Severina Conspiracy Theories

14061 hits yesterday. Only 600 hits today. It seems that people finally began to realise that this blog is probably not the best place from where they could hope to obtain Severina sex video.

Those Croatians not busy with desperate attempts to get their hands on 11 Minutes That Shook The World are trying to find some sort of explanation why the tape appeared right now, who was ultimately responsible and who would benefit the most from the erupting scandal.

Some of the details – tape being stolen two years ago and theft being reported only now, Severina's upcoming wedding to Zagreb businessman Srećko Vargek (Srecko Vargek), her appearance in popular TV show that had been scheduled for tomorrow and some important events that are happening in background – led many to develop at least three basic conspiracy theories.

First one tries to explain this with carefully conceived and executed publicity stunt. According to proponents of this theory, Severina's career, following her disastrous attempt to boost SDP in the eve of November elections, is sagging, media slowly starts to ignore her, so some drastic measures had to be done. Unprecedented publicity, following with the public expression of solidarity by Croatian show business, cultural and political establishment, would give another major boost to her career.

The other basic set of theories revolves around lovers' quarrel/blackmail scheme gone bad. Before her engagement to Vargek, Severina was rumoured to have relationship with Marin Lučić (Marin Lucic), Herzegovina businessman who had wife and three children. In the meantime, Ms. Lučić got pregnant with the fourth child and the relationship was over. Lučić, who appears in the video together with Severina, denies that he had anything to do with the release of tape. Another variation of this theory speculates about involvement of Croatian organised crime.

Finally, third set of theories point towards Croatian government and/or its intelligence services. The timing of the scandal was perfect, considering that Sanader's government has recently passed plenty of unpopular measures, practically giving up each and every of its pre-election promises. The most spectacular example is yesterday's easing of fishing rules in Adriatic. Last October Sanader lambasted Račan's (Racan's) government for not being radical enough in protecting Croatia's maritime interests. The new regime, passed in Sabor yesterday, is more liberal than Račan's and would allow fishing activity to EU countries. Since the original measures were directed primarily against overfishing committed by Italian and Slovenian trawlers, yesterday's move represents one of the most humiliating defeats of Sanader's government. But with the nation interested in Severina's hanky panky, few people would notice.

Even more paranoid theories see this incident as the perfect pretext for crackdown on Croatian Internet and taking down freedom of speech. During today's debate about new Criminal Code, Djurdja Adlešić (Djurdja Adlesic), MS from right-wing HSLS party and former "associate" of Tudjman's secret services, has pleaded for more regulation and more severe penalties against cybercrime and protection of individual privacy, explicitly naming Severina as illustration of her point.