vienna. 

Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has had NO INDEPENDENT

monetary policy since the introduction of the Currency Board regime in 1997. 

After 2001 economic, political and geopolitical conditions improved greatly, and Bulgaria achieved high Human Development status in 2003.

It became a member of NATO in 2004 and participated in the War in Afghanistan. The US-Bulgarian Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in April 2006. Bezmer and Graf Ignatievo army air bases, the Novo Selo training range, and a logistics center in Aytos subsequently became joint military training facilities cooperatively used by the United States and Bulgarian Army.
Article 4 of North Atlantic Treaty (also referred to as the Washington Treaty) states that:

“THE PARTIES WILL CONSULT TOGETHER WHENEVER, IN THE OPINION OF ANY OF THEM,

the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.” Most countries do not have an intermediate tier of ranks between Officers and Other Ranks. The exception is the United States, and the NATO warrant officer grades of WO1–WO5 (bottom to top) are used only for warrant officer ranks of the US military. In other countries with “Warrant Officer” ranks, they are considered part of Other Ranks. (For example a British Army WO1 has the NATO code OR-9.), aaccording to STANAG 2116.

After several years of reforms Bulgaria joined the European Union (EU) and single market in 2007 despite Brussels’ concerns about government. European Union law is the system of laws operating within the member states of the EU and it has political institutions and social and economic policies. According to its Court of Justice, the EU represents “a new legal order of international law”. New states may join the EU, if they

AGREE TO OPERATE BY THE RULES OF THE EU

organisation, and existing members may leave according to their “own constitutional requirements”
After several consecutive years of high growth, repercussions of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 resulted in a 3.6 per cent contraction of GDP in 2009 and increased unemployment. As of 2017 Bulgaria is the poorest member state in the EU (as measured by GDP per capita), nearly a quarter of the population lives at or below the poverty. A decade ago (2007), Bulgarians flooded the streets in celebration of their ex-communist nation joining the European Union. 

To make money – EU doesn’t give money – It invests the money! The amount of money these new countries have to pay to EU increases every few years. So finally all the money Bulgaria got will be returned to EU. But that’s only this. EU creates a bigger market and this is especially important for rich, developed countries, a simplified example but it shows it’s important for rich countries, to have a simple way to sell products to poorer countries. But it’s also a way to make sure those poorer countries don’t create competition. True – rich countries need huge markets for their products in order to sell more, and they are using any form of “cooperation” and “help”.

By 2012 the government implemented strict austerity measures with the International Monetary Fund (IMF, formed in 1945

and EU encouragement to some positive fiscal results, but the social consequences of these measures, such as increased income inequality and accelerated outward migration, have been “catastrophic” according to the International Trade Union Confederation.

BULGARIAN REVOLUTION 2013

 IMF is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of “189 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.” The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform. Some of them are removing price controls and state subsidies, also privatization, or divestiture of all or part of state-owned enterprises, and enhancing the rights of foreign investors vis-a-vis national laws. If the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The IMF has been criticised for being “out of touch” with local economic conditions, cultures, and environments in the countries they are requiring policy reform. The economic advice the IMF gives might not always take into consideration the difference between what spending means on paper and how it is felt by citizens. These conditions are known as the Washington Consensus and “IMF was reflecting the interests and ideology of the Western financial community”. The United States is the IMF’s most powerful member. Domestic politics often come into play, with politicians in developing countries using conditutionality to gain leverage over the opposition to influence policy. The IMF is only one of many international organisations, and it is a generalist institution that deals only with macroeconomic issues; its core areas of concern in developing countries are very narrow. The role of the IMF has been controversial since the late Cold War, because of claims that the IMF policy makers supported military dictatorships friendly to American and European corporations, but also other anti-communist and Communist regimes (such as Mobutu’s Zaire and Ceaușescu’s Romania, respectively).

The biggest “competitor” of IMF is The World Bank (WB) – an international financial institution that provides loans with most recent stated goal “reduction of poverty”. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) with 189 member countries, while the International Development Association (IDA) has 173 members. The World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and both are based in Washington D.C., and work closely with each other. Each member state of IBRD should be also a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and only members of IBRD are allowed to join other institutions within the Bank (such as IDA. The president of the World Bank is, traditionally, an American. In 2012, for the 1st time, two non-US citizens were nominated. On 23 March 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would nominate Jim Yong Kim as the next president of the Bank, and he was elected on 27 April 2012. 

The 1st country to receive a World Bank loan was France. Before the loan was approved, the United States State Department told the French government that its members associated with the Communist Party would first have to be removed. The French government complied and removed the Communist coalition government – the so-called tripartite. Within hours, the loan to France was approved!  When the Marshall Plan went into effect in 1947, many European countries began receiving aid from other sources. Faced with competition, the World Bank shifted its focus to non-European countries.Various developments had brought the Millennium Development Goals targets for 2015 within reach in some cases. For the goals to be realized, six criteria must be met: Poverty and Hunger, Primary Education, Gender Equality, Child Mortality, Maternal Health, Diseases, Environmental Sustainability, Global Partnership for Development.   

