Rusnok snubs Kerry

PM Jiří Rusnok told Daniela Drtinová of Czech TV yesterday that an attack on Syria by the U.S. would not have a legal basis and that no official confirmation exists that the Assad regime used chemical weapons. This was the toughest statement yet by a Czech official and went much further than the foreign ministry's appeal last week for a peaceful, negotiated solution. Rusnok's comment amounts to a snub of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said last week that the Syrian government had killed 1,429 people with chemical weapons. The Czech political scene is now surprisingly united on Syria. Even ex-Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told Czech TV last week (before Kerry's statement) that bombing Syria would kill more people and resolve nothing. This is the same Schwarzenberg who agreed to have the Czech embassy in Damascus represent U.S. interests in Syria and who met with Hillary Clinton on this last Dec. in Prague. The U.S. now appears to have lost the Czechs, regardless of how the vote on Syria turns out in Congress.