When state prosecutors quarrel
The two senior state prosecutors, Lenka Bradáčová and Ivo Ištvan, have done a good job of keeping their internecine battle under wraps, but Bradáčová went public with it yesterday on Czech TV. She said she considers the July 25 meeting at the Castle between Ištvan and Pres. Miloš Zeman to be "very unfortunate for all involved" and indicated that the lack of transparency of it shines a bad light on the state prosecution as a whole. Bradáčová was careful to choose her words, but it's hard not to interpret them as a public rebuke of Ištvan. Not even Supreme State Prosecutor Pavel Zeman has gone so far. He has said only that the meeting came at a hysterical time and that "in a normal situation there should not be anything harmful about it." Bradáčová is forcing Pavel Zeman to take sides publicly. Which, given his close working relationship with her, and Miloš Zeman's public support for Ištvan, has the potential to put the two Zemans on a collision course. That's when we find out how fragile the supreme prosecutor's position truly is.
Glossary of difficult words
to quarrel - to argue or fight;internecine - destructive to both sides in a conflict;
to keep under wraps - to maintain a veil of secrecy about something;
rebuke - an expression of sharp disapproval or criticism;
on a collision course - adopting an approach that will lead to a conflict with another person or group;
fragile - not sturdy or strong; delicate and vulnerable.