Why Czechs need the Chinese
The next China Investment Forum is coming up soon in Prague, and Czech politicians, byznysmeni and hangers-on are already polishing their kowtows in preparation. Nervousness is mounting because of the situation in the world. Czech foreign policy is for sale to those who pay the highest bribes, and it's always good to have healthy competition driving the prices up, but the sanctions against Russia make China almost the only player currently on the field. The Westerners have nearly been soaked for all they're worth, and deals with Russia will have to be put on hold indefinitely. Take the Temelín enlargement, for example. Just as a plan was being formulated for restarting the tender and spinning off the nuclear business into an even less transparent entity than ČEZ, along came MH17, putting everything in limbo. Those who were pushing so hard four weeks ago for a new Temelín tender have now gone silent. Rigging the contest to the advantage of the Russians just won't fly now. Hmm, maybe the Chinese would be interested in taking their place.
Glossary of difficult words
byznysmeni - "businessmen" in Czech; used here in a pejorative sense;hanger-on - a person who associates with another person or group in a sycophantic manner for the purpose of gaining some personal advantage;
to soak/milk someone for all he is worth - to get or extract as much as possible from someone;
to spin off - to turn a subsidiary into a new and separate company;
limbo - an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution;
will not fly - will not be acceptable or possible.