The World Bank has long been criticized by non-governmental organizations, such as the indigenous rights group Survival International, and academics, including its former Chief Economist Joseph StiglitzHenry Hazlitt and Ludwig Von MisesHenry Hazlitt argued that the World Bank along with the monetary system it was designed within would promote world inflation and “a world in which international trade is State-dominated” when they were being advocated. Stiglitz argued that the so-called free market reform policies that the Bank advocates are often harmful to economic development if implemented badly, too quickly (“shock therapy“), in the wrong sequence or in weak, uncompetitive economies. Even, The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report criticized the World Bank and other international financial institutions for focusing too much “on issuing loans rather than on achieving concrete development results within a finite period of time” and called on the institution to “strengthen anti-corruption efforts”.

In October 2008, former United States president Bill Clinton delivered a speech to the United Nations on World Food Day, criticising the World Bank and IMF for their policies on food and agriculture. Former President Bill Clinton was considered for the post president of WB in 2005 and in 2007. Hillary Clinton was seeking the World Bank presidency in 2011.

One of the strongest criticisms of the World Bank has been the way in which it is governed. While the World Bank represents 188 countries, it is run by a small number of economically powerful countries. 

The World Bank requires sovereign immunity from countries it deals with. Sovereign immunity waives a holder from all legal liability for their actions. It is proposed that this immunity from responsibility is a “shield which The WB wants to resort to, for escaping accountability and security by the people. As the United States has veto power, it can prevent the WB from taking action against its interests.

That’s how in a result of IMF and WB other financial structures were born – in March 2011 the Ministers of Economy and Finance of the African Union proposed to establish an African Monetary Fund, in July 2014 the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) announced the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA),  and in 2014, the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was established. But wait, Bulgaria is still stand with IMF, EU and NATO!

ON THE TOP OF NATO AND EU MEMBERSHIP and U.S. Military bases BULGARIANS STILL HAVE U.S. VISAS, EVEN AMERICANS DON’T NEED BULGARIAN VISA TO COME IN THE COUNTRY, AND BULGARIA NEVER-EVER HAVE BEEN IN TERROR LISTS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, EVEN BULGARIAN-AMERICANS DON’T EXIST IN ANY “BLACK LISTS”! CLEAR “DOUBLE STANDARDS” AND “NOT CLEAR GAME” AT ALL!!!

Bulgarian government procurement in particular is a critical area in corruption risk. An estimated 10 billion leva ($5.99 billion) of state budget and European cohesion funds are spent on public tenders each year; nearly 14 billion ($8.38 billion) were spent on public contracts in 2017 alone. Despite repeated criticism from the European Commission, EU institutions refrain from taking measures against Bulgaria because it supports Brussels on a number of issues, unlike Poland or Hungary.

Bulgaria hosted the 2018 Presidency of the Council of the European Union at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. Hosting the presidency, including an EU leaders’ summit in May, gives Bulgaria a platform to parade its corruption-busting credentials. 

In 2015 Bulgaria ranked 39th out of 50 countries in the Bloomberg Innovation Index, the highest score being in education (24th) and the lowest in value-added manufacturing (48th). The country became one of the best sources of well educated and smart, but CHEAP stuff (see numbers below). 

Chronic government under investment in research since 1990 has forced many professionals in science and engineering to leave Bulgaria. Despite the lack of funding, research in chemistry, materials science and physics remains strong. 3% of economic output is generated by the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. In the Soviet era the country was known as a “Communist Silicon Valley”. Bulgaria has made numerous contributions to space exploration. Bulgaria’s 1st geostationary communications satellite—BulgariaSat-1—was launched by private rocket SpaceX in June 2017.
“Despite a favorable investment regime, including low, flat corporate income taxes, significant challenges remain,” CIA report said in 2018.

The economy largely recovered during a period of rapid growth several years later, but the average salary of 1,036 leva ($615) per month remains the lowest in the EU. More than a fifth of the labour force are employed on a minimum wage of $1.16 per hour. 
Bulgaria ranks 71st in the Corruption Perceptions Index and experiences the worst levels of corruption in the EU, a phenomenon that remains a source of profound public discontent. Some of Bulgarians complain that most of the International groups and organizations provoke corruption, even some of the members of that orgs take a “extra payments under the table”. 

Along with organized crime, corruption has resulted in a rejection of the country’s Schengen Area of EU application and WITHDRAWAL OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT. Even Bulgaria has some of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the EU and in the World at a flat 10 per cent (10%) rate.
Compare to the MONEY SENT (Direct Cash Investment) FROM Bulgarians Abroad, which are OVER the “partners'” investments!!!

How long is Bulgarian Independence?

The answer is yours!