Coalition gone M.A.D.

The Cold War doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction relied on the premise that both superpowers would be destroyed in a nuclear war, so neither side would start one. The Czech coalition partners launched conventional weapons at each other last night (threats, insults, ultimatums), and now VV's ministers must decide whether to drop the Big One by resigning from the Nečas cabinet. It looks a bit like the 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis and might last just about as long, although observers will dis- agree about who in this analogy is the USSR, who is Cuba, and who is the U.S. None of the Czech protagonists can afford an all-out war. Without the baksheesh from church restitution and the Temelín deal, how will the coalition parties pay for their parliamentary election campaigns? Just like in the Caribbean crisis, it might be years before we know the full terms of the deal that brings this latest crisis to a close.