|
|
|
|
  | ||
 | ||
| News | Business | Feature | Opinion | Sports | Tourist Info |
Classifieds |
| POSTVIEW | EDITORIAL |
|
Klaus' one way Former Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus recently rumbled into the noisy Davos Economic Forum fray. Like so many others, he emerged with a self-serving speech. Klaus found himself in the company of Steve Case and Bill Gates, gentlemen whose corporate income he no doubt envies. Perhaps such a retinue made it especially opportune to rant against the so-called Third Way, an informal political stream whose rafters include such market-wise socialists as Britain's Tony Blair, France's Lionel Jospin, and to a lesser extent Germany's Gerhard Schroder. With the post-Thatcher British economy booming and the French model slowly showing more robustness than a year ago, the Third Wavers seem very much the products of Europe's beauty salon. Not surprisingly, the rather more confined Klaus, who shares power with a Social Democrat, finds the overall trend alarming. Is the Third Way not a "euphemistic and dangerously misleading name for the second way -- for socialism," he inveighs. To which friend and foe alike might shake a weary head and wonder if Klaus is sufficiently in touch with the realities of his nation. As Klaus finds time to suggest that sinister "liberals" lurk like leeches under social democratic pantaloons, the Czech Republic -- a nation he guided with only modest success -- must now reckon with a Communist Party that has grown into a serious political force largely because Klaus' dogma, and that of his partner, has convinced no one of its breadth of vision. On the contrary, Klaus' conservatism exists, it would sometimes seem, only to nurture his ambitions and fuel his dislikes. He has no affection for his governing partner, Prime Minister Milos Zeman. He has even less love for President Vaclav Havel. Indeed, the Klaus of the year 2000 seems the consummate "anti-politician," whose fortunes depend on speeches such as the one he disseminated in Davos. It was appropriately titled: "Third Way, No Way?" Intriguingly, though, Klaus sees fit to denounce European leaders "who would impose their own view of morality and culture upon us whether we want it or not." What a curious amalgam this is! It is one part knee-jerk utilitarian communism, the kind that once celebrated a loathing of NATO and other Western instruments, a second part curiously anti-European. Just as the European Union steps forward, for better or worse, to denounce the rise of Jorg Haider, Klaus dissents, citing Austrian sovereignty and referring to "the artificial unification of Europe." While Klaus may have a point about Europe, which applies its indignations selectively, as in the case of Haider, he seems dangerously far from the Euro-centric Prague mainstream he insists he'd again like to represent as prime minister or even president. These contradictions make Klaus a loose Czech cannon on the global scene. For a country that knows how to build explosive weapons -- and build them well -- that is far from reassuring. |
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.