The Kellner and Bakala republics

12.12.2013 - EB

Ukraine is almost like two countries, not just because it has two languages, but also because some oligarchs side with Russia and some pine for Europe. A similar division is taking shape in the CR. Petr Kellner of PPF is increasingly seen as the leader of the do-anything regime that Václav Klaus is mourning, while Bakala is the custodian of Havellian values. Ivan Hoffman joked on ČRo2 in a different context that if we have two police presidents, Martin Červíček and Petr Lessy, why not also have two heads of state, Miloš Zeman and Karel Schwarzenberg? It would help reconcile the two camps, he said. And why not also have two heads of Czech TV, we might add? Just as before the split of the country half the news was in Czech and half was in Slovak, ČT could provide half Kellner-censored news under Petr Dvořák and half Bakala-inspired news under, say, Kamil Čermák. The other option is Ukraine-like revolution.

Glossary of difficult words

to pine for something - to yearn intensely and persistently, esp. for something that is not attainable;

do-anything - (in this context) where anything is allowed;

to mourn - to feel regret or sadness about the loss or disappearance of something;

custodian - a keeper, guardian or caretaker;

to reconcile - to restore friendly relations between.



Switch to desktop version

Subscribe

Unsubscribe


FS Final Word
close