31. On March 19, 2003, Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha declared in the National Assembly that the controversial actions of his cabinet in Iraq were all "in the national interest" and that Bulgaria "wishes to give a strong signal of its solidarity with the forces of freedom and democracy and that it is a responsible member of the international counterterrorism coalition," Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) in English, March 20, 2003.
32. War is the favorite diversion of totalitarian and neo-totalitarian rulers who seek to draw public attention away from troubles at home and re-direct it toward imaginary "enemies" abroad. As Hermann Goering, undoubtedly an expert on the practical utility of employing propagandistic pathos and Big-Lie propaganda, explained in an interview given at the time of the Nuremberg trials, "Naturally, the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country" (quoted in Gustave M. Gilbert, Nuremberg Diary. New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1947, 278-9).
33. According to GERB's defense minister Anyu Angelov, "There is a very real danger that some distant countries in possession of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles could launch them against strategic targets on our territory," Dian Morkin, "Bulgaria burza da vleze pod zashtitniia shtit na NATO" [Bulgaria Is in a Hurry to Obtain NATO's Protective (Anti-Missile) Shield] Sega, May 17, 2010 (my translation); see also "Solomon Pasi: I Al-Kaida mozhe da se snabdi s raketi i da strelia kum Bulgaria" [Solomon Pasi: "Al Queda, Too, May Acquire Nuclear Missiles and Launch Them against Bulgaria"], Sega, March 10, 2010.
34. See Rossen Vassilev, "Public Opinion in Bulgaria." Encyclopedia of Public Opinion (in two volumes). Ed. John Geer. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2004, vol. 2: 526-32.
35. See, for example, the Bulgarian Left party's call for holding a "National Referendum on the Issues of Peace and War" in Ivan Genov, "Triabva ni referendum za mira i voinata" [We Need a Referendum on Peace and War], Duma 70, March 25, 2010.
36. See Vassilev, "Public Opinion and Bulgaria's Involvement in the Iraq War."
37. See Stein, "Bush's Bulgarian Partner in the Terror War Has Mob History."
38. See Rossen Vassilev, "The Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews in World War II," New Politics XII:4 (Winter 2010), 114-21.
39. See Lozan Takev, "Za imenata na ulitzite v Sofia: zahsto imame Maria Louisa, no niamame Georgi Dimitrov?" [Concerning Street Names in Sofia: Why Do We Have a Princess Maria-Louise Street, But Not a Georgi Dimitrov Street?] Duma 33, February 10, 2010.
40. See Rossen Vassilev, "Will Bulgaria Become Monarchy Again?" Southeast European Politics IV:2-3 (November 2003), 157-74.
41. Interview with Assen Agov, one of the anti-Communist SDS leaders, Duma, February 9, 1996 (my translation).
42. Zheliu Zhelev. Obrushtenia na prezidenta kum naroda i parlamenta [Presidential Addresses to the Bulgarian People and Parliament]. Plovdiv: Khristo G. Danov Press, 1996, 201-3 (my translation).
43. Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 37.
44. See Young, Totalitarian Language, 136-41.
45. Dimitrova, "Language and Politics in Bulgaria," 142.
46. See Bistra Ouzounova, "Mediite produlzhavat da tichat sled pobeditelite" [The Media Continue to Serve the (Electoral) Victors], Afera.bg, May 21, 2010.
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