Board Thread:Theories/@comment-29978021-20160915234054/@comment-29958651-20160928180717

Slovakia really gained its independence at January 1st 1993 after a long preparation period. The main reason, why we split with our Western Brothers (or Big Western Brothers) from Czech Republic, was rather economical than political or ethnic. In a former Czechoslovakia, Slovakia was viewed as more agricultural part of the country (with lots of baking and dairy companies), on the other hand, Czech Republic was way more industrial (cars, steel, both brown and black coal). After November 1989 (fall of the communism in Czechoslovakia) it was clear that Slovakia must somehow inovate its industry (since in the era of free-market policy you cannot trust the agriculture so much) and this would cause a lot of money. Some even says that the whole separation was a project of two over the top self-confident men: Václav Klaus (Czech Republic) and Vladimír Mečiar (Slovakia). Klaus was thinking about the economics, while Mečiar wanted to gain power. And it worked - he had become our first prime minister (most important political position at my country), but MAN, HE WAS TERRIBLE. Even to this day, he is viewed as the worst prime minister we've ever had. He was very rude, often drunk, highly corrupted. He also practically donated the whole factories to his own family members or friends. The consequencies of his actions are even today still pretty visible. The only reason why he was not investigated was due to his health problems (in his case it simply means that he used his connections in the police and judicatory). Due to Mečiar's administrative, a lot of people here at Slovakia still thinks that the whole separation was much ado about nothing (so do I).

BTW Check Vladimír Mečiar on Youtube. He is sometimes even more funnier than Yeltsin :)