The Insider

The latest edition of Croatian weekly Globus has introduced a new columnist – Aleksandra Kolarić (Aleksandra Kolaric), former official spokeswoman of Račan's (Racan's) government. In her first column, Kolarić attacks her former boss and his apparent failure to comprehend the role of media as tools of government's policies. She took the latest "Sunčani Hvar" ("Suncani Hvar") affair as an example and made a good and convincing case.

Kolarić is no stranger to criticising the government. Her name is well-known to subscribers to Croatian political Usenet groups. Before 2000 she was one of the critics of Tudjman's government, but she also took pot-shots at some opposition figures, like HSLS chief Dražen Budiša (Drazen Budisa), whom he compared with "a stuffed turkey". Afterwards, when she took job within the cabinet led by Budiša's main partner, she disappeared from Internet and, for obvious reasons, never said any critical word about new Croatian government. Some time ago, she left the office of spokeswoman.

So, seeing Kolarić back in the business of commenting politics is one of the more pleasant novelties in Croatia these days.