Two old men with mutual needs

Glossary of difficult words

duopoly - a situation in which two suppliers dominate the market for a commodity or service; the Havel-Klaus duopoly was sometimes infringed upon by people like Josef Tošovský and Miloš Zeman;

to play someone off against someone else - to bring people into conflict or competition for one’s own advantage;

to despise someone - to feel contempt or deep repugnance for someone;

to pave the way - to create the circumstances to enable something to happen;

FAZ - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (sorry, the article is from the print edition and is not on the internet);

bogeyman - an imaginary evil spirt.