The conflict cabinet
Combatting extremism, rooting out corruption and maintaining the social peace are three of the stated goals of the Fischer cabinet. Admirable objectives, you might say, but the cabinet's actions will ultimately have the opposite effect, although it might not become apparent until after the Fischer team is long gone. By banning an insignificant fringe party as well as a lecture by a (Jewish) critic of the "Holocaust industry," the government is stoking anti-Jewish sentiments. By talking loud about corruption but doing nothing to reduce it, the cabinet is causing the criminal elite to become even more recalcitrant. And by refusing to tackle - and not just mask - the other fundamental problems of the economy, the cabinet is assuring that once the social peace is broken and the people take to the streets, it will be too late to talk reason. This isn't the sort of transitional government the country needed.
Glossary of difficult words
to root out - to find and get rid of something regarded as pernicious, harmful or dangerous;admirable - arousing or deserving respect and approval;
fringe - not part of the mainstream; unconventional, peripheral or extreme;
Jewish critic - Norman G. Finkelstein, author of "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering";
to stoke - to encourage or incite (a strong emotion or tendency);
recalcitrant - having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority or discipline.