"Normal Western Country"

A temporarily popular, unorthodox macro counter-indicator is the covers of famous economic publications. When the Economist or BusinessWeek announce on the front page that a certain major trend is beginning or ending – then we can expect exactly the opposite.

For example, the aforementioned British publication said in 1999 that the world was “drowning in oil,” shortly before the start of a serious bull market in fuels and a record price of black gold. The second magazine claimed with one of its covers in 1979 that the end of the stock markets had come and that stocks were “dead” as an investment – just before the start of several decades of consistent growth in stock prices. The most recent and relevant case we can all appreciate – in April 2019, Bloomberg Businessweek asked – “Is inflation dead?”. Just in time for the biggest inflationary episode in the last 40 years.

In certain circles, the “blue shaman” – Evgeniy Dainov – has also acquired a similar, rather joking, fame. As soon as he predicts publicly (usually with an article in Free Europe or Deutsche Welle) that a certain party will win the elections – it is doomed to electoral failure. If he predicts that a politician will fall from power, then he will have a long and peaceful reign. Without arguing whether this reputation is justified or not, I will say that the role of political shamans today is similar to that of their ancient namesakes. To summon rain with a ritual or to turn the desired into political reality through words. In both cases…it worked.

In one of Dainov's latest articles, we read a new prediction. Canaan for the urban intelligentsia is on the horizon – Bulgaria has a chance to become a normal Western country. How the final Transition to the Promised Land happens in the mind of the Minden political scientist is saturated with crunchy 90s symbolism:

"Consciousness will have changed existence and Bulgaria will finally become a normal Western country. That it really wants to is evident from the national celebrations of Julaya [1] - a nationwide annual cry that says: "We want to be Europeans!" This year, fate itself, which patronizes the brave, winked approvingly at the Bulgarians. It was on Julaya that the "Harvardists" refused to obey Mitrofanova's ultimatum to withdraw the request to recall the 70 Russian diplomats and employees."

It is difficult to describe how crucial this paragraph is for Dainov and his political generation – Western-raised, highly educated (pseudo) yuppies, brought back to Bulgaria and in just six months transformed their fathers’ LARP [2] into real state policy. The Harvards are the dream of flesh-and-blood transitioners.

What would a 70-year-old man with a ponytail and a shell bracelet look like in the form of real politics, if not as an illegal, one-day arrest of Boyko Borisov? Or how can we turn the political charge of the pro-European beach drinking into important reforms, other than letting the mafiqta select the entire new Supreme Judicial Council? How does the most aromatically flavored cabinet in history stop aggression on the roads and corruption in the Ministry of Interior, if not with mass checks by the police?

Even the impudent Mitrofanova could not be recalled. The persecution of Russians by the service staff is a boomer political porn that should replace the long-expired lustration delight. Since there is no way to make it real, at least in the end, after you have collected so much, you will find an outlet – on Mount Julaya! Not that any lustration was actually possible, and whether Dainov himself would have passed through it safely is not at all certain – London in the 70s, Oxford in the 80s is not known for great rebellion [3]. But as Curtis Yarvin says, the new elite is selected by the elite.

The important thing is for the shaman to convince enough middle-aged voters that right now and precisely these have satisfied the lustration urge. With the arrest of Boyko it didn't quite work out, but now with a little word magic and a lack of common culture, it seems like a task accomplished. The shaman said if not rain, at least a light drizzle - we'll beat Putler to it, if he's even still alive.

Due to the lack of a cover, the prophetic counter-signal in Dainov's material is in the title. In it, we are again shown the simple political formula of the clever activist - to copy the West until we become like it. Or increasingly, to become directly part of Western political institutions by transferring as much sovereignty as possible to Brussels, Berlin, Washington. From the construction of socialism to the 16th republic, a familiar idea with a new (blue instead of red) color. Even some of the people are the same.

Until not so long ago, this political formula was a hot (keto) bread, especially when it was not fought with the use of juicy Russian capital. I am talking about the golden years of the NMSV and the triple coalition, when the synthesis had reached its apogee. We all know the code words – “the club of the rich”, “to be respected by Westerners”, “European integration” and in the other times, alash-veris with Vneshnetorgovsky Bank. It is not that strategic agreements with Russian arms capitals have not been concluded now [4], but who cares after we have expelled the embassy staff of Julaya.

The great protests of the 90s turned into DANSwithme, then into the Summer of 2020 and finally into the sad defense of Nikola Minchev from 2022 and the counter-kneeling for Radev. Each subsequent event, more and more exhausted. Plugged into the progressivist machine for mental mush, the yellow-paved people have once again got drunk and are walking around the center to tickle the tumulus. We end the LARP, we release the posts and stories, and then the backstage continues to work and win. GERB is first again, Geshev is in control again.

And everyone wants to "become European" - some to steal to feed themselves, others because they are smart and beautiful. And Europe has blossomed and flourished, here are the wood stoves in Germany [5], inflation is the highest since the creation of the Bundesbank, and soon every worker (immigrant) will have two personal pensioners to support.

Dainov has hit the counter-indication with surgical precision. The "normal western country" as a political ideal is so passé...Like the government of Nikolay Vassilev. Sooo 2003.

Boomer shamans didn't understand that we were already a "normal Western country", we converged civilizationally, gees. In the 90s we to them, then they to us. We stole socialism from each other, right down to its energy dependencies and inflation. It remains to be seen whether anything can be revived. Like the leva mark.

[1] July Morning – a boomer custom that, under the pretext of a political and spiritual holiday, gathers aging hippies and teenagers for a midnight drinking and drug use in the early hours of July 1. Usually to the shores of reservoirs or other natural sites. The gathering is often accompanied by Bulgarian music from the early 1990s or foreign music that became popular in Bulgaria in the late 1980s. The name of the custom comes from a song by a group of British hippie retirees.

[2] https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%90%D0%A0%D0%9F

[3] LARP here may be developing into method acting (ala Stanislavski - for the blue shamans)

[4] https://bird.bg/avdolyan-gemcorp-chemezov/

[5] https://www.faz.net/agenturmeldungen/dpa/energiekrise-oefen-und-brennholz-werden-knapp-18142670.html

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